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. 

The Crossroads

As a consumer, cross generation games have really put me in a dilemma.

On one hand, I don't want buy a new hardware to play games that I can also play on my old system.

On the other, I don't want buy an inferior version (last gen) of a game that I know will undoubtedly look better on newer consoles.

Yes the old master race. Yet I find myself buying PS3 games lately that contradicts myself. Partly some are for collection purposes which I will gladly buy the PS4 version as well. But mostly it's also because the price drop is sufficient to the point where I think it's justifiable for a last gen version. 

You see I could never understand why the pricing of cross-generation games are roughly about the same. There is no logic to that, yes it's the same product but not exactly the same quality (in terms of aesthetic not the actual quality). If the pricing was adjusted to reflected that maybe it would make things easier. Then again, nobody will upgrade their hardware if games cost less and are still available on old consoles. 

I also realised the game itself is more important winning the master race. RE4 on the Playstation 2 was a pretty inferior port but it didn't diminished the greatness of that game. Everyone had good memories of it despite the fact that the inferior port was probably the most played version. 

In the end a great game will undoubtedly a great game, everything else is just superficial. 

Unless we are talking about RE4 Iphone edition or Dead Rising Wii.

The Rule of Four

Capcom's rule of four seems to suggest that by the time a franchise reaches the fourth installment. a major rehash is in order. Tecmo may have took this theory to heart when they were developing the fourth installment of the Fatal Frame series. Collaborating with Grasshoppers and Nintendo on a new platform, a change of things was definitely in order.

Visually the game looks and plays a lot like the Ashley chapter in Resident Evil 4, completed with all the lighting effects that made the Gamecube version incomparable during its time. The control takes a bit of getting used to with a combination of classic and motion controls blended together but i liked to think it adds tension to the game much like the archaic controls of the early Resident Evil games. Many series veterans have lamented that this new installment on the Nintendo Wii has been dumbed down to cater a new audience but i didn't really get that feeling. There were plenty of cheap scares early on and the game generally feels creepy, it's definitely been a while since i had the hair on the back of my neck standing.

Bullet and Brain

Part of the fear within the resident evil games has always been how scarce it is to stock up ammunition against the undead. I remember how that fear eventually led to obsession in the early PSOne games as i spend more and more time organising and arranging the inventory in my item box. Of course that all changed in RE4 where the enemies sometimes drop ammunition in addition to the ones found in crates and barrels.

In Lost in Nightmares there isn't enough time to create that sort of fear but the developers did squeeze in a segment where you and your partner are stripped of your weapon and have to make it out of the area by using your wits and cunning to outsmart the executioners. Sure it sounds cliche as hell and it certainly feels like the way but having a live partner makes the sequence a lot more enjoyable that it looks. It's the sort of puzzle that reviewers have always found fault with and it's probably no different here but that has always bit part of the appeal of the series to me. It is either scary nor smart but sometimes a hint of nostalgia is all it takes to me smile.

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.

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.

Rule #32: Enjoy the Little Things

One of my early gripes with Umbrella Chronicles was that you never get to see your character or partner enough. Even though it's a lightgun shooter, i must admit i sometimes i enjoy watching my characters breaking out of the zombie hold just so i can catch a glimpse of them before them pull back behind the camera again. This time around on Darkside Chronicles while the camera stays behind the character at all times, it turns and faces your partner every now and again so it never feels like you are sitting on an amusement thrill ride but rather witnessing the events through the eyes of the character which is how it should be. The camera also shake and bobs around in a frantic motion to convey a sense of panic in the character movement and really make the game all that more difficult. Your partner also actively engage in the gun fights with the undead unlike in the past when they are too bust engaging in the conversation to even lend you a hand. Sometimes you have to get your partner out of a fit but it never happens too often for it to be a pain and often times, your partner is usually more capable than you are.

