Rrresidunt Eeeeevillllll
As you may have noticed, I'm almost always obsessed with either Silent Hill or Resident Evil. And since Silent Hill has been like a platter of cold french fries for me lately since I finished all the old good games at least 3 or 4 times and got most of the endings and secret weapons/items and the newer games are pretty horrible, I've switched my predilection-of-the-month back to Resident Evil.
I still think Silent Hill is unbeatable when it comes to story lines and characters. In SH I want to finish the game to see all of the story, while in Resident Evil I care more about finishing the game and kill as much zombies without being killed. In SH I genuinely wish the best for all characters even though they'll probably die, while in RE I couldn't care less about any character apart from the one I'm playing. Actually, I really wish Ashley would just DIE already instead of having to carry her around and snipe thousands of kidnappers while she sits on her ass crying and doing NOTHING to save herself, like, RUN AWAY or HIDE or, y'know, BUY A GUN FROM THE MERCHANT AND SHOOT THEM HERSELF. She's about as bad as Eileen from SH4 (which, incidentally, is the SH game where I stopped caring for the characters because MAN in this game they were all useless and unlikeable).
Aaaanyway, since I'm currently procastinating my thesis now might be the right time to do a short review of the RE games I've played up until today. I'll review them in the chronological order of the story lines and those that I have actually finished will have a little * mark. Enjoy (or skip!)
*Resident Evil 1 Deadly Silence (Nintendo DS)
This was the first RE I played and also one of the first console games I played. I had not touched a console in my life before I got my big old DS so my controls were pretty shitty. I actually got stuck on the final boss fight and didn't bother finishing it until a few months ago when I finally got it back from the guy that had borrowed it from me way back in 2006 and by now my controller skills have been trained to epic proportions (yeah) so I beat it without much trouble.
The DS Version is a port from the original Playstation game which is famous for its GODAWFUL voice acting. I have discussed this voice acting in an earlier journal ( tomatie.livejournal.com/40773.html) because I love it so much. I lied when I said I didn't care about RE characters at all. I love them.
The only real annoying part is the limited inventory (6 items for Chris, 8 for Jill) that forces you to run back to the other side of the game for that ONE item you need but couldn't pick up earlier, or refuses to let you heal because you can't pick up healing items when your inventory's full but you also can't swap then with other useless items or discard other items.
The second DS version has some snazzy extra puzzles to be solved with the stylus. It's also quite a lot harder than the original because there's alot of extra random fights (knife fights to be fought with the stylus) and extra monsters when you don't expect them (I ran into alot of crows and bees that weren't in that particular place in the original and it sucks because those two are the most annoying monsters to fight in the entire game). You do get extra items from the treasure chests and from winning the random fights though.
Finally, there's a multiplayer option but I have yet to find someone else who owns the game so I haven't tried it out. :(
Resident Evil 1 Remake (Nintendo Gamecube)
They fixed the voice acting, NOOOOO ;_;
This is a nice game to play after finishing the original because this game knows where you expect things to pop up/jump through windows and thus does not let it happen until MUCH later when you didn't expect them any more. Asshole. Also, the mansion layout has changed slightly so you get lost more easily and there's alot of extra puzzles and items. The new graphics are absolutely gorgeous and really add to the atmosphere. The mansion is now actually scary!
However, zombies become your worst enemies along with the limited inventory because they regenerate into RUNNING ZOMBIES unless you headshot them (which is random) or burn their corpse with lighter oil and a lighter. Having to carry that around limits your inventory space even more and that SUCKS. I didn't get too far in this game though, meh. I prefer the original.
*Resident Evil 2 (PC)
This is has been my favorite until Code: Veronica and RE4 came along. It also has the first RE escort mission where you have a second character tagging along that you have to protect from pretty much everything, but in this game I didn't really mind because she didn't get in the way and there's auto-targeting so shooting enemies is pretty straight-forward. Voices are much better than those in RE1 and the backgrounds are alot more detailed, so it's fun to walk around.
Second scenario gets more tricky because of a new type of monster: a Nemesis-like Mr X who follows you around the area and is a bitch to kill and very strong. Urgh. Other than that, this game is great because there's 4 different ways to play it without the story getting boring or predictable.
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (PC)
I tried to play this game a long time ago and it made me RAGE so hard I deleted it from my computer. I hate enemies that keep stalking you unless you kill them and this Nemesis does not only take more than a full Magnum clip to take down, but he also shoots rockets at you and can kill in one hit. It sucks because I really want to play this game and explore the awesome environments and new gameplay (you make your own bullets, can shoot things in the background to kill zombies and holy mother of god you can now walk up and down stairs yourself without pressing the action button), but until now I haven't been able to get to the FIRST REAL BOSS because Nemesis keeps smashing my head like a fresh tomato. I've reinstalled this on my netbook though because I'm so irked by the idea of not having beat this game that I won't rest before I succeed. I'll keep you updated.
