Game Review: Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 7 is the ultimate love letter to horror fans; whether you love horror movies or horror games, it's simply an experience you can't miss.

Resident Evil 7 (going forward I'll refer to it as Resi 7) was released only a couple of weeks ago but it's already made a huge stamp on the video gaming world. It's arguably the first major video game release to include virtual reality, and sold 2.5 million units and 7.15 million downloads in the first three days alone. The first game in the series was released 21 years ago and is often cited as the pioneer video game series for survival horror. The release of Resident Evil 4 in 2005 dramatically changed the series into a more action based shooter with horror elements rather than being an all-round game with horror at the core. Resident Evil 5 and 6 further continued this direction with mixed critical response but strong commercial success.

Capcom knew that the change in direction with the gameplay started to alienate their original fanbase. But with the gameplay changing to a first person shooter with horror being back in the centre of the fresh direction, are they now alienating their newer fanbase? Time will tell.

Regardless of if you're a newer Resident Evil fan or an old school Resident Evil fan this game will be a completely fresh experience for you, at least in the world of Resident Evil. As stated earlier, this is the first game in the Resident Evil series (apart from any spinoffs) to be a first person shooter. You play as Ethan, who comes across as a relatively normal man, who is married to a woman named Mia. Ethan's wife went missing three years prior to the beginning of the game. However he receives an email from her out of the blue, asking for him to find her in a house in Louisiana . That's the basic story of the game without explaining too much more.

Unlike most of the other Resident Evil games before, weapons play a far less important role in Resi 7, or at least for the majority of the game. Instead you can dodge enemies a lot easier, or block them with your arms to absorb blows to the head. For a lot of the start of the game you can utilise a knife which can attack enemies or break down boxes (a nod to Resident Evil 4 and beyond). But as the game progresses you do get other weapons such as a handgun and a shotgun, and even the grenade launcher and machine gun. Despite this, for the majority of the game ammo is in extremely short supply, to further emphasise that this is about survival and not about taking the battle to the enemy.

...nope. Just nope.

Another aspect of Resi 7 that separates it from most of the other games in the series is how you can use chemical fluid to enhance herbs and gunpowder into more powerful first aid items and ammo. This for me is a nod (and enhancement) to Resident Evil 3 when you can start to create stronger ammo if you use certain gunpowder in that game often enough. For a good portion of Resi 7 you depend on chemical fluids a lot, because it's very hard to find general ammo lying around.

Similarly to Resident Evil 5 (and 6 somewhat) you can use the d-pad to quickly change any weapons you hold in the top four spaces of your inventory. Speaking of your inventory, that also is a throwback to Resident Evil 1 where you only have limited space and you have to choose carefully whether or not you want more spaces for other items you may find in newer areas you're about to explore or to use your spaces for ammo and herbs that will be paramount for survival going forward.

Like the older Resident Evil games, the use of safe rooms and item chests have returned. There's also "safe room music" when you enter a safe room which, like in the older games, gives a lovely feeling of safety and to give you a breather for the horrors that are to come. In the safe rooms are cassette players in which you can save your progress, another throwback to the old typewriters that you used to find in these games. Thankfully you don't need to find cassettes scattered throughout the game, like you used to find ink ribbons though! Also as stated briefly earlier, herbs have returned to the Resident Evil series, which is great, however only green ones, so no red or blue herbs are in this game. Not that you can get poisoned anyway!

The house in Resi 7 is thoroughly explorable and, without spoiling too much, is just as good as the Spencer mansion in Resi 1. It feels great (and horrifying) to explore a house in a Resident Evil game again to great detail. There's something about the closed spaces, long corridors and going back and forth from different parts of the house only to find new locations later on to go to. Speaking of, keys have also returned. In the old games you used to have many locked doors that were only accessible with certain keys that were difficult to find and when found, lead to new areas. It was a great feature that got dropped in the later entries into the Resident Evil series and it's returned to form big time in Resi 7. Puzzles also return in Resi 7 although they're no where near as "riddly" or difficult as their predecessors.

Again, without spoiling too much, certain antagonists in the game are relentless in their pursuit of you. If you've played Resident Evil 3 you'll know how harrowing it can be having Nemesis stalk you throughout the game, and before it, in Resident Evil 2 having a certain Tyrant breaking through walls just to get his hands on you. Trust me, the antagonists in this game have a good time trying to kill you and they're just as tenacious in their different approaches.

You just wouldn't would you?!

