You have once again entered the world of survival horror: A REplay of the Resident Evil series

[Romier S 1,791]

Great post, Jeff!

 

I’d highly recommend taking a look at the work being done by the folks over at the RE4 HD Project. They have completely redone the texture work in the game to bring them up to high resolution standards while remaining 100% faithful to the original artwork. It’s one of the most thoughtful fan made projects I’ve ever seen. It’s obviously only for the PC version of the game, but it runs well even on lower spec machines and Capcom should just port this over to current gen systems and I’d be happy.

 

http://www.re4hd.com/

 

Some examples of their work:

 

 

 

[JFo 551]

11 hours ago, Romier S said:

Great post, Jeff!

 

Thanks! I could have probably posted a lot more, but I had to stop somewhere.

 

Those HD textures look really nice. My guess is that if the remake of Resident Evil 2 does really well, we're going to see a remake of RE4 sooner rather than later.

 

By the way, this week's epsiode of Frame Trap has a segment about Resident Evil 4. It's brief at only about 8 minutes long, but worth checking out. Brandon Jones has been doing another playthrough of the game on his own time and talks about his experiences here. Some of his thoughts echo my own. The video below will start at the beginning of the segment.

 

 

 

[JFo 551]

 

I suspect I can finish off both DLC packs in the next day or two. If I remember correctly, both are maybe a couple hours long, at most.

[Mark E 427]

Resident Evil 5 is a lot of fun co-op and unfortunately I felt like the game hamstrung its single-player mode as a consequence.

 

I was fortunate enough to do the whole thing with a friend of mine and it was a hoot. Trying to do it on my own was annoying as hell.

[Mark E 427]

Resident Evil 5 is a lot of fun co-op and unfortunately I felt like the game hamstrung its single-player mode as a consequence.

 

I was fortunate enough to do the whole thing with a friend of mine and it was a hoot. Trying to do it on my own was annoying as hell.

 

Are you going to hit up Revelations during this play, Jeff?

[JFo 551]

1 hour ago, Mark E said:

Resident Evil 5 is a lot of fun co-op and unfortunately I felt like the game hamstrung its single-player mode as a consequence.

 

I was fortunate enough to do the whole thing with a friend of mine and it was a hoot. Trying to do it on my own was annoying as hell.

 

I've never played Resident Evil 5 with another person, unfortunately. I imagine it’s fantastic in co-op. I’ll go into more detail when I post my full thoughts on the game, but I think Capcom managed to get everything working well enough in single-player to be enjoyable. You’re right, though, in that it was clearly designed as a co-op experience, and the single-player suffers some as a result.

 

1 hour ago, Mark E said:

Are you going to hit up Revelations during this play, Jeff?

 

Yep, I have both Revelations games on my To Do List. The only question I have—and I was thinking about polling you guys about it—is where do I fit them into this run? Obviously, I’m doing RE6 next. Do I want to follow that up with RE7 since it’s the next in the mainline series? Or do I do Revelations 1 and 2 after RE6, since the gameplay is more similar to 4, 5, and 6?

 

I could honestly go either way, but if you guys want to chime in, I would certainly appreciate the input. 😀

[JFo 551]

So, let's talk about Resident Evil 5, shall we? Here were my thoughts on the game at the start of the tread:

 

Resident Evil 5 — (Last played March 23, 2009) Definitely good, but not as great as its predecessor. In that way, it was a disappointment. That may not be fair to it though, as it’s hard to follow up a game like that. I enjoyed the DLC as well and plan on including both Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape in my replay of the game.

 

After playing the campaign again and the two DLC packs, my opinion has not changed at all. I still think it's an excellent game overall, but it is not as good as Resident Evil 4. I say this for two reasons.

 

First, Resident Evil 5 is too similar to its predecessor. In the simplest terms, Resident Evil 5 is Resident Evil 4 with co-op. The gameplay is left mostly unchanged. You've got the over-shoulder-perspective, an identical combat system, and a mission structure very similar to RE4.

