The second Resident Evil 5 DLC hit Xbox live today and PSN tomorrow. This will of course be included in the Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition, but for everyone that still has their copy of RE5 can purchase this for $5.
Remember the cut scenes showing Jill and Chris’ assault on the Spencer mansion? This DLC lets you play it. It doesn’t add terribly much to Resident Evil 5, but it does flesh out old man Spencer a bit more.
Lost in Nightmares was made as a bridge for those fans of the early Resident Evil games and those of the post Resident Evil 4 games.
95% of the scenario is puzzle solving and key finding, which is something that Neil and I were praying for on the last podcast. We wanted a game that would allow co-operative puzzle solving, and behold a week later Capcom delivers. Unfortunately they only delivered a 45 minute scenario and that was with an A.I. partner. If I had a human playing the other character, I’m sure I could pull off the win in about 35 minutes.
The suspense and horror aspects of the first games make their return with this scenario. It was something I was sure wouldn’t work with the over the shoulder view, but my hair was standing on end the entire time I was playing. The music and environment, masterly work together to create real fear. Diaries left by servants hint at some terrible gorrilla like monster that you expect is around every corner, but wait child, the monster will come in due time. When it comes you’ll wish it were back in its cage.
Those looking to kill things shouldn’t expect much from this scenario. By the end, I only killed 3 creatures. Lost in Nightmares is more about passive fighting. Set traps and make the monsters fall into them. You’ll never see a room full of zombies running toward you or a chainsaw wielding freak chopping down the walls around you. Instead you get an enemy much like Nemesis. A large creature that can’t be stopped by doors or walls. A creature that will hunt you until its dead or you’re dead.
This is an omage to past games. The mansion resembles the Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil 1. Jill is willing and able to show off those lock picking skills and even has a chance to bang out Moonlight Sonata on the piano again. There are mentions of the Island facility and the high hopes Spencer had of the Ashfords from Code Veronica.
Lost in Nightmares is well worth the $5 price tag. Its a different sort of challenge to the co-op team and adds several characters and costumes to mercenaries mode and the main game. For those that sold their original copy of Resident Evil 5, then pick up Resident Evil 5 gold. It’ll include the DLC and is only going to have a $49 price tag at launch.
In a lot of ways this was Capcom’s apology to the old school fans. Almost a letter to the editor, that yes, we do still possess the skills to create this game, but we wanted to bring other people into it. Proving this is a step in the right direction. Now we have another DLC pack in a few weeks and then Resident Evil 6 in a few years.
I remember this being billed as 2 hours not so long ago. Still sounds compelling.
If you count the “Mercenaries Reunion” as more of the bonus pack, you can get a few hours out of this. Essentially though, you get the same Mercenaries levels from before, but you get new characters and load-outs. I have Some Sheva loadout and Barry Burton from RE1 and RE3 fame. Barry’s a good character to have, but I have issue with these characters not appearing in the normal mercenary mode.