Resident Evil 5 - An exercise in adding realism

If any Horror Survival (HS) game has tried to advance it's own genre, it is Resident Evil.

For the longest time, each HS title has kept a locked camera perspective or a combat system that sucked beyond all get out.
Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark and the original RE's all had systems in place to make you wish that you could throw your controller out the window.
I cannot count how many times I have screamed at my screen as I died another cheap death.

Then RE4 came along. With a new angle for the camera (behind the shoulders) and a combat system that was more forgiving with tons of ammo and health all around. The control of how you lived or died was handed back to the player.
Throw in an RPG like system of upgrades and ability to buy the stuff you could not find...RE4 is truly a new age in HS gaming.
Thanks to RE4, we got Deadspace, which has proven that a Western influenced HS title can work, and quite well. Using the same formula of RPG style upgrades, better camera control, and less of the "cheap" deaths due to sneaks, etc., the genre is coming pretty far.
Silent Hill tried to fix their game with the last release, Homecoming, with full visual controls to allow you to see all around you, and combat that worked...most of the time.
Alone in the Dark also tried some new formulas (but still kept locked camera's, and the combat is slightly wonky to be almost buggy).

RE4 still wins hands down.

Now we have Resident Evil 5. In comparison, it holds a lot of the "in the moment" style of action like Deadspace. What this means is that you do not have a pause to get an item type of gameplay that most HS titles still cling to.

Released this week for XBL and PS3, the demo gives an idea of the hectic "OMG" moments that a real person would be dealing with as they try to survive being attacked by these new forms of "zombies".
And it has been frustrating as you play the demo.
For the player who is use to fast turns in 3rd person like Gears of War...it is not here. Standardized controls like Left Trigger, Right Trigger, reloads, etc...not here.
RE5 went with it's own control scheme which can be frustrating, but also manageable if you PRACTICE.

This is what I had to do with RE4 and their unusual scheme. Same for RE5.

After several play throughs, I found one scheme that worked for me.

But, then comes the Inventory system. This is definitely something Deadspace did right.
In Deadspace you could assign weapons to slots. Then using the D-Pad, select weapons as needed (for instant switching). Then all of the "heals" could be put in one spot for instant access.
RE5, everything is wherever you put it, and you need to align items as you get them for easier access. That or be prepared to die horribly and many times.
The issue is the menu screen comes up with a press of the Y button (on the 360). Then you use DPad or the Analog stick to move to an item. Then hit A to bring up a menu to Equip, Give or Throw away that item.
So, basically, we have 3 steps...Y, A, A to open, select and equip.

BAD!!!!

Think of heals. Y to open the menu, find the item (lets say you picked up an herb earlier, and it just went into the menu, so you do not know where it will be), move to that item, hit A, "USE?"..YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS....hit A......OMG, I am dead!

Frustration ensues.

So, as I played, I experimented with some options.

A unique aspect to the game is the AI driven partner. In this game, your partner is not some whiny girl you have to save...nope, this is some badass mama (who is HOT also...yum), that can also be controlled by another player...
She is a good shot, and heals you when needed.

So started the test. I would give her specific ammo. So she got all the handgun ammo, except maybe one or two loads for me. I took all the machine gun and rifle ammo.
I then started to give her all the herbs (which you can take back at anytime you have a breather).

But, there is no doubt that as a healbot, she proved very effecient. As long as we stayed close, we were good.

Another aspect that you learn is using various "hotspots" to hold yourself in as you are taking out mobs. Like GoW, cover is important (though not used as well).
Several burned up and gutted buses proved to be life savers, as the mobs used the doorways to enter, funneling in single file for easy removal from my weapons.
Backing yourself into corners helped somewhat, yet also proved to be death tombs, so you had to be careful.
Tactically the game is actually proving to be fun after the intial "OMG these controls suck".

This game is definitely on the "MUST BUY" as we the family being RE fanatics, must have it. Even with the frustrations (which seems to be a keyword when you associate Horror Survival with gaming...) I think the gorgeous graphics, and tense world of this lastest outing will be awesome.

