What Are You Playing?
- Thread starter Walter
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Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
I finished BioShock last night. I'm feeling under the weather today, so here are my somewhat jumbled thoughts about it.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. It crashed. A lot. I was finally able to stabilize it by running it in Windows 7 compatibility mode and disabling full-screen optimizations. That was near the end of the game, so it colored my experience a little bit. Also, I knew a little bit about the twist that comes 3/4 of the way through, so that kinda sucked. That's not the game's fault, though.
That being said, I found the game itself very enjoyable. While it didn't do anything crazy with the FPS/RPG formula, it did what it did well. The graphics were great, the audio was amazing (I'm a little hard of hearing, but the voice-acting was clear and top-notch), and the gameplay was fun. I loved the exploration that it encouraged; I searched just about every damn nook and cranny of Rapture and most of the time I was rewarded for it.
Overall, I found BioShock to be a pretty satisfying experience. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. It crashed. A lot. I was finally able to stabilize it by running it in Windows 7 compatibility mode and disabling full-screen optimizations. That was near the end of the game, so it colored my experience a little bit. Also, I knew a little bit about the twist that comes 3/4 of the way through, so that kinda sucked. That's not the game's fault, though.
That being said, I found the game itself very enjoyable. While it didn't do anything crazy with the FPS/RPG formula, it did what it did well. The graphics were great, the audio was amazing (I'm a little hard of hearing, but the voice-acting was clear and top-notch), and the gameplay was fun. I loved the exploration that it encouraged; I searched just about every damn nook and cranny of Rapture and most of the time I was rewarded for it.
Overall, I found BioShock to be a pretty satisfying experience. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
yo I also finished bioshock recently. I also finished infinite. both are really good, but also really different. I feel like infinites story dropped the ball after a certain point and I really didn't care for the cod stuff, but bioshock one was perfect, and I loved it beginning to end. I like how different they are, cuz that makes them uncomparable to each other, which made them both age better in the long run. I also felt like the frank Fontaine boss fight was too easy. I played both of them on the original Ps3 and didn't have any issues aside from one softlock in infinite. I also liked the running theme of a false utopia. both were easily 10 out of 10.I finished BioShock last night. I'm feeling under the weather today, so here are my somewhat jumbled thoughts about it.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. It crashed. A lot. I was finally able to stabilize it by running it in Windows 7 compatibility mode and disabling full-screen optimizations. That was near the end of the game, so it colored my experience a little bit. Also, I knew a little bit about the twist that comes 3/4 of the way through, so that kinda sucked. That's not the game's fault, though.
That being said, I found the game itself very enjoyable. While it didn't do anything crazy with the FPS/RPG formula, it did what it did well. The graphics were great, the audio was amazing (I'm a little hard of hearing, but the voice-acting was clear and top-notch), and the gameplay was fun. I loved the exploration that it encouraged; I searched just about every damn nook and cranny of Rapture and most of the time I was rewarded for it.
Overall, I found BioShock to be a pretty satisfying experience. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
I finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption the other day. It was pretty damn great, even though my wrists are still recovering from the Wii controls. 
At first they were a little awkward, but once I found the exact right way to sit with the Wiimote, all was well. (I started playing Halo 3 afterwards and the switch back to a standard control scheme took a little getting used to; I kept wanting to lift my Xbox controller to look up and down.)
I was a little skeptical when I heard they were introducing voice-acting to the Prime series, but it was actually pretty good. Samus was alone most of the time, as she should be, so it still felt like the core Metroid experience.
I'd also heard that Hypermode kind of nerfs the game, but I thought it was implemented in such a way that you didn't have to abuse it if you didn't want to.
Going from planet to planet felt a little like Mass Effect (only a little), so that was cool, even though it was just a replacement for the elevator rides in the first two games. Still, it gave Corruption a grander feel, which contributed to the nice way the trilogy wrapped up. Making Dark Samus the antagonist felt natural, too, especially considering that she's the titular Metroid Prime (didn't realize that until I looked up the best endings of the first two games on YouTube; gonna have to go back and earn those endings myself one day).
Overall, I had a blast with the Metroid Prime trilogy. I'm still planning on playing 4 one day, but I know it's going to be a step back from the first three based on Walter's review and what I've seen around the net. I can always cleanse my pallet if I have to by replaying the originals.
At first they were a little awkward, but once I found the exact right way to sit with the Wiimote, all was well. (I started playing Halo 3 afterwards and the switch back to a standard control scheme took a little getting used to; I kept wanting to lift my Xbox controller to look up and down.)I was a little skeptical when I heard they were introducing voice-acting to the Prime series, but it was actually pretty good. Samus was alone most of the time, as she should be, so it still felt like the core Metroid experience.
I'd also heard that Hypermode kind of nerfs the game, but I thought it was implemented in such a way that you didn't have to abuse it if you didn't want to.
Going from planet to planet felt a little like Mass Effect (only a little
), so that was cool, even though it was just a replacement for the elevator rides in the first two games. Still, it gave Corruption a grander feel, which contributed to the nice way the trilogy wrapped up. Making Dark Samus the antagonist felt natural, too, especially considering that she's the titular Metroid Prime (didn't realize that until I looked up the best endings of the first two games on YouTube; gonna have to go back and earn those endings myself one day).Overall, I had a blast with the Metroid Prime trilogy. I'm still planning on playing 4 one day, but I know it's going to be a step back from the first three based on Walter's review and what I've seen around the net. I can always cleanse my pallet if I have to by replaying the originals.