The other little things including seeing your character guns while re-loading and even the amount of shells your character sticks into the chamber depends on the number of rounds actually used, making re-loading time much more crucial in the heat of the battle. While this makes the game more of a first-person shooter than a lightgun shooter, it's a decision that i applaud because of my strong attachment to the characters. There is even an option to turn on the laser sights for all the weapons making it feel like a first-person shooter of Resident Evil 4. While all these little things may have blurred the lines between first-person and lightgun shooter in Darkside Chronicles, it's making me enjoy the game just a bit more than the first one.

Darkness Falls

After what seem like forever, my copy of Darkside Chronicles has finally arrived. Using free delivery during this time of the year can be very risky, i remember my RE4 Wii Edition going missing a couple of years back during this holiday season. Luckily Play asia was able to compensate my loss with another copy of the game and i regret i was not able to repay their good deed by devoting more time to that version. Rest assured this will not happen with Darkside Chronicles as i almost 50 hours into the first Umbrella Chornicles.

Friday the 13th Weekend

Had some friends over for the weekend to help me dust off some RE games in preparation for Darkside Chronicles out this week. First up was Degeneration which I manage to watch for a bit on Friday evening while waiting for my dualshock 3 to charge. I enable the enhanced viewing mode to view the storyboards alongside with the movie and much to my surprise, almost every scene from the opening zombie attack on the airport was storyboarded. I really have to see if these storyboards made it onto the Degeneration book I bought a while back.

On Saturday, we played a bit of RE4 Wii edition just to check out the Wii controls and since I had a save file with everything unlocked, we could practically try everything the game had to offer. I was pretty clumsy getting a feel of the Wii controls again on mercenaries mode so needless to say, I didn't survive very far on that one. I did try the story campaign with the Chicago typewriter and the game was a lot of fun, having an automatic weapon with unlimited ammunition. I often forget how you never really get a powerful automatic weapon on RE4 to play with so much so that I'm considering to speedrun through the whole game using the typewriter.

The highlight of the evening of trying to view the Jill sandwich scene in REmake with her unlocked RE3 costume which I assume should be pretty obvious why if you are a RE fan. Since I haven't really speed-run through REmake before, it was pretty hard figuring what I essentially had to do in order to get to the closet room and later to trigger the scene. Disappointment was in the air when I realised that by meeting Barry in the hallway, he subsequently wouldn't come to your rescue later at the shotgun room. Definitely something to come back to later which shouldn't be too difficult now that I remember how.

Got some nice presents too at the end of the day so I have to think of something for Christmas now.

You Only Live Twice

There was a common theory that Separate Ways was conceived or at least the idea of it before the Gamecube version of RE4 even shipped. That it was held back so Capcom would have the added incentive to tempt gamers who played RE4 on the Gamecube to pick it up again. There are parts of the game that feels pretty clever how like the developers manage explain what happened to leon jacket but then there are also parts that doesn't make any sense at all.

Take the part where chapter 2 ends and chapter 3 begins, at the end of chapter 2 we see ada watching in the shadow as luis sera dies and the sample falls into saddler's hands. Then she proceeds to radio wesker and tells him the location of the sample only to arrive at the start of chapter 3 when she meets krauser and ask him the same thing wesker just asked her only moments again. Ok so the scene where krauser is having a conversation with ada while playing with his knife was in the original game but you would think the developers could have done a better job of making the scenes all tied up. Of course this could go on forever like did krauser actually die in Separate Ways or the end of Assignment Ada? It's pretty clear that ada was the one who put him away for good but it's as how mikami intended in Assignment Ada or what kawata envisioned in Separate Ways?

Separate Opinion

Now that i have finished No More Heroes i can really sink my teeth into RE4 Wii edition to see how much better it's compared with the Gamecube version. With the help of some save files on gamefaqs, i was able to unlock everything from the go and immediately jump into Assignment Ada and Separate Ways. True enough, Assignment Ada does feature knife attacks now so it's possible for RE fanatics to do their knife-runs. As much as i liked the Wii controls i also notice it makes the game almost too easy to play, aiming is second nature and you can switch back and forth between knife attack instantaneously. I didn't even get hit one bit by krauser during my first run on assignment ada which i usually struggled before.

