My Top 50 Favourite Resident Evil Moments: #10 to #1

We're here! What are my Top 10 Favourite Moments in the Resident Evil series! Scroll down to find out! If you've missed #20 to #11 then click here, for #30 to to #21 click here, for #40 to #31 then click here, and to view #50 to #41 click here. It's time to reveal half of my Top 20. Let's do this!

#10 - Zombies Walk Through the Door - Resident Evil 2

Another moment that's incredibly special for us old school Resi fans. Picture this. You've played the original Resident Evil. It was terrifying, nothing at the time looked or played like it in the horror gaming genre. You've observed the door opening sequence many times throughout the game. A few years later you then play Resident Evil 2. Even more scary. Even more mundane yet iconic door sequences. And then there's just one door, ONE DOOR, in the game where they decide to scare the absolute shit out of you by having two zombies come through it. It was absolutely terrifying, it scarred me for a very long time! 

A couple of other things to note, when you play the B Scenario Campaign with either character, you understand why these zombies come through the door, and also, they did do homage to this scene in the 2 Remake, but, of course, with all the advancements in technology it was no where near as impactful but served as a nice little Easter egg for us oldies who played the original.

#9 - The Merchant - Resident Evil 4

"Welcome!"
"Whatr'ya buyin'?"
"Whatr'ya sellin'?"
"Ahhhh, I'll buy it at a high price!"
"Heh heh hah heh, thank you!"
"Not enough cash, stranger!"
"Come back anytime!"

Even to this day I quote The Merchant. He's one of my all time favourite minor characters in video game history. He's got so much personality for such a minor character. I'm so gutted that this guy was never seen again after Resident Evil 4, he was hugely popular amongst hardcore fans of the series and the fact that he wasn't in Resi 5, where there is a shop system, was hugely disappointing. I don't think fans would have cared about the potential lack of logic, placing him in Africa when he was in Spain in the previous game. We don't care! We just want The Merchant, dammit! And obviously, as an arms dealer, he's so helpful, giving Leon well needed guns, upgrades and first aid sprays. The man is a legend and we'll never forget him!

#8 - Ben Bertolucci's Death - Resident Evil 2 Remake

What a fucking moment. Sure, it's only been just over a year since RE2 Remake came out, but this moment deserves to be mentioned this high up on this list. It was singularly the best moment in the Remake. I mentioned it in my article last year "5 Changes I Like, Don't Like, and Would Have Changed".

In the original game Ben dies in a completely different way, which is again one of the reasons why I love this part in the Remake so much. Ben gets implanted with an G-virus embryo by William Birkin, or brutally brought down by his iron pipe, depending if you play the A or B campaign. Not only that, but Ben in the original game has two scenes of dialogue.

But in this Remake, oh no. That doesn't happen. He only has one scene, and it ends as quickly as it begins. In his prison cell, feeling safe from the chaos happening outside, Ben chills and smokes a cigarette. He bumps into Leon and before you know it, Tyrant grabs him from behind the wall and crushes his face with one hand. It's absolutely brutal and I love it. It's simply... wow. My mouth was ajar when I saw it for the first time. Incredible.

#7 - Tyrant Smashes Through the Wall - Resident Evil 2

Honest to Chris you don't realise how many people crapped their pants when this scene happened unless you played it back in the day. Tyrant, the original stalker, was everywhere in the B Campaign of Resi 2, but perhaps his finest moment is when you solve the torch puzzle towards the end of your time in the police station. You've solved this puzzle in the A Campaign, and the puzzle hasn't changed in the B Campaign at all, it's the same outcome. But as soon as the gear falls out on the opposite side of the room ready for you to collect, Tyrant smashes through the wall OUT OF NOWHERE. It's one of the best jump scares in video game history, so much to the point that they replicate it in the Remake to the same effect... but make it a random occurrence!

And then, of course, when you've dealt with the wall smash, you have to walk the long way round the corridor on the outside... and you wonder if he'll do it again, and he does! Sure it's not as scary but you just don't know which wall and when it would happen so it still catches you!

#6 - Krauser and Leon's Knife Fight - Resident Evil 4

When it comes to villains with short amounts of gametime that stay with me, Jack Krauser is high on that list when it comes to how much I love them. He featured at #18 in my Favourite Villains list, so that says a lot. He's only really in the game for one chapter, 5-3 to be exact, but his stamp on this chapter is immense. His history with Leon, his cool demeanour, his respect for his old comrade, despite wanting to kill him, everything about Krauser is just badass.

If we're going to narrow it down to one moment, it is, of course, the knife fight at the beginning of the chapter. When it comes to cool moments, Resident Evil 4 has them in abundance, but perhaps the coolest moment in the whole game has to be this fight. It's so slick, so cool, you feel like an absolute badass fighting Krauser knife on knife, man on man. The quick button exchanges are hard too, it took me ages to finish this sequence when I first did it. I just love this section of the game so much and Krauser is fully responsible towards why.

#5 - Wesker's Return - Resident Evil Code Veronica

When Code Veronica came out on the Dreamcast I was gutted. I didn't look at any of the previews of the game or any info of what happens in the game - don't forget that back then there was no YouTube. Most of my information was actually from magazines. So when the game came out on the PS2 a year later, I went into the game completely blind.

So when I heard "Greetings... you must be the lovely Claire Redfield" in a pompous British accent, I had goosebumps. I hadn't seen Albert Wesker since Resident Evil 1, so we're talking 4-5 years. In that time Resident Evil 2 and 3 had already came out. There was no signs at all that Wesker was to be brought back from the dead to haunt us again, and it was a stroke of genius by Capcom to bring him back into the series.

