Hey all
Been meaning to do a wrap up of my covid series replay. Here are my cool ass blurbs so far:
RE: Zero: 5/10
This is perfectly playable, pretty, and some fun to be had. After the near renaissance of REMake though, this is a slog. It's no wonder they dump entire style for next game
REmake: 9/10
Not as lustrous as I remembered, but I don't think another game in the series is as tightly designed. The extra stuff is great, and lots of surprises for fans of the original. Ultimately I don't know if the crimson heads add much, but playing this is a joy!
RE2make: 10/10
Maybe I'll adjust this score later, but this re-imagining of the old psx style is respectful but fully modern. Creepy as hell, incredible graphics, and just a ton of fun. Weird things: Why does unupgraded shotgun suck so much? Why does Claire have SO many ammo types and hand guns???
RE3make: 7/10
This game also a ton of fun, and the early areas have this feeling of complete panic and collapse. It also has here what few other REs have, which is exploring mundane spaces, even living spaces, as opposed to castles, mansions and crazy labs. The first half blows by though, and then you are in the vastly inferior second half. You do get the great hospital bit, which is more of that fun mundane space I love, plus hospitals are creepy and weird, but then another rote lab. Beyond that, the scenario just isn't as great, and while you often get to feel like a bad ass, these is very little of that desperate tension that you slowly overcome in these games. Obv still a ton of fun, but like the original it pales to 2.
Code Veronica: 6/10
I'm not replaying this for this project, but I played last year after doing re2make. this was my fave before re1make came out, but it holds up rather poorly in a lot of respects. being fully 3D is cool, but lacks the ornate detail that prerendered gave the psx and later the cube games. The story is cool, yet lacks. Being in a weird training centre on an island in south pacific is not very rad, despite some high points with the ashford mansions. Compared to 3, this one seems very backwards too. It's cool it has a very long game time, and both Chris and Claire get lots to do, but feels very rigid, and much more linear. There are also some super shitty parts. The cracking the crystal ball trap sucks, Steve boss sucks, and you can save yourself into unwinnable state before last boss if you are not aware that Claire gets fully side lined. Beyond that it feels this is where things get really off the plot in terms of umbrella. For first 3 umbrella is rather faceless. Wesker an opportunist, Birkin a mistake, Nicolai a merc, and their aims all petty, mercantile. Now you have the Ashfords who want willingly to be Bioweaponed and want world domination. This overly informs later games villains -> Marcus from 0, Wesker in 5, Spencer, whatever the hell happens in 6. Basically it's too much, yet feels small as you are in parking garage in antarctica.
Resident Evil 4: 9/10
Did you know this is a very good game? Still feels broadly a horror game, with more the threat in being out manuevered and overwhelmed. Each stage has a bit of quiet exploration, then explosions of violence. The art design is top notch, especially in the dead feel of the village. Graphics are still fairly great, but no longer near photo-realistic as it is in SD. Some issues playing it modern style - no quick weapon swap, and no right stick camera-ing (there sort of is, but it snaps back to behind back view) As above I mentioned that the last chapter is a slog for me, but still a top quality game. Story wise, Umbrella has folded, and Leon now some government agent charged with rescuing the president's daughter, held by a cult in spain. Viruses are replaced with parasites! I love this because it eschews the increasingly ridiculous umbrella plot, with some minor mentions later on, with Ada and Wesker trying to recover a sample. Very little feels actually scary, especially with Leon trading codec threats with Salazar and Saddler.
Impossible to talk about this without mentioning the MASSIVE impact on 3rd person action games. But it is, fifteen years later, feeling a tiny bit haggard. At any rate an amazing penis game.
Resident Evil 5: 6/10
Hey this game is ok. Still based on the rock solid foundation of 4, where everything works like clockwork. ISSUE. every stage in 4 is impeccably designed. I don't really feel there are any memorable encounters in all of 5. There is also less of a sense of exploring, because everything is in bite sized chunks. I think also with RE4 influencing the 3rd person shooter so much, RE5 is also influenced by the games in RE4's wake, such as Gears of War.
Now the graphics are fairly insane, still. Everything looks great, and only in the higher resolution output of XB1X do some textures look weird. Also - the setting for half the game, Africa, is really novel. BUT also incredibly problematic. I don't think this was done out of racism, but more ignorance. I think using Black Hawk Down as basis of White Guy in Africa shooter, is well, eeeeeeee. Worst part is, the setting is kind of a throw away. It has been previously hinted that Progenitor is from africa, but then you have this weird thing where half the game is just labs and bases anyway. Really could have been anywhere. Now you get the super cool characters in Sheva and Josh, and Sheva's dialogue hints at this anti-colonial theme, but not really followed up on, and certainly undermined by the greater Wesker story anyway. Maybe this would be different if Sheva was the lead, and Chris is sort of her side kick, or even a background element you join up with later in game.
