Available today, The demo of Resident Evil 5 zombie walked it's way onto the Japanese Xobx Live market place. After the jump you'll find our hands on impressions of the game aswell as a video of the games playable missions: Public Assembly.

So how’s the demo? Well if you played Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5 doesn’t make a huge jump in terms of gameplay mechanics. Which is not a bad thing because, I for one loved RE4. The most notable change is of course the graphical upgrade, and the highly detailed environments and character models. RE5 looks great, and the environment makes you feel you are in a small town in Africa. No only is the environment pretty, but a large majority of it is destructible. I’ve seen mister “I’m-going-to-carry-a-huge-axe-and-hit-you-with-it” knock down an entire wall trying to get to Chris and Sheva, while his fellow zombiefied friends kick down doors and jump through windows.

Another thing that makes this game unpredictable is the zombies come from anywhere on the map. I’ve backed myself into a corner and found zombies climbing over the wall behind me. You cannot stand still in this game, and it forces you to always be on the run.

One thing I do not like about the game is, while accessing your inventory system, the game no longer pauses (like in RE4) and it leaves you very vulnerable while trying to equip key items. Also, the amount of hit a zombie need to be killed, I’ve seen vary from 1 shot to 8. Of course it depends on the location being fired upon, but some zombies live after a few successful shots to the head. I’m not complaining but with limited ammo and hordes of zombies attacking it does add a degree of difficulty when trying to escape.

Overall I’m very pleased with Resident Evil 5 and I look forward to its release. If you haven’t played the demo yet, check out the video below.