What's so good about this scene, a truly underrated scene in the Resident Evil series in my opinion, is how not only were you not expecting the return of Wesker (unless of course you knew in advance, which as I said, I did not), but Claire Redfield has no idea who he is either. She knew of Wesker but it takes her a moment to figure out it was him, what, with him being presumed dead and all. I love how he toys with her, beating her about, purely out of his hatred for Chris, her brother. After he gets a message he decides not to kill her and let her live for another day.

And then - there it is - the red glint in his sunglasses, and the huge supernatural jump into the abyss. Whatever Wesker is, he's not human, and it's truly a jaw dropping moment. I truly love this moment in the game because there's so much information to process at once. Wesker isn't dead. Wesker isn't human. Wesker is using Claire as bait to get Chris to come to the island so he can kill him in an act of revenge. It's all so good and it's a shame most people don't agree with me when I say it's one of the best moments in the series history.

#4 - Meeting The Licker - Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2 Remake did the Licker tremendously proud. These bastards are one of the worst/best monsters in all of Resident Evil. They're so tricky manoeuvre, tough as hell and absolutely terrifying. I hate the noise they make in the original game, that's possibly the one thing they've struggled to replicate in any game since.

The first time you meet The Licker in Resident Evil 2 is simply one of those moments that players never forget. When you've seen Zombies, Dogs, Crows, Snakes, Spiders and other creatures in Resident Evil 1, they really needed to create a brand new enemy to scare the shit out of us with back in 1998. And this was the result. Thank you Capcom for the nightmare fuel, these bastards are just truly awful.

#3 - Regenerators - Resident Evil 4

Oh god. Oh fucking god. Has there ever been a more scary Resident Evil enemy in the series? In my opinion, perhaps not.

Regenerators are terrifying. They're tall, with abnormally long limbs, make the most god-awful noises, and creepily walk at you at a decent pace. What makes it worse is that the only way to kill them is to shoot invisible parasites that are all over their body - front and back.

Taking care of the parasites on the front isn't a problem, you have the infrared scope and you take them out. It's the ones on the back that are the problem. You can't go round the Regenerators because the corridors are too narrow, and they can extend their arms and grab you from afar. So you normally have to shoot a leg off. But... if you do that then they crawl at you at a quicker speed than their walking animation and jump up at you. They're just so scary and give you such anxiety taking them out. You have to be quick, in taking out the parasites on their backs.

Also, in what seems like an unpopular opinion, Regenerators for me are worse than the Iron Maidens. Iron Maidens, if you didn't know, are Regenerators with large spikes covering their bodies. Regenerators for me are worse for that very reason - if they bite you, they make the most awful noises chomping on your neck or wherever they latch on top of you. And even when you die, they don't let go, still chewing on your dead corpse for dinner! They're just, for me, probably the scariest monsters in the whole series.

#2 - Chief Irons'/Ben Bertolucci's Death - Resident Evil 2

So we covered Ben's death in the Remake earlier at #8, but his death, and Chief Irons' death in the original game, perhaps serve longer in the memory. This death was done in the Remake but to Chief Irons exclusively, yet it wasn't done to the same extent as the original.

William Birkin in the A Campaign will implant an embryo in either Ben or Chief Irons, depending on who you're playing as. When you get to either character in their next scene, the creature bursts out of them, rejecting their host. What makes this death so damn gruesome, is how the Baby G crawls through the chest and up through the shoulder. It's truly awful and gory, and I was hoping they'd do this scene justice in the Remake. Sadly they didn't, because the creature comes out of the chest rather than through the shoulder. It's good, but this original scene in the original Resident Evil 2, is truly a horrifying moment that wasn't done justice in the Remake. Just look at the GIF below, it's gruesome!

And here we are. What is my Favourite Moment in Resident Evil? Before we reveal, here's a countdown from #50 to #2...

• #50 - The Mysterious White Bag (Resident Evil 4)
• #49 - Piers Nivans' Sacrifice (Resident Evil 6)
• #48 - Lurker Frogs (Resident Evil 0)
• #47 - The Master of Unlocking (Resident Evil)
• #46 - Eveline's True Identity (Resident Evil 7)
• #45 - Playground Fun (Resident Evil 6)
• #44 - G-Adult (Resident Evil 2 Remake)
• #43 - Wesker vs Chris (Resident Evil: Code Veronica)
• #42 - The First Zombie (Resident Evil)
• #41 - The Orphanage (Resident Evil 2 Remake)
• #40 - Meeting El Gigante (Resident Evil 4)
• #39 - Ada's Trap (Resident Evil 6)
• #38 - Meeting Yawn (Resident Evil)
• #37 - Crimson Heads (Resident Evil Remake)
• #36 - Tyrant vs Birkin (Resident Evil 2 Remake)
• #35 - The Gallery Room (Resident Evil)
• #34 - The First Tape (Resident Evil 7)
• #33 - Entering the Village (Resident Evil 4)
• #32 - Meeting Mimicry Marcus (Resident Evil 0)
• #31 - The First Zombie (Resident Evil 2 Remake)
• #30 - Ada's Return (Resident Evil 4)
• #29 - Meeting Lisa Trevor (Resident Evil Remake)
• #28 - Wesker vs Jill and Chris (Resident Evil 5)
• #27 - Return to the Police Station (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis)
• #26 - Reuniting with Mia (Resident Evil 7)
• #25 - "…SHIT!" (Resident Evil 4)
• #24 - The Intro (Resident Evil)
• #23 - Meeting Nosferatu (Resident Evil: Code Veronica)
• #22 - Cerberus Teasing to Smash Through the Window (Resident Evil Remake)
• #21 - Discovering the B Campaign (Resident Evil 2)
• #20 - The First Las Plagas (Resident Evil 4)
• #19 - The Garage (Resident Evil 7)
• #18 - Double Mirror Licker (Resident Evil 2)
• #17 - Scientist Attack in the Lab (Resident Evil: Code Veronica)
• #16 - Cerberus Smashing Through the Window (Resident Evil)
• #15 - Dinner with The Baker Family (Resident Evil 7)
• #14 - Meeting Nemesis (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis)
• #13 - Lickers Everywhere (Resident Evil 5)
• #12 - Jill Sandwich (Resident Evil)
• #11 - Chainsaw Death Match (Resident Evil 7)
• #10 - Zombies Walk Through the Door (Resident Evil 2)
• #9 - The Merchant (Resident Evil 4)
• #8 - Ben Bertolucci's Death (Resident Evil 2 Remake)
• #7 - Tyrant Smashes Through the Wall (Resident Evil 2)
• #6 - Krauser and Leon's Knife Fight (Resident Evil 4)
• #5 - Wesker's Return (Resident Evil: Code Veronica)
• #4 - Meeting The Licker (Resident Evil 2)
• #3 - Regenerators (Resident Evil 4)
• #2 - Chief Irons' Death (Resident Evil 2)

