Resident Evil The Village

 

I have always enjoyed the Resident Evil games, and while I am not a mega fan I do like playing them. I really love Resident Evil Bio-Hazard, it had a very different style to other games in the series, but this was not a bad thing. Naturally, I was very excited to play Resident Evil The Village which once again follows Ethan Winters.

Back to crisps again :-) Pringles have many great flavors one of my preferred is Prawn Cocktail (Noll's too), I like to jazz it up sometimes by dipping them in Dorito's Hot Salsa. I know two snack brands working together, it will never work! But it does, it really does. Prawn cocktail combined with a little heat creates something special. Playing Resident Evil The Village I found myself asking was this the perfect combination?

Story

Ethan Winters has had a tough life and after the events of Resident Evil Bio Hazard it seems his life is finally coming together. He has been trained and taken care of by Chris Redfield, he has his wife and baby girl Rose. So you can imagine when that all gets ripped away in the opening of the game it is a tough pill to swallow for Ethan, but at least it won't get any worse, right, right? Wrong, for poor Ethan things are going to get much worse and he will have to fight to protect his family but at what cost?

The characters in the game (no spoilers) are amazingly, the four lords are really interesting all with their own interests and back stories. Facing each of them is a vastly different experience and often very unnerving. The story is fantastic throughout, the ending and post credits are amazing. Overall, the story can be summed up in one word - yes.

Visuals

The visuals in this game are out of this world and the best I have seen on the PlayStation 4 to date, I can't even imaging how good it looks on the PlayStation 5 (I know I could check it on YouTube but its not the same as actually playing it and seeing it that way). The area in and around the village itself and castle is covered in trees and over grown wilderness. The village itself feels very old, and has certainly seen better days, there is death everywhere. 

One of my favorite areas was the second lords house, which is a cross between a quaint mansion and a back street clinic run by a serial killer. Everything is designed to make you feel uncomfortable, which in itself means you will become accustomed to it, but wait the developers can't have that and create a new hell to make your skin crawl.

Overall it is hard to find fault with the visuals and is worth playing for this element alone.

Music

To say the music used in the game is unnerving is an understatement. Some tracks feature a constant and consistent spine chilling sound, while others build and build, heart racing hoping whatever is coming to get you just gets on it. The music is composed by; Shusaku Uchiyama (Resident Evil 2, 4, Devil May Cry 4, Mega Man 8), Marcin Przybylowicz (Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Vanishing Of Ethan Carter), Nao Sato (Monster Hunter Rise, Resident Evil Biohazard) and Brian D'Olivira (Shadow of The Tomb Raider, Tearaway, Papo and Yo).

The soundtrack runs a little over an hour, which is surprising and seems like it is longer but in reality this is just a great show of composers working well together. It is hard to pick my favorite tracks, a few of them would be; Village Of Shadows, The Duke, Blood Thirsty, She's Not Here, Out Of Control, Acid Rain, The Final Movement, Rose (hearing this piece again actually made me well up), and Yearning For Dark Shadows.

Overall a phenomenal and well put together soundtrack, and certainly one of the more memorable one for me in recent times.

Gameplay

The first and most important thing to say about the gameplay in Resident Evil The Village is that it is solid. Ethan's movements feel fluid, the weapons mechanics work really well, and the enemies offer a good challenge without feeling frustrating. 

Like with all Resident Evil games your weapons can be upgraded by the games merchant called 'The Duke', an extremely interesting character. Most weapons also have extra parts that can be added to them, these can be found in the world and some purchased from The Duke. Lei is the currency in the game and can be found in many places -  in breakable objects, dropped by enemies and higher value items can be traded to The Duke for them. Crafting is another fun element, this can really help later in the game. Materials can be found scattered throughout the world so it makes sense to search everywhere possible.

There are four lords, and each has their own area, without giving anything too much away you will need to defeat each one of them. The battles with them are intense and no two feel the same, with some boss battles there can be sometimes this feeling of dread, for me Resident Evil The Village had me excited to see what the next one would throw at me.

There are collectibles scattered throughout the world, some given insight as to what has happened in the village, others can be sold for a considerable amount.