Separate Ways is definitely re-built from the ground up using the Gamecube engine so everything looks on par with the rest of the game. I have heard that ada model is ripped definitely from the ps2 version without any enhancements so that could possibly be the only downside of this Wii edition. The cutscenes are also in FMV like the ps2 version but since Separate Ways doesn't feature any alternative costume, it's not such a major issue. It has taken me a long time to finally play the Wii edition but i'm glad the time is finally here since i told myself i won't bother with it until i'm on LCD display.

Wii Edition Impressions

I finally finished playing Resident Evil 4 on professional mode last night, the entire run took roughly two hours more than my previous and seeing that i clocked a Leon death count of triple digits, i suspected a lot of the time was spent replaying some of the more difficult set pieces in the game. I had my copy of the Wii edition ready with me so by the time the credits finished rolling, i immediately popped in it for comparisons.

Sure enough, the Wii edition is indeed enhanced 16:9 widescreen so you don't have the black borders if you are on widescreen display. A couple of minor issues worth noting, Capcom has included all the game demos that played when the game is left idle from the previous versions and had enough sense to change the gameplay scenes to Wii controls so that's a really nice touch. The game manual also has a couple of extra pages introducing the supporting cast of RE4 which i really liked, complete with classic quote from the game and a portrait shot. The bonus trailer of Umbrella Chronicles included does a good job of tempting gamers to buy it but i wished Capcom didn't try to disguise it by sneaking it onto the extras menu and calling it a bonus video. No shame in advertising your product if it's a quality game and Umbrella Chronicles certainly deserves much better.

Now onto the game itself the controls are as great as what reviewers have raved about, it's hard to believe the Wii controls lend itself so well to the game without dumbing it down. I like the little buzz from the Wii mote speaker when Hunnigan radios Leon and kinda wish Capcom would have included her dialogue onto the speaker ala No More Heroes but seeing it's a two way conversation between Leon, it would be a little difficult to realised. I do foresee the inventory menu being a bit cumbersome with the Wii controls, Capcom should have just went all the way and implement a drag and drop function for that whole part. Of course the big question remains whether the previously-ps2 exclusive Separate Ways campaign was completely redone in the original Gamecube game engine but unfortunately you still have to finish the main campaign in order to unlock it. Perhaps i can steal a save file from somewhere just to see for myself first.

Borderline Annoying

I rushed home today to find that my Biohazard Organic Dioramas have arrived promptly from Play-asia so someone should have got their commission by now and hopefully would return the good deed soon. These diorama looked better than i expected, i can't wait to display them and would certainly consider completing the entire set of six in due time. Since Resident Evil Archives was also released yesterday, i thought it might be a good time to reflect on my current decision whether or not to re-purchase the game.

Early impressions were as expected, the game supports progressive scan of 480p but unfortunately lacks 16:9 widescreen support. The widescreen support probably won't bother me a week ago but now that i'm on widescreen display and don't intend to switch my Wii back to the 4:3 tv, it has become a bigger issue than before. I really can't stand black borders around the screen, the RE4 NGC version has tested my limits so buying a Wii edition of REmake just for the sake of collection now doesn't seems like such a good decision. Another thing worth noting was one gamer commented that the NGC version runs on "full widescreen" on the Wii without having to adjust anything while the Wii edition doesn't though bear in mind neither of these are actually true widescreen. If that is indeed the case then too bad for the latecomers and RE4 band wagoners out there, i will probably confirm with my NGC version soon and see if it's possible to continue to play that version until the price of Wii edition comes down.

Wii Deserve Better

Now that i have the proper HD TV setup that i have been longing for i can finally play the ps3 like it was meant to be played. In the process i also couldn't resist hooking up my Wii to it as well despite the Wii not being a pure HD console. Actually with some decent component cables, the Wii doesn't look too bad on a LCD screen from my early playtest of No More Heroes. The same unfortunately cannot be said of Gamecube game running on the Wii, Resident Evil 4 NGC looks absolutely terrible with letterbox borders and a very blurry image compared with NMH. I'm sure not all Gamecube games looked this bad as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes demo theatre looked pretty dazzling with progressive scan mode on. I'm tempted to switch over to my Wii edition of RE4 to see if it's any better now that i'm on LCD display but i'm already halfway through professional mode so i'll try to make it as quick and painless as possible. These are some of the games i have tested on the new display over the weekend, the best part of it all is seeing them again and how much better they looked on LCD display.