So, my Favourite Moment in Resident Evil is...

#1 - Meeting The Hunter - Resident Evil

Here we have it. The original Resident Evil Hunters. Nothing has been, in my opinion, as awful as the Hunters in the first game. More scary? Sure. Regenerators are probably scarier. And the graphics haven't been kind to that original FMV sequence when that Hunter chases after you through the Courtyard. But I can promise you, nothing crapped me up more than when I first saw that video sequence back in the day.

You'd never faced ANYTHING like the Hunters until that part of the game. Zombies, Dogs, Spiders, sure. But The Hunter was like nothing else. These guys were fast, they were strong, they can leap ridiculous heights in the air, they can combo attack you. If you're in bad health, they can swipe attack you and take your head off. They were truly awful.

We've had Hunters in other Resident Evil games. RE3 - they weren't as difficult. RE Code Veronica - they were difficult but not as scary. It's the one enemy that has never been replicated to a justifiable level. Even the RE1 Remake doesn't do them justice. Resident Evil, back in 1996, created a horrible bastard of a monster that gives me anxiety to this day because they're so tough, there's so many of them back in the mansion upon your return, and they're so unpredictable. So thank you Capcom, for filling me with anxiety, whenever I see one of these green bastards.

And that's it! I hope you've enjoyed my countdown of my 50 Favourite Resident Evil Moments. I'm sure everyone's list would be different, but let me know in the comments you agree with, disagree with and what are your most memorable moments in the series that maybe I haven't mentioned.

As always, here's a pie charts of stats from my listing you may or may not be interested in:

When we talk about titles individually, Resi 4 comes on top. It is, along with Resi 2, my favourite games in the series, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. With Resi 1 being the original you can understand why that game is so memorable, without we wouldn't have the other games.

That's pretty much it from me. I hope you've enjoyed the list as I said. Let us know what you think in the comments! Thanks for reading, any shares would be greatly appreciated! And until next time, take care!

My Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games: #19

If you missed #20 click here.

#19 - Jade Cocoon

Released: 1998
Genre: RPG
Rating: ****1/4 stars

Best Moment: Catching and merging monsters. You can get some incredible looking beasts by merging the right two together!

I feel sorry for the Jade Cocoon makers because they had something good going on and they got sucker punched big time. Back when this game came out, it was considered to be a Pokemon ripoff, Sony's attempt at trying to make a Pokemon-esque game on their console to compete with Nintendo's Pokemon megahit. For some reason very few people played this game, and those that did got a really good game, that, capturing beasts aside, had very little in common with Pokemon. They released a second game on the PS2 that didn't sell well either. Now Jade Cocoon has pretty much faded into obscurity, apart from to be mentioned by fans of the now cult classic. Where as Pokemon has continued to become a worldwide phenomenon.

Jade Cocoon allows you to capture beasts and use them in battle against other beasts in the forest. That's pretty much all the two games have in common. Beneath that is a very deep and rich story in Jade Cocoon, where as you, a lone cocoon master, must venture into the forest to try and find a cure for the people of your village, who most have fallen into a deep sleep. The journey starts off that way but gets deeper and darker as you start to unravel your past and question your relationship with your friends and even your wife. It's a great game, if a little short, that really got overlooked by far too many people. If you're looking for an RPG on the PS1 that is not called Final Fantasy, give this a go.

Want to see what came in at #18? Click here!

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Old School Game Reviews: SSX Tricky

Welcome to the third edition of the “Old School Game Review”. The last two games I covered were Sega Mega Drive titles, “Streets of Rage” and "Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe". This time? I'm going back 10 years instead of 20, and talking about a Playstation 2 title. To celebrate the release of the new title in the series, my third Old School Game review is the amazing, SSX Tricky.

Not familiar with the “Old School Game Review”? It’s basically a gift wrapped game review so in theory it’s nothing new. But what is different is that before I divulge into the review I talk about what makes this game so good, and some facts and memories the game gave me. Oh and what counts as an old school game? My ruling is the game has to be at least ten years old.

When did this game come out? 2001

What console was it released on? Playstation 2

What else was it released on? Nintendo Gamecube, XBox, Game Boy Advance

Compilations? None.

Other interesting facts? Well this game was released less than 10 years ago in the UK... if you bought the Gamecube, XBox or GBA versions. But I bought the PS2 version so that's my excuse! I'm not cheating with my criteria!

Best memories? Probably doing the first course, Garibaldi, with a score of more than 1,000,000 for the first time. I don't know what the official world record is, but this is the biggest score on YouTube at 4.6 million, which is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Still, it's an amazing task to get a score of 1 million. I think my all time record is around 1.3 million, although it's been a very long time since I had the data on my memory card (oh those were the days... when you used memory cards... it felt like yesterday!).

Now onto the review!

For me, SSX Tricky, 10 years later, is still the best snowboarding game of all time.