I finished BioShock back in 2010 or so, and what I remember of that experience is how the different gameplay systems could stomp all over each other, creating a truly cacophonous scene.
Like: Finding a character lore dump recording, which started auto playing, then I ran into a security drone which was honking horns and alarm bells at me while shooting bullets. As I ran to escape the drone, turned a corner and caught the eye of some of those crazy drug-addicted mask wearing dudes with knives, who were screaming at me. At that point I had low health, so I got the heartbeat sound effect and the heavy breathing (I think?). All of these sounds are stacking on top of each other, and all the while, I still had the lore dump recording talking at a normal volume.
That's the experience that I remember with BioShock. I'm really glad that games have progressively stopped doing the whole "story dump in a recorded message that plays as you explore the level" thing.
I've been playing Escape from Duckov, which I initially thought was just a joke game that's parodying Escape from Tarkov. Maybe that's how it started, but it turned into something pretty incredible. I fell into it after playing Into the Radius 2 and read that Duckov provides a quicker fix for the non-VR interactive aspects of the game. That's proven pretty true. It's an extraction game. If you don't know about that genre, it's about infiltrating a dangerous place (in this case a post-apocalyptic, duck-themed world) and grabbing all the loot you can, shooting things with a... well I like to think of it as Cannon Fodder-esque shooting mechanics. Then hauling your heavy gun and ammo filled bag back to base to sell and optimize your loadout for the next mission. It's quite adducktive.
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
Ugh. I hated the way they handled lore dumps. I ran into that same scenario or ones just like it constantly. It’s one of the main reasons I had the Natural Camouflage Gene Tonic on, so I could listen to the audio recordings without getting attacked in the middle of them. Stopping to do that every time you came across one really interrupted the flow of the gameplay.
I’m experiencing something similar with Halo 3. The characters often talk during lulls in the shooting, but sometimes they’re having important discussions in the middle of an insane firefight. There have been several instances where I’ve had to search for a transcript online because I’ve missed some important detail.
I’m experiencing something similar with Halo 3. The characters often talk during lulls in the shooting, but sometimes they’re having important discussions in the middle of an insane firefight. There have been several instances where I’ve had to search for a transcript online because I’ve missed some important detail.
I just started freezing in place to listen to them lol. The placement of those should have coincided with natural lulls in the gameplay instead of being treated as missable collectibles in firefight arenas. Still I'd rather suffer occasional jank like that than an overall middling experience like Infinite.
The Dragon Quest VII Reimagined demo was really fun. It’s my least favorite game in the series, but I admired how they turned the full fidelity character art into the actual graphics, so I had to give It a free try. Runs perfectly on the Switch 2, as well.
I find it amusing that the DQ purists are upset how this version streamlines the opening, which is an infamous slog. Yes, some scenes were removed, but as a result, instead of 2-3 hours before your first fight, it’s about 30 minutes. Big improvement, in my opinion.
Also, I encourage you to switch the voices to Japanese, unless you like the arbitrary decision to make everyone in the world sound like they’re British.
I find it amusing that the DQ purists are upset how this version streamlines the opening, which is an infamous slog. Yes, some scenes were removed, but as a result, instead of 2-3 hours before your first fight, it’s about 30 minutes. Big improvement, in my opinion.
Also, I encourage you to switch the voices to Japanese, unless you like the arbitrary decision to make everyone in the world sound like they’re British.
Oburi
All praise Grail
The Mad Max game is fun! It's basically Arkham Knight but in the wasteland.
I just bought a bunch of games that were on the end of the year sale including MGS: Snake Eater, Ogre Tactics and the first three Dragon Quest remakes. Should keep me busy for a while
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
I finished Halo 3 yesterday. Basically the same game as Halo: CE and 2 in a prettier package with a couple gameplay additions, which isn't a bad thing.
I enjoyed the main campaign, but it was way too short. Halo 2 felt brief, but this one flew by. I think I played it for about 8 hours over two days, so I'm glad I got it on sale for $2.75 on Steam.
I think I used the new items feature twice; I kept forgetting it was there. Turns out it wasn't really necessary to beat the main game. I don't know what else to say, except that I wish it had been longer and I'm looking forward to playing the next games in the series. 
I enjoyed the main campaign, but it was way too short. Halo 2 felt brief, but this one flew by. I think I played it for about 8 hours over two days, so I'm glad I got it on sale for $2.75 on Steam.
I think I used the new items feature twice; I kept forgetting it was there. Turns out it wasn't really necessary to beat the main game.
I don't know what else to say, except that I wish it had been longer and I'm looking forward to playing the next games in the series.
From what I understand, after Halo 3 and Reach, that’s pretty much it, man. Bungie moved on to Destiny and 343 picked up the pieces.don't know what else to say, except that I wish it had been longer and I'm looking forward to playing the next games in the series.
I finished Halo 3 yesterday. Basically the same game as Halo: CE and 2 in a prettier package with a couple gameplay additions, which isn't a bad thing.
I enjoyed the main campaign, but it was way too short. Halo 2 felt brief, but this one flew by. I think I played it for about 8 hours over two days, so I'm glad I got it on sale for $2.75 on Steam.
I think I used the new items feature twice; I kept forgetting it was there. Turns out it wasn't really necessary to beat the main game.
I remember beating Halo 3 the night it came out, man that was a good day! You're right, it is very short. Hope you enjoy Reach!