The graphics in this game are great. Bullets hit and blood pours out as expected. Black goo, puss, saliva, vomiting, body mutation and many other lovely horror elements are all enhanced to great detail throughout this game. Rooms are generally dark and full of terrors (Game of Thrones reference yo!) and, when too dark, your character generally uses a torch to help see at least a small amount further on. Steam is used to great effect in certain areas, dust, and light can enhance the experience. Throughout the house is lots of family photos and artwork to help you feel that you're truly in someone's house. You can pick up a lot of different items and open a lot of cupboards and drawers, some of them for no reason at all, and all are in good graphical detail to really add to the experience.

Where Resi 7 excels, undisputedly, is for the sheer tensity and drama. Unlike a lot of other Resident Evil games (past or present) there is very little music in the game. Silence is a killer in itself, adding pure terror in every footstep you take, unintentionally or not. Hearing enemies from somewhere you can't see is more scary than hearing any tense classical music that other games in the series have usually chosen to put in front of you instead. The characters and monsters, and their respective voices all add up for a better experience than any music too. Trust me, even though there's little music, you'll never feel alone because chances are someone or something isn't too far away! You dread going into rooms and locations you've never explored before and when you have to return to an area you've been before but has changed somewhat, it resets the sheer fear of entering those areas once again, not knowing what may come your way.

Resident Evil has always been well known for its epic boss battles. For me, this is an area that lacked greatly in more recent games (5 and 6 specifically). Resi 7 brings the fun, the gore and the body mutation of the classic games back to the forefront in these boss battles. And when I say fun I mean FUN. The boss battles in this game for the most part are a lot of fun and remind me a lot of the battles I had in Resi 4, in a good way. Every boss battle is different and concentrate on different things for instance, one battle is done over two floors and you have to target certain parts of the monster's body. In another boss battle, a battle of the chainsaws ensues. They're fun and highly unpredictable, at least in comparison to the main game.

Before I did this review I looked at what other reviewers were saying, and also what gamers were saying on Facebook and Twitter and other social media. There are pockets of fans that didn't like this game and I want to take this moment to respond to the different criticisms aimed at the game. Some fans criticise Capcom's decision to go to first person perspective and cite that the game series isn't first person. While for the most part that's true, fans are forgetting that Resident Evil Survivor exists, a 17 year old game. And secondly, why shouldn't the game be first person? These fans weren't complaining when Resident Evil 4 was an "over-the-shoulder" action game. At this rate every 3 or 4 games in the main series could be a new reinvention of the horror franchise. I've also heard people say "I don't like first person shooters so I won't play it". I feel that choosing to see this game as an FPS rather than a horror game is disappointing. This isn't Call of Duty. The horror story that Capcom want to give you is best displayed in first person. It's not an FPS game, and as stated before, guns are not the most important part of the game, horror is.

You've seen the horror movies. You know this doesn't end well when they're not facing you!

Another criticism I've seen a lot is that we don't know much about Ethan. There was no way that Capcom were going to give us this horror experience with Chris Redfield or Leon Kennedy in front of us. What Ethan experiences, as someone who has never been in that situation in his entire life before, is what makes the game so scary. Having Chris Redfield punch his hand through a monster's stomach or see Leon give monsters scissor kicks wouldn't give the same experience. I've also seen people describe Ethan as some what of a "chicken" which is really untrue, when you see what he's gone through in the first 30 minutes of the game never mind the whole experience. Like Chris in Resi 1 and Leon in Resi 2, the heroes of the Resident Evil franchise all have balls and deal with their respective horror stories with steel.

As a fan of Resident Evil for nearly two decades and a fan of horror in general, I welcomed a lot of the changes brought into Resi 7. For me, the decision for Capcom to look at the mixed critical reviews and look at the high video game sales and despite the latter, realise that they were not necessarily going in the right direction is a very bold move. It feels a lot of video game companies look at sales and think, if it's selling well then don't change anything. Resi 7 is expected not to sell as well as Resi 5 and 6 despite the high praise the game is getting on most fronts. But it shows that Capcom care more about their fans and their reaction to the gameplay rather than seeing how well games are selling. A massive thumbs up from me there, kudos.

