Resident Evil 3: Nemesis wasn’t intended to be the sequel to Resident Evil 2. It was conceived as an action-based side-story, but owing to a complex mix of financial issues and a delay in the release Sony’s second console, the then Resident Evil 1.9 became 3 and, later, Nemesis / Last Escape. Even after that shift in development, it feels more like an epilogue to the Raccoon City drama than a proper sequel, at least in terms of its length and content. If it were not for Jill Valentine in the lead read, and bringing Raccoon City to an explosive end, it would do little to advance the franchise’s narrative. Sure, it’s an exceptional epilogue, but an epilogue nonetheless.
CODE: Veronica, which debuted on the ill-fated Dreamcast in 2000 and made its way to the PlayStation 2 a year later, is Resident Evil 2’s true successor, interweaving the story of the first two games by uniting the Redfield siblings. Claire, still searching for her brother Chris, is kidnapped by the Umbrella Corporation and detained on an island prison in the Southern Ocean. Shortly after her arrival the island is attacked, once again releasing the experimental T-Virus.
Resident Evilhas taken many shapes since its inception.Survival horror, light gun shooter, third person adventure, online cooperative game, and, with 2017’s Resident Evil 7, first-person horror. This latest shape was fitting, in a way: the very first Resident Evil was conceived as a first-person game, before the limitations of the PlayStation forced Capcom to abandon it. At the time ofResident Evil 7’s release, though, it was a return to the survival horror that once defined Capcom’s multifaceted franchise.
And it was quite good.
Now, after two years of remakes, we at last have the eighth instalment – Village. It, too, is good. Very good, actually.
As Resident Evil Village fast approaches, Ross is going to be revisiting some of his favourite titles from a series that has undergone many permutations since 1996—from survival horror to white-knuckle third-person action—reinventing itself whenever the formula became too staid, to varying levels of success. But when it works, it really works.
As Resident Evil Village fast approaches, Ross is going to be revisiting some of his favourite titles from a series that has undergone many permutations since 1996—from survival horror to white-knuckle third-person action—reinventing itself whenever the formula became too staid, to varying levels of success. But when it works, it really works.
As Resident Evil Village fast approaches, Ross is going to be revisiting some of his favourite titles from a series that has undergone many permutations since 1996—from survival horror to white-knuckle third-person action—reinventing itself whenever the formula became too staid, to varying levels of success. But when it works, it really works.
If you’ve read any of my work over the years, you’ll know that many great game series’ have passed me by for one reason or another. Probably because of my Football Manager obsession, but not always. One such series that I’ve long been hidden away from is Resident Evil. But with the remaster of Resident Evil 2 hitting the shelves recently, I plucked up the courage, and stepped into Racoon City.
Racoon City, Umbrella, Claire Redfied, Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are names that hold an irresistible thrill when mentioned. You know Resident Evil is being talked about, a series that dominated the late 90s and has continued to re-invent itself over the years.
The gore is sublime
The action-oriented Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 might have broken away from the survival-horror elements off the original titles, but they still sold like hot-cakes. After a five year lull though, Capcom were back with Resident Evil 7, a return to the survival-horror drive of the classics in the series, but with a first-person twist thanks to the new RE Engine.
With the power of the new game engine, Capcom revealed the Resident Evil 2 remake at E3 last year, showing off the new third-person camera, a drastic change from the static camera of the original.
Even then, I didn’t pay much attention to the news. I had played a smattering of RE5, but was left feeling underwhelmed. After years of avoiding the series, worrying that the tension of trying to survive would be my undoing, I wondered what was going on. Yes, there were zombies to kill, but it didn’t feel at all like I had expected, where was the horror I was left asking myself. After a few hours, I put it aside and probably went off and played a third-rate action game.
It wasn’t until I read Wesley Yin-Poole’s piece on Eurogamer about the Tyrant that I thought the re-imagining of Resident Evil 2 was worth checking out. I’m so glad I did, and also so glad that Capcom offered a standard difficulty mode that offered easy saves and zombies more willing to lie down and play dead.
Even if the scares don’t get you, the images are pure horror
The Hardcore mode is present and correct for those who want to feel like they’re back in 1998, and I’m actually kind of tempted to try that out during the second run stories that are on offer.
You see, despite being a 2019 release, Capcom haven’t forgotten their roots and turned the series into a Battle Royale. The elements of games from the 90s that made so many of them so great are well and truly present. Secrets to find, a smattering of lore that doesn’t overwhelm, and replayability that offers a substantial difference to your original journey.
There have certainly been moments where my pulse has raced, my palms sweaty and I’ve just had to pause the game and walk away. My first playthrough was with Claire, and when I first came across the Tyrant, at gone midnight in an empty house, I had to call it quits.
It might have been a C, but that’s a pass. Right?
Playing as Leon, I started off cocky and full of myself. I’d completed the game as Claire and thought I knew all of the tricks to survive. Little did I realise how wildly different their stories would be upon first escaping the police station. Ammo was scarce, my health was in danger, I was short of any herbs or first aid sprays and I somehow managed to escape the zombie dogs.
I haven’t played a game like it for some time, and it offers a refreshing difference to a world that is full of open-world games and Battle Royale titles. If you’ve never dared pick up a Resident Evil before now, I strongly recommend you pick up the courage and get your hands on this one.