Resident Evil 4 (PC and Gamecube)
THIS GAME IS GREAT. I suck at aiming and shooting and tactics and stuff, but this game lets you run around and shoot so easily that even I can play it. It's great to be able to hide from enemies, trick them, snipe them before they see you, lure them into traps... And best of all is that this game awards you with lots of loot and hidden treasures. It's not like any other RE game but it's such a fun game to play.
Playing on an older PC like mine sucks though because it lags horribly and that's a real problem in the segments where you have to snipe quickly to save Ashley. Actually, I think Ashley is the problem. I keep accidentally shooting her because she gets in the way all the time. I hate Ashley. Best parts of the game are when she got caught by the bad guys and I only had to look after myself. Anyway. I'm currently stuck at one of the later 'Save Ashley's sorry ass'-segments because my PC lags too bad to aim correctly. I managed to find a shabby old copy of the GC version at my local game store though and got past the first boss without any problems in that, so when I find the time I'll try to finish it.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Dreamcast -emulator-)
I think this is my favorite 'traditional' RE game with the puzzles, zombies and limited inventory space. The story is so long, it has tons of different areas, and best of all: when your inventory's full but you still desperately need to heal, IT JUST LETS YOU USE THE HERB WITHOUT PICKING IT UP. I love it.
This game also has one of the most delightfully annoying side characters ever: Steve 'Douchebag' Burnside. All he does is try to sexually harass Claire, speak in lame oneliners and cry like a little bitch, so I love making fun of him!
Here I'm stuck on one of the puzzles where you have to break a crystal ball without getting smashed by the trap yourself and I lack the timing to do it D: bah
Resident Evil: the Darkside Chronicles (Wii)
Holy shit this game is awesome. It's all my favorite RE games in one, mixed with House of the Death gameplay. We spent a great deal of our holiday in Japan in the arcade hall playing House of the Death so to be able to play an even greater version of HotD at home all day/night is like a small dream come true. It has RE2, Code:Veronica, Leon Scott 'Master of Emotions' Kennedy, Claire and holyshit even Steeeeve and it's a multiplayer and not that difficult at all. I never thought I'd ever like the Wii but with games like this how can I hate it.
So, what's your favorite zombie flavour?
I still think Silent Hill is unbeatable when it comes to story lines and characters. In SH I want to finish the game to see all of the story, while in Resident Evil I care more about finishing the game and kill as much zombies without being killed. In SH I genuinely wish the best for all characters even though they'll probably die, while in RE I couldn't care less about any character apart from the one I'm playing. Actually, I really wish Ashley would just DIE already instead of having to carry her around and snipe thousands of kidnappers while she sits on her ass crying and doing NOTHING to save herself, like, RUN AWAY or HIDE or, y'know, BUY A GUN FROM THE MERCHANT AND SHOOT THEM HERSELF. She's about as bad as Eileen from SH4 (which, incidentally, is the SH game where I stopped caring for the characters because MAN in this game they were all useless and unlikeable).
Aaaanyway, since I'm currently procastinating my thesis now might be the right time to do a short review of the RE games I've played up until today. I'll review them in the chronological order of the story lines and those that I have actually finished will have a little * mark. Enjoy (or skip!)
*Resident Evil 1 Deadly Silence (Nintendo DS)
This was the first RE I played and also one of the first console games I played. I had not touched a console in my life before I got my big old DS so my controls were pretty shitty. I actually got stuck on the final boss fight and didn't bother finishing it until a few months ago when I finally got it back from the guy that had borrowed it from me way back in 2006 and by now my controller skills have been trained to epic proportions (yeah) so I beat it without much trouble.
The DS Version is a port from the original Playstation game which is famous for its GODAWFUL voice acting. I have discussed this voice acting in an earlier journal ( tomatie.livejournal.com/40773.html) because I love it so much. I lied when I said I didn't care about RE characters at all. I love them.
The only real annoying part is the limited inventory (6 items for Chris, 8 for Jill) that forces you to run back to the other side of the game for that ONE item you need but couldn't pick up earlier, or refuses to let you heal because you can't pick up healing items when your inventory's full but you also can't swap then with other useless items or discard other items.
