To be fair, it was always going to be quite a job to match the quality of Resident Evil 4. With that game, Capcom rejuvenated both a genre and one of its mainstay franchises, with a title that richly deserved the many cabinets full of awards that it picked up. Nearly four years on, the survival horror genre still lives in its shadow.

Sadly, that includes Resident Evil 5 too; a very good game in its own right, but one that rarely comes close to what its predecessor achieved.

It switches the action to Africa and you start off in the shoes of Chris Redfield (returning to the franchise after a prolonged break), who is joined by/lumbered with (depending what part of the game you're tackling at the time) Sheva Alomar.

And, after an eerie walk through a village, it doesn't take too long for things to start going awry. You just about have enough time to get yourself armed before a horde of infected villagers is on your tail. In fact the action quickly ratchets up further, and you don't have long to get to grips with the control system at all.

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That's not going to be a major problem for veterans of the franchise, but it's going to cause some alarm for newcomers. With an over-the-shoulder camera viewpoint and an effective-if-a-little-fiddly aiming mechanic, there's a bit of a learning curve, but it's worth taking the time as it's a control system that does serve the game well.

Back to the action, though. Capcom has been reasonably generous with the ammunition this time around, but in the midst of fights it's your partner that you'll find yourself relying on. While occasionally it's healing that's needed, there's the small matter of Sheva shooting down her fair share of the infected. She's a good addition in this regard and, while you'll need to make sure she's got the ammo to help out, it's certainly true that two hands are better than one.

That is until you come up against the AI frailties, which will have you seeking out another human so you can play the game co-operatively instead (a new addition this time around). Because there are some frustrating moments where Sheva fails to do what you need her to do and you find yourself battling the game a little more than you had planned. It's worse in the moments where you absolutely have to rely on her, because we find that's when she's more likely, sadly, to let you down.

This is a surmountable problem and the bulk of the game is very good indeed. Still, we weren't left thinking that we were playing a Resident Evil 4 beater at any point, and RE5 does seem content to exist in its slipstream. The graphics, to be fair, are quite exceptional at times, but the gaming mechanic itself, aside from an evolved and not always comfortable inventory system, is familiar.

Fortunately the game retains much of the tension and the sheer entertainment factor of its predecessor and, while it's slightly disappointing that it's not the step forward we saw before, it's still a good deal better than most of the games sneaking onto the shelves this year.

In short, less a radical reboot and more a confident serving of ingredients that have worked before, but Resident Evil 5 still delivers and still keeps the franchise very much at the peak of the survival horror genre.

A glossy, tense and involving survival horror game. It has one or two problems and it's not a major step forward, but it's still very good.