The Resident Evil Thread

[psylockolussus]

Lisa Trevor, the Crimson Heads, the rooms/sections of the mansion that the original game didn't have and the undersaturated colors are taking me out of the RE1 remake. Fixed camera is too, but I played the ps1 RE1 games so its not more of an issue compare to the ones I said first.

I can just predict the second RE1 remake would have Lisa Trevor stalking in that mansion, that it would impossible to really explore the mansion without someone constantly tailing behind you. That was one of my irks with RE2R as once Mr. X showed up, there's only like 10 seconds of silence before he shows up and you have zero choice but to run or be killed. And I'm someone who likes to observe the room/surroundings and look at the details everywhere.

 

[Zantera]

I think the stalker element is interesting but I also agree that sometimes being able to just walk around and explore things is what you want.

As for my RE1R progress I think I'm about to face the big snake soon, I did mess up and got Richard killed (I didn't know you could save him, but sadly despite trying to get him the serum I guess I was just a little bit too slow). I do love the mansion overall. I will say my issue with the controls and how bad the shooting feels does mean the game feels scarier. Even the simple dogs are scary because I know if I face one I will likely take at least 1 hit and I'll end up using too many bullets.

 

[psylockolussus]

I think the stalker element is interesting but I also agree that sometimes being able to just walk around and explore things is what you want.

As for my RE1R progress I think I'm about to face the big snake soon, I did mess up and got Richard killed (I didn't know you could save him, but sadly despite trying to get him the serum I guess I was just a little bit too slow). I do love the mansion overall. I will say my issue with the controls and how bad the shooting feels does mean the game feels scarier. Even the simple dogs are scary because I know if I face one I will likely take at least 1 hit and I'll end up using too many bullets.

I feel like Capcom should give us a free roam version after we beat the game. Like no zombies and every corner of the locations like the mansion, the police station, those numerous laboratories are accessible without needing keys and items, and the bulbs in the room aren't broken.

In RE4R remake, I'm really wowed by the interior design of the castle but a lot of it are hard to observe because of the lack of light in the room.

In a lot of games I like, I really can spend a hour just looking the environment and appreciating the work put into it. With RE games, I sometimes forget to observe things because of the constant pressure with the enemies, and I'm always running into the next location and trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

The RE1 remake is still the goat for me. It's the game Mikami envisioned in his head but the tech hadn't caught up. The whole stalker element has been done to death and not just in RE so I would personally rather they leave it out of a second RE1 remake. Once you've figured out the rules of the stalker, they're easily broken. The only game that's ever done this effectively throughout the experience is Alien Isolation because it establishes the aliens rules early on and regularly breaks them so you don't know what to expect. Outlast went from a 9/10 to a 6/10 because I broke the game fairly early in my playthrough.

 

[Zantera]

I don't think another RE1 remake needs a stalker because so far there's enough tension coming from "is one of the bodies i didn't burn gonna become a crimson head if i go through here now?" and i also think it's good to keep the games a bit different to each other. If you start throwing in a stalker in every game because its part of the formula, then the series very quickly becomes "oh its the same thing just another environment".

I got past my first encounter with Yawn and i'm about to do the crimson head in the crypt (4th mask) but he kicked my ass for now but will pick up later. I think the locked camera angles and stiff controls will prevent me from putting this game among my favorites of the franchise but it is fun playing the OG. (even if remake)

 

[psylockolussus]

I would love if they cut Lisa Trevor in the 2nd remake... she is a literal nightmare in the game!

And a reimagined version of the Spencer Mansion in RE Engine would be haunting!

 

[Zantera]

Man this game (much like other games in the franchise) keeps me riding that line of being at the edge of my seat stressing out but also feeling really satisfied as I work my way through it. I'm about to go put the battery in and I believe I'm close to done in the mansion itself because there's really not much left in it in terms of unexplored rooms or anything.

The hunters definitely bumped up my stress factor quite a bit. I messed up slightly on my second encounter with Yawn and I missed a few grenade launcher shots due to the controls and being clumsy, and in hindsight I probably should have died to go again and try and save a few rounds. However I feel OK at the moment with 6 shotgun shells, maybe 30 ammo for the gun and I got 6 fire rounds and 6 acid rounds for the grenade launcher - though i'm trying to hold off on using that. The residence section was pretty chill honestly. Despite my arachnophobia I only had to kill 1 spider in there and while the aqua ring and the sharks got the heartrate up, being able to drain the water made that section fairly chill. I also appreciated that I ended up killing the plant without actually fighting it by making the chemical mix.

