Horror Drag

Alien Isolation is a game that will interest fans of the horror genre or the Alien franchise. I happened to be fan of both so this was another game I wanted to play on my PC. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the first person view but upon finishing it, the first person view felt like the right choice. 

I feel like having no weapons in a horror game like just an easy and obvious design choice in a horror game. It doesn't work most of the time like how Shattered Memories have proven. Alien Isolation thankfully didn't adopt this approach but for most of the time, you didn't have an effective weapon against the Alien. The problem is once you get the flamethrower late in the game, you feel invincible as you can stop the Alien from attacking you. 

There are obvious pacing issues with this game, it drags far too long and ruined some of its goodwill and credibility earned with a bad ending. Some of its climactic moments occurred in the middle of the game making the end parts of the game a bit boring by comparisons. While RE4 was also a bit too long for its own good, the end parts were never boring thanks to Mikami's sense of pacing. In Alien Isolation, I thought the game was ending in several different instances before the actual end of the game. 

Aside from the bad ending, there are no bonus content upon finishing the game. Well there are survivor mode and maps but those are not related to the story mode. Thankfully the pre-order bonus included 2 DLC episodes based on iconic moments from the original Alien movie. I recommend playing the movie DLC after finishing the game but I can imagine there are fans only played these episode without bothering with the main game. 

So Bad That's Good

Deadly Premonition is a quirky game that I haven’t really talk about yet. I bought the game during a sale without really knowing what’s it about except it had some elements of survival horror. I ended up playing the game from start to finish and some more after that until I achieved the Platinum Trophy. Maybe it was a quiet period when I didn't have anything to distract me but that would be denying how great the game is.

Most game offers the player an escape from the real world but not many convey the feeling of discovering a town as an outsider quite like this.  This game is about special agent Morgan who visits a rural town where bizarre murder cases has occurred. It slowly introduces the player to the town and the job at hand but really goes into all of the daily grind that is usually not worth exploring in-game. Daily routines like checking into the hotel, deciding what to wear in the morning and having dinner with co-workers. Sure some games do that to superficially make their game feel longer and bigger than it actually is. Here there are some of the best bits of the game.

The action elements in the game is your standard RE4 shooting affair but the framerate is much too choppy to enjoy any of it. It's pretty bad to the point I would consider it a deal breaker if it wasn't for everything else the game did right. The adventure element, the quirky characters and voice-casting are what made the game so memorable. Removing the action sequence would have turned this into an all-time classic but this is the sort of  'so bad that's good' kind of game. Perfection won't have fit it as well as the final product it turned out to be.

What A Revelation

When playing Revelations 2, I knew it was going to be a very nostalgic game and so far the quiet nods to the series past games hasn't been as cringe-worthy as say, Resident Evil 6. But I was surprised that the game resembles Resident Evil Zero the most as you can zap between the two characters just like Zero. I always thought that the character zapping mechanics from RE Zero was a relic from the past, made redundant now that games have advanced to the point where you can have a second player play together. Certainly Capcom must have other ideas about this or simply couldn't be bothered to rework the game engine around to include online co-op.

The game looks almost exactly like Revelations HD and it's pretty sad because past RE games are usually heralded for it's cutting edge graphics. The first Revelations was able to push the boundaries of what was thought impossible for the 3DS system and now Revelations 2 looks remarkably less impressive than RE5 or RE6. The series deserved better and certainly so do the long time fans but it's hard to see a resurgence with the exodus of talent Capcom experienced over the years.

The Content Within

Back in the day all video games come with manuals but these days with the emergence of digital distribution most retail copies don't carry manuals anymore. I remember during the PS2 generation, Nintendo's Gamecube had the best manuals - full color and printed on heavy paper stock, a really incentive to pick the Gamecube version over the others. Now Nintendo has gone cheap, the manuals are no longer printed and worse, the Club Nintendo codes are printed on the back of the cover art! I always thought the back of the cover art is meant for a nice alternate cover but I guess Nintendo had other ideas.

The Evil Within is certainly not as bad as most recent games, it comes with a nice double-sided cover and full color manual. Of course the most important content is the game itself and so far, the game is pretty amazing. The game performance came under fire upon release due to its technical issues but so far I haven't encounter anything I would consider a deal-breaker. In fact, I was so absorbed playing this game that it's hard for me to pay any attention to Revelations 2 which has turned out to be a bit lackluster in my opinion. 

