Like A Knife Through Tofu

I was pleasantly surprised to discover i have finally unlock the Tofu survivor mode upon finishing LeonB last night. For as long as i can remember, i have given up on the idea of unlocking this hidden mode because there are far too many different theories on how to do it and most of them required a full empty memory card to accomplish it. While i can't remember exactly how i did it, i do remember having both the completed ClaireB and LeonB on my memory cards along with the 4th survivor mode. Including the save file from this recent run, that's four save slot dedicated to RE2 before unlocking the tofu survivor mode.

I'm pretty excited to play this tofu survivor especially since it's also recreated on Darkside Chronicles as another hidden game. I can't help but to wonder how it's all going to work in an on-rails shooter armed with only a combat knife when most of the strategy involved is knowing where and when to run and when to shoot. Looks like i'll be in for a swinging good time when i unlock this on Darkside later but for now, it's time to experience the original tofu survivor.

The Square Peg

Darkside Chronicles brought back a lot of fond memories, i knew even before i begin that i would be revisting these old games really soon but what i didn't count on was having the urge to play UC and RE4 again. During its height a few weeks back, i was playing as many as six RE games on different system and the process has made my progress on RE2 really slow. After all RE2 could be finished on one sitting and here i am, having started before i finish Darkside Chronicles but have yet to finish both ClaireA/LeonB scenario. Part of that was also because the newer RE games tend to swap the square and circle buttons around for the run and gun commands. So in an effort not to confuse myself, i refrain from playing RE2 whenever i'm close to playing RE5 and that has been quite often as of late. Over time i seems to have developed a dexterity over these controls so swapping around has been less and less of a problem.

Maybe i should attempt to finish RE2 in one sitting like back in those days when i was trying to unlock the gatling gun and unlimited ammo.

Son of A Gun

Call me gun crazy but i appreciate the attention to detail when it come to guns in video games and the Resident Evil series so far has done a nice job with the firearms featured in their games. So you can imagine my disappointment when i learnt that Darkside Chronicles wasn't faithful to the original Code: Veronica with Claire using the same Browning HP as she did in RE2. If you don't remember Claire was supposed to be using the Beretta M93R as her signature weapon in Code: Veronica. It's only a minor detail but the fact that the Gun Survivor game based on Code: Veronica was able to get that right and not this kind of bothers me a little.

Seed of Destruction

One of the most compelling aspect of a great villain is how they went astray, if the villain doesn't have an interesting origin then he's probably not that great of a villain to begin with. As i inches closer to the end of Darkside Chronicles, i'm intrigued with character development of Krauser from a true blue american soldier to the power-crazy mercenary in Resident Evil 4. From the moment Javier's B.O.W tear into krauser's left arm in the middle of the boss fight, i begin to see the seeds of destruction being sowed to giving him his own hand of doom in RE4. I got really excited at this point [cue geek moment music] so much so that i stop playing because i already had enough of my fix for the day. When I first started, I wasn't paying much attention to krauser probably because i was too caught up with how good Claire looked and also because i knew you won't get to see how krauser ends up being presumed dead in RE4. After all, Leon didn't know that when they meet up again and the fact Krauser knew nothing about B.O.W at the start of the Javier mission didn't help either.

But unlike the Russian Umbrella stronghold chapters in Umbrella Chronicles, the Javier chapters seems to play a greater importance in the RE saga as the box art clearly describes how the timeline of the game begins with Leon and Krauser in 2002 with flashbacks to the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica. While the flashbacks ends up taking the bunk of the game's playing time that doesn't necessarily mean the Javier mission won't be of anything significant. Hopefully there are further development to the krauser character and the ultimate payoff would prove to be more satisfying than how Capcom decided to leave the Vergil character in DMC3.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Boy am I having a hard time on Bayonetta, earning an Enzo Stone rank at almost every level. I'm sure I'll get better eventually with enough practise but right now I'm really getting my rear whipped. Luckily the cinematics are cool and the game is littered with Easter eggs to make things bearable and interesting.

Of course, most Devil May Cry fans would know that Enzo's name first appeared in the openning pages of the first Devil May Cry manual where he writes a brief account of his first meeting with Dante. Then Bayonetta utters Dante's famous words when she too tells one of the bosses in the game to flock off, feather-face.

The highlight for me is when pretty boy Luka talks about his past girlfriends after sharing an intimate moment with Bayonetta. Each one of them happens to be a leading lady from past Kamiya games! There's Claire from Resident Evil 2, Trish from Devil May Cry, Silvia from Viewtiful Joe and finally Ammy from Okami. At that point I totally geeked out and wonder if there are any more surprises in store?