It's funny that fans critical of Resi 7 have been split, pretty much, into three categories. There's the purists saying "we like the old school games", the modern Resi fans who loved the "action over horror" direction, and there's the "I can't play it because it's an FPS game". I've talked about the FPS fans before. But as for the two other categories of critics, I must say, I swear I've mentioned pretty much every single Resi game in this review at some point or another. There are elements of Resi 1 in here, the limited spaces of inventory, the return to atmospheric horror and the setting of a house, or a mansion if you will. Resident Evil 2? I mentioned Tyrant stalking you in the 1998 classic, and similar things happen in Resi 7. Resident Evil 3's gunpowder returns and is also enhanced. Resi 4 and 7 have similar boss battles stylistically and you can break down those boxes all over again. Resident Evil 5's quick gun change system is in use here. I suppose the only two games I've not mentioned are Code Veronica and 6, but my point still stands. The game uses a lot of the elements from previous games in the series to good effect in Resi 7 so while it's a refreshed, reinvigorated first person horror experience, it does it with nods to its past.

I've given examples of Capcom going back to their previous games above. But what games have inspired Resident Evil 7? A lot of people point to Outlast, and despite Capcom denying that Outlast inspired them, you can't talk about first person horror games and not talk about Outlast. That being said though, those fans that say this is an Outlast ripoff really need to play it. It doesn't feel anything like Outlast, for me, it's a closer feeling to Resident Evil 1, all over again, two decades later. Other games that I've noticed inspiration from? Silent Hill 2, especially certain parts of the end of the game. There's an enemy you go against also towards the end of the game that very much resembles one of the major infected monsters in Left 4 Dead. Forget games, what about horror films? Certain films have definitely inspired Resi 7; the likes of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Saw series are very reminiscent here, and there's a quote from The Evil Dead in the game - there's even a quote from Planet of the Apes in here!

For me ultimately, what Capcom did after the mixed success of Resi 6 is take a massive step back and went, "What is Resident Evil? What is horror? What is scary?", and looked back at their entire 20 year history of video game making, looked at other horror games and looked at horror movies and took the best of everything to make the best horror experience they could possibly give us. And they damn well exceeded. Resident Evil 7 is the ultimate love letter to horror fans of all kinds; whether you love horror movies or horror games or both. Forget "oh I wish it was more like the newer games", or even, "I wish it was more like the old games". Forget that it's first person, just think of it as a horror game. If you like horror movies and aren't really sure about gaming, give this game a go, or at least watch video game footage on Youtube or something. It's simply an experience you can't miss.

Rating: ****1/2 stars

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Mercy Licks - January 2013

Hey there, and welcome to a new section of my website. Due to not posting much at the moment this may well be the only section I might actually update regularly going forward. I just don't have the motivation to write much at the minute, I have a lot of other things I'm enjoying in life. I do have this to fall back on whenever I get some motivation, or something to do though. It's a hobby not a job!

Anyway, this section is basically me revealing to you the ten songs I've been listening to the most every month. I've started tracking songs and how much I play them now, I'm a statistical nerd like that you see. Why have I done this? I really don't know, I just find it quite interesting to see what songs I listen to the most and when, and of course, to recommend them to you if you haven't heard them before. If this goes my way I might do an "end of year" list as well, but we'll see.

So what are the Ten Mercy Licks of January 2013? Let's find out...

#10: "Sixteen Saltines" - Jack White
This is definitely one of the best tracks of 2012. Jack White finally branches out on his own and his stuff sounds as fresh as anything he's ever done in honesty. The side projects he has done have been hit and miss, usually more hit to be fair, but still, this is a belter track that really shows the true talent of Mr White. Keep it going sir!

#9: "She Bangs" - Ricky Martin
Really Johnny Mercyside? Really? Ricky Martin? You? Listened to this very often last month? Yes, it's true. I have to be honest I have no shame in liking some cheesy pop nowadays. I used to avoid pop and RnB like a house on fire but now I've really relaxed my refrainment for the genres of music I usually dislike. This song came on in the pub when I went out for a drink with some awesome friends and we danced terribly to it. Since then I've enjoyed putting it on once in a while. It's a very catchy pop song. No embarassment about it!

#8: "Gangnam Style" - PSY
...but of course. Yes I love "Gangnam Style" and yes I've played this song possibly more than any other song in the past half year. And yes, I still play it in January 2013. I can't help it. I just love the song, love the video and to be honest, love PSY. You have to hear some of his other stuff. "Gangnam Style" will probably be a one hit wonder for PSY but it really shouldn't be, because he's actually a lot more talented than that. Check his other stuff out if you get a chance.

#7: "Blackout" - Linkin Park
I love this song. It's become one of my favourite ever by Linkin Park. It's also another of the songs I've been playing a lot over the past few months. I first heard it on FIFA 11, like a lot of people. It's arguably the song responsible for me reigniting my interest in the band, as I wasn't really too high on their most recent stuff. It's just a brilliant track, and well worth a listen if you haven't heard it before.