In terms of the horror aspect I would probably put this pretty high up. Like RE7 was pretty intense but I do think not being in control of the camera and barely being able to aim in RE1R makes it scary in a different way. I've kinda gotten used to the style (as much as one could I guess) and I'm happy I could give this game a second chance. I would still love to play this in the style of the other remakes (and would probably like that more) but I could see why people growing up on this style of Resident Evil are so protective and fond of it.

 

[psylockolussus]

Yes there is a sense of dread, with the fixed camera, as in the next scene, some zombie could already be there very close to you, and the fixed camera makes the running harder.

 

[Zantera]

Finished RE1R and thought I would write my final thoughts, sorry for long rambling (as usual with my RE posts I feel).

Starting with positives I'm probably echoing some widely popular opinions but the Spencer Mansion is a really cool location and great for this kind of game. Definitely slots in at the S-tier of RE locations for me together with other greats like the police station in 2, the castle in 4 and the Baker residence in 7. Even though with most RE games there's a big decline in some of the later areas, I actually didn't mind the tunnels or the laboratory that much. They weren't as good but didn't outstay their welcome. Even though I was familiar about Wesker and his role in this universe, I think they did a decent job at misdirecting you story-wise as to what was going on. The puzzles were overall good and I also have to mention Lisa Trevor who isn't in the original (or so I've heard) and she really made an impact. Thought she was well utilized at all, she only really stalks you in like one area, so it was good. Tragic backstory and a sad ending. I enjoyed playing as Jill and thought the side characters were fun. Not too many weapon choices but considering the limited inventory probably for the better. I liked what I got.

I don't really have any strong negatives. The fixed camera angles and the controls probably did lessen my enjoyment slightly as I've mentioned previously. I did get used to it and I finished the game, but I would be very hyped for another remake in the modern style. That would have the potential to really rival RE2R and RE4R for me. The enemies list is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked the zombies and the dogs but the hunters looked a bit goofy (like tiny frog men with claws) and I thought the weird bug creatures in the labs looked silly rather than scary. Bosses were also a little bit mixed for me. It's weird in a game like this to have basically 3 animal bosses but I didn't think they were bad or anything. I guess a game like this needs boss battles and the ideas for bosses maybe weren't as strong as their ideas for puzzles or map layout. I actually felt the inventory was somewhat frustrating at times and I heard that if you roll as Chris you have 2 slots less (?) which honestly sounds like a nightmare to me. I guess if you know the game by heart and can play it with a blindfold you don't need that many slots, but it's a lot of running back and forth and some of the inventory boxes are sometimes frustrating to get to because you left enemies alive or something.

Overall I had a good time with this and I feel happy to say that I have played the game/story that started it all. I was thinking of doing RE5 next. It feels weird to me seeing all these discussions about "favorite RE characters" and people's love for Chris. Because for me, he spent this game missing and then showed up in the last 3 minutes (different if I would have picked him ofc) and then you only see him cameo shortly in 7 and 8 basically. Even if I picked him in RE1 there really weren't enough cutscenes or personal character things that would make that big of a difference to me (i think). I have heard that 5 is kinda 'his' game though, so maybe playing that would make sense.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Finished RE1R and thought I would write my final thoughts, sorry for long rambling (as usual with my RE posts I feel).

Starting with positives I'm probably echoing some widely popular opinions but the Spencer Mansion is a really cool location and great for this kind of game. Definitely slots in at the S-tier of RE locations for me together with other greats like the police station in 2, the castle in 4 and the Baker residence in 7. Even though with most RE games there's a big decline in some of the later areas, I actually didn't mind the tunnels or the laboratory that much. They weren't as good but didn't outstay their welcome. Even though I was familiar about Wesker and his role in this universe, I think they did a decent job at misdirecting you story-wise as to what was going on. The puzzles were overall good and I also have to mention Lisa Trevor who isn't in the original (or so I've heard) and she really made an impact. Thought she was well utilized at all, she only really stalks you in like one area, so it was good. Tragic backstory and a sad ending. I enjoyed playing as Jill and thought the side characters were fun. Not too many weapon choices but considering the limited inventory probably for the better. I liked what I got.