Don't forget about Halo 3: ODST!
You should play Bioshock 2 =)
I would, but I am saving money to buy resident evil 9 when it comes out.
XionHorsey
Hi! Hi!
Started Dragon Quest 11 around December 9th. Still playing it! Slow and steady. At the end of Act 2. I’m no hurry. :) Beyond that, the Nikkiverse!
I finished Metroid Prime 4 and while it's not a bad game, it has too many issues and it is very boring after the first half.
Map design is way too linear, you go from one hallway to the next without needing to think.
There is no challenge in the puzzles. You just activate some mechanisms and the puzzle auto-completes itself. All for the visual spetacle.
The desert is almost completely barren, aside from some shrines with very generic puzzles.
The hunt for Green Crystals is a chore.
New Power-Ups are lame and not utilized enough.
NPCs that talk too much, with terrible and spoilerish dialogue.
Sylux story is ridiculous.
Scan Visor somehow got worse, there are more things to scan but it now takes more time, there's much more useless info and things aren't color coded anymore.
The bike is underutilized. I thought they would at least put you to race against some aliens or something but instead you mostly just use the bike for traveling through the desert.
The things I liked were the atmosphere, the art direction (which is fantastic), the soundtrack (also excellent) and the bosses, which honestly are the best in the Prime series.
Overall, a 6.5 game.
Like I said, not bad, but it's not very good either.
Definitely a game with troubled development and it seems that Retro was forced to do some things against their will.
Map design is way too linear, you go from one hallway to the next without needing to think.
There is no challenge in the puzzles. You just activate some mechanisms and the puzzle auto-completes itself. All for the visual spetacle.
The desert is almost completely barren, aside from some shrines with very generic puzzles.
The hunt for Green Crystals is a chore.
New Power-Ups are lame and not utilized enough.
NPCs that talk too much, with terrible and spoilerish dialogue.
Sylux story is ridiculous.
Scan Visor somehow got worse, there are more things to scan but it now takes more time, there's much more useless info and things aren't color coded anymore.
The bike is underutilized. I thought they would at least put you to race against some aliens or something but instead you mostly just use the bike for traveling through the desert.
The things I liked were the atmosphere, the art direction (which is fantastic), the soundtrack (also excellent) and the bosses, which honestly are the best in the Prime series.
Overall, a 6.5 game.
Like I said, not bad, but it's not very good either.
Definitely a game with troubled development and it seems that Retro was forced to do some things against their will.
Played Silksong until mid Act 3. I finished Hollow Knight and put down The Radiance, but my earnest need to complete the final hours of Silksong are over. Very smooth and difficult game.
A few months back I played and finished Assassins Creed Odyssey. Late to the party on this one. Had a blast, although I must admit I was going through the motions most of the game.
Ghost of Yotei was about as polished as it could be. Although the narrative felt very naughty dog in recent years, I found myself trying to do every little task.
Finished Claire Obscure. Very unique game. The story lost me a little more every act. Felt like I was playing as an npc equivalent to the Matrix. Like, as a character Neo walks by and never interacts with. Definitely felt the subversion of expectations. May blow some away from a narrative standpoint, just didn't quite trip my trigger.
Started Rise of Ronin and will play this until ReRequeim drops.
A few months back I played and finished Assassins Creed Odyssey. Late to the party on this one. Had a blast, although I must admit I was going through the motions most of the game.
Ghost of Yotei was about as polished as it could be. Although the narrative felt very naughty dog in recent years, I found myself trying to do every little task.
Finished Claire Obscure. Very unique game. The story lost me a little more every act. Felt like I was playing as an npc equivalent to the Matrix. Like, as a character Neo walks by and never interacts with. Definitely felt the subversion of expectations. May blow some away from a narrative standpoint, just didn't quite trip my trigger.
Started Rise of Ronin and will play this until ReRequeim drops.
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
Finished The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass yesterday. I was skeptical initially of the touch-screen-only controls, but they were surprisingly intuitive and easy to use.
I loved the Wind Waker, so it was nice to return to that particular Zelda's world. While not as visually pleasing as the GameCube title, the cell-shaded graphics were still pretty great. It was a lot of fun sailing on the open seas, even if it was on the SS Linebeck and not the King of Red Lions. The dungeons were fun, the humor was great, and the touch-screen puzzles were pretty cool.
The only negative experience I had was having to return to the Temple of the Ocean King and go through the same obstacles over and over again to get to the new areas or search for spirit gems and treasure maps. Even then, it was done well enough to not get too bored.
I loved the Wind Waker, so it was nice to return to that particular Zelda's world. While not as visually pleasing as the GameCube title, the cell-shaded graphics were still pretty great. It was a lot of fun sailing on the open seas, even if it was on the SS Linebeck and not the King of Red Lions. The dungeons were fun, the humor was great, and the touch-screen puzzles were pretty cool.
The only negative experience I had was having to return to the Temple of the Ocean King and go through the same obstacles over and over again to get to the new areas or search for spirit gems and treasure maps. Even then, it was done well enough to not get too bored.
