Video game review: Desperate Escape DLC for Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360)

Resident Evil fans can be generally split into two groups: players who enjoy and embrace the action-oriented third-person game play style of Resident Evil 4 and 5 and those who prefer the old school puzzle solving with a more moderate dose of zombie killing action.

Desperate Escape, the second piece of downloadable content for Resident Evil 5, is clearly geared more towards the action fans in contrast to Lost In Nightmares which, while offering a lot of cleverly crafted nostalgia to gamers who grew up with the earlier entries in the series in the 90′s, feels like a completely separate entity instead of an expansion on the main game.

In Desperate Escape, the player takes control of recently saved Jill Valentine (or can use Sheva Alomar’s comrade Josh Stone after beating the episode once) on a side journey that details just how Jill and Josh ended up in the helicopter during the final cut scene of Resident Evil 5.

Whereas gamers who have no history with the Resident Evil franchise may get thrown by the drastically different game play style of Lost In Nightmares, they’ll easily transition to Desperate Escape which uses characters, enemies and environments from the main game. The episode fits perfectly into the world, and the very basic story complements the campaign proper which makes for a better, more seamless experience.

Desperate Escape is basically more of everything players loved (or hated) about Resident Evil 5 so the gamer knows exactly what they’re getting when they plunk down the $5 for the download (the content is also available as part of the Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition package for those players who were late to the game).

I think both pieces of downloadable content are worth playing for long time fans of the Resident Evil series, but if I had to choose one to recommend I would suggest Desperate Escape in a heartbeat since it’s a much more exciting experience that is truer to Resident Evil 5′s heartbeat.

Final score: 4 out of 5

Parent to parent

Like I said in my review, Desperate Escape is more of everything that was great in Resident Evil 5 which includes the gore and the violence. I wouldn’t recommend the main game to young children, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend this expansion.

Experience this for yourself!