The second DS version has some snazzy extra puzzles to be solved with the stylus. It's also quite a lot harder than the original because there's alot of extra random fights (knife fights to be fought with the stylus) and extra monsters when you don't expect them (I ran into alot of crows and bees that weren't in that particular place in the original and it sucks because those two are the most annoying monsters to fight in the entire game). You do get extra items from the treasure chests and from winning the random fights though.
Finally, there's a multiplayer option but I have yet to find someone else who owns the game so I haven't tried it out. :(
Resident Evil 1 Remake (Nintendo Gamecube)
They fixed the voice acting, NOOOOO ;_;
This is a nice game to play after finishing the original because this game knows where you expect things to pop up/jump through windows and thus does not let it happen until MUCH later when you didn't expect them any more. Asshole. Also, the mansion layout has changed slightly so you get lost more easily and there's alot of extra puzzles and items. The new graphics are absolutely gorgeous and really add to the atmosphere. The mansion is now actually scary!
However, zombies become your worst enemies along with the limited inventory because they regenerate into RUNNING ZOMBIES unless you headshot them (which is random) or burn their corpse with lighter oil and a lighter. Having to carry that around limits your inventory space even more and that SUCKS. I didn't get too far in this game though, meh. I prefer the original.
*Resident Evil 2 (PC)
This is has been my favorite until Code: Veronica and RE4 came along. It also has the first RE escort mission where you have a second character tagging along that you have to protect from pretty much everything, but in this game I didn't really mind because she didn't get in the way and there's auto-targeting so shooting enemies is pretty straight-forward. Voices are much better than those in RE1 and the backgrounds are alot more detailed, so it's fun to walk around.
Second scenario gets more tricky because of a new type of monster: a Nemesis-like Mr X who follows you around the area and is a bitch to kill and very strong. Urgh. Other than that, this game is great because there's 4 different ways to play it without the story getting boring or predictable.
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (PC)
I tried to play this game a long time ago and it made me RAGE so hard I deleted it from my computer. I hate enemies that keep stalking you unless you kill them and this Nemesis does not only take more than a full Magnum clip to take down, but he also shoots rockets at you and can kill in one hit. It sucks because I really want to play this game and explore the awesome environments and new gameplay (you make your own bullets, can shoot things in the background to kill zombies and holy mother of god you can now walk up and down stairs yourself without pressing the action button), but until now I haven't been able to get to the FIRST REAL BOSS because Nemesis keeps smashing my head like a fresh tomato. I've reinstalled this on my netbook though because I'm so irked by the idea of not having beat this game that I won't rest before I succeed. I'll keep you updated.
Resident Evil 4 (PC and Gamecube)
THIS GAME IS GREAT. I suck at aiming and shooting and tactics and stuff, but this game lets you run around and shoot so easily that even I can play it. It's great to be able to hide from enemies, trick them, snipe them before they see you, lure them into traps... And best of all is that this game awards you with lots of loot and hidden treasures. It's not like any other RE game but it's such a fun game to play.
Playing on an older PC like mine sucks though because it lags horribly and that's a real problem in the segments where you have to snipe quickly to save Ashley. Actually, I think Ashley is the problem. I keep accidentally shooting her because she gets in the way all the time. I hate Ashley. Best parts of the game are when she got caught by the bad guys and I only had to look after myself. Anyway. I'm currently stuck at one of the later 'Save Ashley's sorry ass'-segments because my PC lags too bad to aim correctly. I managed to find a shabby old copy of the GC version at my local game store though and got past the first boss without any problems in that, so when I find the time I'll try to finish it.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Dreamcast -emulator-)
I think this is my favorite 'traditional' RE game with the puzzles, zombies and limited inventory space. The story is so long, it has tons of different areas, and best of all: when your inventory's full but you still desperately need to heal, IT JUST LETS YOU USE THE HERB WITHOUT PICKING IT UP. I love it.
This game also has one of the most delightfully annoying side characters ever: Steve 'Douchebag' Burnside. All he does is try to sexually harass Claire, speak in lame oneliners and cry like a little bitch, so I love making fun of him!
Here I'm stuck on one of the puzzles where you have to break a crystal ball without getting smashed by the trap yourself and I lack the timing to do it D: bah
Resident Evil: the Darkside Chronicles (Wii)
Holy shit this game is awesome. It's all my favorite RE games in one, mixed with House of the Death gameplay. We spent a great deal of our holiday in Japan in the arcade hall playing House of the Death so to be able to play an even greater version of HotD at home all day/night is like a small dream come true. It has RE2, Code:Veronica, Leon Scott 'Master of Emotions' Kennedy, Claire and holyshit even Steeeeve and it's a multiplayer and not that difficult at all. I never thought I'd ever like the Wii but with games like this how can I hate it.
So, what's your favorite zombie flavour?