I’m currently hooked on Disco Elysium. It’s very dialogue heavy, but also a very engaging role-playing, detective game. There’s no combat or anything of the like, but I find myself enjoying it a lot. The writing is pretty much beyond your average game, and the dialogue options range from clever to hilariously unhinged. It reminds me of the classic Fallout games in many ways. I appreciate how your decisions aren’t acknowledged by the game with a marker or a line like “X is going to remember this” like a lot of other modern games stupidly do. Something as innocuous as a clever quip you say to a character can come back to bite you in the ass later. And the themes of this game: addiction, political ideology (communism, fascism, liberalism), and the psychological, and social impact of capitalist oppression, the past and memory, psychoanalysis, self-consciousness, empathy, etc…that’s a lot of heavy stuff on offer.
Anyway, I’m glad to tick this game on my list, like I did with Outer Wilds before it. Some stuff out there you just gotta try out, I suppose.
Anyway, I’m glad to tick this game on my list, like I did with Outer Wilds before it. Some stuff out there you just gotta try out, I suppose.
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Mewgenics!
The art style in that game (and in Binding of Isaac) is just such a turn off to me.
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
Half-Life 2 - Episode 2: More Half-Life 2 isn't a bad thing, but I enjoyed this one a little less than the first episode. I thought too much time was spent in the antlion caves, but once you got out of them and on the road again, things improved. As with the first episode, it felt really short (which was by design), and it's a bummer that Episode 3 got canceled. I'm hoping we'll get to find out what's up with the Borealis one day (not sure if any light is shed on it in Half-Life: Alyx, since it's a prequel) when Half-Life 3 is released. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Half-Life Alyx. Just gotta save up the money.
Portal: Short but sweet. I remember playing this off and on with some friends of mine when it first came out. Loved the ending song so much I picked it up on iTunes right after beating the game. Took weeks to finally get it out of my head.
Splinter Cell - Double Agent (Xbox 360): Finally got around to playing the Xbox 360 version of Double Agent. Despite the improvement in the graphics, I found it a lot less enjoyable than the Xbox version. Neither was perfect, but the 360 version felt messy and somewhat unfinished.
Ratchet and Clank Future - Tools of Destruction: Very fun, just like the previous games in the series, and pretty gorgeous looking for an early PS3 game. My fat PS3 died ages ago and my slim is in the process of dying, so I ordered a used super slim off Amazon. Not much space left on my entertainment center at this point.
Right now I'm playing through a game I've been looking forward to for years: Super Mario Galaxy. I'm loving it so far, but I've still got a ways to go.
Portal: Short but sweet. I remember playing this off and on with some friends of mine when it first came out. Loved the ending song so much I picked it up on iTunes right after beating the game. Took weeks to finally get it out of my head.
Splinter Cell - Double Agent (Xbox 360): Finally got around to playing the Xbox 360 version of Double Agent. Despite the improvement in the graphics, I found it a lot less enjoyable than the Xbox version. Neither was perfect, but the 360 version felt messy and somewhat unfinished.
Ratchet and Clank Future - Tools of Destruction: Very fun, just like the previous games in the series, and pretty gorgeous looking for an early PS3 game. My fat PS3 died ages ago and my slim is in the process of dying, so I ordered a used super slim off Amazon. Not much space left on my entertainment center at this point.
Right now I'm playing through a game I've been looking forward to for years: Super Mario Galaxy. I'm loving it so far, but I've still got a ways to go.
Resident Evil Requiem!
Still doing Mewgenics. I think it's an instant PC classic, what can I say that guy is really good at designing games.
Still doing Mewgenics. I think it's an instant PC classic, what can I say that guy is really good at designing games.
I finished Resident Evil Requiem earlier this week and I figured I'd give my impressions. First off, I played it on Switch 2 and I have to say I was impressed by the visual fidelity Capcom managed to squeeze out of the system. I play on a big-ass 4K TV and there were only a couple instances where performance came to mind.
The game itself feels like a return to form after RE8 (which was a hodge podge of skits tied together by a terrible scenario), probably because Capcom went through a bunch of remakes of the games that made the series what it is today. That being said... It's still guilty of the same lazy creative process, and still dragged down by Capcom's unwillingness to move past a "lore" that is as dead and rotten as the series' zombies.
Below is a giant, meandering post that few will find interesting, so the tl;dr is that I had a blast playing the game. It was good fun that captured both what I liked about the classic PS1 titles and the more action-oriented style of RE4. Don't play it for the characters and story, though. They're mediocre at best.
Alright, let's ramble.
Wow, what a mansion
There's a lot to like about the game, so I'll start with that. Its beginning in particular is very strong. Playing as Grace in the mansion (sorry, "care center") in the "Standard (Classic)" mode where you have to use Ink Ribbons to save and conserve resources was really nice, and modernized enough to do away with the parts of the original PS1 trilogy that would be too frustrating for current audiences.
I pretty much made my own fun by adhering to my old ways: using as little ammo, healing and saves as possible, which means that I test-played through segments and tried to go as long as possible between saves. This sort of neurotic self-imposed restraint is probably incomprehensible to younger generations but I swear it's fun with the right mindset (AKA the survival aspect in "survival horror"). I saved 10 times in total through the game, relied on auto-saves the rest of the time, and I had used 15 healing items by the end. Will I go for the "no healing" achievement though? Probably not. There are limits to my masochism.
Anyway, great stuff and I found the first person view to fit Grace's character well. Part of its success is due to the fact it's largely inspired by "REmake". From "The Girl" (Lisa Trevor analog) to the "Blister Heads" (Crimson Heads v1.2), we're in very familiar territory. I'm not complaining though, it works. But it does make me wonder why Capcom hasn't bothered to redo the first game, especially since they've done RE2, 3 and 4. I guess this serves as a stand-in.
