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. 

Death Don't Come Cheap

The Evil Within is a pretty brutal game. The manual even warns you that death will come often and when you least expect it. I probably had a dozen retries on the prologue alone before the title sequence rolled. I would say the prologue is the weakest part of the game. It gave a really bad impression of what the game isn't actually about. 

Apart from the prologue, this isn't an unfair game and the death count can certainly be cut down. I think making the game any easier removes a lot of tension within the game. Mikami pacing and structure of the game is excellent, he creates space for tension and also the big payoff moments. It's never one element for too long , this isn't strictly a stealth game that seems to be trend after the emergence of The Last of Us.

Even the active cinematic moments that looked cool in other games but really all you are doing is just pushing a button or holding down the analog stick to run is different here. I won't spoil it but rest assured you need some skill and quick wits to survive these moments.  

Pretty Ballerina

Sometimes I get the urge to boot up an old game and the beautiful thing about that is I never have to feel guilty about not finishing it if I do. After all, I probably finished that game several times already so if the itch isn't there anymore I will just leave it be.

PN03 was an obvious choice this time, I looked back fondly at the Gamecube library of games and realised that slowly one by one of its exclusives are slowly being remastered for new platforms. Probably not this one though, Capcom sees no commercial value in remastering this game and it will probably stay one of the last surviving Gamecube exclusives.

It's a pretty short game that you can simply blast through on a lazy Sunday afternoon but of course, I still took several weeks to finish the game. When playing it again, it occurs to me that Vanessa's Aegis suits are no different apart from the color change. There are like a dozen different Aegis Suits that you can use in the game and one doesn't feel any different from the other - aesthetic wise or functionality wise.

Another thing that also occurred to me when reflecting on Mikami's body of work is the man has a serious fetish for woman's posterior. Well, I will just leave it at that for now.

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. 

Talking about My Revelations

With Revelations 2 is almost upon us now, I thought it would be a good time to reflect back on the first Revelations game and what made it so great. I first played Revelations shortly after getting a Nintendo 3DS so the experience is a little less than a year ago and still pretty fresh in my mind. I find Revelations' acclaim a little unwarranted, I mean sure it was miles better than Resident Evil 6 but let's not make it sound like the second coming of Resident Evil 4. I do want to point out what made Revelations better than most recent RE entries

1. No More Umbrella
Let's face it, the original storyline that spans across the first 3 RE games is now a convoluted mess thanks to the many different writers who pitched in over the years. It's hard to make an sense of the Umbrella legacy anymore or tie up the loose ends which Capcom so clumsily attempted to in RE5. Thankfully, Revelations told a new story much like RE4 did without much ties to the original storyline aside from the iconic characters appearing. No silly homages to the series like what happened in RE5 Gold or RE6, it was a servicable story with nice twists and a brand new villain.

Remember the feeling when you first got the Colt Python?

2. Simple Guns
The RE games has always placed a strong emphasis on the guns used but in the early games, you are able to figure out which weapon works best against which enemies because the weapons were slowly introduced into the game as you play. That way you formed a strong bond with the weapons because you become very familiar with the ones you are using before you get a new toy. In RE6, I actually lost track of which ammunition goes to which weapon when I was clearing the character inventory. Too much awesome weaponry was clearly not a good thing and Revelations wisely scaled back on the number of weapons deployed. It doesn't introduced the weapons into the game as masterfully as the old games but at least, it was manageable and fun.

Aside from this, there are some aspects which makes RE Revelations not so great like the annoying new side characters and episodic chapters. In the end given the dire strait predicament of the series right now, the first Revelations certainly did more right than wrong but it still pales in comparisons to the early RE games under Mikami's supervision.

Vanity Affair

I was surprised to see Shinji Mikami name on the back cover of Vanquish, and it wasn't a vanity affair like how Hideo Kojima name usually appears on Metal Gear games. Mikami may have directed many great games after Resident Evil but this I believe was the first time his name appeared alongside on the box art. One of his earlier works was the brilliantly-crafted Dino Crisis on the PSOne which I'm currently playing after finishing Dino Crisis 2 recently.