SSX Tricky is the sequel to the original SSX game, which was released a year earlier as part of the new EA Sport BIG selection, a set of sports games that were unrealistic in style. SSX Tricky was basically SSX 2.0, with many of the tracks and characters making returns from the original games. But labelling SSX Tricky that way and thinking that it's nothing more would be a big mistake. SSX Tricky takes everything that was good about SSX, and mashes it up to make it bigger and better in every aspect.

The SSX game series are, as we said earlier, an unrealistic series of snowboarding games. The main course of the original SSX is a snowboarding race, and you can do tricks on your snowboard to try and give your character a speed boost for every successful trick pulled off. So you raced hard, did tricks off the big jumps and used your speed boost and try to finish the races in first place.

This is not going to end well...

SSX Tricky builds on this in a much bigger way. Much bigger. You see, you can still race against the other competitors, there's a "Race" mode for that. You can still use your tricks to gain speed boosts as well. But... the tricks are bigger and wilder than what was available in the original game. Not only that, but if you store your speed boosts to the top of the bar, the song remixes to include "It's Tricky" by Run DMC and you have access to what are called Uber Tricks. Uber Tricks are what make SSX Tricky special. They're incredibly flamboyant, melodramatic tricks on your snowboard that take a while to pull off, but look absolutely awesome. You also score much more points for pulling these off as a reward.

You'd be mistaken to think that so much emphasis on tricks in this game means there would be an actual trick orientated game wouldn't you? Well there is. On one end you have the "Race" mode, and on the other you have the "Showoff" mode. The purpose of "Showoff" is to, well, show off your tricks. More accurately, it's purpose is to give you the opportunity to get the biggest score tally possible. "Showoff" mode has big coloured icicles across the course, and doing tricks successfully through these icicles gives you a multiplier on the score given for the tricks done. The colour codes are yellow for a double multiplier, orange for a triple multiplier, and red for a quintuple multiplier. These icicles are pivotal for getting the highest scores in "Showoff" mode.

So you have "Race" mode and "Showoff" mode. You can access these options through "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" mode. But if you start from scratch only have access to a few tracks. To unlock more tracks you have to play the "World Circuit" mode. With "World Circuit" mode you, one by one, take on the courses in either "Showoff" mode or "Race" mode, it's completely your choice. With "Showoff" mode, you have to get a certain score to get either a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. Getting at least a Bronze will unlock the next track on "World Circuit", and it will also be available on "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" modes. For "Race" mode on "World Circuit" you will have to race the track three times, and will have to finish in the Top 3 in each race to qualify for the next one. After the third race, your placement will have to be in the Top 3 again to get a medal - Bronze, Silver and Gold again.

Getting a medal in "World Circuit" gives your character skill points to develop the attributes that are important to SSX Tricky - Edging is your sharpness for turning corners, Speed is your, erm, speed, Stability is how hard it is for you to get knocked off your snowboard and Tricks is how quickly you can do your tricks. If you get a Bronze medal you get two points to add to your attributes, four for a Silver, and six for a Gold.

There's the checkpoint! Caution signs? Booby traps? Hmm...

 The characters in SSX Tricky are brilliant. You have lots to choose from, and you have to unlock a good few of them by getting gold medals in "World Circuit". All the characters specialise in different methods of SSX - some are very good at tricks, some are very good racers. There are 13 in total and all have different personalities - Moby and JP are arrogant players from England and France respectively, where as Marty and Kaori are quiet and shy players from Germany and Japan respectively. My favourite character however is Psymon, who is completely nuts but says some of the funniest and random lines in the game like shouting "French toast and syrup!" at the top of his lungs mid jump.

Another thing about the characters in this game is that for the only time in the entire series for SSX, there's an al-star cast who do the voices. You have Lucy Liu who does Elise's voice, of Ally McBeal and Kill Bill fame, Billy Zane who does Brosi and is famous for his roles in Titanic and Twin Peaks, David Arquette who does Eddie, famous for his role in the Scream film series, and singers Bif Naked who plays Zoe and Macy Gray who plays Seeiah. This all-stellar cast of voice actors to a great job and add to each character's personality really well. It's arguably one of the best jobs done by a group of celebrities in a video game in honesty.

The controls are quite slick in SSX Tricky, and once again are an improvement on the original SSX. You can use the D-pad or the analog stick to move your character and can sort this out in the Settings menu to change it to your preferences. You move with either, and you flip or turn your board with the D-pad, and with the shoulder buttons you can grab your board. You can press multiple shoulder buttons to do more complicated grabs with your board, which usually give you more points. Combining a turn or flip, or both (to make your character twist diagonally) and multiple shoulder buttons gives you by far the most points apart from the Uber tricks available if you fill your boost bar to the top. Regardless of how many combos you do, how many flips and turns you include, it's important to make sure that your character is as vertical as possible for landing, otherwise your character wipes out on the course, making your score not count on that 'trick'.

If you're racing, you can knock characters over by pressing the analog stick either left or right depending where they are to your character. Be warned though, characters often target you for revenge in the races if you continue to attack them. But if you knock a character flat off their board by using this technique, you're rewarded with a full boost bar straight away which can be useful. Your characters also have relationships with each other - some are friends with you while others are your enemies. For instance, Psymon fancies Zoe, so they are considered friends. Luther is a bully and picks on the cute Kaori a lot, so they're enemies. Your relationships can get better or worse depending on your actions on the track, if you hit them a few times they'll target you in the next few races for revenge. On the grand scheme of things this isn't that important but it all adds to the game that is SSX Tricky.

One of the finest parts of SSX Tricky is the pretty damn good soundtrack. "It's Tricky" by Run DMC as mentioned before, is the title track of the game, and the original song and the remixed versions on the game all make the game that much better. It's a fabulous song and thoroughly works with the style of game SSX Tricky provides. There are also some good electronic dance and rap songs on the soundtrack too, and Bif Naked, also mentioned before, has a track on here. A few tracks by Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys are also featured, and Mix Master Mike is also a secret character in the game... if you use cheat codes. Over the gameplay are parts of commentary provided by Rahzel, who is a beatboxer, who does a fantastic job of putting over the action and doing some random beatboxing once in a while. He did a similar job in the original SSX too.