#6: Zerstoren - Rammstein
One of my favourite all time Rammstein songs. I recently got all of the Rammstein discography and was playing their stuff on random. I hadn't listened to of "Rosenrot" before then, so I'd never heard this song. When it came on random the song just blew me away. It's just such a fricking cool song, and is definitely one you need to hear if you haven't before.

#5: "Gold on the Ceiling" - Black Keys
Another band I can thank FIFA for igniting interest in. I was never big on the Black Keys until I heard "Tighten Up", then of course, I heard the amazing "Lonely Boy" and decided to get El Camino, and of course, this is one of the best songs on the album. It was released as a single too. It's just really cool, and shows why the Black Keys take a slightly different approach to their alternative rock than a lot of the other bands around nowadays.

#4: "Salt in the Wounds" - Pendulum
Read what I said about Rammstein and copy and paste. I recently got all of Pendulum's stuff and was pleasantly surprised to really like a lot of it, considering I'm not really into my drum 'n' bass, which a lot of the album material is. But "Salt in the Wounds" is just amazing. I even love the dubstep section towards the end of the song. I love blasting this track and adding some of the bass to it. It's just excellent.

#3: "Electric Worry" - Clutch

I'd be lying to you if I told you I'd heard of Clutch more recently than the turn of the new year. Somehow the band have gone over my head. A friend suggested I look them up and this track was the first to be played. I later found out it was actually used in a lot of Left 4 Dead 2 advertising, so it's very possibly I'd heard this before. It's a really cool country/hard rock hybrid track that sounds fantastic. I'm definitely looking into getting into more Clutch soon.

#2: "Go Right Ahead" - The Hives

I'm surprised to reveal I've listened this song the second most last month. But I must have done. It's a good track, it's a very safe track to be honest, for The Hives to release. It's nothing really special, but it still kicks enough ass to be noticed. I'm not trying to say it's a bad song, it's not, it's very good, and incredibly catchy, but in honesty The Hives have released far better than this in the past.

#1: "We Like Them Girls" - Your Favourite Martian

Ah... Your Favourite Martian. If you've not heard, YFM are Ray William Johnson's music group. RWJ is the most subscribed man on Youtube, showcasing the best viral videos two days a week on his show "Equals Three". He's a very good presenter of the show, but I've found his group to be lacking in quality. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people aspiring to go into different fields, try different things and if you have the time, money and know the right people to do it, go for it. I'm not a big fan of YFM though.

But... I do LOVE this track. I love "We Like Them Girls", it's a very funny track, the video is not bad either, and it just sounds so good. The electronic music, RWJ's rapping ain't too bad on this song, but the best thing is the lyrics. The lyrics are just really funny. To be fair, I also love a girl with a functioning vagina.

So, that's a wrap for today. I hope you've enjoyed this list. I shall be doing it every month. I'm sorry I don't post as much as I used to, but I'm in a very good place in my life right now, and just don't feel up to writing as much. I'm sure I'll return to a more frequent schedule in the future. Until next time, take care!

If you liked this article you might want to read:

• Best of UK #1s - Mixtape
• Best FIFA Trax - Mixtape
• Left 4 Dead 2 - Game Review

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

Bitesize: #6

Hey there, welcome to another edition of Bitesize. Just in case you're not too familiar, my bitesize posts are there to talk about a group of things in one go, either because a lot has happened and I haven't the time to touch on all of it in great detail, or to announce site news.

Let's start off with the wrestling. Night of Champions was on Sunday and then Raw was yesterday. Both shows were mediocre, which is a shame as the WWE was on a decent roll until then. Let's hope it's a blip. My main topic to do with wrestling is the booking. There has been some questionable booking on both shows in the past two days. Let's start with John Cena winning his twelfth world title. I mean that's just stupid saying it. He's now on par with Hulk Hogan in total title reigns, and one behind Triple H, and four behind Ric Flair. And he's only 34. It's just a pathetic statistic really. An even worse statistic? He's won the title three times in four months. Even more pathetic.

