After reading Part Two I get the feeling that N'Gai's enthusiasm for this issue fizzled before the piece was finished.

Context is everything and no topic or subject matter should from be immune from the context it's placed in.

Resident Evil is a horror series that has started to take its act on the road. No matter what country you place the game in the setting will be filled with menace and unease. The franchises stock and trade is ugly - usually compromised or corrupted - looking humans lurking in the shadows with sinister intent in their eyes. I think it's clear that Capcom wasn't actively engaging in racism when they made this game, merely following their clearly established style guide. If they can't do this in an African setting due to sensitivity then what is being sacrificed is the concept of racial equality. The treatment any race or culture will receive when Capcom's 'evil' takes 'residence' will never be nice but thus far it has proven to be equal and I think moving forward that is something they should never be chastised for.

I also think you, N'Gai, said too much after merely seeing the trailer. Your academics began to run away with you and stood in place of context. After playing the game I had a great deal of sympathy for our opponents, who are clearly the victims of this particular story. Their violation is written clearly on their bodies and ending their misery was a surprisingly bitter experience at times. The research notes uncovered in the game clearly label the western company's (read: white people) culpability in these crimes and this I found to be a timely statement on how the rest of the world is hungrily eyeing Africa's resources.

In conclusion I would point out that horror entertainment is designed to shock, revolt, and make you feel uneasy and uncomfortable in addition to the jumps of outright fright. In provoking this within you Capcom did their job. Horror commonly takes the familiar and turns it into something unreal. That said I'm quite certain that after playing Resident Evil 5 the vast majority of gamers didn't have their opinions of Africa or black people altered in the slightest. The game is obviously a work of twisted imagination and our community should let them stand as they are because their context is well in mind.

The story itself needs to be taken into account. Review the history of Vekta provided to us in the game. The planet was never a nice place to live. It was never a place of art and archetecture like Sera colony was. It was never idyllic and then bent to war. Vektan resources were always put into the military, to defend itself. It's people live in squallor in order to have a hope off fighting a more powerful and more established enemy.

Killzone 2 is unique in this way. I'm all for destroyed beauty but I don't need it to be in every shooter I play for the next three years.

The razing of Fallujah was called Operation: Phantom Fury.

I'm nearly finished the single player and think the review is justified. What's more it didn't even get into the many technical let-downs that are evident in the game.

- In order to achieve the scale they had to really cut down on the details. Indoor environments and objects are extremely basic.
- All the shooting mechanics changed from the first game to become a Call of Duty 4 clone - and a spongy one at that. Shooting is bascially a spray and pray excercise. Precise skill is neither possible nor necessary.
- Unkillable and unreacting enemies that are swimming but ten feet away? That's a B-rate solution through and through. For shame.
- Every time you see a big monster you know that there will be a large weapon somewhere nearby. You're conditioned to think this way one hour into the game.
- Your allies The Sentinels chew up valuable screen time justifying their existance and then once in battle they are never targeted. Then they're gone and you're alone again, so I have to ask what's the bloody point? Hale should have stayed solo. The team is pure fat and could have been cut out.

This game could have been good but it seems like it was really rushed. Perhaps Insomniacs schedule is starting to show with the end result being tarnish on their pristine reputation. Unless the co-op blows me away I'll be trading this one in. This is the first Insomniac game that I can handle not being in my collection.