For the first time in history the esteemed Resident Evil franchise is coming to an Xbox console as well as its more familiar Playstation counterpart on Friday 13th March, 2009. After playing through both levels in the recently released demo several times it appears the wait will not only be well and truly worth it for Microsoft fans, but that the potential is there for it to rival the big daddy of co-op campaign play, Gears of War.

The big change this time around is centred on co-operative play. The entire campaign can be played in co-op mode both online and splitscreen. Choosing singleplayer will put you in control of Chris Redfield with the AI controlling your female companion, Sheva Alomar. This is where it delivers a Gears of War like buddy dynamic as you constantly have someone fighting at your side through some incredibly tense standoffs. You'll find yourself constantly considering your compadre's situation as you monitor their health, currently equipped weapon and its remaining ammo which are all displayed on screen right next to your own. Even in single player, you need to work together.

There are two playable levels in the demo, Public Assembly and Shanty Town. Both levels can be played in singleplayer and co-operatively either online or splitscreen. Public Assembly is a market type area where a large crowd is addressed by a guy with a megaphone, we've seen snippets of it in numerous trailers. Shanty Town is well you guessed it, an area comprising of shall we say, very affordable housing. Apart from the layout, the environments in both levels are very similar in terms of surroundings and textures and they are stunning. Rather than a stylized look like the aforementioned Gears, Resident Evil opts for a photo-realistic depiction of its world. Never has corrugated steel, rusting fences and chipped concrete looked so good. The texture work on the dilapidated structures is indeed impressive and convincingly sells the grotty, poverty stricken world of Africa where the story takes place. Dust also permeates every part of the environment and constantly washes across the screen in a semi-transparent display which is incredibly effective.

Where the developers have strayed into stylised is in the character models of Chris and Sheva with a slightly exaggerated athletic appearance. Chris has an incredibly small waist and some of the biggest guns gaming has ever seen. No I'm not talking about his 9mm and shotgun, just check out his biceps and triceps. Sheva's presence is expressed through movement, she is always graceful and cat like displaying physical prowess an Olympic gymnast would be jealous of. The animation of both characters is excellent, always looking very fluid and natural. Want to see something real impressive? Pay close attention to Chris's right hand as he reloads individual bullets into the sniper rifle, notice the way his wrist cocks and his hand manipulates the rifle's bolt action. It's always the little touches that sell it for me.

The two different character types compliment the co-op influenced layout of the levels. Shanty Town features two elevated areas only Sheva can reach utilising her acrobatic prowess with the help of a boost from Chris. The first allows Sheva to pick off attackers from on high as they descend a stairway towards Chris. The second is the area from the Microsoft E3 press conference earlier this year. Sheva is beset upon by a large group of infected and Chris has to lend fire support with a bolt-action hunting rifle from the second floor across the street.

The combat and gameplay is typically slow paced, a staple of the RE series. Here running is more like an amble with the chosen weapon in the ready position at all times. Just like previous iterations you can't move while firing or reloading but you can now strafe before bringing your weapon to bear. The default control configuration is what Gears and COD fans will be most familiar with, LT to aim and RT to fire. Reloading is the same as this year's excellent new IP survival horror Dead Space, simply press A whilst the LT is depressed. Speaking of Dead Space, which played more like a third person shooter than a survival horror, RE5's controls felt somewhat clumsy and slow in comparison at first. Only after a couple of playthroughs of the two levels did it start to feel right, tweaking the aim sensitivity to its fastest setting (this will be a popular choice amongst the shooter crowd) and relaxing my Call of Duty twitchiness allowed very minor thumb movements to produce repeated headshots.

Headshots aren’t the only way to be effective in combat however. Many of your assailants will be brandishing rusty machetes and sickles which they will sometimes throw at you or close in for some good old fashioned hacking. Shooting the arm in question will cause them to drop the weapon leaving them with only a less powerful grapple attack. Probably my favourite tactic was to stun an infected with a couple of shots, then if close enough an icon would appear prompting the press of the X button to deliver a finishing punch. The game chooses whether it is an uppercut, hook, or my favourite, a straight punch where Chris reels back and delivers an over the top linedrive to the enemy’s face sending him flying through the air all with a cool motion blur effect. Trust me, you won’t get sick of it.

The firearms are excellent to use, all displaying somewhat realistic recoil with even the default Beretta handgun jumping in your character’s hands after every shot. You’ll get to use the handgun, a bolt-action hunting rifle, an MP5 SMG, a Skorpion SMG if you find it in Public Assembly and my favourite, a sawn-off pump action shotgun which will send three or four enemies reeling at once. There is possibly even more hidden in the levels, but I didn’t find them as it is rare you are not being chased by an angry mob. An effective strategy is for both characters to utilise different weapons to maximise ammunition collected throughout the level.

Players can pass items to each other such as weapons, ammo and health, but just like Dead Space the game does not pause whilst the inventory is accessed. This effectively forces you to anticipate encounters and make sure both characters are appropriately equipped. At times you’ll also be forced to run from the mob netting you precious few seconds to make a necessary exchange. It all adds to the tension brilliantly, you are a foreigner in a hostile land and will undoubtedly make for some truly memorable co-op play.

All this from two levels which only last about ten minutes each and I haven't even touched on the boss enemies you'll encounter. I don't want to spoil it all for you when the demo finally hits the West. Whilst this is only a very small snapshot of the game, it appears extremely polished this far out from release. The only minor gripe I can offer is occasionally in singleplayer Sheva will get in your away as she seems to be attached to your hip. She can sometimes be slow to follow a retreat resulting in death at the hand of a boss enemy. Play it in co-op however and it becomes very difficult to find anything worth bitching about. This is shaping up to be a truly memorable experience. Marcus and Dom, you may just have to step aside as Chris and Sheva ascend to the throne. This demo has me so pumped for the game I'm off to my local electronics store right now. I am ashamed to admit I haven't played the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 4 and I know they are selling the Wii version dirt cheap. Friday the 13th cannot come soon enough.