Resident Evil Revelations HD Review

When you think of Resident Evil what do you crave? Limited ammunition? Tough creative bosses? A whole complex to explore with plenty of backtracking and a secret underground lab? Silly dialogue? Crazy buildings designed by insane architects with a fascination for weird keys?

Then stop right there! You are obviously an old school RE fan who has been left wanting a classic feeling RE game since Resident Evil 4. If you do fall into this category then I strongly urge you to go out now and pick up a copy of Resident Evil Revelations HD and enjoy the best RE game this generation! Everything I mentioned in the list above is here in this game, whole and intact!

Whoever it was at Capcom that suggested that the series returned to its roots needs a goddamn raise. Everything about this game feels like classic Resi!

The game is set in-between the events of Resident Evil 4 and 5, and you will get to experience play as Jill Valentine for the most part whilst occasionally jumping into Chris Redfield’s shoes and a few other forgettable characters. The main game itself is set on the SS Queen Zenobia. A huge abandoned pleasure ship where Chris Redfield’s tracker went dark. So it’s up to the other protagonist from the original Resident Evil and her partner Parker Luciani (the least annoying of the new characters) to track down the ship and find Chris.

Like I said the majority of the game is set on the Zenobia, and acts as a huge explorable environment just like the mansion or RCPD police department from previous games. But fear not, the environments are just as varied as the review scores for RE6. You will be exploring abandoned casinos, wartorn shopping malls to grand brightly lit halls. The narrative will occasionally take you to some other environments such as a snowy mountain range or a Hunter infested Office block. As I said these areas aren’t as much fun as the boat. Mainly because it detracts from the main story and you just find yourself wanting it to be over as soon as possible so you can get back to the fun of exploring the Zenobia with Jill.

And boy oh boy exploring the Zenobia feels GREAT! It is classic hardcore RE down to a T! In place of generic zombies are a whole new plethora of tough slimy enemies created by the new T-Abyss Virus (yeah, I know). You will constantly be on edge as these slippery bastards can appear from anywhere! Another welcome trope that returns is the scarcity of ammo. In many a chapter I found myself completely out of bullets with only a knife to defend myself. I personally loved this as I had to re teach myself the joys of ammo conservation.

Furthermore in relation to the exploration, SILLY KEYS ARE BACK! And they all have a navel theme (anchor key etc). You will find yourself on many an occasion, as you wade through old reports and journal entries, chuckling to yourself as you read about why certain mechanisms and keys were necessary in the creation of this ship. It’s just all so dumb but never the rubbish Michale Bay dumb that 6 aspired to. It’s more of an endearing dumb. Think if Amanda Bynes was a computer game.

Combat is fine. More along the lines of Resident Evils 4 and 5 than 6. Nothing to write home about but it does the job perfectly. One noticeable change to proceedings is the Genesis Scanner. Pressing the appropriate button will let you scan the immediate area for hidden items and clues. You can also scan enemies and after a certain amount of them have been scanned you will be rewarded with a green herb. This is neither here nor there for the most part as herbs aren’t that uncommon but it is an invaluable tactic during the games ultra-tough boss battles.

Then after you have exhausted everything the Zenobia has to offer there is Raid mode to tackle. This is a mode that can be done either in single player or multiplayer form and is pretty comprehensive and deep. Think of this as mercenaries with a bit more bite and varying objectives. You have a vast array of characters to choose from, all with their plusses and negatives. For example Jill is an expert with a pistol but won’t wield a shotgun as effectively as Chris. All characters can be leveled up, as well as equipped with their own individual loadouts. BP (the currency used in Raid mode) can be used to buy new weapons, ammunition, upgrades and buffs. My one major gripe with Raid mode is that ammo does not reset for each match. So say, for example, you use start a match with 8 magnum rounds and use them all in that match, when you start a new match you will still have no magnum rounds. You either have to spend BP on replenishing your ammo or wait until you find some in a game.

Finally a quick shout out for the score of the game. In a word, brilliant. Suitably eerie, sweeping orchestral music haunts your ears as you search the dilapidated surroundings of your sea bound tomb. Always managing to keep you on the edge of your seat without ever feeling like it’s intruding on the experience. It spookily echoes the genius that was the music score of the original RE.

And talking about echoing the series roots, the game does end with a hint that Jill and Chris will be returning for another outing in a similar vein to Revelations. ONLY THIS TIME IN A MANSION! If that’s not reason to get hype bananas up to the eye holes then I don’t know what is!!!

So there you have it, a fantastic, but not perfect, return to form for a beloved and cherished franchise. This may not be the absolute return to form that die-hard fans have been wanting for so long. But it is without a doubt a step in the right direction! Go and buy this game and step once again into the world of survival horror.

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Resident Evil 2 Random Retro Review

Ok. So I know I said that this week’s RRR was going to be Ducktales, but in the words of L.J from the academy award winning film Resident evil Apocalypse, ‘My shit is custom!’ In other words I’ll do what I want when I want! (Anyway I haven’t finished replaying Ducktales yet and I did finish Leon’s B scenario last night.)

So for those of you that have already sampled the delights of Resi 2 there isn’t going to be a lot of insight here. This is mainly for those of you that missed it. I’m going to start off by telling you the lay of the land. Resi 2 is one of the greatest action games ever created! Yeah I know that it’s technically survival horror but seriously, the last hour of the game evokes the same amount of adrenalin that MGS1 did back in the day. It’s that good!