Girl Trouble

Leon S Kennedy has always been established as a ladies man right from his first appearance in RE2, that's the one thing that seems to separate him from the series first male protagonist, Chris. I was happy that learned that the director of the upcoming Darkside Chronicles pointed this out because for the longest time, it seems like i was the only one among my friends who noticed this. Either we are been playing different games or someone is just not paying attention but let's not get side-tracked now shall we?

Anyways the director revealed in his blog that he and game scenario writer Suga-san are dreaming up new plot points and events for the series' favourite ladies man with the ladies of RE2, namely Claire, Ada and Sherry. Yup that right, Sherry who only had a brief brush with Leon at the end of the game will share several levels with Leon which i suppose you would have to assume the role to protect her from the horrors of raccoon city. This is certainly an interesting twist as with the prospect of Claire and Ada meeting for the first time in the series.

Leon will have all the ladies he can handle in DC

Take A Walk On the Darkside

I was quite surprised when Capcom announce Darkside Chronicles on the eve of RE5 release, because it promises a return to a generation of art style that i thought we would have all said goodbye to with the arrival of RE5. Capcom may not have given fans what they wanted but it's hard to fault them given the encouraging sales and reception of Umbrella Chronicles on the Wii. From the looks of the initial trailer, most of the key staff from Umbrella Chronicles are back for the ride along with some of the staff from the recent CGI production Degeneration and RE5. This follow-up game is of course, touted to be a semi-remake to the fan-favourite RE2 so naturally expectations are high.

Just like Final Fantasy VII, Capcom seems to be milking Resident Evil 2 in the same way by making various different offshoots with varying result, ignoring the very pleas of the fans for a remake. I enjoyed Resident Evil Degeneration a lot, so much in fact i decided to order the limited edition blu-ray box during this spring sale at Play-asia. A bit unexpected considering how much i already spent on the collector edition earlier this month but when i realised i initially wanted to get it had it not come out within a few months of RE5, i thought this is as good as a time as any seeing it's discounted by more than half its original price.

When Leon Met Claire

Since my copy of Resident Evil: Degeneration has yet to arrive, i decided to go back and play when Leon first met Claire in Resident Evil 2. To be honest, i could never agree with all the praises and accolades bestowed onto RE2 when it first came out. Sure the story was great but the game felt too short on one go and too tiresome to finish four times to experience everything (LeonA/ClaireB and ClaireA/LeonB). I never really like the guns designed for RE2 and the modifications you could do made me loathe them even more as they were virtually too powerful to fire when upgraded.

I did however like the introduction of the lickers in RE2 and thought they were the best thing in the first Resident Evil movie. After facing them again in RE2, I quickly remember how vicious they can be because they certainly weren't anything as vicious in Umbrella Chronicles. In fact there was one sequence in the You Died screen on the RE2 demo included with Resident Evil: Director's Cut which i believed was left out of the final retail game where the licker would repeatedly beat leon head to the ground with its claws. Disturbing stuff indeed.

I wonder happened to the lickers in Umbrella Chronicles where all they can do is just lash out its tongue at you or take a cheap swipe. I remember even Resident Evil: Survivor did a better job of portraying just how vicious the lickers could be. I'm hoping to see the lickers again in Resident Evil 5 or even Degeneration as they are sorely missed.

Omoi about Okami

You gotta take your hat off to Hideki Kamiya, what a guy he is! When news of Okami Wii missing it's ending credits got around to the creator/visionary (albeit a little late seeing the port is only US-bound and has no plans for a Japan release), you can bet he wasn't very pleased.However, instead of being mad about not getting the credit he and his team deserve, as you would expect, he was actually more concerned about how this will affect the player ! You see, he has this philosophy of this special omoi (don't ask me what it is i'm just as clueless as you guys) that brings a sense of closure to the game and rewards the player with a sense of accomplishment. Basically the harder or longer the game is, the greater the reward and he also goes on to talk about what was the theme and message that went into each of his previous games (Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe).

Oh in the end, Hideki is also aware that many have not finished Okami and choose not to reveal it for the benefit of those, despite being aware that the game is actually two years old now. Hideki-san, you rock!