The Professional (mode)

Before trying the hard mode on RE5, i decided to play through professional mode on RE4 first since the game doesn't track your stats like RE5 so i don't have to worry about dying too much. I also don't have to worry about babysitting sheva and could certainly use the challenge especially after having played RE4 so much and breezing through amateur mode as sheva in RE5 a few weeks back. It will also give my a good chance to try some of the weapons i hardly ever use in RE4 as i would need so heavily-beefed up weapons to get through professional mode.

To my surprise, the professional mode really is as lazy as some have said, i have expecting super-human ganados which would required more shots to go down but instead they feel no different from the ganados in normal mode. They certainly inflicit much more damage to leon, a quick grab from a ganado will easily push you to the yellow caution zone if you have not upgraded leon's health meter. The number of ganados feel more or less the same as normal mode, i'll know for sure once i finished pro mode by going back to comparing my stats in normal mode.

Plastic Terror

I ordered these Biohazard 4 gashapons a while back from Play-asia but never got around to openning all of them. I was pleasantly surprised with the level of detail and quality of series 1 which i still proudly display on my desk along with my Viewtiful Joe ones, also by Agatsuma. The great thing is i ordered a full box of six for both Biohazard 4 and Viewtiful Joe and managed to received the complete set not withcounting the chase figure and without any duplicates.

Earlier while admiring the virtual figures and bottlecaps in Resident Evil 4 & 5, i got the urge to open the remaining series 2 for Biohazard 4. You see these figure were based on the virtual bottlecaps which you can earned from the shooting range in Biohazard 4, which was carried over to Biohazard 5. This time, i lucked out on the Ashley and merchant figure instead ending up with a duplicate of vertigo, salazar's menacing bodyguard. I did however scored the chase figure which to my disappointment is the rather unremarkable male villager with the axe.

Old Wine in New Bottle

I did a fair bit of research before back-ordering my copy of Outbreak as i was aware of an Resident Evil Essentials box set out which contains Code: Veronica, RE4 and RE Outbreak in one box set and apparently there was also a Greatest Hits reisssue at some point. The version available for back-order was not the Greatest Hits reissue because it would usually say so at Play-asia so i decided to back-order that instead of the Essentials boxset. Being the picky collector that i am, i can't stand reissues and i already have the other two in my collection.

Anyways the copy arrived promptly as i expected and when i pull it out, i was pretty happy to see the musty old shrink-wrap on the box as it was a good indication that this may in fact be a first print black label copy as i hoped. Alas when i flipped over to see the back of the cover, i was disappointed to see an extra barcode sticker covering where the barcode would normally be. As i removed the shrink-warp, it indeed turn out to be a reissue of the game for the RE Essentials boxset! While it's not ethically right for any store to sell contents of boxset individually like this, i have seen this happen a lot in singapore and in this case, i don't think it's entirely Play fault judging from the musty old shrink-warp.

Also i discovered that the disc inside is indeed part of the first print as the SLUS code identical to the original SLUS code without the additional GH (for Greatest Hits) or P3 (for Essentials) prefixed to the end of the SLUS code. So that means this must be old stock which Capcom conveniently re-packaged for their RE Essentials boxset a while back though i suspect this is the only one out of the three to still have the original disc and manual inside as Code: Veronica and RE4 would have sold far better and thus, unlikely had any old stock which Capcom was eager to get rid of. While packing with the rest of my collection, i did noticed i don't have a single reissue copy in my RE collection, be it Greatest Hits or Player's Choice version and that this would probably be my first. In a way it really isn't so maybe that's why i'm at a crossroads at what to do with it, maybe the best i can do is post a review so other collectors might be aware before back-ordering it too at Play-asia.