I am sure the main game will give you more time to learn the in's and out's first, as the demo really throws a TON of stuff at you...difficult for sure. But, satisfying when you beat the level.

Just gotta learn those controls...ARGH!

Weekend Gaming Wrapup and tidbits

Well, it has been a little bit since I have posted my wrap.
Recently work has become more hectic thanks to the economy. I work for a non-profit, and as such, we are scrambling for ways to fund projects, and keep us afloat.
Luckily my division still has a cash flow. But, to keep that "flow" going, we must find more avenues.

Vicious cycle.

Anyways, what have I been doing this past few weekends? Resident Evil 4 and Age of Conan. I also trialed a copy of Longest Journey : Dreamfall (or is that the other way).

What has impressed me the most in Resident Evil 4 is the longevity. The game is much longer than I expected for a single player horror survival. Boss fights of course are the crux of the game time, as you DIE over and OVER.
But, the learning curve with the controls has been met, and I am able to work through the situations with a minimal amount of fuss. I can find the weakness, and then take them out effectively.


The inventory system that was created for Res 4 is top notch compared to most Horror Survival. I have never run out of room, and I can keep expanding. Also, the way they have the purchasing agent for upgrades scattered around the various zones is amusing (that and of course the infamous typewriter for saves).
I can smell the end in sight though (just quit dropping me through holes in the floor, get me out of the sewers and to the real meat of the game).

Age of Conan has been rocking. I transferred my level 51 over to the SET server where my Fellowship guild is located (680 members strong), and I have just hit level 54.


I have entered the Mountain zone part of Cimmeria (don't ask me to write the name down...Eiglophia...something), and the quests have filled up my log.
I also completed the next step in the Destiny quest line, and will be taking the next chapter of that story at level 60.
I think it is around level 56, I can enter the new zone known as Ymir's pass. This should be quite cool as the quests have more of a story bent to them. Even though right now I am enjoying the particular quests in the Eig Mtns.
Seems groups of Cannibals in the various parts of the Mtns. have started to gather around these large stone Orbs. The Orbs are making them more aggressive, and of course causing a grouping mentality (must be why they have not eaten themselves yet...), and attacking travelers through the mountains.
I must take out these Orbs in the hopes the Cannibals will be tamer (or less likely to think I am Kentucky Fried Aquilonian).

Anyways, the announcement for the next patch went out this past week, and the beginning of February looks like the launch of the new level 80 content and updates to various modes of gameplay. Better get leveling some more...!

More on that as it happens.

Yesterday I downloaded my copy of Resident Evil 5 on the 360. And I will join Scott who commented on my previous post where this is mentioned...

OH. MY. GAWD.

Who made those controls.

I tried to change the format somewhat to see if I could match my Resident Evil 4 settings, but that was a failure. Thanks to hard coded settings, this may prove to be a pain to play overall.
My son played, and handily walked through the first mission. I died horribly over and over as I got lost trying to equip a new weapon, take an herb, etc.
Sucky.
The biggest complaint? The real time inventory system.
I am sure they wanted to go for a more visceral and intense experience...but man oh man..
When you have creeps climbing over walls, through windows, etc...sitting there fumbling with an inventory screen that covers your view (slightly) and having to press a variation of buttons and controls to change to an item, caused more frustration than excitement.
I have read it is being discussed to release for the PC as well as the 360 and PS3. If so, this might be the ticket, and I can configure my controls using Xpadder.
For now, I will continue to practice...but I sure do not want to unlearn my Res 4 controls in my head, so I may hold off and finish Res 4 first.

As for tidbits...lets end on these little thoughts.

Supposedly the beta is really going for Darkfall (even though they call it a "Staggered release"...yea..). Even with excuses of DDoS attacks, downtime, etc.
Will this game really launch?
Hellgate: London...will you guys make up your minds already? Supposedly Hanbitsoft plans to make the game Free to play when the main servers close..
Hello, what is the REAL story here (and PS: I would play Hellgate if it was free...same with Tabula Rasa)
MMORPG.com has releaunched their site. Faster, cleaner, better font usage...now, if they could just clear out the riff raff who hang around the forums waiting for particular people to post and then attack those posts (this is the ultimate Trolls forum!).
Oh, and BTW, what the hell...Age of Conan now has an internal review rating of 1.0...uh, fix the site people!

