Almost a year after the release of Resident Evil 5, Capcom breathes more life into the the game with the release of Lost in Nightmares which takes us to the events that took place before Resident Evil 5 and gives us a glimpse into some of its back story. You take the roles of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, who are sent on a mission to Spencer Mansion to apprehend Ozwell Spencer in hopes to uncover more information about Umbrella Corporation and hopefully, to find more on Wesker’s whereabouts.
The episodes starts off as you are dropped off at the mansion with Jill picking the locks to get in. It’s business as usual as you uncover several dead bodies and bloodstains in the foyer and stairs. The first portion of the DLC is about finding a way deeper into the mansion. You uncover several clues and passwords that will get you closer to your target. Along the way, you will find some ammo and a few new weapons like the shotgun, magnum, machine gun, and rifle. I’m not sure if the choices are random, but we played on Normal and got the shotgun and magnum. When we played it again on Veteran, we got the machine gun, rifle, and the shotgun. You will also find some grenades and flash bangs. We found some proximity mines on Vet mode. Again, not sure if these are random or if they are tied to the difficulty level.
You collect Score Stars, 18 of which are hidden throughout the level akin to the BSAA Medals. Be sure to look everywhere because they are in all the places you least expect them and in a few places you expect them to be.
Keeping in RE5 fashion, the game requires that you work with your partner. This is imperative in the harder modes. Neither Norm nor I played the DLC alone (we’ve not even played RE5 alone), mostly since the game is really about working with your partner. This is one of those games that is best enjoyed with a friend either locally or online.
The DLC will give you between 1.5 to 2 hours of gameplay, depending on how thorough you play through the game. If you want to collect all the medals, the game will take you longer. There’s a high replay value to the DLC, especially if you want the challenge of collecting all the medals as well as playing all of the difficulty levels. There are 5 achievements for a total of 100 GS that all seem relatively easy to get but will require at least 2-3 playthroughs.
There isn’t anything new in the dlc except for some of Jill’s abilities. She can pick locks and play the piano. There’s a great part where Jill has to play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata using quick time button events. You can keep on playing until you mess up. She doesn’t play the entire piece, but she gets through about a third of it before restarting. I got through about 2.5 times before realizing that it wasn’t going to be an achievement or play through the entire piece.
The graphics are great as usual although there were a few parts that had a distracting filter over them that seemed to downgrade the graphics to a very grainy look and feel. Not sure if that was intentional, but both Norm and I commented on it when we saw it. The sound is great and really suck you into the dark atmosphere of the game. We recently upgraded our sound system and with all the lights off and the sound up, it really gives you the creeps.
If you were a fan of RE5 and want a little more of the action, the DLC is a solid investment. You will also get The Mercenaries Reunion, which is similar to The Mercenaries mode but features 8 playable characters including Excella Gionne and Barry Burton with this DLC. You can download the Extra Figurines for free and view them in the Figurine Gallery. There are some fancy new costumes for purchase as well. If you haven’t played RE5 yet, you may want to wait for Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, available March 9th, 2010 for $49.95, which includes the game plus all the DLC.
The DLC fills in some of the mystery leading up to Jill’s disappearance but not what happens to her in between that and when we meet her in RE5. The only other question that is left unanswered is that Jill Valentine’s hair is brown in the DLC and when we see her in the actual RE5 game, she has blonde hair. Makes you wonder if Wesker prefers blondes over brunettes.
Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares is available now on the XBL Marketplace for 400 MSP and the PSN Store for $4.99. Costume Pack #1 is available for 160 MSP/$1.99. Costume Pack #1 includes the Chris Redfield Warrior costume and the Fairy Tale costume for Sheva Alomar.
A review code was provided but did not affect the outcome of this review.
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