Forever Delayed

Dead Rising for the Wii has been delayed so many times that i actually lost count, originally it was supposed to be out before the end of 2008 and then the first month of 2009. Now it's scheduled to be released on 24th of February, the week after Street Fighter IV ships and less than one month before Capcom's other zombie game, Resident Evil 5 hits the PS3 and Xbox 360. Pretty rough schedule for a relatively low-budget port but let's hope all this delay will ultimately result in a better game. Somehow i have a feeling this title will still sell regardless of what the reviews say, this is the Wii after all.

Those of you who follow my blog will know that i'm an avid supporter of Dead Rising appearing on the Nintendo Wii platform. I love the RE4 engine and even more so the Wii, this might just be one of those games that bridge the gap between the casual and hardcore gamers of the system and maybe even lead to great new things from Capcom later. The more Kotaku and other gaming media trashes this game, the more i feel a compelling need to go out to buy this game and prove them wrong. The only problem is there are a couple of other zombie games also coming out on February which i might pick up instead.

Number Crunchers

A lot of issue has been made about the technical difficulties of porting Dead Rising to a lesser platform like the Wii, chiefly like how many zombies will appear on the screen at once? After all, the original Xbox360 was an average game made great by the mere number of zombies Capcom were able to generate on-screen at once and also the number of creative ways you could disperse the zombies. I have always been a firm supporter of playing games on their original platform and would really just contradict myself if i were to proclaim that the Wii version would be superior to the original Xbox360 version. I'm however, a lot more optimistic about how the Wii version would turn out than most, simply because i believed in the potential of the platform. I was an avid player of the Mercenaries Mode in Resident Evil 4 and was really amazed by the number of zombies on-screen at once on the Gamecube version having gotten used to the PS2 version. It made me believe that the Gamecube and PS2 version of Resident Evil 4 were indeed worlds apart and the Gamecube was a much more capable hardware than the PS2. And now the Wii is capable of so much more too, sure it will never match the PS3 and Xbox360 in the technical department but we have yet to witness just what the little white box is capable of.

I'm glad it's coming to the Wii and with the development team at Capcom Japan re-designing the game from the ground up using the RE4 engine, the end result should be promising. Of all the games coming to the PS3 and Wii, this is the one i'm most looking forward to and no, i'm not kidding.

The Big Reveal

The big reveal as i promised, this is what i ordered at play-asia today. If there is one thing i noticed about Play is that they rarely ever re-stock their items during sales period like this. Why would they, when they can hold back for a couple more days and revert back to their original store price. The sale is still a win-win situation for everyone, play gets to clear off their old stock of games from gathering dust and us gamers get to pick up a nice bargain.

Now i know every Nintendo fans are sulking for the most part after their recent E3 show because they fail to unveil any titles for their core audience. I for one, am less bothered by this because as i said many times before, i don't play many Nintendo first-party games anymore and i'm very pleased that they are still on the top of the current console race thereby ensuring a healthy supply of third-party games to come.

One such title is Capcom's Dead Rising, heading to the Wii very soon as reported in the pages of Famitsu. Now this is certainly a nice surprise seeing that most would probably expect it to be ported to the Playstation3 instead but when you think about it, the decision is pretty obvious. The game has had little success in Japan, partly due to it originally being an Xbox exclusive and the fact that it's a sandbox-style game, not a very popular genre in the japanese market. Secondly, the original Xbox release was not optimised for play for standard definition TV, drawing heavy criticism from gamers shortly after release.

To address all these issue, Capcom would have to seriously overhaul the entire look and gameplay of the game and knowing how lazy the folks at capcom are, they would surely go for broke and thus, the decision to make a Wii port instead of an obvious PLaystation3 port was conceived. Honestly i was pretty happy with the decision, after all i already got Lost Planet for my Playstaion 3 and the general impression was that it was a pretty unimpressive port. It remains to see how this port will fare but knowing some effort is being put to completely overhaul the mechanics of the gameplay and look, it should at least be on par with the Playstation 2 port of Resident Evil 4.

Oh and before i keep you waiting any longer on what i finally order from play asia today, here it is.