Luther (top right) is totally going to land that trick. Eddie's afro is impressive huh?

As you play through "World Circuit" you unlock snowboards and character costumes to customise your character's look. The snowboards are all in different shapes, and each character has a preferred board type. Some boards are best for tricks, others for races and some for in between. If a character uses a board they're unfamiliar with, they usually struggle a little more with this board, but do get access to a different set of Uber tricks if they fill their boost bar up. Once again it all adds to the game that is SSX Tricky. If you get a gold in every "Race" and "Showoff" track on "World Circuit", you unlock a chrome outfit, which looks pretty cool.

If you ever want to take a breather and try things out in your own time you can always use the "Practise" mode. You can do it in either a "Race" mode style, but without any other competitors on screen so you're taking the track on in your own time, or you can practise certain tricks on one large jump. The latter also includes a tutorial to help you do certain tricks that are compiled in each characters individual "Trick Book". The "Trick Book" is a tick sheet of sorts, to fill up to hone your skills of performing tricks. If you complete a character's "Trick Book" you unlock that character's best snowboard in the game.

Overall "SSX Tricky" is an amazing game. It pains me to know this game didn't sell very well. It's completely unjustified. For me, even 10 years later, "SSX Tricky" is by far not only the best SSX title in the series, but the best snowboarding game ever created. It mixes fine snowboarding racing, and over the top tricks. It has a brilliant soundtrack and the characters are all great and will appeal to lots of different players. "SSX Tricky" gets so many things right it's almost perfect. It really deserved more people to play this grand game, but with the new SSX game just coming out, at least new players will get a taste of a new, fresh title to play. But if you ever want to get a retro SSX title (I feel old typing that, it was 10 years ago though), this is the one to get. "SSX Tricky" trumps every snowboarding title out there before this release, and arguably, after.

Rating: ****1/2 stars

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Game Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

Sonic 4: Episode I is a great, yet not spectacular sequel, 16 years overdue that should appeal enough to new and old fans alike.

Sonic 4: Episode I was released back in October 2010 on multiple platforms including the Xbox 360 Live Arcade, Nintendo Wii, and the Playstation 3. It’s considered the direct sequel so “Sonic 3 and Knuckles” the two games released in 1994 on the Sega Mega Drive and Genesis, marking a sixteen year gap between the two sets of games.

Now unless you’ve been living under a rock chances are high that you know that many MANY Sonic games have been released in the sixteen years between these games. But a lot of fans of the Sonic games lost interest and disliked the direction that Sonic took after the release of the classic Sonic titles. Sonic 3D back in 1996 was received poorly, and while Sonic Adventure, which was released on the Sega Dreamcast in 1998, was received quite well, a lot of the older fans didn’t like the change in style that Sega were adamant on keeping. The newer Sonic titles were in full 3D and still concentrate on his speed but in the 3D environment the controls are very poor when in relation to the speed they were setting. Sonic Adventure 2 was then released three years later in 2001 and was also relatively well received by newer fans, but disliked by fans of old. The gameplay was changing even more with the release of Sonic Heroes in 2003 on the Nintendo Dreamcast, Xbox and Playstation 2, with the multiplayer aspects and the idea that you control more than one character at a time, but once again the game was well received by newer fans, and disliked by the classic fans.

There has been a big debate about the Sonic series since 1994 as you can tell. The reception of most games were mixed to positive by newer fans but mixed to negative by older fans. Sega wanted to keep up with the times and move forward with a 3D hungry video gaming world. They had mixed results doing this. But the all time low for Sonic was the release of “Sonic the Hedgehog” in 2006, released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This move was bold as Sega were attempting to use the “Sonic the Hedgehog” title again rather than move to spinoff titles. It was seen as a series redesign and an attempt to appeal to both new and old fans alike. The game was received extremely negatively, by both new and old fans for its poor controls and its attempt to make the plot deeper with an awful storyline. It’s to some considered one of the worst games ever made. After this release a lot of fans really started to turn on the Sonic series, as it had been such a long time since a truly great Sonic game was released. Despite the Sonic Adventure series receiving decent reviews, there was no true gem in the Sonic series since the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis days. They then released Sonic Unleashed in 2008 on the Playstation 2 and 3, the Wii and the Xbox 360. It merged some new gameplay with some old school game 2D gameplay from the 16-bit era and the game was warmly received by both sets of fans.

Then, one year later, it was revealed that Sega were to finally make a game directly targeted to appeal to old school games. The game would be fully 2D and would bring the gameplay back to its older days. The music would be reminiscent of the music in the older games and some of the enemies from these games would make returns. It was also decided that the only character available in the game would be Sonic the Hedgehog himself. The game, once again quite boldly, was to be called Sonic the Hedgehog 4. A lot of fans immediately thought back to “Sonic the Hedgehog” back in 2006, a move that was a failure to bring back some of the old fans. Was labelling this new game “Sonic 4” to be a success, or a failure?

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I brings the plot back to 1994 and take place straight after the events of “Sonic 3 and Knuckles”; Dr Robotnik (NOT Dr Eggman, I refuse to use that name in this review again) has been defeated and his space station is destroyed. Sonic takes a break away from his friend Tails and his new companion Knuckles and goes to explore new places on his own. Little does he know that Dr Robotnik has returned and he has reconstructed some of his own old creations to make them bigger and badder than before, and to stop Sonic once and for all.

He must have stolen something really valuable if he's running THAT quickly.