It's definitely one of my favourite PSOne games which is why I felt so cold about the second game initially. The fully-rendered backgrounds are nothing short of amazing on the 32-bit hardware and suits the modern architecture of the game though it could use with a bit more colour depth. I like the decision-making aspect of the game it's not as subtly executed as Resident Evil but it helps established a bond between Regina and her teammates as you have to choose who to side with. The mixing system for the health packs and anesthetic is still confusing today and something I would rather avoid than to get into. One other thing I enjoyed is the colour-coding for the different item box in the game and how you only have a limited number of plugs to open each box. The game is packed with little clever touches to distinguish it from its more famous cousin like how Regina never leaves your sight even in a loading screen.

It's been a long time since Mikami's last game but somehow it's always worth the wait.

Feeling Retro: Dino Crisis 2

I had the Dino Crisis 2 disc sitting in my PSOne disc tray for a very long time before finally feeling nostalgic about playing it. To my surprise once I started I couldn't stop as I was simply having too much fun with it. I remember when the game was first released I was reluctant to embraced it because it deviated so far from the formula and element of fear Mikami had established in the first game. The game was Capcom's swansong to the PSOne and sure enough had pretty graphics to boot but it really didn't matter as the Playstation2 had just launched.

The Dino Crisis series really went off the rails with the Xbox exclusive Dino Crisis 3 but part of the problem with the series had already begun in Dino Crisis 2. Don't get me wrong Dino Crisis 2 is certainly a worthy sequel but I always had a sneaky suspicion that Capcom felt a compelling need to introduce new and bizarre dinosaurs with each new sequel of the game. Dino Crisis 2 felt great up until the part when the Giganotosaurus was introduced into the game. I'm not sure what kind of dinosaurs were introduced in Dino Crisis 3 but from what I could remember they sure don't look like dinosaurs to me. It's almost like it's encoded into the design philosophy of Capcom for making Dino Crisis sequels at that time, to come up with new, more off-beat dinosaurs with every sequel. That's why I think the series has remained dormant for so long and will likely stay so for the time to come. We don't need new dinosaurs in every sequel Capcom we just need new ways of killing them.

Can Dead Rising Really Vanquish Resident Evil?

Despite being the biggest creative force at Capcom right now I have never taken a liking to Keiji Inafune. His choice of projects and lack of involvement with the Resident Evil series made me think there's more to this man than meets the eye. Now his recent bold declaration of what he has planned for the Dead Rising series to ultimately displace Resident Evil as Capcom top IP merely confirms my suspicion that this guy is an ego maniac. You see Dead Rising is Keiji's own labour of love, a zombie game that has more to do with Romero's zombie movies than Capcom's Resident Evil.

For the longest time I have always had a sneaking suspicion that Inafune has distanced himself from the Resident Evil series because it's Shinji Mikami's legacy at Capcom not his, contributing to the series will only further Mikami's legacy. Now Keiji's influence in Capcom has grown to the point that his name pops up on every Capcom project yet Capcom's biggest creative head has little to do with Capcom's biggest IP. All he has done is serve as the promotion producer on the original Resident Evil 2, probably to work with Romero on those TV commercials and later doing the devil's work on the playstation2 port of Resident Evil 4. Now that his intentions are made clear about what he has planned for Dead Rising and Resident Evil it's plain obvious what kind of person Inafune is. I was planning to get Vanquish all along instead of Dead Rising 2 but now I detest the man to the point where I will not buy his zombie game.

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?

Power to the People

Nintendo Power v236 is the final issue for the year of 2008 and what an issue it turned out to be. Picking up a copy of Nintendo Power is always a bit of a gamble for me as there are usually no open issue for me to browse through first. Thankfully Nintendo Wikia provides a preview of each issue content for me to decide whether the issue is worth picking up and they usually don't disappoint. Nintendo Power is one of the few things related to Nintendo that have remained traditionally-hardcore. After all how many publications would feature Ninja Gaiden : Dragon Sword, GTA: Chinatown Wars and Madworld on their covers? I initially got this issue for the Castlevania poster included and the retrospective look at the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Power Profile feature on Shinji Mikami and also a nice coverage of the recent TGS 2008, complete with an interview with Suda51 on the upcoming No More Heroes 2.

