Resident Evil 5 Review
The only way to stop your AI partner from attacking is to request all firearms from your partner, but even then your partner will still try to attack enemies with the knife. There really should have been some sort of "Wait" command for the single player mode to keep your partner from acting at all. This would have been such a nice feature for the single player mode especially in some areas where the partner blows your cover by taking a shot at some unsuspecting enemies. There were also plenty of times where I would fire at an enemy's head for a head stun then rush toward the enemy to perform a melee attack that would knock him down along with the crowd that surrounds him, but the AI partner would mess up this chance by shooting the stunned enemy which immediately brought the enemy out of the stun and made it where I got assaulted by the whole crowd thanks to the lack of the melee command that I could have gotten if the AI partner didn't "help out".
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Even with the complaints about the AI partner however, the single player game still gave me the feel of playing with a team. Your AI partner will conveniently help out quite often by healing your main character or giving your main character ammo when needed. Despite the slight flaws in the partner AI, it really is a lot more helpful than annoying. Experimenting with the partner AI and leaning how it works is quite a fun challenge. If only there had been some sort of "Wait" command to cancel all partner actions, the partner AI would have been a lot more memorable to me.
Playing the main story online or in split screen with an actual human player breathes new life into the team experience. The game gives you a set of partner commands that can be issued to your partner by holding down the assist button and tapping a direction with the d-pad - Go, Come On, Thanks, and Wait. The "Thanks" and "Wait" command are exclusive to co-op gameplay. There are also partner responses that can be activated after specific actions have been performed. For instance, whenever a partner heals your character or gives your character an item, you can tap the assist button to have your partner respond to the character to show gratitude.
It's amazing how such a simple communication system can so easily remedy the need for voice chat. You can request an item or ammo from your partner by pulling up their inventory and selecting request. All the other person has to do is equip the item then walk toward the partner for a "Give" command to appear. I use voice chat over Xbox LIVE to play alongside a few friends and we still use this partner communication system even then. It's a very simple yet effective communication system that fits in very well with the team aspect of Resident Evil 5.
The inventory system can only be pulled up in real time now, just like in the Resident Evil: Outbreak games. Press the Triangle (PS3) or Y (Xbox 360) button to display the menu during gameplay. Even though cycling through the inventory while action occurs on the screen takes some getting used to at first, it brings a whole new level of depth and strategy to the usual pause in gameplay to select from the inventory. For those willing enough to explore advanced techniques, the inventory menu can be brought up during the middle of a melee attack or many other character animations while your character is invincible. You can literally arrange your inventory while climbing a ladder. Yes, the game still gets that tense.