tav7623
Member
Where do I begin? There are so many places where I could start, but I guess it's best to give y'all some background info before I get into my thoughts/impressions of the games so far.
Background
Well first off I'm a long time gamer (been gaming since I was 5), a fairly new Gaffer (been on Gaf since 2012 and just this month I reached Member status, which means this my 1st official Gaf Thread!), and a long time fan of survival horror game series like Resident Evil (played 0, 1, REmake, 2, 3, CVX, 4, 5, Revelations), Silent Hill (1-3, 5&6), Dead Space (1&2), etc. Now as most of you probably already know, in recent years the Resident Evil series has been on a bit of a downward spiral (at least since 2009) with two of the last 3 RE games (ORC & 6) seeing almost universally negative reviews. Because of these negative reviews I decided to hold off on buying/playing them until they were both available for dirt cheap. Well I ended up finally getting both games (spent a combined $12 for both games) within a 3 month span and upon getting both games I had initially decided to holding off on playing/finishing them until at least October. Then I started to see a number of (fairly excellent) RE related threads here on Gaf (and other gaming forums) so I decided that due to the renewed discussion of the RE series now would be a good time to see for myself if these two bad boys are as bad (i.e.horrible) as everyone has been saying.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Summary:
A third-person shooter video game released in 2012 with online co-op/multiplayer that is set at the same time as Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, but it is unrelated to the main series storyline and is a "what-if" entry in the series outside of the main canon.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Impressions (so far)
I first started playing this game (Solo, no online/co-op) in mid May (played for about an hour or so) and had gotten through Chapter 2 before I stopped playing it so that I could finish up some other games I had started prior to getting this game. Over the weekend I picked the game back up, reaching the game's mid way point and will (from the looks of it) soon be starting the controversial Leon section (or at least I think it's going to be that section) in the R.P.D. building. Coming back to the game after taking a long break was a little bit rough as I had forgotten about the weird controls which led to me wasting a number of grenades/health items and because of it I also started to realize that the game had some poor design quirks that I had failed to pick up on when I had first started playing it. The last two chapters I played through (3 & 4) were imo not as good (or as interesting) as the first two chapters.
The Good
- So far it has had an interesting alternate take/perspective on certain events from previous games in the series like
taking the G-Virus sample from Birkin (the event that set RE 2 into motion) and having to fight your way through the labs as a mutated Birkin was trying to chase you down.
- Graphically it looks pretty good (so far) and has some atmospheric sections.
The Bad
- The game so far has had a number of poor gameplay design decisions/quirks such as no inventory system, imposing a 2 gun limit (you are only allowed to carry two guns), losing a gun you picked up in a level when you die (I lost a full loaded heavy duty machine gun (think along the line of Blaine's gun from Predator) upon dying in the middle of the
Nemesis fight
- Most of the game's enemies (so far) were (imo) not done all that well as they had been done better in previous games with the most egregious offender so far being the Crimson Heads which mostly looked like zombies dressing badly done Red Skull cosplay outfits (also there are a ton of them & they aren't as scary/challenging as they seem to go down pretty easy) and the two new enemies (so far) that were introduced in this game (Parasites & Parasite Zombies) while interesting looking proved to be more of a pain in the butt especially since you
get swarmed by a bunch of them while trying to get three keycards so you can escape from the recently activated Tyrant which is chasing you & your team through out the lab
The Ugly
- The game has (imo) a weird controller setup/button scheme (you cycle through weapons by using the L2 button instead of the D-pad,which is used for selecting grenades, health, anti-viral spray).
- There were sections which could be breezed through by simply ignoring enemies that are trying to swarm you & your teammates by continually running to/from objectives. Also the game seems to be a bit short as I've completed 4 out of 8 (?) chapters in less than 3 hours playing.
- The game imo missed some big opportunities to include some really awesome boss fights/sections from RE2/RE3 like
you explore a part of the Cemetery from RE3 where you fought the giant worm and in this game there is no giant worm, all you get is a onslaught of US Spec Ops & Zombies
Resident Evil 6 Synopsis:
A third-person shooter video game released in 2012 and ninth installment in the Resident Evil series. The story is told from the perspectives of Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, Jake Muller & Sherry Birkin, and Ada Wong.
Resident Evil 6 Impressions (So Far)
I got this game over the weekend and upon completing the intro sequence/prologue (which I kinda of liked it) I decided to start with Jake's campaign (the plan was/is to go Jake-Chris-Leon-Ada as I heard that was the preferred set up, though that might change cause I saw that there is an upcoming RE6/RE.net event where you can unlock a in game EX costume if you meet certain criteria while playing through the Leon/Ada campaigns) first mainly because he's a new playable character who also happens to be
the son of series baddy Wesker which kinda had me going wtf? as there was no mention (that I'm aware of) in any of the previous games of Wesker even having a family/kids
The Good
- Graphically looks pretty good and early on there were some really atmospheric/creepy designed sections.
- Liking some of the nods to previous games in the series that I've picked up on
- The Controls for the most part seem to be solid.
- The prologue/intro had a few good action set pieces
The Bad
- Too many QTE's, good lord there are a ton of them
- The Checkpoint/Saving system is imo horribly implemented, if you quit in the middle of a chapter and comeback to finish it you will not start where you left off (or from the last checkpoint) unless where you left off was after (as far as I can tell) a big/major "story" cinematic.
- As far as I can tell there are no in game "files" to help "flesh out" the story like in previous RE games, but there are hidden in game "medals" which will "unlock" additional story bits/files in the main menu or via residentevil.net (which are the only places as far as I can tell where they can be viewed)
- Inclusion of a stamina bar......seriously wtf?, why is there a stamina bar? this game isn't Dark Souls.
- The partner AI, while better than 5 is still not that good and it makes me wish there was a way to zap/swap between partners on the fly (.....like in RE Zero)
The Ugly
- Vehicle sequences......holy sh!t the ones I've driven are atrocious (not to mention they seem to have bad collision detection), GTA IV/Road Rash had better vehicle handling than this game, especially when it comes to motorcycles which feel like tanks and are not very maneuverable.
- The inventory system, not a big fan of this game's new inventory system and it makes me wish that they had used the inventory system from Revelations instead.
- Jake chapters 2 & 4 (so far), just wow, they are horrible, there are sections in Ch. 2 that have almost zero visibility and if you get shot/knocked down while going up hill (it will happen a lot) you can't get back up until you've slid almost all the way to the bottom.