Similar to the other Resident Evil games there are a number of puzzles in the game, none of them are particularly taxing. In one set there were fun labyrinths which are dioramas of game areas, where you you have to place a ball in it and tilt it to get to the exit. The reward for completing them is pretty good, but the real reward is getting to solve and complete it.

Overall the gameplay is very solid with no issues of note, there is also a lot of replay value as new modes open, and you have the chance of unlocking new weapons, and infinite ammo, and more.

Final Thoughts

So, after just shy of twelve hours of playing how did I feel? Happy, sad, and many other emotions. I wanted to know even more about the characters in game as they intrigued me so much. I felt sad for Ethan throughout the game, constantly struggling but never giving up. The story was amazing and made me so excited for the next installment in the series. The visuals were stunning and shows that the PlayStation 4 still has plenty of life left in it. The soundtrack was phenomenal and easily my favorite of the year thus far. Overall a masterpiece of a game that cannot be passed up on this one gets top marks 5 out of 5

Resident Evil Biohazard - Review

January is over & I thought to myself  'I deserve a new game', so I decided to pick up Resident Evil 7 Bio Hazard.  I remember seeing some of the early gameplay & thinking 'damn that looks freaky'.  It seemed more intense than a lot of the other games in the series. Generally speaking, I am not the biggest horror game fan but I was more than willing to give it a go due to how much I enjoyed some of the other games in the series.  This is the first big new release title I played this year so was pretty excited to play it.


Who else here like's burgers?  Juicy, tender, meat-filled burgers, so many toppings & condiments to choose from the possibilities are almost endless.  Outside of your standard meaty goodness, you have some alternatives like spicy bean burgers.  I find it hard to consider them burgers as they are so different to what I'm used to.  That being said they have their place & can be a nice change from the heaviness of meat.   Playing Resident Evil 7 Biohazard I found myself wondering am I eating another tasty meat-filled burger or some spicy veggie alternative?

The story starts with our protagonist Ethan receiving a message from his wife Mia.  She has been missing for three years with no word until now,  so naturally, he is pretty excited to find out she is still alive.   Ethan's destination is a house located at an old plantation in Louisiana, so it's time to take a road trip.  It's terrible but when I think of Louisiana I find it hard to picture anything else but swamps, swamp boats, old beaten up wooden houses & people sitting on porches giving everyone the stink eye.  Basically, it's the perfect setting for a horror game.


The games start out dark & clouded in mystery. Why was Mia here? Where was has she been for three years?  Who would live here?  Very quickly you find Mia who is a little worse for wear & is scared because of Daddy.  Who is Daddy & what does he do?  He freaks you out & tries to kill you every chance he gets.  The rest of the family is even worse, Mommy is a scary old lady who likes bugs & then there is their son Lucas who is just completely insane.  Things don't get any better or any easier for Ethan but like any good protagonist he doesn't let anything keep him down.


Ethan's mission, should he choose to accept it is to explore a creaky old house, take on a crazy family & save his wife Mia who may have gone a little nuts after three years.  This Resident Evil game is so very different to the others in the series that I found it hard to draw any comparisons between them.
There are sprinklings of the Resident Evil Universe scattered throughout the game but overall there is very little tie-in. That's not to say the story is bad,  in fact, it is really good from start to finish I am just unsure as to why they found the need to use the Resident Evil name.

Visually speaking the game looks fantastic & there is no real difference between cut sequences & gameplay.  The attention to detail is amazing & disturbing, for example in the kitchen there were old plates of food with maggots squirming in them - ewww (slightly shivers).  Initially, I found Ethan's movement's to be a little disorientating as it really feels like you are looking through someone else's eyes.  The look & feel of the game makes it really immersive, I would love to play the VR version as I can only imagine how intense it would be.  When it comes to visuals this game does not disappoint.


There are many composers that helped create the Resident Evil 7 Bio-Hazard soundtrack, they include:

Akiyuki Morimoto  - who worked on; Monster Hunter 3, Lost Planet 2 & Resident Evil 6.
Miwako Chione - who worked on Monster Hunter 4G.
Satoshi Hori -  who has a fantastic self-titled album that I highly recommend listening too.
Brian D'Oliveira - who worked on; Spirits of Spring, Tearaway, Little Big Planet 3.
Cris Velasco - worked on Mass Effect 3, Overwatch, The God of War Series.

