Just downloaded the RE5 demo off the PSN (I assume it's also out on XBL) and I have to say I'm quite impressed. Capcom finally decided to add the innovative groundbreaking features of allowing your character to sidestep and the ability rotate the camera using the right analog stick. Yes I know you could look around using the right stick in RE4 but your range was limited and the camera always snapped back.
Anyway, little tweaks to the mechanics made this latest iteration in the RE series much more playable and fun. Also I was initially skeptical of the partner system when I saw gameplay videos, fearing it would be too gimmicky. But I have to admit, by forcing you to work as a team, your really feel a bond with your partner Sheva. A camaraderie that Army of Two tried to convey, but only managed illicit feelings of homoeroticism.
The character models, environments, animation, and special effects are all stepped up from RE4. Unfortunately, the same goofy dialogue and story that takes itself too seriously returns as well. But the game just looks so good and plays fun enough that I'm willing to accept the inanity of the back story.

Overall I felt the demo was way too easy and the amount of ammo you recieved for kills was too much. I liked surviving on little ammo in the previous titles, but in the demo I did not come close to running out of ammo even once. Overall it just felt too easy, but maybe that was because it is just a demo and the full version will be different. It does look nice.

Well, the RE series has strayed FAR from its survival horror roots, which is disappointing. In fact, it would've been more appropriate to not even attach the Resident Evil title to RE4 in the first place, and certainly not to RE5. But I understand that the name brings in the big sales.
I enjoy the gameplay itself, but the game is too action oriented to be about survival. Hopefully someone will come to their senses and return the series to the more deliberately paced horror genre it once was. The new style of gameplay definitely deserves to branch off and evolve on its own, just not as a true Resident Evil title.

I had this demo early last month.
I even posted my own gameplay vid of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bP7GFxdK9g
and then i edited the video and audio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0_ZPOq8IJw

Did anybody really finish RE4 and think "that wasn't long enough; I need more RE4, and I don't mind waiting four years to get it?" I mean, RE4 was pretty long. I personally was satisfied.
So basically RE5 makes no sense to me.

I finished RE4 but the movement limitations and stupid dialogue irked me to no end. But like I said, RE5 fixed some of the bothersome limitations and just looks too good so that I can overlook the goofiness that remains.

I thought it was rather boring myself. I mean I've never been a fan of the series but they seem to have abandoned the survival horror 'run away from zombie hordes' in favour of 'slowly shoot or even more slowly hack through zombie hordes'. Like an action game at a glacial pace

I think RE4 has some good gameplay, but the main plot and everything around it is so dumb.

Exactly.

What's with all these great impressions of Resident Evil 5? The demo controls are awful! "But it's scarier like that!" No, it's not. Dead Space, FEAR and Condemned all have amazing controls and make me barricade myself inside my room when I'm playing so no one can sneak up behind me and slit my throat.

Artificial control restrictions will only ever make a game worse, never better.

Well, the graphics are very nice. But the controls really feel strange and unnecessarily complicated. Plus, you can't walk and fight at the same time, eliminating what little fun there could have been for me. I think the direction RE has taken is quite strange. You used to mention Silent Hill and RE in the same sentence: One more focused on atmosphere, one more focused on action, but still the same genre. RE5 seems to have completely forgotten about its Horror roots.

So it's not scary? Shame, I was looking forward to RE5

From what I've seen so far: No, not at all. It's just a generic third-person zombie shooter with bad controls now.

I tried it on my friend's 360. Just reminded me of how ridiculously imprecise shooting is on a thumbstick. I'll hold out for a PC version.
Until then I'll go back to playing Resident Evil 4 on my Wii.