Resident Evil 5 Impressions

Resident Evil 5 is a great game.. but that's it. It's not a masterpiece and it's not terrible.. it's just... great. Resident Evil 4 was a work of art... Resident Evil 5, unfortunately, takes a step back. The character development lacks horribly. Irvin only has about 3 scenes. Salazar from RE4 has about 20. Kirk has about 5 scenes (you never actually see him). Louis from RE4 has about 15. Jill has about 4 scenes. Ada from RE4 has at least 25 scenes. You see Wesker half way through the game. In RE4, you see Sadalar in the first Chapter. I can go on and on. And speaking of Wesker, when did he becomes the "take over the world" type? I recall Wesker being money hungry.

Where is the mine thrower and the weapon variety? Why can't I just buy items from a Merchent instead of waiting until I complete a chapter? Why is the game so short? Why do I get figurines by shooting emblems instead of a Shooting Range (which is a lot more fun). Why does Sheva get in the way more than Ashley? At least in RE4, Ashley got kidnapped every 5 minutes (ok, 4 times) and was always told to "wait here" while Leon goes into another room and fights a boss or retrieves a key. There are some improvements though, like the graphics (obviously), the inclusion of co-op, The Mercenaries, and Online Versus. I can't really say much about the characters, weapons, level design, plot, and AI when compared to RE4... you know, the important things. But despite all these faults.. it's still a great game.