Sunday, October 17, 2010

Survival horror games done wrong

So, last post I went in-depth into a game I thought was very well done, Dead Space.  Now to talk about I game i just could not get into, Resident Evil 5 (also known as RE5).  Resident Evil 5 is a continuation of the changes they made in RE4.  These include a certain graphic style, a move away from the previous games enemies of zombies created by the T virus, and also the umbrella corp not having as large a role, if at all in these games.  In this game your playing as Chris Redfield , with a female partner (Sheva Alomar).  Your sent to an African area to handle what may be a biohazard outbreak (the story is that since Umbrella went under, their trade secrets and bio-weapon instruments have been spread all over the world, so now your part of an elite group sent in to suppress outbreaks).  So your dropped into this location, and so begins the game.


So lets start with what's wrong with this game.  First off, it's not that scary.  You'll get the occasional surprise moment when something jumps out at you, but otherwise I've yet to be really scared by this game.  So let's talk supplies, enemies and controls.  First off controls.  The firing and combat just seems clunky and awkward to me.  Your mellee attack, the same stupid knife they've given you in every game so far still does next to nothing.  They added in a few situational moves you can use, such as roundhouse kicks and curb stomping, but these don't seem to actually do much to enemies.  I've curb stomped a basic zombie three times and he still kept coming up at me.  Also ammo is still at a premium in this game.  It seems like I always run out of ammo just as I get to the next area, so I'm also hunting and pecking for ammo to find for myself.  I also ended up buying myself some armor from the shop, and was unsure if I was actually using it.  I couldn't equip it, and it was taking up space in my inventory, so I'm guessing it was being used.  The screen to split things with your ally also seems a bit clunky.  Also, shooting just seems stiff.  Also they like ding the BS move RE4 did, where head shotting some guys makes huge insects come out and keep on fighting.  So your usual method of hunting down enemies just doesn't seem to work that well.


So controls are a bit wonky, it's story is well, not the best thing we've ever seen.  So we come to graphics, sounds and world.  Now, the graphics are definitely nice, but that's where they end.  It doesn't seem spooky or dramatic or anything at all to me.  The sounds are generic, usual shuffling noises and people talking.  Most of them are not talking in english though so it's not that scary to me.  Also the enemies seem very weird in the amount of damage they do.  A guy hitting me with an ax does less damage then a dog jumping at me.  Combine this with the lack of inventory space, ammo coming up for guns I do not currently have, the bad controls and everything else, and I really can't recommend this game.  I'm still playing it some more though, since it's a game I've yet to fully beat.  


So what's coming up soon.  I've got fallout Las vegas tuesday(my copy of fallout 3 is missing, of course) and Fable 3 next week.  Plus Blizcon is this weekend so I'm going to attempt to do some live blogging of it.  I'm going to mostly focus on some starcraft 2 tournaments, some of the panels and Diablo 3 panels.  Plus I'm hoping they announce their new MMO soon.  So that's it for me for now.  


         

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