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

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

Retro Review: Final Fantasy XII

Hallo everyone, it's unlikely I'll be able to get another retro review in until my computer is fixed, but here is my review on Final Fantasy XII, which I did in April 2008. It's possibly the last review I did, I can't remember doing one since. But as that was the highest vote tally in my first poll, I'll do my first proper review on this site as a video game review. To your right is four options of game review, choose which game you're most interested in. Anyway, onto the review.

 

"It has great qualities, but it’s just when you compare it to the storytelling of previous games, it’s just disappointing."

It's hard to review this game and give it a rating because as everyone who knows me is aware I adore this series with a passion. But, it's a disappointment. I asked my girlfriend, “What would you rating FF12?” She replied, “6 or 7 at the most.” But I gave it an eight, because it's not a bad game. Not by far. It's a great game in fact, but when you put it up on the wall next to Final Fantasy VI, VII and IX it really does not shine out.

The game is set in a world called Ivalice, the world of Final Fantasy Tactics, where the main character Vaan and his childhood friend Penelo dream get caught in a war between Archadia and Rozarria, two nations where the battlefield is about to be set in their kingdom of Dalmasca which was taken over by Archadia two years prior the beginning of the game. Ashe, the princess of Dalmasca and Basch both thought to have died two years ago eventually join forces and create a resistance movement against Archadia. Balthier and Fran are sky pirates along with Vaan and Penelo who get caught in the resistance movement. That's… pretty much the storyline. It's not great to be honest, and when you compare it to some of the others, it's as brief as comparing the Saw series to Cabin Fever. I mean, when people ask me to describe Final Fantasy VII's storyline, I gasp and say “Well… it's complicated.”

The graphics on the game are absolutely fantastic, there are no glitches no patches and they are as smooth as can be – it gives the Playstation 3 a run for its money. There is a small load scene between FMV's and the action but apart from that the scenes move smoothly. The best word to use here as you have probably already noticed is smooth. There is some gorgeous scenery in the game, especially in the latter stages of the game.

The sound is great – the voice acting is better than Final Fantasy X's and the soundtrack is decent. Once again if you compare it to some of the soundtracks of the other series then it stands out as pretty bad.

When it comes to replay value, something that the Final Fantasy series masters, it's not bad. I mean there is actually only one really, which is disappointing. It's called “Mark Hunting” which is basically hunting a monster that is pestering people in the game, they get harder and harder and eventually you go against some of the hardest monsters in the game. There is no “Blitzball” or “Card Game” like in the other series which is disappointing. Even the smaller side quests don't offer much.

The main thing I would like to talk about is the battle system. Ever since Final Fantasy IX the people at Squaresoft/Square Enix believed they had to change the battle system. In the old series, there was an ATB gauge, and until it fills up the characters stand still and do nothing. In Final Fantasy X they got rid of the ATB gauge which made the game flow much more. In X-2 they brought it back but instead got rid of all the waiting and delays and made the fighting flow even more. Final Fantasy XII works in exactly the same way but you can control the character in a 3D environment rather than in a set screen battle like the other games. The world map and battlefield is the same field this time around, the monsters can be seen as you scroll across the deserts, mountains and plains you go through. This sounds like a vast improvement doesn't it? My only problem is, the original way of fighting in the Final Fantasy series was not a problem whatsoever in the first place. I have no idea why Squarsoft/Square Enix think they need to improve the battle system. I've never seen anyone complain about it. Yes it has gotten mocked over time but games do! How many games in the past have got mocked but have kept the system the same over time? Game Developers always think they need to improve the game if it gets mocked, mainly games that contain scrolling or 2D graphics. Sonic went downhill and only makes one or two decent games every five years now because they tried to go 3D – Mario as good as their 3D games are no match for 2D Mario.

The Final Fantasy series has not been “great” since Final Fantasy IX, and this game follows that trend. Look how much time has past since Final Fantasy X – six years nearly? Six years and they make a tolerable but simple storyline with an improved battle system. It really isn't good enough. Where is the plot is twist? The complex storyline? The dark/hidden side of the main protagonist? The great female counterpart? The sick but great villain? The scenes that make you want to cry, that get you hooked on the game? There is nothing. Oh, but the battle system is good and improved. So for the past six years they think that all these things are best to be sacrificed in order to get a super battle system. Also, the storyline is so basic, they make you travel the whole world and stretch out the small storyline by making you have hours of battles in between. Basically, you go to one place which is all the way across the world, fight loads of monsters for hours, get there, beat the boss and *Insert story progression here*. And repeat. It's not good enough. Vaan, supposedly the main protagonist has nothing to do with the storyline, nothing, well he lives where the Archadian army took over. That's it. There's no love story, the villain is disappointing, Penelo is just annoying. The best qualities this game has, is Balthier, the awesome sky pirate who is arrogant, witty and sounds like David Bowie, it's fantastic! The graphics are great the battle system is good too. That's about it.

As you can tell judging on this review I should be giving it less than 8/10 but it is a good game. It has great qualities. All the series does. But it's just when you compare it to its great history of storytelling, it's just disappointing.

Overall: 8/10

 

I do maintain the opinion that FF12 is just a shadow on the Final Fantasy games around it, Final Fantasy 13 is a much better game, although I'm yet to complete it, so can't do a full review on it. I'll hopefully be doing a review in the next fortnight, we'll see how fortune works in my favour first. Have a good day.

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