 

And to be honest, these similarities are fine. After the success of RE4, I didn't expect—nor did I want—Capcom to reinvent the series yet again. I wanted another game like Resident Evil 4, and that's what they delivered.

 

The problem is that they didn't just copy the gameplay mechanics of RE4. They copied many of the same encounters as well. The opening chapter, which pits Chris and Sheva against waves of enemies in an enclosed space, is just a repeat of the village ambush at the start of RE4. As you’d expect, the encounter has less impact as a result. It’s like hearing a good joke a second time. It may still be really funny, but you’re not going to laugh as hard as you did the first time you heard it. Couple that with the fact that many of the levels aren’t as unique and varied this time out, and you have a game that doesn’t reach the same highs as RE4.

 

The second reason the game isn’t as good as RE4 is that it’s too different from the other titles in the franchise. Many of the elements I expect from a good Resident Evil game are almost non-existent in RE5. Exploration, puzzle solving, examining objects in the environment are dialed way back in favor of frantic, fast-paced action. I assume this is due to the fact that they wanted to make the game a co-op experience from beginning to end. It would not be much fun to wait for someone else to solve a puzzle, so they just omitted them altogether. If Capcom’s goal was to make this the best co-op experience they could, it was probably the right call, but unfortunately, it means that the single-player suffered as a result.

 

I hate to sound so down on this one, because the truth is this game is very, very good. I quite enjoyed playing through it again after so many years. If I didn’t have four more Resident Evil games in the series to finish before the end of January, I would even be tempted to go back through all the levels and collect all the blue medallions. Maybe at some point if I have the time, I will.

 

Additional random thoughts:

 

• “Lost in Nightmares” and “Desperate Escape” are good add-ons and worth playing if you buy the new PS4 or Xbox One version. Of the two, I prefer “Lost in Nightmares” because it brings back some of the survival horror elements missing from the campaign. The only downside is that they are very short. I finished both of them in an hour and forty minutes.

 

• Story-wise, I think it would have been more interesting if Chris and Jill’s roles had been reversed. Make Jill the main character and Chris the “damsel” to be saved. It would have been cool to have two kickass female characters lead one of these games for once. Plus, Jill is my favorite character in the series, so I relish any chance I get to play as her.

 

• I played this on Xbox One X and it was a treat to play it at 1080p at a rock-solid 60fps. The game felt really smooth and responsive as a result. Visually, it holds up better than RE4, which I would expect given it was the first title in the franchise to be released in HD.

 

• Speaking of the visuals The color palette took me back to the mid- to late-2000s as well with their excessive use of browns and grey, and muted color palettes. Granted, Resident Evil never had the most vibrant color palette to begin with, but RE5 in particular reminded me a lot more of Call of Duty and Gears of War rather than other RE games. Maybe that’s because so much of it takes place in broad daylight rather than during the night.

 

• The computer controlled character when playing solo works quite well, in my opinion. They help you out while simultaneously doing a pretty good job of staying out of your way. I’ve heard some complaints that they never use weapons other than the handgun unless they completely run out of bullets. My assumption was the developers didn’t want players to get mad because the AI partner “wasted” all the good ammo on enemies with it didn’t need to.

 

• Finally, Albert Wesker gets to take center stage as the main villain. He’s a good one too. By this point, he and Chris have enough history between them to make the fight mean something more beyond saving the world. And yes, he had it coming at the end.

 

And now I turn my attention to what many consider to be the lowest point in the entire franchise: Resident Evil 6. This is a game that I have played, but did not complete. I didn't even come close. I completed the first chapter of Leon's campaign and turned it off. Is it really as bad as they say? Maybe, but I’m going to try to and give it a chance.

 

Pray for me.

[JFo 551]

 

I wish I could have played a bit more this week, but other things got busy here with Halloween and all. So far I’m finding that a chapter or two per night from each campagin seems to be a good pace. It will be interesting to see how all the campaign stories fit into each other and intersect.

 

Next up, Chris’s campaign!

[JFo 551]

I completed Chapter 3 of Chris' campaign last night. I’m hoping to finish it tonight or tomorrow. It just depends on how tired I am when I start playing it tonight. After that, I plan on playing the Jake/Sherri campaign, followed by Ada's.