I've talked about my feelings on John Cena before. Yes his in ring ability sometimes leaves a lot to be desired (not to say he can't wrestle, his matches with CM Punk shows he can, but sometimes he has to depend on a good quality opponent for him to demonstrate how good he is), but he's today's biggest star for the right reasons. He makes the most money. He's the biggest role model for the business. He can be great on the mic. I have no problems with Cena being the main man most of the time. But he's already up there with Hogan, Flair and Hunter. At the age of 34 it's just not right. He could continue wrestling into his forties if he wants to. He's in great shape, and has been more fortunate than others with injuries. Where does it end? At this rate he could be at World Title #25 before he's fourty. He's won these twelve titles in six years. Who's to say he won't win another thirteen in the next six? It's not an unrealistic statistic.

Another booking decision I wasn't happy with was the divas match.In the words of Booker T, "whut da hayle"? Why book Beth Phoenix and Natalya like dominant women bullying barbies and then when the matches occur have them lose? It doesn't make sense. No one is going to buy "The Divas of Doom" if they don't win matches. Yes, these two PPV matches between Beth and Kelly Kelly have been relatively entertaining, and Kelly Kelly has won with a rollup in them. But she still won. Twice. It makes her look like the better wrestler. If she's the better wrestler, how is she being bullied? Bullies are strong. They are brutes. They lack intelligence, but they are brutes. Having Kelly Kelly win all the time yet still be scared of the bullies lacks logic. It would have been a brilliant storyline for Beth Phoenix to win the title, and The Divas of Doom just wreck havoc on the division. In a few months time Kelly Kelly starts to stand up to these bullies and eventually wins her title back. It would in the long term make Kelly Kelly look good to stand up to these bullies after months of relentless punishment. But now we have two big girls who talk big and lose matches. It's just silly booking.


Okay enough about wrestling. Onto video games. I played a bit of Dead Island the other day and while I don't want to do any mini review on it just yet on this site, it's worth picking up and renting at least, if you like FPS games. It's like a mixture of Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising and Borderlands in one. If you've been unsure whether or not you'll like it, rent it instead. It's worth the risk of renting at least, trust me. I'm going to buy a copy in the next few months, when I can afford to anyway!


Another video game I'm going to get is Resident Evil 4 in HD. I got a lovely HD TV the other month and playing what I believe is one of the best games of all time in true HD sounds fantastic. I'll probably do a review on that, despite the game being a few years old now. I'm not afraid to review old games or albums. It's something I'm thinking of doing more in a few months. I'll be reviewing Super Street Fighter 4 in the next fortnight. Not sure on when yet. I have a few other things I want to get through first before getting stuck into that.


In music, I'll be posting my "Psycho Jukebox" review probably towards the weekend. That's the debut album by Jon Fratelli, lead singer of The Fratellis going solo. I hope you'll enjoy that. As always at the start of each month I'm continuing to do my Yearly Music Review and October's year is 1997. It was a decent year now that I'm close to finishing writing it up. I preferred it to 1998. That should be good too I hope.


Last but not least is football. I don't really want to discuss much more about the Liverpool match we had on Sunday, primarily because I covered it live here, but also because it was an awful performance. Tomorrow I'll be covering the match against Brighton, where I'm hoping we can bounce back quickly and prepare for the match against Wolves with aplomb. Fingers crossed.


Well that's all from me in this edition of Bitesize. I'll be back tomorrow with my Live Thoughts against Brighton. Fingers crossed on Friday I'll have my "Psycho Jukebox" album review ready. Keep coming on my site for my views on music, wrestling, football and video games. Have a good night.

Q&A with Johnny Mercyside: Part 4

Hey everyone, I'm back from my holiday. Yes it was good, thanks for asking. It went too quick though. Hey ho. Well time to get back to normality. Because I only just got back I'm doing a lazy post today. It's not filler; I usually do this post every month, it's just that I'm doing it slightly early this month. I'll be covering the Liverpool vs Tottenham match tomorrow, where naturally I'm hoping we can get the three points. It'll be an intriguing test against Spurs, it'll be good to see how far we should have come from last season. Anyway, here's this months Q&A post, just in case you all want to know a little more about me as a person rather than my writing. These come from my Formspring account, which you can find here. These were answered a while ago, and I've changed the answers if the situation has changed since then. Enjoy.

Q: Do you believe in luck?

A: Not really, I mean some times it does feel it's on your side or against you but on the whole, no. I think how everyone behaves and circumstance combined makes the world tick in the modern world.

Q: If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

A: Chocolate. It has to be. Consistently in my lifetime, chocolate has made me feel good food wise.

Q: What celebrity would play you in a movie about your life?