Speaking of which - he is some sort of virus clone of Spencer, and most of them died. Just not Albert and Alex W, future villain of Revelations 2. Can't believe how heavily she was referenced! Oh and now Spencer's motivations is virus god-hood, same as Wesker, ultimately. Certainly went a long way from just being corrupt.
OH! Lost in nightmares is pretty cool. Sort of feels like blueprint for the re2 and 3 remakes.
Anyhoo - still fun etc etc. Co-op is cool. Fun Factor etc
Resident Evil 6: 7/10
This game is underrated, but still not great. I've played it through now, at least 5 times (most when it was new) and I think despite being messy, it is super ambitious, and generally a lot more fun than 5. My power rankings put Jake / Sherry Campaign in the gutter, but bulk of Chris and Leon stuff is aces. The action is way messier, more chaotic. Everything about 4/5 is - do this, expect that. And that is far less so here. As much as I like the tone of Leon's campaign, the zombies are too dangerous, and not in the never die way like RE2Make, but in they can do weird wild jumps and getting them off you is a mini QTE. Kishi Mentioned you can kick them away, witha prompt, but if you are already trying to shoot them, you don't get the prompt. There are a lot of cool movement options now, sliding, falling backwards to shoot up. But there isn't, in main campaigns, great reasons or space to use these effectively. Now you can goof off and showboat, but you will be living the flashing red life the entire time.
It's cool that herd pellet will give you 1+ whatever is depleted in current space, allowing you to slowly gain life, but I think a more traditional herb use would be better here. Thinking 1 pellet -> 2 life bars at least. The next thing that kinda sucks is the skillpoints. This is more or less the bonus system seen in the recent remakes, and it's cool. But everything costs too damn much. I played through all 4 campaigns and just at end of Ada 4 maxed out firepower. These high costs work in the remakes, because these are more compact experiences, meant for numerous replays, and they aren't based on currency, but what was accomplished. And i think buying firepower is almost a neccesity!
Story here is cool and the different campaigns really help it go along. With Leon You see the assassination outbreak, and birth of Ada, and she is up to evil shit. You hear name Neo Umbrella, and are introduced to Simmons, the Security Advisor who is also in "The Family" an illuminati/freemasons kind of deal. In Chris you see Ada get up to some heinous shit, her being the leader of Neo-Umbrella, and her "death", but wait she came back after??? With Jake - well this is the least important story campaign, aside from Jake has antobodies, but not too much new info is revealed here. With Ada you finally learn the truth, of top Family Researcher Carla Radames being used as a test subject to transform her into an Ada clones, as Simmons was obsessed with her after a rejection.
CarlAda has access to all the Family's resources but wants to destroy them, so secretly founds Neo-Umbrella, and starts terror attack in China to distract from her true aim - a nihilistic global release of C virus to crumble the world that the Family as created. It's pretty wild. And while playing each campaign, you run into the other campaigns, and if others are playing those currently, you join each other's games for the encounter.
The graphics are pretty wild as well, and the bulk of the game is in mainland china. The details of the cheap woven plastic tarps, the outside markets are all on point. the tenement that is the location of a lot of Chris' campaign is seemingly based on Kowloon, and feels great. Awesome scenes like the Snake, or blue zombie thing that crawls out of pig guts to get fed to grinder. Amazing stuff here.
Jake sucks out loud though, and it's clear they love him. Wanted him to turn into Dante or some shit. but character is a total misfire if you ask me.
RE7: 10/10
This is my fave one, i think, despite a few quibbles. And the reason for this is, it's actually scary. Horror of hoarders, horror of american gothic, horror of chainsaw massacre. The Bakers are gross, the molded are gross. The story, once revealed, is fully insane. These small stories are better I think, versus the escalation that the series has been going on in general. Like 4, this doesn't throw away the plot of the previous games, but it is very secondary to what is happening in Dulvey.
I played the 3 story DLCs, and of them only Daughters seem to get the tone of the main game. Not a Hero and End of Zoe have cool plots that fill in various plot holes left by main game, but they play too action forward. RE7 puts you at at least half the game where the game is very dangerous. And even if it isn't as dangerous as you think, you think it is because of what has happened early on. I didn't really feel powerful until later in the boat.