 

I remember hearing at one point that Chris' campaign was more action-focused than Leon's, which I found surprising since Leon's has so much action in it already. I think I understand what they’re talking about now. 

[JFo 551]

Resident Evil 6 completed! I can’t even begin to tell you how good it feels to get this one off the list. 

 

 

Next up is RE7, which I started last summer, but stopped playing about 2 hours into so that I could play through the rest of the series first. I will be starting over since it’s been several months, and I want to experience it from beginning to end with minimal interruptions.

 

Before that though, I have to do my write-up on RE6. Hopefully, I can have that read in a couple days. 

[JFo 551]

“Survival Horror is dead.” —Romier S, October 1, 2012

 

All right, let’s talk about Resident Evil 6, the first game in this series that I had not previously completed. In my first post, I had the following to say about it:

 

Resident Evil 6 — (Never completed) I played it for a few hours, grew frustrated, and turned it off. I hope to power my way through it so that I can at least say I finished it. Maybe after I get into it more, I’ll find something to like about it. I don’t know though. This is going to be a tough one.

 

When I started playing RE6 this time, I tried to approach it with an open mind. There was a lot of hate for this game upon its release, and hardcore fans of the series don’t hold it in high regard. I certainly didn’t care for it when I played it a couple years ago on PS3, which is why I quit after completing just one chapter of Leon’s campaign.

 

Having now played through all four campaigns on Normal difficulty (total play time was about 20 hours), I can’t say that I particularly love it, but I don’t hate it either. It’s a 3-out-of-5-star game that has the unfortunate burden of being a mainline entry in the Resident Evil series.

 

And that’s ultimately its biggest downfall: it doesn’t feel like a true Resident Evil game. I have certain expectations from the series that RE6 never meets. The game is a non-stop, action-packed spectacle, and what I really want is a slower, more deliberately paced adventure. This game never gives you a chance to stop and breathe because it feels like it has to send wave after wave of enemies at you at all times. It gets tiresome after a while, because it never feels like you’re doing anything else.

 

It’s a shame too because there are some good things about RE6. The production values are top notch. Its combat system is well designed, and offers the opportunity for some memorable moments. The four interweaving storylines are also fun to watch, especially when you see the same moment from the perspectives of a different character. 

 

That said, this is not my least favorite game of the series. That distinction belongs to Resident Evil 0. 

 

Random thoughts:

 

• Here’s my official ranking of the four campaigns from best to worst:

1. Jake (Sherry)—I like the throwback to Nemesis, plus Jake and Sherry have the most interesting dynamic.
2. Leon (Helena)—Zombies! This is the one that feels the most like a real Resident Evil campaign. Until January rolls around, this is the closest thing we have to a full-on remake of Resident Evil 2.
3. Ada—Stealth and puzzle solving take center stage in this one, but some frustrating combat sections bring it down overall.
4. Chris (Piers)—“Gear of Evil.” This one is all about cover-based shooting. The enemies are all human/monster hybrids with guns and it feels the least like a true Resident Evil game. Garbage.

• I appreciate the fact that you can select which character you get to play as when you start a campaign. I played as Helena, Chris, Sherry, and of course, Ada, since there’s no second character you can play as in her story.
• The QTEs in this game are brutal on a controller. I had flashbacks to the original Mario Party, and those mini-games that destroyed by N64 controllers’ analog sticks. I think my Xbox One controllers will be fine, but I still feel bad about how rough I was on them while playing. Fortunately, I didn’t get any blisters on my palms, like I did with Mario Party.
• Characters are much more nimble in this game. Not only can they move and shoot at the same time, but the camera is also no longer anchored to their backs anymore, allowing them to quickly turn around and run away from danger. Yes, this makes RE6 feel more modern and accessible, but it does so at the expense of what helped my RE4 and RE5 feel like true Resident Evil games. You had to think about whether it was better to stand your ground or run away. Now you can practically do both, which eliminates much of the tension in those combat scenarios.

 

This isn’t about the game itself, but going back a re-reading the original discussion thread is amazing. I call it the Five Stages of Resident Evil 6 Grief.

