Spoiler Alert: Resident Evil 5′s story events are mentioned within this review – but if you’re reading this review, surely you’ve already played it…right?
If you need some background on this DLC, then go read my Lost in Nightmares review, but to tell you what you need to know – this is the second and final single-player DLC, which was released along side another costume pack much like the previous DLC release. Whereas Lost in Nightmares seemed to be one big fan service full of references (both obvious and subtle), good old Resident Evil puzzles, and even an alternative camera mode in an effort to create one huge throwback to the series. I gave it three stars in my review, purely because, as great as the fan service was, there wasn’t much memorable gameplay to be had. With Desperate Escape, it is a lot more focused on combat – which was Resident Evil 5′s strong point in the first place. Sadly, though, this leaves much similarly to how I felt after i’d played Lost in Nightmares. Even with a more experienced co-op partner this time, I didn’t find myself enjoying it much more than the last DLC, and I don’t think i’ll be heading back to it in ‘desperation’ any time soon.
Jill, meet Josh. Josh, meet Jill.
As opposed to a prequel to the events in Resident Evil 5, Desperate Escape is set amongst the later events of the story. This DLC tells the story of what Jill was up to after she was rescued by Chris and Sheva from the clutches of Wesker’s indoctrination, to the final confrontation with Wesker himself. It even starts off with a cutscene in which you’ve already seen half of, but the DLC adds on to that and you go down a separate path to what you did originally as Jill Valentine (femme fatale and fan favourite) and Josh Stone (a recurring character you should remember from Resident Evil 5′s story). After that, there is basically no story except for a cinematic right before the final battle, which is another scene from Resident Evil 5 but from the perspective of Jill as opposed to Chris and Sheva.
Other than that, there really is much I can say about Desperate Escape. It has the same issues that Lost in Nightmares had such as players not being able to use their hard earned equipment layouts, which make sense for a first playthrough, but couldn’t Capcom have made it a feature if you choose to return to this DLC? The other problem existent within the two downloads is that they both save your progress at checkpoints, but the only point in those is if you happen to die. If you want to save and quit half way through playing it and continue playing it later, then you’ll have to start all over again, because those checkpoints do not mean a thing after you hit exit in the pause menu.
Looks like a lot to explore, right? Wrong.
The entire of Desperate Escape is set within a radio communications facility, and in the screenshot above, it looks like it’s quite a large expanse to cover. That’s not entirely wrong, it just feels a bit contrived. Every area feels like some sort of combat trial mode, and each of the trials purely consist of different layouts, weapon placements, and a mixture of mini-boss enemies (such as ‘chainsaw guy’ and ‘axe man’, no new opponents here) and a lot of Majini between you and your goal. You seem to walk into an area, and find a locked door or some sort of barricade. After you’ve deduced you need to get in there, you find the way past it, whether it be a key, or blowing up the obstacle in your path. Except for that, you’ll do a lot of running, shooting, healing, and in my case, a lot of time saying “What are you doing? Get over here!”. You end the DLC with a Mercenaries mode crossed with Left 4 Dead finale in which you have to hold out against hordes of enemies while you wait for a helicopter.
Desperate Escape also includes Rebecca Chambers as a playable character in the extra Mercenaries Reunion mode, as well as Josh Stone himself. Much like Lost in Nightmares, this DLC was released alongside the second costume pack, which includes Business Sheva and Heavy Metal Chris (more like Fallout Chris, to me). All in all, Desperate Escape takes about forty minutes to one hour to blast your way through, and Mercenaries Reunion will probably keep you coming back just as much as the original Mercenaries mode does, but it’s fair to say that these two DLC releases for such a great game are quite disappointing. Sure, I got my fix of playable Jill Valentine, but other than that, it isn’t that great. Like I said in my Lost in Nightmares review, though, it definitely is worth the price point offered, and I suppose if you’re looking at value that much, this isn’t a bad deal. I just wanted more, I believed I was promised more, and I didn’t get it. I guess i’ll just stick to going through Resident Evil 5 over and over again until I get every single weapon with infinite ammo. Wish me luck!
Three out of five? RAAGH!
