We're just under a month away from the release of Resident Evil 5, the controversial horror game from Capcom. If you've kept up with the preview coverage, you've seen the noise, hype, expectations, and misconceptions about the game. I'd like to cut through all that and instead tell you five simple things based on the time I've had actually playing. I've been through the first half of the game in each of two reviewable builds sent to the videogaming press. In those builds, there's a lot I can't talk about until the review embargo is lifted. But there are some important points I'd like to pass along.

After the jump are five things you should know about Resident Evil 5.

1) Resident Evil 5 is a resource management game.

There's a common perception that the Resident Evils are horror game. Since Resident Evil 4, some consider it straight-up action because of the emphasis on gunplay. A friend of mine described it as a turret game. But I'd disagree with all these. Resident Evil 5, even more than the previous games, is primarily about resource management. It's about how to deal with an onslaught of zombies given limited ammo and limited opportunities to heal up. It's about being careful with your shots, about learning to use the knife and the finishing movies, about figuring out when to run and when to stand firm. This is especially apparent in the way Resident Evil 5 is divided into discrete encounters in which you have to scrounge for and carefully conserve your ammo in a closed off area inundated with zombies.

Traditionally, this is a big part of survival horror. The original survival horror game, 1992's Alone in the Dark, was set in a single location with about twelve bullets and no more three places to heal damage. Since most games are afraid to simply make you weak, they instead present you with the daunting calculus of so many monsters and so few bullets. Because otherwise, you're just going to have a lot of gunplay with the occasional scripted cat scare (see FEAR 1 and 2, Undying, Blood, and many other games with horror settings minus any meaningful horror gameplay).

2) Resident Evil 5 is not very different from Resident Evil 4.

Remember the first time you played Resident Evil 4? If you were a fan of the series, it was a revelation. No Resident Evil game had been like this before. The jump from Resident Evil 3 to Resident Evil 4 was a revolution on a couple of levels. The setting - villages in Spain - was unique. The interface - hey, this is kind of like a slightly clunky shooter instead of an entirely clunky adventure game! - was at last relatively handy. And the graphics and animation were rich, atmospheric, and all the more stunning considering they were on the Gamecube.

Well, there's no such jump this time. Resident Evil 5 is very much a continuation of Resident Evil 4.

3) A lot of you will hate the controls.

This is partly a corollary of #2, but it deserves its own entry, since there's a fair bit of noise about the improved interface. Don't believe it. There is nothing like running and gunning here. You have to stop, aim, and carefully shoot. The controls aren't going to let you do things like circle strafe, run backwards while blowing away the oncoming mob, or easily toss a grenade. You will not be able to put to use your carefully honed Halo skills. Even the inventory is going to confound you. You can use the d-pad to swap among your choice of four items or weapons, but you can't mange this stuff with zombies bearing down on you. The inventory will not pause the game, which works wonders in terms of consistent pacing, but won't do your blood pressure any favors. Resident Evil 5 will keep moving whatever you do, and the interface isn't there to help you so much as to force preparation and hard choices.

4) Resident Evil 5 is a co-op game, through and through.

Ashley was a liability in the previous Resident Evil. She was there to whine, squeal, be saved, and occasionally help you pull a lever. But your partner in Resident Evil 5, Sheva, is on entirely equal footing with Chris Redfield. In fact, if it weren't for Chris being the default character in solo games, you could just as easily make an argument that Sheva is the lead character. Even more so than Gears of War, this is a game built around being played by two characters in tandem. The AI does a passable job filling in if you're playing solo, but you're going to miss out on a lot of nuance. It's important who's using which weapon and who has which inventory items. It's important whether Sheva or Chris picks up that box of pistol ammo or that red plant or the single grenade you've found. It's important where each character is standing in relations to the other. It's important that you watch each other's backs. Capcom clearly intends that you'll get the most out of Resident Evil 5 if you have a friend along, either online or split screen.

5) Resident Evil 5 is in questionable taste at best, and flat-out offensive at worst.

Believe the controversy.

Is Resident Evil 5 racist? That's between you and whatever definition you have for racism. However, there's no denying some clumsy imagery of a white man driving back mobs of ravening black men, some in full tribal get-up with their shields and spears. Is it appropriate given the African setting? Sure. Is it going to raise eyebrows given the contemporary cultural climate? It already has. It will continue to do so. If you thought there were points of questionable taste with what looked like a lynching (it's actually a beheading, but there seems to have been some hanging going on as well), you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Whether you're personally offended is beside the point. There will be people offended by Resident Evil 5, and Capcom seems utterly oblivious to the point. Whether it's the lynch mob in the beginning, the sullying and execution of the blonde woman, or the fight against a traditional African tribe, this will be a lightning rod for controversy. The occasional token white zombie just looks silly. Racial quotas among the undead? Pointing out that Sheva is black is silly. She's safely black in the same way as Halle Berry, which is to say not very. Enjoy your time out of the spotlight, Rockstar. It's Capcom's turn!

But what's important to realize is that this isn't a brouhaha just for the sake of a brouhaha. It's a legitimate issue and one that videogaming should get used to confronting. We're sitting at the grown-up table now, with movies at our right elbow and television at our left elbow, and music across from us and even books down at the far end of the table. This is where we wanted to sit, so we're going to be held to different standards than we were ten, or even five years ago.

I'm looking forward to playing Resident Evil 5, even though I have problems with certain aspects of the design. It's a well-made game that delivers a tense cinematic experience in a mostly unique setting. And I'm also looking forward to Capcom being held accountable for it, because it's also an oblivious cultural gaffe, similar to someone showing up in blackface at a Halloween party. Yeah, it's Halloween, so you can get away with a lot, but, uh, that's what you're going to go with?