A: Well the celebrity that looks like me the most is probably Wayne Rooney, frustratingly, but I doubt he can act. In the acting world, probably Zach Galifianakis or Seth Rogen, I reckon they look slightly like me, and can probably do my personality well enough.

Q: If you could have the starring role in one movie what would it be?

A: The Crow, that would be kickass.

Q: What was your favorite movie as a child?

A: Ace Ventura, which is still one of my favourite films.

Q: Who was your first crush?

Well I had a crush on a girl when I was around five, I think... her name was... Sophie... although I'm not certain. In terms of people on my Facebook,it's pretty common knowledge I had a relatively long term crush on a certain lady named Heledd... though times have changed a lot since then for both of us now!

Q: How many countries have you traveled to?

A: Officially, two, UK and Ireland. But if you didn't know I've got to the shortlist stage to appear on Total Wipeout, so I'm looking to add Argentina to that list very soon!

Q: Who's the most talented person you know?

A: Not sure, I know a lot of people with a lot of talents. I can't say one is better than the other.

Q: What's your dream car?

A: I'm not a big car lover, and I don't drive. If I all the money in the world to buy one, I'd just use my eyesight to choose one that looks the nicest without looking at the labelsor specs. I'd probably try to have a car that also was good to the environment - that's important.

Q: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

A: I'm more of an extrovert, but I show signs in both. More in the extrovert side though.

Q: Who inspires you the most?

A: My mum probably, she went through a lot of problems and sacrifices to get to where she is today, not that it's my place to say what she has went through. But she has an eternal respect from me, she'll be happy to hear. I still think she's too soft though!

Q: Cats or Dogs?

A: Cats, easily. Never been a fan of dogs, and I adore cats with a passion.

Q: If you could go on a road trip with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go?

A: I've always said that Jack Black, Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and a good few more people in that group of musician/comedy bunch always seem to be the coolest people to hang around with. I'd love to pick their brains and be a part of their banter.

Q: If you could eliminate one thing you do each day in the bathroom so you never had to do it again, what would it be?

A: Brushing my teeth, not that I do it each day, in fact I'm atrocious for doing them regularly. It is the one thing I can't stand doing, I don't even know why.

Q: What is your ultimate goal in life?

A: I don't really know, I don't have a formal goal. I'd like to be seen as a nice guy who has been a minor influence in some peoples lives. I'd like to be successful at what I do, whatever that will be.

Q: If your house was on fire and you could only grab three things, what would they be?

A: If it's anything, then naturally I'd grab Vivi and drag Mimi, and erm, probably my XBox, but only if Left 4 Dead was in the disk tray.If it's not including people, then my XBox, my TV, and my games cabinet.

Q: Do you believe in angels?

A: The short and sweet answer is no.

Q: If you could live any moment in time over again, just once, which moment would it be?

A: May/June 2003, when I was in a women's refuge after we left my dad. I was at peace then, no stress at all. I've had fantastic and proud moments since then, but at that time, there was just zero stress, and it was just peaceful and lovely.

Q: What are your views on god?

A: I don't think there is one, I have a scientific view on the way the world works, and if there is a super being out there, it's not a god for Earth but a god for the universe.

Q: What is the best thing about being a father?

A: Difficult, I'd probably say when Vivi gives me hugs without asking. I love that.

And there you go. A little insight to what type of person I am and my views on things. Just in case you missed it earlier you can follow me and ask me questions on my Formspring here. I'll be back tomorrow when I cover Liverpool vs Tottenham. Until then, take care.

Game Review: Left 4 Dead 2

Never has a zombie apocalypse been so much fun!

Left 4 Dead 2 (in future I’ll call it L4D2) was released around a year ago, following its highly successful debut (L4D) a year before. Valve had consistently produced great games, usually in the First-Person Shooter genre, however had never released a game based on a zombie-infected world. When L4D was released two years ago, it was met with extremely positive reviews across the board, praising its fantastic multiplayer gameplay and innovative special infected. The main flaws were the lack of content, and the frustrating AI.

So what have L4D2 done in the year since its debut? Quite a lot actually. We have new infected, we have new characters, different maps, two new game modes and new weapons. On the basis that sounds like a heck of a lot content added from the original, so they already crossed off one of the two main flaws in the original. Let me go through each topic.