The gameplay for Sonic 4 does indeed return to its roots; it’s the simple 2D terrain and Sonic runs forward with the press of the D-pad or analog stick. He can jump on enemies and boxes, and the Spin Dash, first featured in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” returns. The Spin Dash is done by pressing the D-pad downwards and pressing the jump button multiple times, and allows Sonic to roll on the ground at a high speed. The game has returned to its roots, but the major addition to gameplay in “Sonic 4” is the addition of the Homing Attack; when Sonic is mid-air a target may appear on an enemy, a bumper or a box, and by pressing the jump button again, Sonic immediately homes into his target at high speed. This however is a welcome addition to the old school gameplay as it gives the title its own flavour and separates the game slightly from its predecessors. Older fans think this too; not all change is bad after all.

The levels look fantastic in Sonic 4. There are five levels, four of them have two acts and a boss battle and the fifth level is a large final boss battle with multiple stages. The graphics for Sonic 4 are smooth and colourful and look even better in HD. Despite times changing in the past 16 years and there being more and more emphasis on 3D games now, these 2D graphics are just excellent. Sonic games have always been vivid and lively in its colour palettes and this is no different, it’s just done stronger now than ever before. The five levels are all homage and tweaks to levels in the original Sonic titles; first you have “Splash Hill Zone”, which is homage to “Green Hill Zone” from the original “Sonic the Hedgehog” game, then you have “Casino Street Zone” which pays tribute to “Casino Night Zone” from “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, “Lost Labyrinth Zone” has many elements from the original “Labyrinth Zone” from “Sonic 1”, and “Mad Gear Zone” has a very similar design to “Metropolis Zone” from “Sonic 2”. The final boss level, which is only unlocked if you beat all four zones and their respective boss levels, is the “E.G.G. Station Zone“, which combines many elements from the previous four boss levels while adding a new final boss, one that is very similar to the final boss from “Death Egg Zone” from “Sonic 2”. All of these tributes are more than welcome additions to the game, the only problem otherwise being that some of the levels and designs can be argued to take too much from the original game series, but it is of my personal opinion that there’s enough originality and tweaking here to see it as homage rather than recycling old materials.

I said earlier that you have to beat all four zones and their boss battles to unlock the fifth and final zone. However one major change to Sonic 4 that was not done in the original series is the flexibility of completing your acts and boss battles in any order you wish. When you load up Sonic 4, you must complete Act 1 of “Splash Hill Zone”, after that however you have access to a screen that you can select any of the four zones in any order. If you beat Act 1 of that level, then the second act opens up, then the third if you compete the second, and then the boss battle when you finish the third. But by all means go straight to “Mad Gear Zone” once you have access to this screen if you wish. My feelings on this are mixed, as I loved the idea of you going through the levels in order of events as it made you feel like you were following Sonic on his amazing adventure like a story. However with the times completely changed from the way things were 16 years ago you can understand why Sega have decided to give you access to nearly everything from the get go; we live in a generation where we are impatient and want to do things straight away, rather than unlock our rewards with hard work. Another addition naturally are the leaderboards, where you can compare your time and point tallies to other people who have played the game across the world.

There are other elements from the original series that remain in Sonic 4. You still have to jump on enemies or spin into them to defeat them. You still have to pick up rings, and if you get hit by an enemy you lose all of those rings. If you have no rings and get hit you lose a life. The boxes you can jump on still contain 10 rings, an extra life, running shoes to make you run even faster, temporary invincibility and a shield. Unlike “Sonic 3 and Knuckles” however there is only one shield, similar to “Sonic 1” and “Sonic 2”. A shield lets you take one more hit from an enemy, giving you extra protection and saves you from losing your rings. One thing that is different however is that there are no continues in Sonic 4. Once again the idea of having continues is silly in a modern gaming environment so it simply doesn’t need to exist.

He must have stolen something really valuable if they are releasing giant BALLS at him!

When you finish an act, like “Sonic 1”, if you have more than 50 rings you will see a large ring that Sonic can jump into, leading to a Special Stage. These Special Stages are too, reminiscent of the ones that were added in “Sonic 1”, where you have to guide Sonic through a puzzled level full of bright lights and rings, to the end where a Chaos Emerald will lie. The big difference between these Special Stages and the ones in “Sonic 1” is that you control the level in this game, and you must move the level rather than Sonic to get him to go in the right directions to the end, where as in “Sonic 1” you controlled Sonic and made him move and jump through the stage. If you collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds, you will have access to Super Sonic, golden, faster and invincible version of himself, like in Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles. To activate him, you must first accumulate 50 rings, and as he is set off, your rings deplete by one per second, and if you run out, you’ll revert back to normal Sonic. Super Sonic is another great welcome in the series, and the times and points tallies on the leaderboards separate between just Sonic, and levels where Sonic and Super Sonic where used, so it’s good fun.

The music in this game is indeed reminiscent of the music found in the games released on the Mega Drive. It’s still crisp and clear enough to tell that it’s got a tinge of modernisation, but the move is certainly welcome, and the music immediately brings you back to the days when the music was so good. A lot of the newer Sonic games try to incorporate rock and metal music rather than the soft dance/techno sounds found in the games released in the early nineties. The sounds are also pretty much exactly the same as the classic games, with Sonic’s jump noise, the collection of rings, opening of boxes and spin dash all sounding as great as it did back in the day.

The main problem with Sonic 4: Episode I for me is the controls when it comes to high speed movement, something that has always been a problem with modern Sonic games. Sonic moves very fast as he always does, and in the older games released 16 years ago and prior, the gravity defying movement was controlled perfectly, with very few hitches. While this game for large parts deals with the pace and the movement of Sonic well, there are times when Sonic stops, or hits the end of a wall. These situations are quite irritating as some of the finest memories of Sonic are when he’s in motion, running or rolling across a terrain with ease and grace, and for a glitch or a wall to be hit in a way that the game doesn’t like unexpectedly, brings the motion to an abrupt halt. Another thing is that Sega have also made Sonic fall with good poise on some occasions rather than him fall in a ball movement like he used to. Sonic will look downwards at the ground below and in this stance he is vulnerable to attacks, where as when he is rolling downwards from the sky he is in an attacking stance, and will land on his enemy crushing it. This can catch you out at times when you want to attack certain enemies below you as you’ll lose your rings if he is not in his rolling attacking stance, and there seems to be no consistency with it.