Been meaning to do a wrap up of my covid series replay. Here are my cool ass blurbs so far:
RE: Zero: 5/10
This is perfectly playable, pretty, and some fun to be had. After the near renaissance of REMake though, this is a slog. It's no wonder they dump entire style for next game
REmake: 9/10
Not as lustrous as I remembered, but I don't think another game in the series is as tightly designed. The extra stuff is great, and lots of surprises for fans of the original. Ultimately I don't know if the crimson heads add much, but playing this is a joy!
RE2make: 10/10
Maybe I'll adjust this score later, but this re-imagining of the old psx style is respectful but fully modern. Creepy as hell, incredible graphics, and just a ton of fun. Weird things: Why does unupgraded shotgun suck so much? Why does Claire have SO many ammo types and hand guns???
RE3make: 7/10
This game also a ton of fun, and the early areas have this feeling of complete panic and collapse. It also has here what few other REs have, which is exploring mundane spaces, even living spaces, as opposed to castles, mansions and crazy labs. The first half blows by though, and then you are in the vastly inferior second half. You do get the great hospital bit, which is more of that fun mundane space I love, plus hospitals are creepy and weird, but then another rote lab. Beyond that, the scenario just isn't as great, and while you often get to feel like a bad ass, these is very little of that desperate tension that you slowly overcome in these games. Obv still a ton of fun, but like the original it pales to 2.
Code Veronica: 6/10
I'm not replaying this for this project, but I played last year after doing re2make. this was my fave before re1make came out, but it holds up rather poorly in a lot of respects. being fully 3D is cool, but lacks the ornate detail that prerendered gave the psx and later the cube games. The story is cool, yet lacks. Being in a weird training centre on an island in south pacific is not very rad, despite some high points with the ashford mansions. Compared to 3, this one seems very backwards too. It's cool it has a very long game time, and both Chris and Claire get lots to do, but feels very rigid, and much more linear. There are also some super shitty parts. The cracking the crystal ball trap sucks, Steve boss sucks, and you can save yourself into unwinnable state before last boss if you are not aware that Claire gets fully side lined. Beyond that it feels this is where things get really off the plot in terms of umbrella. For first 3 umbrella is rather faceless. Wesker an opportunist, Birkin a mistake, Nicolai a merc, and their aims all petty, mercantile. Now you have the Ashfords who want willingly to be Bioweaponed and want world domination. This overly informs later games villains -> Marcus from 0, Wesker in 5, Spencer, whatever the hell happens in 6. Basically it's too much, yet feels small as you are in parking garage in antarctica.
Resident Evil 4: 9/10
Did you know this is a very good game? Still feels broadly a horror game, with more the threat in being out manuevered and overwhelmed. Each stage has a bit of quiet exploration, then explosions of violence. The art design is top notch, especially in the dead feel of the village. Graphics are still fairly great, but no longer near photo-realistic as it is in SD. Some issues playing it modern style - no quick weapon swap, and no right stick camera-ing (there sort of is, but it snaps back to behind back view) As above I mentioned that the last chapter is a slog for me, but still a top quality game. Story wise, Umbrella has folded, and Leon now some government agent charged with rescuing the president's daughter, held by a cult in spain. Viruses are replaced with parasites! I love this because it eschews the increasingly ridiculous umbrella plot, with some minor mentions later on, with Ada and Wesker trying to recover a sample. Very little feels actually scary, especially with Leon trading codec threats with Salazar and Saddler.
Impossible to talk about this without mentioning the MASSIVE impact on 3rd person action games. But it is, fifteen years later, feeling a tiny bit haggard. At any rate an amazing penis game.
Resident Evil 5: 6/10
Hey this game is ok. Still based on the rock solid foundation of 4, where everything works like clockwork. ISSUE. every stage in 4 is impeccably designed. I don't really feel there are any memorable encounters in all of 5. There is also less of a sense of exploring, because everything is in bite sized chunks. I think also with RE4 influencing the 3rd person shooter so much, RE5 is also influenced by the games in RE4's wake, such as Gears of War.
Now the graphics are fairly insane, still. Everything looks great, and only in the higher resolution output of XB1X do some textures look weird. Also - the setting for half the game, Africa, is really novel. BUT also incredibly problematic. I don't think this was done out of racism, but more ignorance. I think using Black Hawk Down as basis of White Guy in Africa shooter, is well, eeeeeeee. Worst part is, the setting is kind of a throw away. It has been previously hinted that Progenitor is from africa, but then you have this weird thing where half the game is just labs and bases anyway. Really could have been anywhere. Now you get the super cool characters in Sheva and Josh, and Sheva's dialogue hints at this anti-colonial theme, but not really followed up on, and certainly undermined by the greater Wesker story anyway. Maybe this would be different if Sheva was the lead, and Chris is sort of her side kick, or even a background element you join up with later in game.