Some of my favorite pieces in the game were; 'Atmosphere - Swamp Encounter', 'Main Hall', Into Madness', Welcome to the Family', 'Garage', 'Molded I', 'Safe Room', 'Tatari', 'Apprehension' & 'The Beast'. At times I felt like the music was almost crawling up my spine. Strings feature heavily in many of the pieces helping to create an almost claustrophobic feeling. Overall it a very eerie, well-crafted soundtrack & listening to it all again made me realise how integral it was to the game.

The game offers a few difficulty levels; Easy, Normal & Madhouse - the last one unlocks once you finish the game on normal.  I would not describe the overall gameplay as hard even though some of the puzzles did have me scratching my head, often because I had missed something small.


There are so many details big & small that make this game feel amazing.  It looks to freak you out as often as possible, have you ever seen a chain link fence with lots of baby dolls attached them or a ball bouncing past you but yet there is no one in the room - I have.  The game never wants to make you feel safe & even in the save room I always felt on edge.  I loved the way your character opened & closed doors, in many games you just run through a door without thinking about it.  When Ethan comes up against a closed door he will cautiously open it which always leaves you in a state of suspense.  Most of the time you have nothing to worry about but other times, well other times you get a horrible surprise.  I died a number of times in the game & some of the deaths were pretty dark.  I won't go into specifics too much but let's say getting cut down the middle is pretty damn gruesome. While most of the game you play as Ethan occasionally you will get the opportunity to play through someone else's eyes.  These are available in the form of VHS movies, each one of them helps give the game even more depth.  I would say my favorite one featured a birthday party, not the nice kind where you have fun, but that's not to say there isn't cake.  These side stories not only give an insight into other characters but can also help you work out ways to get into a previously inaccessible area, solve puzzles or find new items.


Resident Evil games have always been a little scary but this one is truly terrifying & the Baker Family are a big part of that.  They are creepy, crazy strong & are a pain in the backside when they attack you. Lucky enough you have a small arsenal of weapons, my weapons of choice were buckshot & blades.  As a whole I had little to complain about with regards to gameplay, I was constantly on guard & never felt relaxed.  This works really well in a horror game but I would not recommend playing it before bed.

So after 12+ hours of gameplay how did I feel? Freaked out.  A brilliant game, with a great story, impressive visuals & an unnerving soundtrack.  It is hard to pick fault with the game, the only stand out one is that it just not feel like a Resident Evil game.  I wish they had released this as a stand-alone game rather trying to loosely tie it into the Resident Evil Universe.  Overall I would have to give a big thumbs & recommend it to any horror game fans.

A Playstation Made For 2

I was first introduced to the Playstation 2 by my girlfriend who just happen to now be my awesome wife!  I arrived at her parents house to find her playing Final Fantasy X, up to this point I had only seen brief gameplay of the Final Fantasy series & never played any of them.  She was at Lake Maclania fighting an Al Bhed machine called the Crawler.  I remember really liking the combat style & the design of not only the characters but also the world itself.  After that brief introduction I decided this needed to be the first thing we got once we moved in together.

Three month later & we had both left Mayo & moved to Galway. I was working in a music shop at the time & decided to buy the PS2 from there.  I wished I had not as I did not even get a discount which sucked ass but what are you going to do?  There was no bundle deal but I picked up two games that were in the 2 for €50 offer; Final Fantasy X & another game that I just can't remember what it was. If it comes to me I will update this post.

Final Fantasy X is set in the beautiful & dangerous world of Spira.  You take on the role of Tidus; star player of the Zanarkand Abes.  Through some strange turn of events you get dragged into protecting a summoner on her pilgrimage.  What is the pilgrimage for? Well she is gathering powerful beings call Aeons & needs them to summon the Final Aeon. But why?  Well according to elders of Yevon (the world religion) we are sinners & need to be punished & that punishment is called Sin. A huge ass creature which destroys everything in its path.  Summoners are the only ones that get defeat Sin & bring about peace.