 

Stage 1: Excitement

Word of the game leaks along with a release date. An official announcement arrives that same day along with a trailer. People are pumped and ready to play it.

 

Stage 2: Concern

Capcom producer Masachika Kawata conducts an interview with Gamasutra in which he says that the Survival Horror market is too small for Resident Evil, so it must go in a more action-oriented direction. His statement saddens long-time fans of the series who are hoping for a return to the series’ roots. It seems like all the air is sucked out of the room.

 

Stage 3: Disappointment

A demo is released. The Leon portion goes over well, but everyone hates what they see of Chris' campaign. Regardless, the demo makes it clear that this new game is indeed all about action. It makes several people less excited about paying full price for the full game at launch.

 

Stage 4: Depression

The major gaming sites release their reviews and they are brutal. 4.5/10! 2.5/10! 3/10! No one expected the game to be this bad, and no one wants it now. People cancel their preorders and try to find other surivival horror games to play instead to make themselves feel better. The LCVGers who do buy it have very mixed feelings about its quality.

 

Stage 5: Acceptance

Yeah, it's a shit game, but if you can get it for $10 or less, that's cheap enough, I guess. 

 

Next up is another game I started playing last summer but never completed. Unlike RE6, however, I didn’t stop playing it because I didn’t like it. I stopped playing because I got side-tracked by this crazy project and decided that if I was going to do it right, I had to go  back and play through all of the other Resident Evil games first before going any further.

 

I’m talking, of course, about Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

 

“Welcome to the family, son!”

[Romier S 1,791]

Years on, my quote aged well up until they released RE7 and revived the survival horror genre back to the mainstream. It had been relegated to smallish releases and indie games up until that point with a few relative exceptions like Outlast and The Evil Within and even that veers way into the action category at times.

 

Youre going to enjoy the hell out of 7, Jeff. It’s that more deliberative paced RE experience you craved in 6.

[JFo 551]

So, this happened Thursday evening.

 

 

As with RE4, the time indicator is not an accurate read of how long it actually took me to finish the game. It was probably more like 12 hours when all was said and done. I chose the Mia path and, according to the game’s achievements, unlocked ending 1.

 

Last night I checked out some of the Banned Footage DLC: Nightmare and Bedroom. I didn’t finish either one yet, unfortunately. I made it to 3:00 am on Nightmare before being killed by the Molded, and I had to go to bed before I could finish Bedroom. So far, this DLC is a little different from what I expected. Between the two of them, I much prefer Bedroom.

 

I’ll be looking at the rest of the DLC before posting my full thoughts. I’m really interested to see the other stories that were touched on in the main game, but not really explored in depth. 

[JFo 551]

Before I start talking about Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, I just want to say two things. First, SPOILER ALERT!!! Given the fact that this game is still relatively new (released less than two years ago), I'm assuming that there are some people out there who want to play it, but haven't gotten around to it yet. This post will talk about the game openly and without the use of the spoiler tags. You have been warned.

 

Second, as I may have mentioned in a previous post, I did start playing it last summer and got a couple hours in. Specifically, I made it into the Molded-infested basement of the main house, before putting it down to go back and play through the rest of the series. For this play through, I restarted the game from the beginning, so that all the story and gameplay elements would be fresh in my head after a multi-month break.

 

With that out of the way, here is what I had to say about it in the first post:

 

Quote

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard — (Never completed; currently playing) I like what I’ve seen so far, but I feel like things are going to ramp up before too long. This is definitely the scariest game I’ve played since the REmake, which is saying something.

 

Resident Evil 7 is, by far, the scariest game in the franchise. The opening hours in particular--in which you first enter the guest house, find Mia, and have your first run-in with the Baker clan--serve up some of the most terrifying gaming moments I can recall in recent memory. I was particularly struck by how intense the battle with Mia is at the end of the prologue. Seeing her lumbering towards you with a chainsaw and a crazed look in her eye is a thousand times scarier than all the zombie hordes of Resident Evil 6. It’s a remarkable contrast.