While the formula hasn't really changed much in 30 years, I appreciate the variety in the zombies, including those with abilities that don't really make sense in the context of the series' "biological weapon" lore, like the singers or mega-fatso. It's the same with the blood device that lets you use "contaminated blood" to create shotgun shells and grenades, makes no sense but it's a good mechanic gameplay-wise, so who cares. Still, part of me wishes the devs would go the extra mile and make it so the world and story would actually fit together with the gameplay to create a coherent whole. Same unfulfilled wish I've had since Code Veronica.
A trilogy of Leon-based games
Speaking of, Leon's part in the mansion after Grace feels like Chris coming in after Claire in CV, or maybe more like his part in RE7 given that you're tearing through everything. It's appropriate, drives home the fact he's a badass, unlike Grace. The various segments like the sniper rifle thing and church fight also feel influenced by various parts of the series (RE4, RE5...), which is alright. They work well. I should note that Victor Gideon isn't very inspiring as a villain, but thankfully he's not shown much early on, so the setting and atmosphere have space to shine.
Leon's section of the game looks like it's small at first but it ends up being the bulk of it with that big segment in Raccoon City. In the end, the whole game actually feels like a send off for his character, and it quickly becomes clear Capcom saw it as a way to cap off the RE2 and RE4 remakes, making them into a kind of trilogy.
Anyway, the third person view feels natural for this part of the game, which could really be straight from RE4 as far as I'm concerned. It's good fun, if a little long when you're looking for the detonator parts as nothing happens story-wise. Still, there are definitely cool moments in that beefy middle segment, like walking on glass panels and getting the zombie to fall off. Some don't make sense, like the chainsaw duel against a Ganado-like zombie, but at least it's somewhat memorable. Other than that... the motorcycle chase is cheesy as hell, reminiscent of RE5. But it's fine I guess, despite the ugly design for those dogs.
A little too much recycling?
The fight against the giant spider was cool too, but reminded me of the fact Capcom had removed the spiders from the RE2 remake, part of their changes that made it inferior to the original. Still nice to see and provides a little variety. The part in the RPD is cute, although the flashbacks really fell flat for me. Seeing Tofu run around was a great little easter egg. The return of Mr X, though? Not so great. I don't want to just call it an asset reuse, but it felt deeply uninspired and unsupported by the storyline. Zeno didn't need that to deal with Leon. Really lazy stuff.
The orphanage section also feels recycled, and the creepy kids once again don't quite fit with the bioweapons lore. It's more of a "Village of the Damned" thing, and while it's nice enough, it's a little too transparently tacked on. Not quite as bad as the "haunted cabin" in RE8 but you can tell the dev team is constrained by its world and wants to explore more things. Too bad they won't allow themselves that freedom. The last segment is the inevitable secret lab, which is mostly different from the rest of the game in that it involves Lickers.
Like in the beginning, playing as Grace is the highlight since Leon can pretty much just blast through them. It's a bit short but quite fun. One of the most notable things to me on Leon's side was finally having the protagonist fight against human enemies, which felt like such a contrivance until now I found it really refreshing. It culminates with a one-on-one battle against a "commander" that's essentially Hunk. Pretty cool, although I kinda wish the antagonism between them had been more drawn out in order to make the fight more climactic.
A halfassed story, as usual
And now... for the complaining. I subscribe to the view that being fun to play outclasses any other aspect of a video game. In that regard, Capcom is a master. They know how to make fun games. My main problem with this franchise is that they've been halfassing the story and characters for two decades, and this game is as guilty of it as any other.
It starts with Grace Ashcroft, a new character only vaguely related to the previous events via Alyssa Ashcroft, herself a character from the forgettable RE Outbreak spin-offs. She's supposed to be a FBI agent, but doesn't carry herself like one at all. She's very skittish and seems clueless about pretty much everything. It all feels like a half-finished idea someone had, to make her into an archetypal Clarice Starling, before they dropped the rest of what they had planned. Really, she's fine as a character, but why not use someone they already had established, like Sherry?
It drove me crazy when RE4 came out that they went with an utterly stupid scenario about the president's daughter being kidnapped (with somehow a single agent being sent out after her) instead of the extremely obvious possibility that Sherry could have been taken because of her connection to her father's research. Same thing with introducing a new parasitic monster (Las Plagas) while they already had Nemesis and it was already said to have come from Europe. Here we have once again a girl who's been mistaken as being "the key to what happened in Raccoon City", and once again they're missing the opportunity to use Sherry for it, having her instead be a Hunnigan replacement.
Murky motivations
This is compounded by the fact Grace's behavior doesn't make a lot of sense. She really doesn't seem to care that much about solving her mother's death, it's brought up early on and then disregarded. Then when she meetsWesker Zeno she basically goes along with the evil plan until it's convenient for her to become a playable character again. Is the belief that she was a clone a sufficient excuse? I don't think so.
By the way, the devs are really sloppy with that whole plotline. First off, she doesn't notice immediately that Emily looks just like her? And that there's photos of identical girls everywhere? Come on. Second, the segment in the orphanage pretends to be from her point of view (even though the girl is named Chloe), only for it not to be the case in the end. I understand why they did it, but it amounts to lying to the player just to have a twist, which feels halfassed at best, cheap and lazy at worst.