Confusion, Disappointment, Frustration. That is what I felt as I sat down for another round of Resident Evil 5’s Mercenaries mode with my brother. Was it entertaining? Yes! Co-op definitely works – it’s the perfect way to while away a rainy afternoon. Unfortunately, it isn’t Resident Evil, a series that used to be known for its gut wrenching terror and perfectly constructed tension, pockmarked by brief moments of respite and safety (never had I been happier to see a typewriter). So what was it that made the series so good? And when did it all go so wrong? …
If you claim to be fan of video games, and the names Ryu and Ken mean nothing to you then I put it to you, dear reader, that you are in fact a charlatan. However, you would be forgiven at displaying some surprise at seeing one of the best known franchises on PC. It’s not usually a platform that sees a lot of beat-em-up action, but Capcom being proud members of the PC Gaming Alliance resulted in them seeing fit to release the latest iteration of the long running series on Windows. Is it any good? I wish it was as easy enough for a one word answer. But it isn’t, luckily for my word count.
How about a nice game of chess?
So the first thing you’ll probably notice about this transition to our platform of choice is the quality of the conversion. This certainly is not a lazy port like Capcom’s pre Lost Planet stuff. Of course it helps that the arcade version was itself based on Intel CPU technology, but it runs very well on all manner of systems and looks particularly unique. Rather than trying to take the much loved gameplay into 3D and risk wrecking everything, Capcom have wisely stuck with a 2D fighting gameplay system, but using 3D character models. This makes for some very satisfying action and making hits feel very visceral and sufficiently brutal. There’s some nice little touches throughout the visuals too, such as eyes bulging and the facial expressions of every character when you’re knocking them senseless. Special moves like Ryu’s fireball and Chun Li’s Hurricaine Kick are suitably thrown kicking and screaming into the 21st century, looking especially pretty and physical in their 2009 iterations. Another fantastic descision by Capcom is bringing back some of the classic stages from the older Street Fighter games and making sure that they too get a lovely lick of paint – there’s something comfortably familiar about seeing Blanka’s jungle again, only now with far more depth in those trees and that oasis in the background. As an added bonus for PC gamers, they’ve even thoughtfully included a couple of graphics filters for you to play with, although admittedly these are pretty superfluous. Still, it’s the thought that counts.
There's nothing up his sleeves - he doesn't have any.
Street Fighter 4 offers several gameplay modes. Along with the usual Arcade mode and Versus mode there’s also a Challenge mode featuring Survival and Time Attack and Trial flavours, featuring a series of ever increasing challenges for you to test your skill with each of the 26 characters in the game. This provides a lot of replay value and indeed there’s a heck of a lot to do, as long as you’re willing to put in the time. And of course the big addition for this iteration is the inclusion of Online Play. Yes, you can finally go online and find out if your Sagat really can beat Ryu in China. This is probably the area of the game you’ll spend the most time in – a ranking system has been introduced including a ‘Championship Mode’ where you are placed against other players with ever increasing skill. Luckily you get points whether you win or lose – which is handy meaning you can rank up even if you are rubbish.
Nice legs and legs and legs and legs and legs...
However there are some flaws with Street Fighter 4 – and they’re the type that really niggle at you. The first one is the difficulty. For some reason Street Fighter 4 seems to ignore the fact that there are some people, such as your reviewer, who are not that good at Beat-em-Ups, especially on the PC where the genre is not really a regular staple. Arcade mode seems to be stupidly hard even on Medium. And unfortunately completing it is required to unlock all the characters. Having to turn it down all the way to Very Easy feels a bit demeaning but unless you’ve really mastered the moves in this game you might have to do the same. The last boss is almost infuriating if you pick the wrong character even after you’ve adjusted the difficulty. Along the same lines then – the new characters aren’t really that good. A luchador chef and a fat American may have novelty value for a while but they soon become annoying. Not nearly as annoying as that announcer, whom for some reason you can’t turn off, but they just don’t feel like they have the same long term appeal as the classic cast.
'Left a bit, right a bit, ahh - that's betAIIIIEEEE!'
Of course, another thing to point out should be really obvious – but if you’re thinking of playing Street Fighter 4 on a keyboard you might want to get your head checked. Due the nature of the game you’ll be wanting a joypad, but sometimes the new Ultra Combos are still incredibly tricky to pull off. Many times the game seemed to decide to decree my input of the Ultra and Special combos as correct only if it felt like it. Luckily there are arcade sticks available, and I would hazard that they may be worth a try, but to get them for one game may be a bit much. And finally on the problems side, it does use Games for Windows Live, which might be an issue if you have problems with it like Chris has lately, but it does mean you can get some nice extra costumes via DLC – for a price, that is…
So overall, Street Fighter 4 is a bit of a double edged sword. Is it the best beat-em-up on PC? Of course, but it’s not like it has any competition. Still, it’s a very enjoyable game, especially online. It has a very steep learning curve if you’re not used to beat-em-ups but is still really good fun. Definitely worth a punt if you are that way inclined, but occasionally the frustration might see you causing more damage to the joypad than your opponent.
More HADOUKEN! than TETSU-HADOUKEN!!
PC Gaming Alliance Swells with Capcom and… Guildhall?
We haven’t really said much about the PC Gaming Alliance here, and that’s mainly because they haven’t really done that much yet, but it’s really rather nice to see so many companies burgeoning their ranks. However, it is a little surprising when we see Capcom, who have been so primarily a console developer for much of the past, joining them. Much less a small company that works out of the Southern Methodist University teaching game making, called The Guildhall.