Bullet In The Head

Here are some of the bargains i managed to pick up from Play-Asia during the last Easter clearance sale, some unexpected buys if you consider the fact that i don't usually do budget reprints. Of particular interest is the PSOne Books release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which if you have been following this blog for some time now may know that I already own the Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP so this may seem like an unnecessary purchase. In reality it kinda is and i was contemplating for the longest time whether or not to get this especially when it already available for download on the Playstation Store (PSN) for the Playstation3 but ultimately i caved in as it was been discounted to USD$14.90 (from USD$24.90!). Guess I'm just not ready for the digital era and will still take a tangible copy which i can cherish and keep any day.The Dino Crisis japanese import was also too good to miss as it was only going for a meager USD$7.90 and was in pretty damn good shape for a pre-owned copy, i will definitely keep that in mind when i'm browsing through Play-asia's pre-owned section again next time.There are a couple of other things i would like to point out about both these games but i guess i will save it for later and get to the real meat of this post, the Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles Artbook.

Capcom are known for having some of the best artistic guys in the business, with their character design and art direction but the guy who did the character design for Umbrella Chronicles (Shinkiro) is just plain sadistic. Don't get me wrong, his characters are very much in line with the Resident Evil universe but if i could show you the contents of the artbook you will know what i mean. In fact, if you have played the game you will know what i mean, the proportions of some of these monsters are just plain ridicuious. Of course, artists usually have their own style of proportions which actually makes their work more fascinating, namely some of my idols like Todd Mcfarlane and Ayame Kojima (Castlevania). Ever notice most of the major bosses in Umbrella Chronicles all have insanely small heads?!?! Sure it's intentional to create a more challenging game but to the point where the characters start to look ridicuious is unacceptable. Ivan, the Tyrant bodyguard to Sergei is guilty of this but since he is of a similar series of Tyrant to Mr.X from RE2 who also happens to spot a tiny head i will let this one slide. Has anyone noticed how small Talos' head is? If he even have a head in the first place....

No More Battery Power.....

Apparently the Wii-mote batteries aren't even enough to last through an entire game as it just ran out of juice, 10 hours into Umbrella Chronicles. Ouch, the painful feeling of having to spend on batteries for a home console is unbearable, even handheld comes with built-in lithium-ion battery these days! In the wake of this, i decided to go back to playing Resident Evil 4 Gamecube version in anticipation for the Wii edition i ordered recently. Having Leon in his Resident Evil 2 RPD uniform throughout the game (and cutscenes too, take that PS2!) is a nice nostalgic trip back to RE2, I still remember playing it on my beat-up computer years back, unable to view the FMVs properly as my specs were even up to the minimum requirements. I would later beat the game on the Playstation again and even finish the 4th survivor a few times too.

Some games just never, ever gets old....

The Resident Evil 2 Gamecube port just gets more enticing everyday, perhaps i should just order it along with killer7 Gamecube in time for Suda51's latest opus No More Heroes? Aah Capcom, i'm forever a slave to your scheming ways.....

Liberty Stories

One of the topics fanboys love to discuss about most is which storyline is considered canon among the games in a series. It's often a never-ending debate especially when a latter sequel or remake is released and decided to take a little bit of liberty with the storyline of the previous game. Yes you can probably guess that i'm taking about Umbrella Chronicles and how the game re-tells the events of RE0, 1 and 3.

I think storyline-branching is one of games' biggest strengths in storytelling, when the power to change certain outcome or events of a story lies in the hands of the gamer. Few games manage to achieve this successfully, one of them being the original first Resident Evil, where how you first meet certain supporting characters or events are changed depending on how you progress in the game. It's done in a very subtle, rather ingenius game design where sometimes you don't even realised it happening, as opposed to the dead-obvious style of RE3 where you are given a choice of selecting either option A or B.

I think it's pointless to argue over the events of which game can be considered canon, so long as the outcome of the story doesn't change dramatically, game developers should have the freedom to take certain liberties with the original storyline if they think it will benefit the game from a gameplay point of view. In Umbrella Chronicles, how rebecca and billy first meet is slightly altered, as with how jill and carlos from RE3 first meet too. In fact, most of the event and locales in the RE3 segment looks and feels significantly different from the original RE3. It's not all bad though, the dynamic duo of chris and jill teaming up to explore the original mansion together is like a dream come true for many RE fans, one which you will probably only get to experience in this game. Capcom also decided to make up for some of these by detailing and fleshing out certain events in the Resident Evil mythos, such as how Richard Aiken got injured in the first Resident Evil and also how Wesker got resurrected before appearing again in Code Veronica.

My point is don't get worked up over trying to figure out all the timeline and events of your favourite game series, you will probably end up with a headache anyway. Instead enjoy the game for what it is, and celebrate that the fact you get the experience your favourite game once again from a slightly different point of view.