Furthermore I’d even go as far to say that Resi 2 is the perfect Resi game. It has everything. A great and gripping story, albeit delivered with some very hammy dialog. Nothing here is on par with some of the cracking one liner’s from Resi 1 (Jill sandwich) however Ada Wong’s “I’m just a woman who fell in love with you, nothing more” comes pretty close.

But enough of that. I’ll attempt to quickly brush over what makes this game great (only because I’ve got Nemesis downloaded on my PS Vita and it’s giving me those come to bed eyes!)

4 campaigns! That’s right! Count ‘em! You get to play Leon and Claire’s A and B scenarios with the choices you make and items you pick up affecting the next play through. For example late in the game, playing as Claire, you can release a gas in a lab which kills all Biohazards in that area. Then upon completing the game, and starting Leon’s B scenario, you won’t be able to do this and will have to fight your way through the labs! Great yeah?! The two initial campaign’s play fairly similarly with a few different areas to explore and enemies to fight like Mr X, the Nemesis inspiring baddie who stalks you throughout the entire game.

Then you’ve got the weapons. And I’m not talking about Claire’s standard crossbow and grenade launcher. No I’m getting all up in Leon’s arsenal! Leon’s three main weapons, the shotgun, pistol and magnum, can all be upgraded into zombie splitting machines. The pistol into a sort of semi-automatic Uzi. The shotgun into a whip cracking Licker destroyer. And the magnum into a bucking elephant annihilator! All three of which are incredibly satisfying to use.

Then there is the setting. One of my favourite aspects of a Resi game is the journey you make from the normal to the strange. And Resi 2 pulls this off with aplomb. Starting in the deserted zombie infested streets of Raccoon city you gradually crawl your way through various gorgeously rendered environments such as the RCPD police department, the spider infested sewers and then the underground secret laboratories of the Umbrella Corporation. And it’s when you get to these clinical shiny corridors that you know some serious shit is going to be going down. And of course all of these locations are accompanied by suitably eerie and creepy musical scores.

Finally Leon Kennedy himself. One of the best protagonists in any game ever! He looks like the dogs proverbial in his blue RCPD duds and his final words in the final cut scene which greet the spastically amazing badass bass slaps of the final credits music are on a level of manliness that Chuck Norris only dreams of reaching!

In short if you own a ps2, N64, Vita, Gamecube, ps3, Dreamcast or PC you owe it to yourself…nay…mankind to play this game!  

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Resident Evil 5 Review

The wait is finally over for what is not only one of the most anticipated sequels of this generation, proudly planting itself alongside the likes of Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto 4, but also, the sequel to what many consider to be the best game of the last generation and in some cases of all time. Not many games can make this claim and the people at Capcom must surely have been feeling the pressure to deliver over the last couple of years of development. However, has taking the Resident Evil Franchise out of its familiar gloomy settings and placing it in the sun-drenched landscapes of Africa helped improve a winning formula? Or changed it in to an entirely different beast?

The first thing you are going to notice about protagonist of old, Chris Redfield, as soon as you take control of him is that he is a far cry, visually, from his PS1 or even Gamecube counterparts. Capcom obviously deciding that to compete with the likes of Gears of War, Chris has needed to go on a course of steroids. Indeed with his gruff voice and bulky exterior he wouldn’t look entirely out of place in Cog body armour.

This is when you realise Resi 5 has changed. Resi 5 is, pause for effect, no longer a survival horror. With the game split up into comfortable bite size chapters, an AI or humanly controlled partner constantly with you and an almost arcade like pick up and play vibe Resident Evil 5 is dipping its toes into the water of action shooters. That’s not to say this isn’t still a game about tension, ammo reservation and tight shootouts. It still encompasses these, just not to the same level as prior games, especially Resi 4.

However Capcom has also decided to keep one element of their beloved franchise firmly in place. The archaic control system. There was no problem with this last time around and I think people were more willing to forgive as they were playing such a groundbreaking game. Unfortunately after playing the likes of Dead Space and Gears 2, two games that prove you can still be tense, scary AND still aim and move, you can’t help but wonder why this control scheme was implemented.

There is no denying though that this is one gorgeous looking game and Capcom are clearly squeezing every bit of processing power out of the machine. Cut scenes are sexy and dialogue is up to the standard of cheese the Resi franchise is renowned for. The story and few plot twists are likely to keep you coming back for more. And this is a game that demands a fair few completions. Again, picking up on the arcade like vibe, you can carry over all your upgraded weapons and experience to the harder difficulty settings, another first for the series. As this is the only way you will be able to obtain the rarer weapons, such as a bow and arrow for partner Sheva and a hefty rail gun for Chris. Not to mention the treasure trove of other unlockables available to you.

Capcom have clearly made a lot of deliberate changes to their baby. Some for the best and others maybe not so wise. There is no debate though, this is an amazing game. It may not be the Resi of old or even the massive innovation many were expecting, but truly great third person shooters are far and few between and Resident Evil 5 can proudly sit somewhere between Dead Space and Gears 2 on that front. So sit down. Cock your boom sticks and prepare to take the ride of your life because this is one game that will grab you and won’t let you go, even after the credits have rolled.

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