 

I think the shift to a first-person perspective plays a huge part of why this game is so scary. While I love a good third-person game, I think it’s more unsettling to have these horrors look you, the player, directly in the eye rather than at some third-person avatar on screen. I imagine the sensation is even more intense in VR.

 

Despite the shift in perspective, this feels like a classic Resident Evil game. In fact, it’s the closest in tone, pacing, and setting to the original (especially the REmake). I love that it mostly takes place in one central location rather than across multiple places and the events play out across the events of a single night (from what I can tell). Ethan’s only goal is to survive and escape with Mia, in much the same way that the protagonists of the first three games were trying to escape the nightmares of the Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City.

 

I know some folks here have said that this is their favorite game in the franchise now. I can certainly understand why. It's masterpiece from beginning to end and one of the best games I've played in a long time. Do I like it better than the REmake or RE4? I don't know. I think I need more time to dwell on it before making that judgement. What I can tell you is that it ranks in my top three RE games for sure.

 

Some additional random thoughts:

 

I love that the game is patient. It doesn’t feel the need to throw something at the player at all times. You get a chance to breathe, take stock, and plan your next course of action. Of course, once you do relax, something terrible jumps at you from the shadows are reminds you that you’re playing a Resident Evil game.

 

Speaking of terrible things, Jack, Marguerite, and Lucas are the best villains of the series. They're memorable, well-written, and the voice acting for each is superb. I especially like how you get a glimpse of the gentle souls Jack and Marguerite were before finding Eveline in "Sisters". It makes their transformations feel even more menacing and tragic.

 

The DLC for RE7 is really good--among the best the series has to offer. I like how each scenario offers something unique and different than what you find in the main game. My favorite is probably "Bedroom" from Banned Footage. It's a great puzzle to solve and terrifying every time Marguerite returns to the room. My least favorite is "Not a Hero" simply because it's a standard first-person shooter affair without any of the tension and pacing found in the main game. Let's hope this isn't what Resident Evil 8 or 9 turn into. "End of Zoe" is also pretty good, but I had a hell of a time fighting the swamp monster. It felt good when I finally took him down. Joe Baker may be one of my new favorite characters in the whole series now.

 

I like the fact that Ethan is just a normal dude. In fact, he's probably the most regular guy you get to play as in any of these games. He's not a member of S.T.A.R.S., the BSAA , a super spy, or someone with super-human abilities. He's vulnerable in a way that I  Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, or Ada Wong never were, making the game even more terrifying. His reactions really sell the horror of the situation as well. It was funny seeing Chris Redfield show up at the very end because to him, all this is just another day on the job. Ethan, on the other hand, will need years of therapy to deal with everything that just happened to him at the Baker estate.

 

Aside from a few low-res texutures here and there, the graphics in this game are amazing. The fact that it runs at a smooth 60fps (on Xbox One X anyway) is even better. The lighting in particular is exceptionally good and does a great job of setting the mood throughout the whole game. If you can, play it like I did at night with all the lights turned off. It's worth it.

 

Now that I'm officially done with the mainline series, I'm going to take a look at the Revelations spin-off series. First up, as you'd expect, Resident Evil Revelations! I'm looking forward to playing this one again, especially since this time it will be on a console and not a handheld. It should make the experience a lot better.

[Romier S 1,791]

RE7 is buttery smooth on the PS4 and Pro as well. It’s a function/feature of the new RE engine and it’s also why the RE2 remake will run at 60fps as well (for both platforms) In the case of 7, it’s doubly important on the PS4/Pro for the sake of VR.

[JFo 551]

1 minute ago, Romier S said:

In the case of 7, it’s doubly important on the PS4/Pro for the sake of VR.

 

Yeah, I know it's a perfect 60fps on PS4. I think I saw that in a Digital Foundry video. Isn't a perfect 60fps a requirement for every PSVR game as well? I remember hearing something about how Sony weren't going to certify any games that had dips in performance for it.

[Angry the Clown 2,048]

Just hearing the title Resident Evil 7 makes me happy. That really is a staggeringly good game. 