Ok...outta here...later!

Age of Conan - Free character transfers

Yesterday's down time made available free transfers until sometime in February. I had been waiting for this so I could put all my characters on one server. (At least the ones I play the most).

As I stated previously, I have one character for each race right now. An Aquilonian, Stygian and Cimmerian. The i

ssue was my highest level was on one server and the other two with my new guild Fellowship of Souls on another.

Now they reside together in harmony. I also have a Tempest of Set who was originally a PvE, who I transferred to a RP-PvP.

With merges complete and transfers in place, I am feeling more at home, and enjoying myself very much.

Yesterday I got to do a most interesting quest. The interesting part is the quest is given to me by a speaking head on a pole.

He notes he was a "Farmer" at one time (in a land of rocks mind you) and wished me to take vengeance for him against another spirit who walks the land.

Yet this other spirit is there only to help with the passing of his warrior bretheren. He knows the spirit that now rests on the pole is there to suffer for his own past crimes.

Ah the petty squabbles of the dead.

Anyways, off for some more gaming goodness. I made some further progress in Resident Evil 4 and may be near the end. Also of note, next week brings a demo of Resident Evil 5, with a coop feature that looks to be quite fun, and has enough visual quality to look better than the CGI movie that was recently released.

Cheers

Weekend Gaming Wrapup

And an interesting one at that.

Shock of shocks, but I have been having a BLAST in the new Star Wars:Force Unleashed game. I am not a huge Star Wars fan, but some things I like.
The last game I enjoyed was Republic Commando for the XBOX and PC. A very good FPS, with some cool tactical combat.
This latest game has SO many ways to take an enemy out, and as you progress you gain more abilities.


The visual quality is great, and the boss fights are just the way I like them.
Even better is the fact that the story in this one game is 100% better than the last 3 mistakes...uh, I meant movies.

Also, this weekend after going and having an awesome meal at P.F. Changs (yum...the best Chinese ever...), (EDIT: Yes, I know it is Fusion, yet the "Chinese" based dishes makes other Chinese taste like crap) we saw The Unborn. This movie was rated horribly, but I am a fan of Goyers writing, and he has at least made progress in his directing skills. I also think people concentrate on so many stupid things.
For example, so many reviews mention that the lead walks around in her panties, almost like she did it for the majority of the film. The panty walks lasted all of 2 minutes...
The story is convoluted, and people did not like that...OMG...please.
The concept was sound, and was unique as well. Just like The Invisible (which people also did not rate highly), and the interesting prospect of that story, we as a whole enjoyed each of these films.
If you have the capability to follow a good story, and can ignore some pitfalls, you can see the progress of a Writer/Director coming into his own..
In so many words, we liked it.
Anyways, this all leads to a trip to the store, and finding Resident Evil 4 for PC for a measly 5 bucks. Being fans of this series, but never having purchased it due to reviews knocking the graphical porting, and wonky controls...we decided..."What the heck"...5 BUCKS.
And we were not disappointed.


Luckily a patch had been released which fixed a majority of the texture problems. As well, the 360 controller works like the Gamecube controller did, and I was able to get the hang of the game before long.
There is no doubt as a whole the game is fun. And of course, with us being Horror Survival fanatics, we loved the creepy feel...so far.
We will play this one out.

Finally, as you may notice, another game left my list. The Darkness. I think it has to do with the FPS controls, and I am just not ready for an FPS at this time.
Plus, I added Age of Conan, as my time card shipped, and will be here Tuesday.

Awesome.

Finally this week, Fable 2's DLC is suppose to finally launch. New adventures, etc. I cannot wait to go back to Albion! Hopefully I will be done pretty soon with Star Wars, as I think I am at the end...woohoo. I am totally sticking to my one game at a time rule on the 360, so no Fable until Star Wars ends.

Cheers and lets all work toward having a good week!