I don't really have any strong negatives. The fixed camera angles and the controls probably did lessen my enjoyment slightly as I've mentioned previously. I did get used to it and I finished the game, but I would be very hyped for another remake in the modern style. That would have the potential to really rival RE2R and RE4R for me. The enemies list is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked the zombies and the dogs but the hunters looked a bit goofy (like tiny frog men with claws) and I thought the weird bug creatures in the labs looked silly rather than scary. Bosses were also a little bit mixed for me. It's weird in a game like this to have basically 3 animal bosses but I didn't think they were bad or anything. I guess a game like this needs boss battles and the ideas for bosses maybe weren't as strong as their ideas for puzzles or map layout. I actually felt the inventory was somewhat frustrating at times and I heard that if you roll as Chris you have 2 slots less (?) which honestly sounds like a nightmare to me. I guess if you know the game by heart and can play it with a blindfold you don't need that many slots, but it's a lot of running back and forth and some of the inventory boxes are sometimes frustrating to get to because you left enemies alive or something.

Overall I had a good time with this and I feel happy to say that I have played the game/story that started it all. I was thinking of doing RE5 next. It feels weird to me seeing all these discussions about "favorite RE characters" and people's love for Chris. Because for me, he spent this game missing and then showed up in the last 3 minutes (different if I would have picked him ofc) and then you only see him cameo shortly in 7 and 8 basically. Even if I picked him in RE1 there really weren't enough cutscenes or personal character things that would make that big of a difference to me (i think). I have heard that 5 is kinda 'his' game though, so maybe playing that would make sense.

Eh, I don't think your opinion on Chris is going to change that much regardless. He's pretty much generic military man through the entire series. Leon and Ethan have more characterization and are in less games.

 

[Zantera]

Eh, I don't think your opinion on Chris is going to change that much regardless. He's pretty much generic military man through the entire series. Leon and Ethan have more characterization and are in less games.

I started 5 and have played for maybe 1 ½ hour so far but what you say is pretty much how I feel so far. Chris is perfectly fine as "action man" but I'm curious why he has such legacy other than being in the original game. I guess Jill isn't the most fleshed out character in RE1 either but you get some interesting stuff in RE3 with her kinda having PTSD and stuff like that. I was hoping for something similar from Chris in RE5 (maybe it happens later) but he just kinda rolls in like "Hey guys, I'm action guy. Tell me where to shoot and i'll cap the bad guys!".

No offense to Chris but I do agree that most other protagonists have been more interesting for me. Leon is definitely my favorite - I think being a rookie cop on the job and being pulled into all this is interesting, and the way he grows from that point is cool too. Don't really get why Ethan gets so much hate aside from being faceless (which is a bummer).

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

I started 5 and have played for maybe 1 ½ hour so far but what you say is pretty much how I feel so far. Chris is perfectly fine as "action man" but I'm curious why he has such legacy other than being in the original game. I guess Jill isn't the most fleshed out character in RE1 either but you get some interesting stuff in RE3 with her kinda having PTSD and stuff like that. I was hoping for something similar from Chris in RE5 (maybe it happens later) but he just kinda rolls in like "Hey guys, I'm action guy. Tell me where to shoot and i'll cap the bad guys!".

No offense to Chris but I do agree that most other protagonists have been more interesting for me. Leon is definitely my favorite - I think being a rookie cop on the job and being pulled into all this is interesting, and the way he grows from that point is cool too. Don't really get why Ethan gets so much hate aside from being faceless (which is a bummer).

Nostalgia is why Chris is so lauded. He was the original male player character in RE1. That's it.

I've always taken the Ethan hate as hyperbolic. RE7 functioned as a a soft reboot to bring RE into modern horror gaming. Modern horror games of the time were in first person with everyman leads typically investigating missing persons. The modern tropes and the Resident Evil tropes are there. I thought it succeeded quite well at what it set out to do.

 

[psylockolussus]

Capcom didn't need to hide Ethan's face. I feel like marketing wise, that is their biggest error with the character. No toys/action figures for Ethan, no iconic cinematic cutscene in which we can see his facial expressions, then killed him off in his second game. So for RE9 we are back with either Chris or Leon. When they could have built more iconic RE characters that they can develop for decades.