Another problem that was once raised was the length of the game. The game has three acts and a boss level for four zones before the final boss. Tally that up and you have 17 levels in total. Considering when the game came out it was 1200 Gamerpoints on the 360, around £7 on the Playstation 3 and 1500 Wii Points, which are considered steep prices for the “arcade/downloadable” stream of gaming available, it’s still pretty cheap. These games cost anything from £30 to £50 when they were individually released back in the early nineties, so complaining about the price is silly. Remember that “Sonic 1” had six zones of three acts, totalling 18, and “Sonic 3” had even less; six zones of two acts, totalling 12, so this isn’t a bad deal. Not only that, but the games have since been reduced in price on both the 360 and PS3.

The special stages are as difficult and trippy as they ever were.

The most important question in this review simply is, does the game live up to the expectations and hype? Will the old school fans be happy? Overall, I think the answer is yes. Sonic 4 does a great job in bringing nostalgia and homage to the old series while doing just enough to clarify its position as an individual title released sixteen years later. Sonic 4 is a fine, if not extravagant effort that should bring old and new fans together to appreciate what was so amazing about the series in the early nineties. The music, the level design, the enemy design and most importantly, the 2D design are all reminiscent of the classic games yet the Homing Attack, the new level select menu, and the leaderboards all serve reminders that this is the 21^st century; a game released in 2010 not 1994. And the game does a good job of balancing elements from both worlds, and, both sets of fans, old and new. Overall, Sonic 4: Episode I is a great, yet not spectacular sequel, 16 years overdue that should appeal enough to new and old fans alike. There is room for improvement, and I hope that Sonic 4: Episode II will deliver that promise.

Rating: **** stars

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Game Review: Resident Evil 4 HD

Resident Evil 4 HD is the most complete version to date, of one of the best video games ever made. A true classic.

Resident Evil 4 HD was released just under four weeks ago here in the UK but the original game was released on the Gamecube just under seven years ago. This HD version is available both on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, and is a direct port from the version released on the Playstation 2, which itself was released just under six years ago. As you can see this game has been released on many gaming platforms, including the four above the game was also released on the PC, the Nintendo Wii, on the mobile, on the iPhone, on Zeebo and finally, the iPad, totalling in ten different formats.

To clarify, this is a direct port from the Playstation 2 version, with only one change; it’s been remastered in HD. What was different from the Playstation 2 version and the Gamecube version? Well; the main addition being a new game mode called “Separate Ways”, which explains what happened in the original game but from the perspective of Ada, similar to the way Resident Evil 2 works (with the two scenarios with Leon and Claire). So in short, with all the content and a crisper look, this is the most complete version of Resident Evil 4 yet.

Asplosion in three... two... one...

Work on Resident Evil 4 actually started back in 1999, six years before it was actually released. The idea was for the game to be more action packed and less about survival horror. The backgrounds and atmosphere was more reminiscent of old Gothic locations, similar to those found in Europe. They eventually started to notice that the game was becoming something completely different to Resident Evil, and decided to make it a game on its own. They added demons and rewrote the storyline, and released the game as Devil May Cry, a game series that has had a great amount of success on its own.

The game went through three more development segments, most notably the one before the actual game release. This development time was spent making the game even scarier than the previous four instalments (Resident Evil 4 is the fifth main title in the series, after Resident Evil: Code Veronica) and took an almost Silent Hill approach to the series. The gameplay was similar to the actual release of Resident Evil 4, but the locations and atmosphere was much darker. The main villain in this game was a man dubbed Hookman, who naturally, carried a large hook with him. He would pursue Leon in a fashion not too different from Nemesis from the third entry into the series. The game was dropped and development finally started on what we now know as Resident Evil 4.

Just in case you’ve never played the game before, Resident Evil 4 features Leon Kennedy, an ex cop who was involved in the Zombie Outbreak in Resident Evil 2. Leon was a cop for one day, and that was the day of the outbreak. Six years have passed since that time, and Leon now works for the American president. An unknown insider kidnapped the president’s daughter, Ashley, and was brought to a small desolate village in rural Spain, where a mysterious cult resides. It is Leon’s job to work with two Spanish police officers to work undercover get Ashley home. Virtually no time passes from the beginning of the game before these two police officers have been killed and Leon must wade through hoards of villagers hell-bent on keeping Leon away from the president’s daughter. These villagers are not zombies, but what is then known as Los Ganados (or “The Cattle" in Spanish) who seem to be possessed by something. These villagers are much more dangerous than the zombies of old; they can work together in groups and are intelligent enough to throw or yield weapons. The story unravels and answers all the questions needed, like why was the president’s daughter kidnapped? How did these villagers get possessed? What’s possessing them? Who was involved internally with the president to actually kidnap his daughter Ashley? Everything gets answered.