Your party is made of a number of memorable & lovable characters. There is:

Wakka; easy going, full of heart & struggling blitzball Captain
Auron; he has a kick ass sword & is the most bad ass guy ever
Lulu; cold but caring & can kill you just by looking at you
Kimahri; protector of Yuna since she was a child, great with a lance & a little grumpy
Rikku; a little silly but full of heart & cousin to Yuna
Yuna; a young summoner that just wants to save everyone & never thinks of herself


There is a lot to see & many battles to fight. One of my favorite things to do in Final Fantasy X is play blitzball.  A sport played in spherical arena made of water.  The best way to describe it would be; it is a cross between football, rugby & hockey. I sank many hours into it & was a great way to unlock abilities for Wakka & win rare items. In fact the big reason I bought the remastered version on the PS Vita was so I could play blitzball any time any where.

While RPGs are not my go to genre I truly feel if you don't play this game you have missed out.  Between the gameplay, story & characters there is so much depth in this game.  If you have a PS Vita or a Playstation 2or 3 pick up a copy of this game. This is one fantasy you just have to play.

What the hell is Super Monkey Ball? Is exactly what I said when my brother in law brought this into my life.  Hands down this is one of the most fun games I ever played. Naturally you are a monkey in a ball & need to save another monkey (your wife) also in a ball from Dr Bad Boon.  Of course the best way to do this is; traverse crazy courses, collect bananas & cross the finish line.  Outside of the main story mode is party mode. You can play with up to four friends or play with yourself. The party games are:

Monkey Shot
Monkey Soccer
Monkey Billiards
Monkey Bowling
Monkey Golf
Monkey Tennis
Monkey Baseball
Monkey Dogfight
Monkey Target
Monkey Race


That's a lot of Monkeys & a lot of Balls!  One of my favorite mini games was Monkey Billiards.  The big reason for this is that one of the level designs is an old western style saloon, the monkeys in the background are wearing cowboy hats & drinking pitchers of milk. All these little details I really feel add a lot to the game & make it a really fun experience.

While it would be easy to say this is just another party game it is so much more. I implore you buy a copy of the game & invite some friends round to play, you won't be disappointed.

The first time I played Resident Evil was on the Sega Saturn, I remember my dad renting it from Blockbuster for me.  I really enjoyed the look & feel of the game & remember how challenging it could be. The first thing thing that springs to mind when I am thinking about the series is the title screen of the original game. When you pressed the start button the voice would say "Resident Evil" in a really evil & malevolent way, it still sends shivers down my spine.

Resident Evil 4 is probably my favorite of the series & is one of my favorite horror games. This games follows the story of Leon Kennedy who is sent on a mission to rescue the US President's daughter Ashley. She has been kidnapped by a one of those peaceful cults & all is well with the world & Leon can just relax -  of course this is a lie. Leon must defeat monster & psycho villagers who due to a down turn in the economy & being unable to knit very well wear cloth bags on their heads to keep warm.

I loved the gameplay because they use the over the shoulder view which gave a great level of control when playing.  In this game there are a number of quick time events which really works well & keeps you constantly vigilant.

There are two very memorable characters for me in the game. The first is a dog which you can rescue in the first few minutes of the game.  You have a choice not to save him but unless you have ice in your veins there is only one logical choice.  He disappears after you save him & returns later when your in trouble.  While his time in the game is short I really enjoyed his presence & I also like dogs.  The second character is The Merchant.  It is not just the entrance he makes or his outfit but what he says to you; "What are you buying stranger?", "What are you selling?".  While it does not sound that exciting it is & any one who has played the game will know what I mean.

Graphically at the time it looked quite well but I would love them to do a remastered version of the game.  I can't recommend this title enough, if you have a Playstation 2, (or Wii, Gamecube,  Playstation 3, XBOX 360) then pick up or download this game.

Before moving onto my next console I want to mention a some games that are must haves on the Playstation 2:

Black
GTA 3
GTA Vice City
Lego Star Wars (this was made before there was a Lego version of everything)
Time Crisis 2 (especially if you buy the arcade gun!)
Prince of Persia Warrior Within
Ratchet & Clank
Shadow Of The Colossus


Catch you next post!