[Starhawk 518]

I'm in the middle of a speedrun of RE7, but haven't played it in months. I've really been wanting to get back to it lately. After that, I want to try it on Madhouse at some point. 

[Romier S 1,791]

1 hour ago, JFo said:

 

Yeah, I know it's a perfect 60fps on PS4. I think I saw that in a Digital Foundry video. Isn't a perfect 60fps a requirement for every PSVR game as well? I remember hearing something about how Sony weren't going to certify any games that had dips in performance for it.

Yep. VR at anything less is vomit inducing.

[Carlucci 290]

There's a great, recent speedrun of RE7 on Madhouse by Carcinogen on Youtube.  Beats it in under 2 hours with only 1 death.  Really great commentary too.

 

 

Carlos.

[JFo 551]

I meant to post this the other day, but I finished off Resident Evil Revelations on Xbox One the other day. My plan is to try and have my write-up on it out after the New Year. After that, I just have Revelations 2 to finish, and I’m finally ready for the RE2 Remake at the end of January.

 

In the meantime, here are a couple cool videos on RE4 and RE7. Enjoy!

 

 

 

[JFo 551]

Let’s talk about Resident Evil Revelations. As always, here are my thoughts on it from the first post:

 

Resident Evil Revelations — (Last played July 9, 2015) I played this on my 3DS and enjoyed it quite a bit. It captured a lot of what I liked about RE4 and 5. The biggest complaint I had about it has nothing to do with the game itself and more the hardware on which I played it—the little C-stick nub on the New 3DS XL was a terrible way to turn and aim. This time, I’m playing on the Xbox One X, which should make the entire experience more enjoyable.

 

Having played it two times now, I would describe it as a good game, but not great. I don’t have any major, game-ruining complaints about it like I did with RE0 or RE6, but it doesn’t do anything so well that it stands out from the pack.

 

The funny thing is even though my reaction to it this time was less enthusiastic, I definitely enjoyed it more on Xbox One X than 3DS. Having a proper analog stick for aiming is a huge improvement. It’s also a lot easier playing it on the big screen at 1080p and a locked 60fps. The only downside to playing it on a larger screen is that the graphics themselves don’t scale up so well from their handheld origins. While this was technical powerhouse on the 3DS, on a current gen console, it just looks like a budget title from the PS3/Xbox 360. It certainly doesn’t have the production values of RE5 and RE6. Still, the quality of life improvements in controls, resolution, and performance make the console versions the better way to play it overall.

 

I think it’s interesting in that it tries to mix some old-school Resident Evil sensibility into the modern, over-the shoulder games. The emphasis is definitely on action here, but unlike RE5 and RE6, in which you never revisit an area after you leave, here you can and do return to places in order to scavenge for ammo, weapons, and other items. You also collect keys to open up new areas of the Queen Zenobia, where the majority of the game takes place. Unfortunately, there’s not much interesting to find beyond that. This isn’t like the Spencer Mansion or RPD, which were like big puzzle boxes for you to solve. Once you get a key, that leads to the next major area, where you’ll find another key to the next one, and so on. It’s still mostly linear, but you do have the option of going back to places if you wish.

 

If I do have one complaint about the game is the map system. I hate, hate, hate, the maps. Resident Evil always has really good, really useful maps to help you find your way. Not so in Resident Evil Revelations. In this game, you get a little 2D mini-map in the corner of the screen that shows you the layout of your current position. Ideally, you would have access to a larger version of that in the menus, which would show you the layout of the ship, complete with the ability to switch between floors. You know, what you would get in every other game in the series.

 

Instead, you get an awful 3D map similar to the ones you’d see in the Metroid Prime franchise. The difference here is that, unlike in Metroid Prime, you can’t fully rotate the map to look at it from any angle you’d like, making it hard to see how all the areas are interconnected. Additionally, the 3D map doesn’t indicate which way you’re facing, making it difficult to know if you’re moving in the right direction.

 

With that, here are some additional random thoughts from my most recent play through:

 

• The episodic structure of the game—complete with, “Previously on Resident Evil Revelations...” recaps at beginning of each chapter—is fun. Given how many plot twists and turns there are in the story, it helps to keep track of what’s going on.