As for the gameplay, the game has moved forward in leaps and bounds from the old style. Resident Evil 1, 2, 3 and Code Veronica used predetermined camera angles and when your character moved out of the picture, the camera angle would change to suit the location of the character. This has been thrown out of the window and instead the camera is always behind the character, slightly above shoulder height. This new perspective adds a more first-person approach without ever being a first person shooter. When shooting, a red laser comes out of the gun to show the player where the target is placed. Unlike before, where you shoot at a zombie’s upper torso or low to their feet, you can now target individual limbs which do different things; shooting the head makes the enemy stumble backwards or result in the head to explode, shooting the feet makes the enemy crouch forwards, and shooting a hand results in the enemy dropping a weapon if they are holding one. If you shoot the head or feet correctly, you can run up to your enemy and pressing the action button (“A” on the Xbox 360 controller) when near them gives you the option of attacking your enemy physically. With Leon, pressing the action button when they’ve been hit in the head allows him to roundhouse kick them to the floor, knocking over nearby enemies. Depending on how far you are in the game, pressing the action button when they’ve been hit in the foot allows you first to kick them straight on, resulting them flying backwards a decent distance. Later on this is replaced by the Northern Lights Suplex, a fine wrestling move, where Leon actually lands the enemy backwards onto their head, usually resulting in the head exploding. These moves are more than welcome to the gameplay, which makes the game much cooler.

Watch out for that guy, he's pretending his arm's a cobra!

The signature weapons have returned, with a few more added in; there’s a nice selection of handguns available that all specialise in different things. The same applies to the shotguns and the magnums. These weapons aren’t readily available, you start off with just the handgun (and a shotgun on the easiest difficulty), but as you progress more and more becomes available. The handgun is easy to use and very effective in the beginning against most of the Ganados, and the shotguns are good against big groups of enemies, or the stronger enemies you encounter later on in the game. Magnums, like always, are the elite weapons that have very little ammo available in the game that should be used sparsely; the bosses are recommended for such instances. Added to these signature weapons are the rifles. Rifles have rarely been featured in the Resident Evil series due to the fact that the games aren’t first person shooters (apart from the Survivor and Chronicles series), and while this isn’t a first person shooter, the camera angle works in favour of the use of a rifle. Rifles, like in many other action shooter games, are great for long distance and also pack a decent punch. There’s only one machine gun in the game which is the TMP, a minigun that can be used effectively once in a while. There are other bonus weapons too but these are usually unlocked after completing the game and dramatically make the game much easier.

As mentioned earlier these weapons aren’t readily available, but are slowly unlocked as the game progresses. They’re made available through a merchant, who looks like one of the Ganados but speaks perfect English (in a fantastic cockney accent) and has a hooded coat for his wares. You’ll soon appreciate seeing the site of his blue flame that he is often standing next to, as he often offers you the next and better versions of your weapons. On a side note the Merchant is a fantastic character despite having virtually no purpose to the plot other than providing you with better weaponry, his accent and phrases while aren’t intentionally funny, are delivered fantastically you can’t help but fall in love with him. As well as having the option to buy weapons, you also have the option to upgrade them. Upgrading your weaponry is important at it allows you to keep up to date with the pending difficulty increase in enemies. Upgrades allow your weapons to deal more damage, to fire faster, to reload faster and to hold more ammo in the gun itself.

Another new addition to the game is the items case. In the old games you had usually six, eight or ten item slots and that was it. Most items would hold up one space, with the exception of the very large guns like machine guns and rocket launchers. Still there was a flaw; a shotgun was one space and so was a small key. Naturally a shotgun is much larger than the small key yet they take the same amount of space. This observation now doesn’t exist with the new suitcase; Leon carries a case which has many items slots and each item holds different amount of spaces. For instance, the smallest item is now an egg that is used to increase your health, and this only takes up one item space. In comparison, the handguns take around six spaces, and the shotguns can take anything up to sixteen spaces. Your case has probably around sixty spaces at first but like the weapons, your case can be upgraded to carry more and more as the game goes on. This new system removes the flaw of the old item space situation, while giving you much more customisation as well, unlike the older games you can now also drop items.

Good luck...

The game itself can be completed in fifteen to twenty five hours, which is a huge increase in time when compared to the older games. Not only is the game much bigger than others, but there is still more to do when you finish the game. You can take part in The Mercenaries game mode, which is similar to the one in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, where you have a time limit to kill as many enemies as possible. The difference between this and the Resident Evil 3 version is that you are only allowed in one large area in this game, and you can get time bonuses by going across the level. Killing enemies in succession starts a combo which when finished gives you more and more points as the tally increases. There are four levels in the game, which are all diverse and are similar in design to particular areas of the game. As mentioned much earlier in the review you can also play “Separate Ways” with Ada, which takes a good hour or two to finish. Lastly, you can play another game mode called “Assignment Ada”, which once again features the lady in red, where you are trying to receive random ‘plaga’ samples across a terrain.

While that is the majority of the game, also added into the game are the options to save your game and start afresh, a New Game+ if you will, where you keep all your weapons and advances from the previous game. You can also play again in a different difficulty, keeping in mind the easier your difficulty of choice, certain sections of the game are removed to make the game easier, meaning if you play on the hardest difficulty you play the game in its entirety. You can also unlock new costumes for both Leon and Ashley, by completing the game multiple times. So there’s a huge amount of content in this game, and it’s all worth sinking your teeth into.

On the whole Resident Evil 4 HD is the most complete version of Resident Evil 4 to date and is well worth getting no matter how much of an experience you’ve had with the game in the past. If you have the original Gamecube version, or a Playstation 2 or Wii version, it doesn’t matter, this HD remaster looks incredibly smooth and stands well with the games being released to day, despite being seven years old now. If you’ve never played Resident Evil 4 before, I can’t recommend this game enough. If you like survival horror and action packed shooter games, get this. You won’t regret it. Yes, its seven years old but it’s still one of the most complete games to ever come out. It’s a true classic, a game that will go down in history not only as one of the best games from the sixth generation of video gaming, but one of the best video games of all time. Everything from the graphics, the action, the controls, the enemies, the storyline, the vastness of the game, everything is close to perfection. The only problem I’d say with the game is that at around £15, it’s quite a steep price for a seven year old game, but it’s still worth it based on the content you receive. Resident Evil 4 for me, is the best in the series and this is a must for fans of survival horror shooter fans.

Rating: ****3/4 stars

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