When you're off killing zombies in Africa, you're gonna have some backup. Resident Evil 5 will feature cooperative player for two players - a first for the survival horror series.

According to ShackNews, the coop gameplay was revealed in a GameShack preview (which has since been pulled). Players will control Chris Redfield, one of the heroes from the first RE, and an unnamed female mercenary as they investigate mysterious events at an unnamed African country (cue the hordes of zombies). The characters will be separated on and off throughout the game so it won't be constant coop, though. If there's only one player, his companion will be controlled by A.I.

RE5 will also feature a new cover system so players can duck behind walls and fire around corners. With all this attention being paid to beefing up the combat system, it makes you wonder if they'll be toning down the puzzle gameplay common in the series. I imagine somewhere in this poor desert nation you'll stumble upon a secret research facility with doors that only unlock if you carefully rearrange paintings, though - it just wouldn't be Resident Evil without that crap. The solo portions of the game will be more puzzle-heavy, maybe; I somehow don't imagine they're adding coop to enable synchronized statue-pushing.