Forgettable villains
Speaking of cheap and lazy, Zeno plays the role of the big bad guy behind Gideon, and he's essentially a Super Wesker clone, with the same magical virus that makes him superhuman without any bad side effects. One has to wonder why they need any other virus if they have this, but let's not get into that. I did enjoy how he met his end, after injecting himself with something he didn't know about like a moron. Great stuff. Unfortunately the other villain (and final boss) is still pretty lame.
I think I'd almost have preferred if he'd just been a filthy but normal human and died after that motorcycle chase. Instead he's got a "special" Nemesis that can generate electricity and then he turns into a giant pile of shit with boils you need to pop to defeat him. Ok... That final boss fight is frankly nothing to write home about both in terms of style and execution, which is unfortunate, but at least it doesn't mar the rest of the game. Could have been worse. Still somewhat amazing that the bad guys were all mistaken about everything, just how incompetent can you be? But hey, at least that's novel!
By the way, having yet another secret lab is a bit ridiculous because just how many of these were there in Raccoon City exactly? The Spencer Mansion was concealing a secret facility already, and then you had Birkin's lab... This super duper ultra secret one fails to up the ante, and its big secret (the T-Virus cure) doesn't make a lot of sense thematically with everything else being about bioweapons. Presumably Spencer didn't need to conceal his research from the other staff, and if he really felt guilty he might have not wanted to be incubating Lickers all around. Just saying...
Also, I can't help but point out this super lab only has Lickers and zombies around... No Hunters, no other monsters of any kind. It's a gameplay/resources constraint, I get it. But we're in 2026. Find a way for things to be coherent please. Have tanks with labels on them or explain out away somehow.
A magic cure
So now our characters have a magic cure that can instantly heal not justlong Covid, sorry "Stage 3 T-Virus", but even turn a mutant freak like Emily back into a normal little girl, even though she had apparently died (from unspecified wounds). I could go on at length about the nonsense of having a "stage 3" disease that skips other stages, but it's one of these things that's typical of the series. There's gotta be a new virus or strain (this time a new stage for the T-Virus), new villains, even new secret organizations half the time... And yet they'll reuse stuff like Lickers, Plant 43, Mr X or Nemesis, but not in a smart way. It's so frustrating.
Anyway, the magic cure (which apparently works on a wide enough range of things that it instantly and completely removed Zeno's powers) feels like it could be a path towards a definitive conclusion. Will it though? It's immediately followed by a vaguely urgent message from Chris and a cut to black "To be continued". Related to a DLC? To a future game? Both? Whatever.I'll probably get the DLCs if they're good (I skipped RE8's), but I've already given up on doing multiple playthroughs. Insanity mode goes a little too hard, even for me, and gimmick runs like not healing the whole game just aren't worth the time spent.
Conclusion
Overall, it's a testament to Capcom that I still enjoy playing these games after 30 years, but I still say they should drop this halfassed storyline and turn Resident Evil into an anthology series, with new settings for each game and some recurring elements (green herbs, "Umbrella", etc.) people love, like Final Fantasy. Konami did it for Silent Hill, and they should do it for this as well. Especially since it's pretty much what they're doing already, except they hold themselves back by having this crappy continuity. They're at their best when they take liberties, like with the "Chunk" in the care center.
The game itself feels like a return to form after RE8 (which was a hodge podge of skits tied together by a terrible scenario), probably because Capcom went through a bunch of remakes of the games that made the series what it is today. That being said... It's still guilty of the same lazy creative process, and still dragged down by Capcom's unwillingness to move past a "lore" that is as dead and rotten as the series' zombies.
Below is a giant, meandering post that few will find interesting, so the tl;dr is that I had a blast playing the game. It was good fun that captured both what I liked about the classic PS1 titles and the more action-oriented style of RE4. Don't play it for the characters and story, though. They're mediocre at best.
Alright, let's ramble.
Wow, what a mansion
There's a lot to like about the game, so I'll start with that. Its beginning in particular is very strong. Playing as Grace in the mansion (sorry, "care center") in the "Standard (Classic)" mode where you have to use Ink Ribbons to save and conserve resources was really nice, and modernized enough to do away with the parts of the original PS1 trilogy that would be too frustrating for current audiences.
I pretty much made my own fun by adhering to my old ways: using as little ammo, healing and saves as possible, which means that I test-played through segments and tried to go as long as possible between saves. This sort of neurotic self-imposed restraint is probably incomprehensible to younger generations but I swear it's fun with the right mindset (AKA the survival aspect in "survival horror"). I saved 10 times in total through the game, relied on auto-saves the rest of the time, and I had used 15 healing items by the end. Will I go for the "no healing" achievement though? Probably not. There are limits to my masochism.
Anyway, great stuff and I found the first person view to fit Grace's character well. Part of its success is due to the fact it's largely inspired by "REmake". From "The Girl" (Lisa Trevor analog) to the "Blister Heads" (Crimson Heads v1.2), we're in very familiar territory. I'm not complaining though, it works. But it does make me wonder why Capcom hasn't bothered to redo the first game, especially since they've done RE2, 3 and 4. I guess this serves as a stand-in.
While the formula hasn't really changed much in 30 years, I appreciate the variety in the zombies, including those with abilities that don't really make sense in the context of the series' "biological weapon" lore, like the singers or mega-fatso. It's the same with the blood device that lets you use "contaminated blood" to create shotgun shells and grenades, makes no sense but it's a good mechanic gameplay-wise, so who cares. Still, part of me wishes the devs would go the extra mile and make it so the world and story would actually fit together with the gameplay to create a coherent whole. Same unfulfilled wish I've had since Code Veronica.
