Birdhouse In Your Soul

Baren goes AWOL. News at 11, (New game review)

Seriously, I have been away doing what I do best. Gaming. My recent foray into gaming was getting me caught up on old games I wanted to play and new games just to stay up to date. It started with Chaos Legion. Beat in a day. Then came Devil May Cry 1. Same result. Then I started Kingdom Hearts (I want no emails about this one. It's Square_Enix before Disney, so I'm giving it a chance. I am pleasantly surprised as to how good it is.) Then I started Xenosaga, but I haven't gotten but 2 hours into it because of: (wait for it...)


Resident Evil 4

This game has eaten my soul and other parts of me as well. Even if you hated and/or never played the other RE's, you'll like this one. Here's why:

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics here look like a playable FMV. There was not one time that I was disappointed in the visuals. Everything is creepy. Everything. The whole game keeps you wondering what's around the corner, and often times, it isn't pretty. Truthfully, the game only twice uses FMV's, and all cutscenes are done in realtime graphics.

Sound: 7/10
This is a tough catagory for RE. Music has never played a real role in Resident Evil, but the music here can only be described as mood music. It only plays during scenes and during battle. Everywhere else you only hear background sounds such as rain, fires (yes, you can hear the fires crackle) and leaves rustle. etc. The BG sounds are very realistic, putting you that much more in the game, however because of that (and this is the only time) I feel taken out of the game by the addition of the music. When the music plays, it kinda snaps you back to your senses, vice putting you deeper in the game.

Gameplay: 8/10
I can't say how much I love the new control scheme over the other RE's. Over the shoulder view, and controlled as it should. (free roaming instead of step-step-turn. RE fans know what I'm talking about.) Free movement of your weapon is also very nice and every weapon has either a laser-sight or a scope so it's easy to pinpoint the target. Which comes in very handy considering the extremely unbalanced difficulty of the game. The game keeps track of how many times you have died, and my total was 77 at the end of the game. On normal mode. (This is a 18 hour game, BTW, just to put it in perspective) Most bosses and some regular enemies have 1 hit kills that include the following: eating you, cutting your head off with a chainsaw/claws/scythe, chewing you up and spitting you out, impaling you, crushing you and a number of other ways I can't remember at this point. I was eaten 12 times by the same boss. Not cool.
But, it's not that that gives it a 8 instead of a 10. No, it's the common curse of RE known as Ammo-retarded. The game seems to give you enough ammo to last, and it is far more generous than it's predecessors, but you will run low, if not out, at some point in the game. I was relying on my slowass rifle at one point because my shotgun, pistol and magnum were all out of ammo. Ammo conservative is the choice of the day here. Other than that drawback, the game rocks. Puzzles in the game are few and far between, and item collecting to progress has been cut down to a minimum to enhance actual play, instead of running back and forth placing and exchanging items with others. Money is also used in the game (known ingame as Ptas)to buy new weapons, health items and weapon upgrades. Ptas can be received by defeating enemies, selling treasures and found about the landscape.

Overall: 9/10
Definitely recommended for anyone that likes a good strategy/shooter. It is hair-tearingly hard, but you can get through it. (I did, afterall) And it has enough minigames to last you months, even if you never play the main game again. (You have to beat the game once to access the minigames.) The addition of a weapon merchant enhances gameplay, allowing you to buy/sell/exchange/enhance weapons at your leisure.(Warning: Selling an enhanced weapon reverts it back to it's original stats.)
So, if you have a Gamecube, go buy this game. Now. If you don't have a Gamecube, my condolences. And for the rest of you, put down them Goddamn sports games and play a real game. Sports=real life: Video Games=fantasy.

That rant will wait for another day.
So, until later you magnificent bastards,
~Baren
"To retain sanity, do not under any circumstances listen to Dragostea Din Tea by O-Zone, cuz it's terribly addicting."

Resident Evil is copyright Capcom, Rated M for Mature. Available only on Gamecube.

posted by Baren @ 4:53 AM