I mentioned the fantastic special infected from the first game, these special infected have superpowers that make them much more deadly than your standard zombie. You could play as these special infected when playing Versus mode, going against another team playing as the survivors. Just to recap, in the original you had the Hunter, who dived at their prey and rips them to shreds, the Smoker, who had a very long tongue used to pull their victim and attack them, and the absolutely brilliant looking Boomer, a very fat infected who spreads his bile across the survivors which attracts a horde of zombies to attack them. Those three special infected would appear much more often than the next two. Other than that you had the Witch, an uncontrollable infected, who would be quiet and only attack, to deadly consequences, if bothered in any way, and the Tank, an enormous infected that bullies and pounds the survivors to submission.

So what have L4D2 done to the special infected? Well they’ve added 3 more actually. Now we also have the Charger. Who, well, charges into the survivors and pummels them to the ground. We have the Spitter, who, well, spits acid at the ground where the survivors are, burning their feet and forcing them to try and move out of the way. Finally, we have the Jockey, a tiny special infected, who climbs and, well, jockeys the survivor into hazardous situations, namely away from everyone else, or into acid or a Boomer. Also, witches can move around now, rather than stay in one location, which makes them potentially even more dangerous.

One of the main things I liked about the original three main special infected is that they were so balanced. You would have moments, when playing one where it would suck to be one of them, based on the map environment, however for the most part they were fantastically balanced. The problem I have with the new three that add to make six main special infected is that they make the balance, well, a bit off. The Charger for instance, is quite often much more useful than the Hunter, they can both be used to cripple a survivor, yet the Charger deals much more damage. I also, for the most part, find the Spitter to be pretty useless, it can be quite easy to miss and they have very little health. The Jockey however, man, this guy is fantastic, I find a lot of pleasure getting a survivor when the other three aren’t looking, and dragging the poor bugger back far so the others are little too late to get back in time. So the new special infected make the options vary, but the balance can be a little off.

Now onto the new characters. I welcome the new characters, they have much more personality than the original bunch; the best definitely being Ellis, who plays a talkative, zany, young Southern US mechanic and his ramblings make good entertainment when you have a breather, usually at the start of levels. We have Coach, who is, a coach, who plays the stereotypical black man you see in films nowadays (many parodies on the web have him eat chicken). You have Rochelle, who sounds very dumb and irritating, but is a caring and young woman, and Nick, a conman, who gives you the feeling that there’s more to him that meets the eye. The characters interact more, and show more personality, which makes the experience better.

These characters will travel through different maps than those of the original game, all based in the South of the US. These maps have a much more “theme” feel to it than the original, which felt much more “you are going through a location”, by default, emphasis on this being “Dark Carnival”, which, naturally, takes place in a Carny, as well as “Swamp Fever”, which takes place in a swamp environment, with particular infected wandering here named mudmen. It’s debatable whether or not the theme-esque campaigns make them better levels, however I personally don’t prefer these levels to the originals from L4D. Sure, they look prettier and the themes make an interesting twist to the game, but I just think that the level design on the L4D2 maps are a step backwards from the original game’s. That being said, the final campaign, “The Parish”, is a fantastic campaign that has a very L4D1 feel to it, and the finale level is a fantastic one to play through.

 

In the original L4D, you had your general campaigns, your Versus mode and your Survival mode. Versus mode, as touched on earlier, pits you and other people online against another team online. You take turns being the infected and the survivors, and it is a point-based system to determine what team was better. In Survival mode, you had to last as long as possible against horde after horde of infected. You can compare your times with other members online. Those two modes are also in L4D2, with only a subtle change to the Versus mode, being how the points are tallied up at the end of each level. There are two more modes added onto the list of game modes, those being Realism, and Scavenge. Realism is basically your campaign mode, but without all the visual aids the game gives you, like silhouettes of the other characters you are playing with, if you shoot a fellow survivor it will damage them much more, and makes the zombies more difficult to kill. You don’t quite realise how much you depend on these aids until you have them removed! And lastly, you have the Scavenge mode. This mode is a quick and fun game where you have to fill an engine of some kind with oilcans scattered across a terrain. Similar to verses mode, you are either the survivors filling the engine, or the infected trying to stop them. Scavenge mode is definitely a charming little addition to L4D2.

There are many new weapons in this game in comparison to the original where you only a choice of two shotguns, two machine guns and an assault rifle, and the handgun. In this game you have a multitude of shotguns, rifles and machine guns. You also can pick up a magnum instead of the handgun. There is also a grenade launcher available, which has limited ammo but can inflict mass damage over an area of the map. That, however, isn’t the major improvement in this department. That, my friend, is the many melee weapons you can now use to replace said handgun. You can have a frying pan, an axe, a baseball bat, a machete, or most impressively, the chainsaw. These weapons bring you closer to the infected, which could be a bigger risk, but it also notches up the gore a drastic amount.