A trilogy of Leon-based games
Speaking of, Leon's part in the mansion after Grace feels like Chris coming in after Claire in CV, or maybe more like his part in RE7 given that you're tearing through everything. It's appropriate, drives home the fact he's a badass, unlike Grace. The various segments like the sniper rifle thing and church fight also feel influenced by various parts of the series (RE4, RE5...), which is alright. They work well. I should note that Victor Gideon isn't very inspiring as a villain, but thankfully he's not shown much early on, so the setting and atmosphere have space to shine.
Leon's section of the game looks like it's small at first but it ends up being the bulk of it with that big segment in Raccoon City. In the end, the whole game actually feels like a send off for his character, and it quickly becomes clear Capcom saw it as a way to cap off the RE2 and RE4 remakes, making them into a kind of trilogy.
Anyway, the third person view feels natural for this part of the game, which could really be straight from RE4 as far as I'm concerned. It's good fun, if a little long when you're looking for the detonator parts as nothing happens story-wise. Still, there are definitely cool moments in that beefy middle segment, like walking on glass panels and getting the zombie to fall off. Some don't make sense, like the chainsaw duel against a Ganado-like zombie, but at least it's somewhat memorable. Other than that... the motorcycle chase is cheesy as hell, reminiscent of RE5. But it's fine I guess, despite the ugly design for those dogs.
A little too much recycling?
The fight against the giant spider was cool too, but reminded me of the fact Capcom had removed the spiders from the RE2 remake, part of their changes that made it inferior to the original. Still nice to see and provides a little variety. The part in the RPD is cute, although the flashbacks really fell flat for me. Seeing Tofu run around was a great little easter egg. The return of Mr X, though? Not so great. I don't want to just call it an asset reuse, but it felt deeply uninspired and unsupported by the storyline. Zeno didn't need that to deal with Leon. Really lazy stuff.
The orphanage section also feels recycled, and the creepy kids once again don't quite fit with the bioweapons lore. It's more of a "Village of the Damned" thing, and while it's nice enough, it's a little too transparently tacked on. Not quite as bad as the "haunted cabin" in RE8 but you can tell the dev team is constrained by its world and wants to explore more things. Too bad they won't allow themselves that freedom. The last segment is the inevitable secret lab, which is mostly different from the rest of the game in that it involves Lickers.
Like in the beginning, playing as Grace is the highlight since Leon can pretty much just blast through them. It's a bit short but quite fun. One of the most notable things to me on Leon's side was finally having the protagonist fight against human enemies, which felt like such a contrivance until now I found it really refreshing. It culminates with a one-on-one battle against a "commander" that's essentially Hunk. Pretty cool, although I kinda wish the antagonism between them had been more drawn out in order to make the fight more climactic.
A halfassed story, as usual
And now... for the complaining. I subscribe to the view that being fun to play outclasses any other aspect of a video game. In that regard, Capcom is a master. They know how to make fun games. My main problem with this franchise is that they've been halfassing the story and characters for two decades, and this game is as guilty of it as any other.
It starts with Grace Ashcroft, a new character only vaguely related to the previous events via Alyssa Ashcroft, herself a character from the forgettable RE Outbreak spin-offs. She's supposed to be a FBI agent, but doesn't carry herself like one at all. She's very skittish and seems clueless about pretty much everything. It all feels like a half-finished idea someone had, to make her into an archetypal Clarice Starling, before they dropped the rest of what they had planned. Really, she's fine as a character, but why not use someone they already had established, like Sherry?
It drove me crazy when RE4 came out that they went with an utterly stupid scenario about the president's daughter being kidnapped (with somehow a single agent being sent out after her) instead of the extremely obvious possibility that Sherry could have been taken because of her connection to her father's research. Same thing with introducing a new parasitic monster (Las Plagas) while they already had Nemesis and it was already said to have come from Europe. Here we have once again a girl who's been mistaken as being "the key to what happened in Raccoon City", and once again they're missing the opportunity to use Sherry for it, having her instead be a Hunnigan replacement.
Murky motivations
This is compounded by the fact Grace's behavior doesn't make a lot of sense. She really doesn't seem to care that much about solving her mother's death, it's brought up early on and then disregarded. Then when she meets
By the way, the devs are really sloppy with that whole plotline. First off, she doesn't notice immediately that Emily looks just like her? And that there's photos of identical girls everywhere? Come on. Second, the segment in the orphanage pretends to be from her point of view (even though the girl is named Chloe), only for it not to be the case in the end. I understand why they did it, but it amounts to lying to the player just to have a twist, which feels halfassed at best, cheap and lazy at worst.
Forgettable villains
Speaking of cheap and lazy, Zeno plays the role of the big bad guy behind Gideon, and he's essentially a Super Wesker clone, with the same magical virus that makes him superhuman without any bad side effects. One has to wonder why they need any other virus if they have this, but let's not get into that. I did enjoy how he met his end, after injecting himself with something he didn't know about like a moron. Great stuff. Unfortunately the other villain (and final boss) is still pretty lame.
I think I'd almost have preferred if he'd just been a filthy but normal human and died after that motorcycle chase. Instead he's got a "special" Nemesis that can generate electricity and then he turns into a giant pile of shit with boils you need to pop to defeat him. Ok... That final boss fight is frankly nothing to write home about both in terms of style and execution, which is unfortunate, but at least it doesn't mar the rest of the game. Could have been worse. Still somewhat amazing that the bad guys were all mistaken about everything, just how incompetent can you be? But hey, at least that's novel!