 

• I mentioned the controls, earlier, but I wanted to add that I think they are a great cross between RE4 and 5 and more modern control schemes. Gone are the series standard tank controls in favor of a more modern control scheme in which you move and strafe with the left analog stick, and the right stick is used for aiming. As a bonus, the camera also stays anchored to behind your character (unlike RE6).

 

• Overall, I don’t think the game is that hard, but there are a few notable difficulty spikes. In particular, the boss you fight at the end of Episode 3 (the comms officer) is extremely difficult. Not only does he take a ton of hits to bring down, you’re being chased by swarms of normal baddies.  The final boss is tough as well. Be sure to have a rocket launcher when you get there.

 

• Jessica is one of the most ridiculous characters in the series. And this game also features characters named Grinder and Jackass. Not only is her dialog some of the worst cringeworthy in the series, her costumes are just weird. The one-legged wetsuit in particular is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen in a video game.

 

• I like how you can scan enemies in order to get healing items. It gives you a reason to make yourself vulnerable before taking them out. Good risk versus reward design. 

 

• Given the fact that you have an NPC with you the entire game, it’s surprising how useless they are. In RE5 and 6, they can revive you if you’re near death, and they can rescue you if you’re grabbed by an enemy. Here, they seem to do neither of those things, nor do they seem to help in anyway in taking out enemies.

 

• Setting the majority of the game on an abandoned cruise ship in the middle of the sea is one of the more inspired choices of the game. I only wish that the production values could have been higher to really bring out the best this environment had to offer—things like swaying objects on the ship, more weather effects, etc. 

 

With that, I’ve now replayed all the games in the series that I had previously played. My next game is one that I’ve never played at all, and a game I know almost nothing about—Resident Evil Revelations 2. 

[JFo 551]

Brad and Huber talk about Brad's most recent play through of Resident Evil 2 (the original). This is Brad's first time playing it since 1998.

 

 

[JFo 551]

Last night, I thought I was done with the campaign for Resident Evil Reveations 2. I got to the end of Episode 4, defeated the final boss  and... got the bad ending.

 

I was not expecting that. I didnt even know there were multiple endings in this game.

 

I immeditely looked up how to get the good ending, and spent most of today replaying Episodes 3 and 4 (in other words, half the game) in order to get it, which I did just now. I think I can finally say I’m “done” with the campaign.

 

Now all I have to do is play the “Little Miss” and “The Struggle” bonus episodes, both of which shouldn’t take more than a couple hours combined to beat.Once all they’re done, I’ll post my thoughts on the game as a whole. I really want to have it up before the remake of RE2 comes out next week. My goal has always been to play through every game before its release. I think I will make it just in time.

 

Oh yeah, in case you had any doubt, Barry Burton is a total badass. 

 

[JFo 551]

At long last, I’ve reached at the end* of my big Resident Evil journey by completing Resident Evil Revelations 2. Here’s what I said about it in the first post:

 

Resident Evil Revelations 2 — (Never played) I’m interested in this one. I always liked Claire, so it’s nice to see her getting to star in another game. If it’s anything like the first Revelations, I’ll probably like it.

 

To be honest, I went into this game knowing almost nothing about it. Aside from what I mentioned above, the only other thing I knew was that it was released episodically over the course of several weeks. I didn’t know anything about the story, what the gameplay was like, or how it differed from other titles in the franchise. So, pretty much everything about it was—ahem—a revelation to me.

 

First thing’s first, let’s talk about the game’s structure. Set between RE5 and RE6, it takes place across four episodes. Each episode is split into two parts with the first devoted to Claire Redfield and the second to Barry “Jill Sandwich” Burton. Barry’s story takes place about six months after Claire’s, and many of the actions you take in Claire’s story affect Barry’s. Both Claire and Barry are accompanied by a supporting character. For Claire, it’s Moira Burton, Barry’s daughter, while Barry is accompanied by a mysterious little girl named Natalia. If you’re playing solo, you can switch between the main character and the supporting character at any time. You can also play co-op with a friend, but only in split screen mode—no online multi-player here.