Hear My Voice

The gaming world has played host to a number of silent heroes, most notably Link from the Legend of Zelda and more recently his spiritual successor Amaterasu from Okami. These characters despite being set off on the adventure of a lifetime has the distinction of letting their action define their character rather than their words. Vannesa Z Schneider from PN03 was set to join the list of heroes or so i thought, two-third into the game where she has yet to utter a word. It was certainly fitting for her character and the scenario as she is on a lone mission on a distant planet to destroy every moving mecha under the control of CAMS (Computer Arms Management System). She appears so cool and calm disposing each mecha with her slick moves and she is wonderfully animated down to every last intricate move. Receiving text orders from a faceless contact, it's easy to see why she's the most charming individual in the game despite being silent.

Then about two-thirds into the game, something happened. Faced with what looks like a clone of herself, she begins to wonder aloud what the heck is going on. I have yet to finish the game but i always figured her to be a clone, a terminator of some kind. Now she just sounds European and her thick accent makes her more foreign than any of the fancy aegis suit that she wears. You know, i bet Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) would be perfect to play her character if they ever do a movie adaption.

Straight Story

Shinji Mikami is a bit of an enigma among his game developer peers. Sure he is most famously known as the forefather of Capcom's Resident Evil series but in between each high-profile RE game that he worked on, comes a rough diamond like Godhand and PN03 which i happened to be playing right now on my Wii. For a developer of his calibre, it's certainly surprising to see the level of polish in these games in fact, mikami himself often lamented about how he should have spent more time polishing up and promoting these titles.

I remember when i was looking for Godhand with my friend in Singapore and he kept asking me if it was a good game. Worse when i eventually found a copy of it in one of the stores, even the shop assistant who was attending to me, leaned over to ask if this game was any good. Understandably, i ended up not buying the game from that store. Godhand a fighting game that may or may not have been made from the re-used asset and engine of mikami other hit, resident evil 4 caught gamers attention for the wrong reasons when it scored a lowly 3.0 from IGN. I happened to like it because of it's intuitive dodging system and memorable soundtrack composed by the legendary maestros at Grasshopper manufacture.

PN03 was the first of Capcom Five out of the gates and unsurprisingly the only one that was not eventually ported to the ps2 due to its poor critical reception and lukewarm sales. It has the same diamond in the rough feeling as Godhand where presentation are kept to a bare minimum and it's all about the gameplay. The game doesn't take you by the hand and simply thrust you straight into the heat of the action. I was a little caught off-guard by this but have a feeling i'm going to like this as much as Godhand...

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

Whenever a long weekend is around the corner, everyone starts thinking about a vacation be it a long or a short one. Well i don't really need a vacation but i have been meaning to go down to Singapore to do some major game-hunting for quite some time now.
You see, since i got the new console i haven't really got the chance to go shopping for games especially early generation games which i might have missed, or even some old PS2 gems since i got a BC unit. I'm the sort of guy who likes having a stack (a small one, preferably) of games by my side just waiting for me to play and I have compiled a list of games which i have been meaning to make a trip down to Singapore to look for.

1. Zack & Wiki
Yes, i haven't given up on looking for this title and i'm fairly confident i should be able to find it there. i've seen it selling in several stores and since most asian wii users don't normally buy original games there's a good chance it might still be there.

2. Ace Attorney 3
The final episode in the Phoenix Wright is just golden, it was never released in Europe and and came out shortly before Apollo Justice so i suspected it had a pretty low print run. Of course, there is always the Japanese import version available but since i owned the US version of both the earlier two episodes i would really like to keep it consistent in completing the trilogy.

3. Stranglehold
I have been following this game all the way from development to release and still haven't played it yet! The collector's edition would be perfect as i don't think i want the regular edition anymore after missing out on getting it for less than USD 20. I always make it a point to only get games that i would play more than once and this one fits the bill perfectly. On top of it, i'm a real big fan of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat.

4. God Hand
A bit of a odd one, i made a pact with Andy to pick this up the last time as it was selling cheap and was on offer if you buy more than one. I don't remember the details but i never got around to buying it then, i still want this one for the sake of completion because i also happened to be a big fan of shinji mikami and despite what the reviews said, i liked this game.