Which brings me to that point, the graphics, and more particularly, the graphic content. This game is graphic. It’s much more graphic than the original, I’ve never seen a game put so much emphasis on the human anatomy as this game. If you shoot an infected in the stomach, his intestines will fall to the floor. Shoot them in the back; you will see their spine. Shoot them in the leg, you get the picture. It’s fantastic to look at, albeit slightly concerning with regards to the detail, and makes the experience that much more prominent. The graphics are a big step forward from the original in general as well; it just looks smoother, crisper. Fire looks much more realistic, so does smoke, you have to hand Valve a lot of credit for boosting the graphics for this game.

The sound in the game has also improved, most particularly the soundtrack. The general themes now sound much more old school rock and roll, and really works with the game. The sounds in the game were originally great anyway, and they have made subtle improvements to an already great sound engine, you can hear the special infected with their very unique vocals, you can hear fantastic rushed drumbeats when you hear a horde coming, and the Tank music is still the same, which is as great as ever. The only problem with the sound? They changed the Boomer’s noises slightly. He was much more horrendous to hear in the original!

There is a lot of Downloadable Content (DLC) also for this game, stuff I’m not going to review, partly because I’ve not played it, but also because you don’t get it with your game by default. From what I’ve heard the DLC has been very well received and if you have the spare cash, I’d definitely recommend you get it.

 

L4D2 is a game that is vastly improved when you are playing with friends. Playing Versus mode, or playing a campaign, it doesn’t matter. This game unfortunately does little to improve one of the main problems with the original, and that’s the AI. The AI in the L4D games get in your way often, resulting in you shooting them, they also point blank refuse to pickup Molotov’s and pipebombs and most frustrating of all, can see through trees and other obscuring areas, which makes “hiding” as a special infected in a game of Versus very frustrating. This however, really is the games only flaw, it’s top notch in every other area.

To conclude, L4D2 is a phenomenal game. Just in case you didn’t know, I actually for the most part, hate FPS games. But I can’t help but love L4D2, it’s so much fun, you can play Versus mode for hours and you still won’t be bored. The graphics and sound are fantastic, the infected, despite there being a slight imbalance this time round, are all great to see and play as. What is better? L4D2 or L4D1? I still prefer the first one though, sorry. I think technically this game is better, Valve have addressed the few criticisms from the first game and improved the game as an engine. But like a lot of game series’, the original just feels better, even though the game has been improved in many ways. If you have not played a L4D game, get this one first, you’ll probably appreciate it more, because it’s more than likely pure sentiment with regards to why I prefer the original. One thing I can guarantee. Is that never has a zombie apocalypse been so much fun!

Rating: ****1/4

 

 

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This Weeks Posts

Hey people,


I'm going to try and post at least every two days, maybe every day, if I can. That doesn't mean an article a day but hopefully a few a week, that's for sure.


Just want to once again thank for the comments and interest in my Top 50 Favourite Final Fantasy Characters listing. It was a pleasure to write it and most of the feedback has been favourable. There's a poll to your right asking who your favourite in my Top 10 was. I love polls, just ask the guys on the Official Liverpool Football Club forums. I want to do listings semi regularly, and definitely in different media's.


Which brings me to my next listing. I've already compiled my Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases, and just need to put it in an article form. Don't fret, this won't be a 52 day job, but a 3 day job. It's not the same, writing about catchphrases, as it is about FF characters. So I'll post the lower 25 in one day, then the next 15, then the top 10. The top 10 will have why each phrase was chosen in it's respective place.


But first, tomorrow I'm posting a quick article on my relationship with wrestling, just as a preview to the catchphrases listing. I'm talking about what got me into the "sports entertainment", and my favourite things. Should be an interesting read I hope.


I also have two reviews to put up, one on Left 4 Dead 2, and an album review, "Blood and Fire" by The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. I hope you enjoy those too.


I also have a special article I wrote, it's 3000 words long. All I'll say is it's about music. That is all.


So, planned for you this week in order is:

• The Mercy Side: Me and Wrestling
• Left 4 Dead Review
• My "music" article, that I refuse to tell you about
• "Blood and Fire" by The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
• Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Catchphrases

I hope to maybe write one or two more articles, if ideas come around or things happen, wrestling or football wise. We'll see.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy at least one of the things I'm about to post, I am covering three different types of media! Take part in my poll if you wish, and I'll post soon! Have a good night!