 

Unlike the co-op modes in other Resident Evil games in which the two partners have the same  move set and abilities, both Moira and Natalia are very different from the Claire and Barry. Neither Moira nor Natalia can carry guns. However, they can both locate hidden items in the environment. They also can crack locked boxes for additional items. Also, Moira carries a flashlight and can focus its beam into an enemy’s eyes, blinding them temporarily, so that Claire can deliver a devastating melee attack. Meanwhile, Natalia can sense enemies through walls, allowing Barry to sneak up behind them and take them out with an instant stealth kill. She can also locate their weak spots so Barry can more quickly dispatch foes during face-to-face encounters.

 

All this makes for what I imagine would be one of the best co-op experiences in the series. To me, it’s always more interesting when characters have differing abilities rather than being carbon copies of each other. Kudos to Capcom for doing something different. This is one game I might actually be interested in playing with a friend some day.

 

Gameplay-wise, it doesn’t deviate too far from RE4. There’s a heavy emphasis on third-person shooting throughout, but it’s paced extremely well. It’s not wall-to-wall action like RE5 or RE6. The game isn’t afraid to give the player a chance to breathe and soak up the creepy atmosphere before the next encounter. It’s quiet at times, and there are some good environmental puzzles sprinkled throughout to break up the pace. While I still prefer games like REmake and RE7 that allow me to explore small, more confined spaces, Revelations 2 handles its linearity about as well as any game in the series. Dare I say, it may only be second to RE4 in that regard.

 

Claire may have been the character Capcom used to sell the game, but Barry is the real star. I never thought much of him until now. He was a complete joke in the original PS1 game due to his cringe-worthy dialog and terrible voice acting. The REmake greatly improved both of these, but he lost most of his quirky personality in the process. He ended up being just kind of a bland guy with a big gun.

 

In Revelations 2, Barry ends up being one of the most well-rounded characters in the series. He’s a tough-as-nails veteran in the war against B.O.W.s, but he’s also the kind of guy that proudly tells bad dad jokes, much to the Moira’s chagrin. At the same time, the fact that he’s pair up with a little girl throughout his entire campaign allows for his gentler side to come out. One minute he’s taking out hoards of monsters like a total badass, the next he’s carrying Natalia on his back because she can’t walk. Some of the dialog between these two is my favorite of the series. It’s that relationship really got me hooked on the story, not because I cared about the over-arching plot, but because I cared about the characters.

 

In case you can’t tell already, I really liked this game. Not only does it get the obvious stuff right (atmosphere, pacing, action), it takes elements that didn’t work well in previous entries and executes them much better. For instance, this game shares a lot in common with RE0 in that both games allow you to switch between two characters at any time, pick up and drop items wherever you like, and requires the player to manage both characters’ inventories. Whereas all this is slow and kills RE0’s pacing, Revelations 2 handles with aplomb. Menus appear fast when prompted, and swapping items between to characters can literally be done in seconds with the press of a single button. Likewise, you can dodge an enemy’s attack here like in RE3, but whereas that move was inconsistent and unreliable in execution in that game, in Revelations 2 it’s mapped to a specific button and can be pulled off nearly every time you try (provided you get the timing right, of course).

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about Revelations 2 since I finished it a few days ago, and I can’t think of anything negative to say about it. It’s a solid entry in the series—maybe even one of its best. If you’re a fan of Resident Evil and have not played it yet, I highly recommend it, after you, presumably, play REmake 2 first.

 

(No random thoughts this time. I think I’ve said most everything I wanted to say about this game in the post proper.)

 

Now that I’ve finished all of the currently-available Resident Evil games that I wanted to play before the release of REmake 2, look for a post in a few days with my thoughts on the the series as a whole. I will rank the games from best to worst, but do so in a way that’s a little bit different than what you might expect.

 

After that, I’m diving head-first into REmake 2 and will post my thoughts on it once I complete it. That will be my capper for this thread, and the official end of this journey. I can’t wait to finally get my hands on it!

 

*Not the actual end.