By the way, having yet another secret lab is a bit ridiculous because just how many of these were there in Raccoon City exactly? The Spencer Mansion was concealing a secret facility already, and then you had Birkin's lab... This super duper ultra secret one fails to up the ante, and its big secret (the T-Virus cure) doesn't make a lot of sense thematically with everything else being about bioweapons. Presumably Spencer didn't need to conceal his research from the other staff, and if he really felt guilty he might have not wanted to be incubating Lickers all around. Just saying...
Also, I can't help but point out this super lab only has Lickers and zombies around... No Hunters, no other monsters of any kind. It's a gameplay/resources constraint, I get it. But we're in 2026. Find a way for things to be coherent please. Have tanks with labels on them or explain out away somehow.
A magic cure
So now our characters have a magic cure that can instantly heal not just
Anyway, the magic cure (which apparently works on a wide enough range of things that it instantly and completely removed Zeno's powers) feels like it could be a path towards a definitive conclusion. Will it though? It's immediately followed by a vaguely urgent message from Chris and a cut to black "To be continued". Related to a DLC? To a future game? Both? Whatever.
I'll probably get the DLCs if they're good (I skipped RE8's), but I've already given up on doing multiple playthroughs. Insanity mode goes a little too hard, even for me, and gimmick runs like not healing the whole game just aren't worth the time spent.Conclusion
Overall, it's a testament to Capcom that I still enjoy playing these games after 30 years, but I still say they should drop this halfassed storyline and turn Resident Evil into an anthology series, with new settings for each game and some recurring elements (green herbs, "Umbrella", etc.) people love, like Final Fantasy. Konami did it for Silent Hill, and they should do it for this as well. Especially since it's pretty much what they're doing already, except they hold themselves back by having this crappy continuity. They're at their best when they take liberties, like with the "Chunk" in the care center.
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
Super Mario Galaxy: As I said before, I've been looking forward to this game for years. It didn't disappoint. I know I'm probably in the minority for enjoying Super Mario Sunshine as much as I did, but Galaxy truly felt like the successor to Super Mario 64. I was pleasantly surprised that it even used the same moves set. While times missions and races are not really my thing, they were thankfully in the minority. There's nothing I like better than exploring a large 3D space. The gravity effects were really cool, too. I was surprised to learn that Nintendo had been pondering the idea of utilizing gravity around planetoids since shortly after Super Mario 64 came out. They pulled it off, although that one mission where you have to make it from start to finish with only one hit point still gives me nightmares when I think about it, along with some of the purple coin missions. I was a little bummed that you have to play through the game again as Luigi in order to get the 121st power star, but that does just give me an excuse to play it again in a couple of years.
Turok Remaster: I realized the other day that I forgot to add Turok 2: Seeds of Evil to my list. It was a title I'd only rented and played for about an hour back in the day. That gave me the excuse to revisit one of my favorite N64 titles, so I tried my hand at Night Dive's Turok remaster on GOG. Being the pathological purist that I am, I turned off all the bells and whistles and got it to run as close to the original as possible. It was very nostalgic.
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil Remaster: I was really looking forward to this one, but I think I figured out why I only played it for an hour or two back in 1998. While the graphics were a step up, I just didn't like it that much. The hit detection on enemies is atrocious, for one. You can have an enemy standing right in front of you and somehow you don't hit it, even with a shotgun. It's like they get too close for the hit to register. Back up a little bit and you can hit them. Annoying, but I was able to work through it (it was kind of worth it just for the Cerebral Bore). Another annoying glitch I encountered seemed to happen at the same point each time on certain levels. The screen would just go black or gray with the enemies acting like cut-outs. If not for the auto-map, navigation would be impossible, since you can only see the level through the silhouette of the enemies. Weirdly, turning around and walking backgrounds resolved the issue sometimes. Not sure if the original PC port had this problem and it just happened to come over with the remaster, but it was really frustrating. Glitches aside, the vibe just felt too different from the original. Not a bad game, just not as good as the first one, in my opinion.
Turok Remaster: I realized the other day that I forgot to add Turok 2: Seeds of Evil to my list. It was a title I'd only rented and played for about an hour back in the day. That gave me the excuse to revisit one of my favorite N64 titles, so I tried my hand at Night Dive's Turok remaster on GOG. Being the pathological purist that I am, I turned off all the bells and whistles and got it to run as close to the original as possible. It was very nostalgic.
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil Remaster: I was really looking forward to this one, but I think I figured out why I only played it for an hour or two back in 1998. While the graphics were a step up, I just didn't like it that much. The hit detection on enemies is atrocious, for one. You can have an enemy standing right in front of you and somehow you don't hit it, even with a shotgun. It's like they get too close for the hit to register. Back up a little bit and you can hit them. Annoying, but I was able to work through it (it was kind of worth it just for the Cerebral Bore). Another annoying glitch I encountered seemed to happen at the same point each time on certain levels. The screen would just go black or gray with the enemies acting like cut-outs. If not for the auto-map, navigation would be impossible, since you can only see the level through the silhouette of the enemies. Weirdly, turning around and walking backgrounds resolved the issue sometimes. Not sure if the original PC port had this problem and it just happened to come over with the remaster, but it was really frustrating. Glitches aside, the vibe just felt too different from the original. Not a bad game, just not as good as the first one, in my opinion.