Because of a consumer's ability to choose what parts of the Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition DLC they want to buy, I will review each piece of content separately.

Lost in Nightmares

Reuniting Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, the ineptly-voiced protagonists from the first Resident Evil, in another poorly-kept mansion on the hunt for the Albert Wesker, the series' recurring antagonist, Lost in Nightmares attempts to cash in on the player's fond memories of the earlier games in the franchise, as well as fill in a gap in Resident Evil 5's plot. Doors open in similar to how they did in earlier games, there are plentiful references to events from the series' pasts -- a joke referring to Jill's lock-picking prowess, a small scare replicating a dog crashing through a window -- more so than Resident Evil 5 proper, and entire rooms from the original Resident Evil are recreated inside what's supposed to be an entirely new mansion.

The story aspects aren't as plentiful, however. Diary entries inform the player of some of the backstory of both Resident Evil 5 and the series as a whole, but the DLC itself won't provide too many answers. Since most players already know the outcome of the events enacted in the DLC, there isn't much of a gap to fill. You might learn some of the more minute details of the franchise's timeline, but you won't learn too many important things (not that the plot of any Resident Evil lends itself to a thorough examination).

For $5, the DLC will give you about an hour's worth of play on your first playthrough. Though you'll have to start fresh at the start of the DLC -- no bringing in your infinite ammo rocket launcher with you, unfortunately. Because you have an extremely limited amount of ammo, there's a good bit of tension throughout the entire experience, something Resident Evil 5 sorely lacked. Enemies themselves are scarce, but most of them will require a sound strategy more than they'll need shots to the face. You won't encounter hordes of zombies, but rather fewer, stronger enemies that prove a good challenge on your first run, save for a rather mediocre boss battle.

The DLC is sound amount of content, and though short-lived, delivers some decent scares (both cheap and tense). The replay value is low, even if you want to snag acheivements or trophies, but there are a few surprises on the higher difficulties.

Score: 5/5

Desperate Escape

Where Lost in Nightmares focuses on delivering old-school scares, Desperate Escape is set on reliving some of the more action-packed sequences of the latter half of Resident Evil 4. From the outset, you'll be faced with the infested zombies you've come to know so well throughout your trek through Resident Evil 4 and 5. A constant offensive of the various crossbow, axe, Chainsaw and minigun-wielding Majini is made more threatening by the constant danger of faraway rocket launchers, all of which must be reached in order to destroy the doors that block you off from proceeding to the next set of doors and rocket launchers.

The chaotic war zone that Desperate Escape places you in may not too out of place in with the latter half of Resident Evil 5, but it doesn't exactly mesh cohesively either. Again attempting to fix another gap in the plot of the main game, the DLC has newcomer Josh Stone escorting Jill into a communications building to deliver a message to Chris. The scenery is new, but much of the action is tired. The intensity of barreling through obstacle after obstacle fades when you realize that having bested two Chainsaw Majini in small parking area, the action has reached its apex. The finale has you holding off waves of zombies while waiting for a helicopter to arrive, but even that fails to add any intensity what will by then become a monotonous journey.

It's not a bad idea to deliver something to compliment Lost in Nightmare's creeping pace, but it isn't what I want out of a story-based piece of content. Josh Stone is fleshed out to make a him less than a throwaway character than he was before, but the story of how Jill and Josh got on a helicopter to help Chris and Sheva isn't one I'm really interested in knowing.

Score: 3/5