 

[Zantera]

I'm a few hours into RE5 at chapter 3-3, so far I'm very mixed on this.

Before playing this I had heard about the racist controversy/accusations and all the "this game didn't age well" (maybe it didn't even land well when it came out) and I was thinking "Wait is this why people are outraged? this doesn't seem bad at all". Then I got to the marsh area and I'm now fighting african people in loin cloths throwing spears. Alright, I get it now.

I'm definitely willing to accept that by playing this single player I'm losing out on a big portion of why I think some people might rate this. I could imagine playing this with a friend and having fun, as things stand I'm basically just doing my thing and I have an NPC running alongside me. Even though RE4 leans into action I think that game still had plenty of horror in it, but RE5 almost feels completely void of anything like that. I mean sure I'm fighting deformed dogs and las plagas creatures, but I'm not alone doing it, so far it's been broad daylight and there's ammo everywhere. The start of the game felt perfectly fine but then I got to the marsh boat section and being up against regular crocodiles and black tribesmen dressed like Tarzan. I wasn't a big fan of the chase sequence either. I felt like I was in a Mad Max game or something just enemies coming on bikes and stuff.

From a story perspective there are interesting things here IMO. Chris looking for Jill is interesting. Sheva is actually not a bad side character to me. Umbrella doing shady things, the return of Las Plagas, Wesker in his full Neo cosplay both visually and also dodging bullets. Gameplay is kinda repetitious though. I feel like they took the wrong lessons from RE4. You don't need every 5-10 minutes to be "things calm down oh wait it's a trap now fend off 20 enemies or die". I will push on and maybeeeeee the game picks up quality-wise later?

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

I'm a few hours into RE5 at chapter 3-3, so far I'm very mixed on this.

Before playing this I had heard about the racist controversy/accusations and all the "this game didn't age well" (maybe it didn't even land well when it came out) and I was thinking "Wait is this why people are outraged? this doesn't seem bad at all". Then I got to the marsh area and I'm now fighting african people in loin cloths throwing spears. Alright, I get it now.

I'm definitely willing to accept that by playing this single player I'm losing out on a big portion of why I think some people might rate this. I could imagine playing this with a friend and having fun, as things stand I'm basically just doing my thing and I have an NPC running alongside me. Even though RE4 leans into action I think that game still had plenty of horror in it, but RE5 almost feels completely void of anything like that. I mean sure I'm fighting deformed dogs and las plagas creatures, but I'm not alone doing it, so far it's been broad daylight and there's ammo everywhere. The start of the game felt perfectly fine but then I got to the marsh boat section and being up against regular crocodiles and black tribesmen dressed like Tarzan. I wasn't a big fan of the chase sequence either. I felt like I was in a Mad Max game or something just enemies coming on bikes and stuff.

From a story perspective there are interesting things here IMO. Chris looking for Jill is interesting. Sheva is actually not a bad side character to me. Umbrella doing shady things, the return of Las Plagas, Wesker in his full Neo cosplay both visually and also dodging bullets. Gameplay is kinda repetitious though. I feel like they took the wrong lessons from RE4. You don't need every 5-10 minutes to be "things calm down oh wait it's a trap now fend off 20 enemies or die". I will push on and maybeeeeee the game picks up quality-wise later?

I think you've figured out why it's not likely an official remake of five will ever see the light of day. A remake would require a page one rewrite and a completely new design structure effectively making it a RE5 replacement rather than a remake. And no, the game does not pickup in quality later. Five and Six are tied for the weakest entries in the series and for good reason.

 

[psylockolussus]

A RE5 Remake would have drastic changes as RE3 Remake, but hopefully this time, for the better.

