Time for another video game blog. It'll be short as I am only reviewing two games.
Resident Evil Zero
As you know, I'm a big fan of the Resident Evil series and in particular the first two games which, in my humble opinion, are right up there with Silent Hill 2 for survival horror perfection. When Resident Evil Zero came out back in 2002 (I think) I couldn't play it as I was a Playstation guy and it was a Gamecube exclusive. I'm still a Playstaion guy and so it was with some excitement that I learned about a remake coming to PS4. I knew very little about RE Zero but it was an immediate buy from the PS Store when it arrived.
As it turns out RE Zero is a prequel to the original game. I won't give away too much in the way of plot (not that it matters) but I will talk about how the game feels. Crucially, RE Zero has that classic resi feel. You start off using Rebecca on a zombie infested train and everything just feels right with the world. It's a new Resident Evil for you to explore... Then you bump into escaped convict Billy Coen and it becomes apparent that this will be a team game. You'll switch between both characters to progress and some puzzles will be suited to Billy, others to Rebecca. Nothing to worry about so far.
One criticism aimed at early Resident Evil games is the inventory system. You could carry some items and store the rest in a safe room. There were multiple safe rooms and storing your items in any Safe Room meant items would also be in all safe rooms. It wasn't ideal but compared to the system used in RE Zero, it's fucking miraculous! In RE Zero, Billy and Rebecca can carry 6 itmes each but once their inventory is full they can't carry anymore and there are no safe rooms to store your items which means you need to drop items and use the map to track items you've either left behind or completely forgotten about.
What I did was designate one room in each section to be my safe room. It means dropping items all over the place and often times you'd go to pick up one item and end up getting another but it was the only way to keep a reasonable handle on all the shit you pick up. It also means there is back tracking in this game and that is a pain in the arse! Okay, Resident Evil has always had an element of back tracking but safe rooms meant you could go to the nearest room to get your item. There's no such luxury here. Some sadists will say it's more realistic, well in a game featuring giant scorpions and all manner of "never gonna happen" scenarios, I found it eye twitchingly annoying.
And so to the good! As previously stated, RE Zero definitely has that unmistakable Resident Evil vibe to it. The close quarters battles with zombies, zombie dogs, hunters, giant spiders etc. There's some new creatures too, highlights include a giant man eating bat and some fast moving apes. Wesker, of course, turns up and those classic Resident Evil voice overs are as comfortingly terrible as ever!
The weapons are still a joy to use. Pumping creatures full of shotgun damage never gets old, using the magnum is still a treat, though it should be saved for tougher creatures. The grenade launcher also makes a welcome return. As ever, matching the right weapon to the right creature makes things a lot easier. Another addition are Molotov cocktails which are very effective against one particular creature made up of leeches (see above).
The puzzles are also classic Resident Evil type puzzles. They won't tax your brain too much but they do manage to be very satisfying when you solve them.
In closing, Resident Evil Zero has some truly excellent moments. There are thrills here to rival that of your favourite moments from Resident Evil 1 and 2. But, and it is a significant but, the inventory system is truly horrendous. Resident Evil is at its best when you're killing monsters and opening up new areas to explore. What you don't need is to be told to backtrack frickin' miles in order to pick up a grappling hook (which will take up two fucking spaces in your inventory) in order to proceed... it kills the flow, utterly. If they'd even used safe rooms it would have been better but leaving you to guess which items to bring with is just terrible. "Do I need these shotgun shells now, how about this key?" There's no way of knowing... This should have been a 9/10 game. However, as much as I enjoyed it, I'm docking two points for the horrid inventory system: 7/10. Trophy count: 36%
Arkham Knight
When last I game blogged I mentioned I had just started Arkham Knight and while I was enjoying it, my progress was being hampered by my rubbish attempts to control the Batmobile. I'm pleased to say that I got pretty good with the Bat tank and actually came to enjoy blowing shit up and solving puzzles with it. Yes, there are some contrived sections of the game where the Batmobile is forced into use but you can also say that about all of Batman's many gadgets.
I can't really speak highly enough of this game. Graphically it is a triumph, voice overs are absolutely first rate and the story lines are enjoyable too. Batman faces all of his demons here, some living: Scarecrow, the Arkham Knight, Firefly, Two Face, Penguin, to name but a few. Some dead. All of them in his head. It is a pleasure unravelling each story to conclusion and throwing Gotham scum into GCPD jail cells.
Game play wise, if you liked the previous games in the series, you'll enjoy this too. Beating the shit out of hordes of Gotham gangs is handy enough (as it should be) but the game expects you to use all of the Bat's tools in order to solve the puzzles. The toughest of these puzzles are, as you'd expect, put together by The Riddler. He has kidnapped Catwoman and you must negotiate some truly gravity defying driving tests and should the mood take you, there are 243 riddles across Gotham for you to solve... this is the only way to get to The Riddler. I did it and while it was a pain in the brain, the pay off was well worth it.
Having completed Arkham Knight (100% no less), I'm messing around with some DLC now. Season of Infamy was decent without being amazing. Four popular adversaries have to be brought to justice, you'll probably do it in one sitting but it's still fun. I've also done the Harley Quinn level (about 20 minutes) kind of pointless truth be told. GCPD Lockdown featuring Nightwing isn't much better and is even shorter. The rest of the DLC is mostly made up of challenge packs which I've no interest in and costume changes which again, I don't care about. I'm going to get into A Matter of Family next which has you controlling Batgirl, meh. I'll do the Catwoman DLC too because she's awesome and Red Hood because even though I've no idea who that is, I'm told it's good fun. This may all seem like a lot of gaming but it'll be a few hours at the most. Truth be told, you don't need all this DLC and I'm only killing time with it until Uncharted 4 hits in a couple of weeks. If anything the DLC is a distraction from the brilliance that is the main game. That's where the meat is and a wonderful serving it is too. Highly recommended!
Score: 9/10 Trophy count: 81%
Cheers,
G.
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