I should give Capcom a piece of my mind. Resident Evil has had quite a tenure since the original found its way  into my heart. Despite all of this, it no longer takes place in a residence! Of all the nerve. But still, Capcom continues to deliver the goods, and Resident Evil 5 could set a glowing example to all the aspiring survival horror’s out there. The demo for said game recently hit the Xbox Live Marketplace, and I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time with Chris Redfield since then.

The male protagonist from the original game is back, and he’s once again accompanied by a female partner, this time one Sheba Alomar. The huge change here is that you don’t actually get separated from each other for the entire game, in fact it seems you’ll be spending more or less all of it alongside her. The game is built for co-op, which you can play local or online, but nothing is to stop you from going it alone (sort of).

In the latter instance, Sheba is controlled by the AI, which functions rather well on its own  — perhaps better than any of your buddies could. She’ll give you copious amounts of ammunition, lend a helping hand when you’re down, and won’t buckle under pressure. This is especially magnified during intense moments, when all hell seems to be breaking loose. Sure, she can still get snagged by enemies, but I didn’t end up having to babysit her too much.

The inventory system seems to have had quite the overhaul from RE4, as instead of playing a game of Tetris with your items, you hot-key them to the D-pad. There’s nine slots, with four of them automatically assigned to the directional buttons. The major change here is the fact that opening your inventory screen doesn’t pause the game. This creates an added layer of tension since the game has you exchanging items, combining herbs and the like all in real-time.

But make no mistake, the demo really shines when playing with a friend. Sharing all the crazy moments with a real person really makes the experience a lot of fun, and decidedly less organized to boot. You can perform cooperative actions that differ contextually. Want a better vantage point? Have your partner boost you up to a low rooftop. Need another way across? Propel your partner across a large gap. You can even perform special attacks in tandem, tossing a dizzied enemy back and forth with an uppercut or an elbow.

It all feels really familiar. The formula seems to be relatively the same, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The shoulder cam, stopping to shoot, jumping through windows stuff all seems to be in tact. They did add a controller option that lets you aim with the right stick, if that suits your fancy. Throw in some online co-op and you got yourself a game. I suppose it’s worth mentioning that RE5 looks absolutely amazing, even in SD.

Two scenarios are playable, which offer short but dense vertical slices. The first of which starts out with a dude of some importance getting beheaded, which is when the stark reality sets in. Now you actually have to play. It throws you right into a small-scale riot, which has a frenetic pace that is not unlike the first 15 minutes of Resident Evil 4. Revel in the madness as a lumbering individual chases after you with a giant axe. Grit your teeth as a man with a giant chainsaw gets upset at you, MARVEL AS THE…well, you get the picture. It’s all a lot to digest in such a small demo, but I think it gets its point across — Resident Evil 5 could be a force to be reckoned with this March.