Four Faces of Evil

The other day while I was bragging on a local forum about owning four copies of Resident Evil 4, someone was quick to ask how did i end up with four versions where there are only three version released? Of course i didn't realised then that he was wrong and there are actually four versions of Resident Evil 4 available, namely the original GC version, the PS2 port, PC port and finally Wii edition. Anyways a picture paints a thousand words and i thought this picture of my recently arrived Resident Evil 4 Wii edition (thanks play!) along with my other copies would best depict the many different version of Resident Evil 4.

Now before you think I'm crazy about Resident Evil 4, I would like to point out that this is merely the result of a little poor planning and timing. Of course if Capcom would quit milking Resident Evil 4, I would have probably save a couple of bucks in the process too. You see, I first got hold of the Japanese edition of Biohazard 4 as i thought it had the best cover of all the versions plus it came with a cool pre-order gift. Later i discovered that the japanese version of Biohazard 4 was censored due to being rated by the new CERO so i have to get another version, with the Asian version offering english language and backwards compatible with the Playstation3 here i thought it was the best alternative. Of course, i later end up buying a Nintendo Wii first before my Playstation3 so I quickly grab the Gamecube version while i could still find the non-Player's Choice version as i believed it was the first and still the best version available, a large part being the fact that it was the only version supervised by Shinji Mikami before moving on to other projects. Finally i couldn't resist not getting the Wii edition to round up the collection though bear in mind, there are still other versions missing from my collection here. So since i have always made it a point that the box art does matter to me, which would be my pick as the best looking cover? Well never content with what i have, i'm going to have to say the japanese reprint of Biohazard 4 PS2 version under the Playstation2 the Best label gets my vote.

Second Chances

I'm still having mixed feelings when it comes to the upcoming Okami for the Nintendo Wii. Sure the chance to experience hideki kamiya's labour of love on a higher definition graphics with widescreen is appealing but i'm also well aware that hideki is no longer with Capcom. To add to my fears, Capcom decided to draft a couple of outsiders, namely the guys at Ready at Dawn and assign them to do the port. First things first, what happened to the remaining members of Clover studios who were absorbed into Capcom and were earlier working on Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles? and secondly, Okami is a distinctly Japanese-favoured game as were Clover Studios, having a bunch of Yanks messing around with the original game just doesn't sit well with me.

Thankfully, Ready at Dawn seems very respectful of the original game and promise not to change anything at all though i still feel once the original visionary leaves the project, any attempt to improve upon the game and deliver the definitive version just feels empty and souless. Separate Ways was a great addition to the Playstation2 version of Resident Evil 4 but the bonus costumes and all additions just didn't felt like they were meant to be there, as evident by the last iteration of Resident Evil 4 on the Nintendo Wii. As far as i'm concerned, Shinji mikami delivered the first and best iteration of Resident Evil 4 when it debuted on the Gamecube, all other version were just poor imitators.

Hideki may have left Capcom but his legacy there lives on through this latest iteration of Okami, i just hope Ready at Dawn gets it right and not splatter their names over his in the ending credits...

Boulder Dash

Everyone is excited about the upcoming new Indiana Jones movie, myself included nothing beats watching an old school action adventure movie with plain old-fashioned stunts, none of that CGi nonsense or wirework crap. It seems Shinji Mikami is a pretty big fan of Indiana Jones too, as both of his Resident Evil games featuring a boulder chase sequence when the character has to escape from a running boulder much like in the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

While these scenes were memorable and certainly not very much out of place despite being in a survival horror game, execution is a whole different matter. In the first Resident Evil, both the original PSOne and Gamecube remake featured pre-rendered backgrounds, making any chase sequence, such as this one a chore to play. In Resident Evil 4, since everything is rendered in real-time the boulder chase sequence could have been executed much better but instead it's reduced to a button-mashing sequence which only requires a quick reflex and some finger dexterity. Since both these sequences offer not much in terms of gameplay experience i really wonder if it was inserted in merely as a tribute to Indiana Jones?