Eternal Sonata

Dr. Franken is a Gameboy game that i remember with fond memories, especially since i had to pestered my dad to buy it for me from his business trip to US. During those days, it's hard to any game to be scary with pixelated 16-bit graphics, much less a GB game with just six shades of black. Dr. Franken went above and beyond most standard GB game, sure it wasn't scary back then and it sure as hell isn't scary now. But the level of detail packed into each room in the mansion is unlike anything you will come across in a 8-bit game or even a 16-bit game. Coupled with a soundtrack of endless moonlight sonata, Dr. Franken was able to evoke a creepy atmosphere that makes it memorable even if it features a mundane task of gathering the body parts of your dead girlfriend. The game features an intricate password system to make up for the lack of a battery backed-up save and an indication of how massive and deep the game is, i never got the same password twice during my time of playing it. Of course, it's pretty hard to considering the password is easily 16-letters long !

Like most great handheld games, it eventually inspire a sequel on the 16-bit Super NES and another back on the GB platform but this is where it all started. I can't believe how naive i was when i first played Resident Evil and heard jill playing moonlight sonata, thinking that it was ripped from Dr. Franken. I immediately thought of Dr. Franken which i still credit as the catalysis for my fascination with the survival horror genre and the game that made me believe video games could be scary even in the 16-bit era. If you are in the mood for some portable horror this halloween, you need to play Dr. Franken.

For the Love of the Game

As you probably can tell, i love survival horror games. So much so that i'm drawn to any and every survival horror games out there even the ones outside of Capcom and Konami. Having made a bid to try and finish as many playstation2 games that i always longed to play before eventually getting my playstation3, Extermination was one of the few titles high on that list. Remember Extermination? It was survival horror game released early in the system first few years and quickly vanished into obscurity.

Developed by ex-Capcom legend Tokuro Fujiwara who also conceived the brilliant Ghost n' Goblins series, you can understand my longing and anticipation for this game, after all anything that's got to done with Capcom has gotten be golden right? Having finished the game yesterday, I don't think my love and dedication to the genre have ever been tested or stretched this far. The game centres around a group of marines sent to investigate an outbreak in a research facility out in the antarctica. The threat at hand here seems to be an alien species which is able to mutate and breed through water. Having to survive by running or gunning (sometimes both means) have always be part of the appeal of the genre but Extermination combat is so cumbersome, you start to realised why the game allows you to top up your standard ammo with no limit at all. Having to fight tiny bacterial virus about the size of your palm surrounding you at every corner spewing out green venom is no fun at all. Neither is having to target the core (weak point) of fast moving enemies whilst dodging those very same green venom.

The game graphics have stood the test of time pretty well though, boosted by some impressive voice-acting and motion captured cutscenes. Despite high production values, the game is ultimately forgettable especially since it's all over so soon, clocking a game time of roughly 5 hours. Having finished this game, I can't wait to get back to finishing Eternal Darkness.... even Ultimate Ghost n Goblins seems more appealing right now.

Faulty Experience

It's hard to imagine Eternal Darkness before the birth of survival horror. Though not created in the mold as Resident Evil or Fatal Frame, it's clear that Eternal Darkness was made with the vision of addressing many of the genre's trappings and pitfalls. Sick of controlling characters which moves like tank? The heroes and heroines of Eternal Darkness moves and attacks fluidly thanks to a clever use of the control stick and shoulder button to either run or walk.Tired of fixed camera angle and getting blind hits as a result of that? Eternal Darkness has none of those as the game uses a smart camera that tracks and pans around locations to give the game a cinematic feel ala the God of War series. The bad voice acting that the genre is infamous for is also not present here as the game has a dark and serious tone unlike the B-movie horror atmosphere of Resident Evil. Playing this game made me realise just how these flaws that critics often take aim against the survival horror genre have made the genre unique in a way and by taking it away like what the creators did with Eternal Darkness the game loses some of its charm. It's not to say that the game is bad, far from it, it's almost feels like a love letter to anyone who ever love (or hated for that matter) survival horror games.

5 hours into the game and i'm huge impressed with it.. almost enough to make me forget it's a rotten rental copy.