Speaking of which - he is some sort of virus clone of Spencer, and most of them died. Just not Albert and Alex W, future villain of Revelations 2. Can't believe how heavily she was referenced! Oh and now Spencer's motivations is virus god-hood, same as Wesker, ultimately. Certainly went a long way from just being corrupt.
OH! Lost in nightmares is pretty cool. Sort of feels like blueprint for the re2 and 3 remakes.
Anyhoo - still fun etc etc. Co-op is cool. Fun Factor etc
Resident Evil 6: 7/10
This game is underrated, but still not great. I've played it through now, at least 5 times (most when it was new) and I think despite being messy, it is super ambitious, and generally a lot more fun than 5. My power rankings put Jake / Sherry Campaign in the gutter, but bulk of Chris and Leon stuff is aces. The action is way messier, more chaotic. Everything about 4/5 is - do this, expect that. And that is far less so here. As much as I like the tone of Leon's campaign, the zombies are too dangerous, and not in the never die way like RE2Make, but in they can do weird wild jumps and getting them off you is a mini QTE. Kishi Mentioned you can kick them away, witha prompt, but if you are already trying to shoot them, you don't get the prompt. There are a lot of cool movement options now, sliding, falling backwards to shoot up. But there isn't, in main campaigns, great reasons or space to use these effectively. Now you can goof off and showboat, but you will be living the flashing red life the entire time.
It's cool that herd pellet will give you 1+ whatever is depleted in current space, allowing you to slowly gain life, but I think a more traditional herb use would be better here. Thinking 1 pellet -> 2 life bars at least. The next thing that kinda sucks is the skillpoints. This is more or less the bonus system seen in the recent remakes, and it's cool. But everything costs too damn much. I played through all 4 campaigns and just at end of Ada 4 maxed out firepower. These high costs work in the remakes, because these are more compact experiences, meant for numerous replays, and they aren't based on currency, but what was accomplished. And i think buying firepower is almost a neccesity!
Story here is cool and the different campaigns really help it go along. With Leon You see the assassination outbreak, and birth of Ada, and she is up to evil shit. You hear name Neo Umbrella, and are introduced to Simmons, the Security Advisor who is also in "The Family" an illuminati/freemasons kind of deal. In Chris you see Ada get up to some heinous shit, her being the leader of Neo-Umbrella, and her "death", but wait she came back after??? With Jake - well this is the least important story campaign, aside from Jake has antobodies, but not too much new info is revealed here. With Ada you finally learn the truth, of top Family Researcher Carla Radames being used as a test subject to transform her into an Ada clones, as Simmons was obsessed with her after a rejection.
CarlAda has access to all the Family's resources but wants to destroy them, so secretly founds Neo-Umbrella, and starts terror attack in China to distract from her true aim - a nihilistic global release of C virus to crumble the world that the Family as created. It's pretty wild. And while playing each campaign, you run into the other campaigns, and if others are playing those currently, you join each other's games for the encounter.
The graphics are pretty wild as well, and the bulk of the game is in mainland china. The details of the cheap woven plastic tarps, the outside markets are all on point. the tenement that is the location of a lot of Chris' campaign is seemingly based on Kowloon, and feels great. Awesome scenes like the Snake, or blue zombie thing that crawls out of pig guts to get fed to grinder. Amazing stuff here.
Jake sucks out loud though, and it's clear they love him. Wanted him to turn into Dante or some shit. but character is a total misfire if you ask me.
RE7: 10/10
This is my fave one, i think, despite a few quibbles. And the reason for this is, it's actually scary. Horror of hoarders, horror of american gothic, horror of chainsaw massacre. The Bakers are gross, the molded are gross. The story, once revealed, is fully insane. These small stories are better I think, versus the escalation that the series has been going on in general. Like 4, this doesn't throw away the plot of the previous games, but it is very secondary to what is happening in Dulvey.
I played the 3 story DLCs, and of them only Daughters seem to get the tone of the main game. Not a Hero and End of Zoe have cool plots that fill in various plot holes left by main game, but they play too action forward. RE7 puts you at at least half the game where the game is very dangerous. And even if it isn't as dangerous as you think, you think it is because of what has happened early on. I didn't really feel powerful until later in the boat.