 

[Zantera]

Finished RE5 this morning, here's the final thoughts / review / rambling:

If we start with characters I repeat my previous thoughts that Chris is... fine. He's not particularly interesting and I wish he had either a weakness, an interesting character flaw or just a more interesting story. But he is fine. Sheva really grew on me and I ended up enjoying her quite a lot. Sad to hear she never got to appear again after this game. I did like the return of Jill and it gave the story a personal touch, I didn't really mind the silly mind control device. Only negative is that I kinda guessed the cloaked figure would be her, so it took away the surprise. Wesker as the final boss was actually pretty great? I mean I see why he is the face of the franchise in terms of villains. While RE5 is currently my least favorite of the games that I have played - Wesker might honestly be close to the top out of the final villains. Tyrant in 1 was kinda generic and maybe the weakest part of that game. Mr X and Nemesis in 2 and 3 were both good, Saddler was creepy in 4 but then both 7 and 8 had kinda sucky end villains in Eveline and Mother Miranda. Daddy Wesker has been a thorn in our side for multiple games and finally confronting him felt nice. Aside from characters I would say I found most of the story to be enjoyable and I think the fact Wesker and Jill were involved probably helped.

The map/level design was overall pretty weak for me though. I wasn't a big fan of how you get through a chapter, back to the menu, dive into the next. It feels a bit like a random action shooter game where they slapped on RE enemies and boss fights. No real puzzles, no super memorable locations you spend a long time in, and the horror was pretty much entirely sucked out. RE5 for me actually had the reverse RE problem where the later areas get worse, because for me this game felt pretty rough and only started to feel better once I got to the laboratories. That was the first moment I felt any RE-vibes at all. Not a big fan of what they did to the licker. I still remember how scary that was in RE2 and here you get like 10 of them crawling towards you in a long hallway and you just blindly pump rounds into them until they die. Also not a big fan of the later infected having weapons and shooting at you. Just felt like another way to make this into another type of game. The AI Sheva was also a bit mixed for me. Worked well most of the time but very frustrating on some boss fights like Wesker where coordination is required. That part when he has weak points at his chest or back was particularly frustrating as I kept running around him to shoot his back, but Sheva kept running after me and so we were all running in circles instead of her staying so she could shoot his back. Also I now get the boulder punching meme. Officially the moment this franchise jumped the shark maybe?

Overall I would probably give RE5 something like a 7/10. I enjoyed my time with it and if I had a chance to play it with a friend, brother or girlfriend, that 7 might even rise to an 8. But the flaws are still there regardless. I don't think there was a single moment in this game where I felt any sense of dread or horror to step into another room and that's a big negative for a RE game. I know some people think RE4 is too action-y and not scary enough but I would argue that game still had scary moments and enemies. Also I think it's so funny through these games (5 in particular) how so many characters would rather inject themselves with a random crazy virus that will turn them into huge blobs of flesh and tentacles, rather than like just surrender and live on as a human. Like what is your logic there? Even if you beat the heroes through becoming a giant monster, what's next in your life? Live out your final days hiding in a swamp as a big ocean monster?

Gonna step into 6 next, definitely with mild expectations. This game also seems pretty long? (Howlongtobeat has it listed as like 21 hours - double the time of RE5) which has me slightly concerned. But it is the one piece missing from being able to say I've played 1-8. (0 is next up after 6)

 

[psylockolussus]

RE5 is probably the worst game out of the main games. RE6 has variety even though it gets ridiculous at times.

I don't know how they started with Leon in that university which was a bit reminiscent of Raccoon City, then fly in China, have Leon in that moving vehicle/train iirc, shooting a gigantic monster with a machine gun.

 

[Zantera]

I've now logged almost 12 hours in RE6 and I'm halfway done having finished the campaigns of Leon and Chris, here's my thoughts so far.

Surprisingly I actually found most (not all) of Leon's campaign to be a breath of fresh air. They try to make things a bit more 'back to basics' and for 2, maybe 3 chapters I was really enjoying being back in the shoes of Leon who is probably my favorite RE character (not sure if controversial or not). However somewhere around when you get to the crypt portion of his campaign the wheels really started to come off for me. RE5 had a similar section where I felt like I was playing Tomb Raider and not Resident Evil, and here it felt like I was playing Skyrim or something. Unfortunately the shift into action starts ramping up from there and it kinda gets worse and worse especially as you advance into the Chris campaign. I did not like the infected enemies with weapons in RE5 and they're even more a thing here, sadly. The only positive I can say about the enemies is that there's a surprising amount of enemy variety (different mutations) and in that area RE6 is probably one of the better in the series, however a lot of that feels a bit pointless because I feel I'm just running and gunning anyways and the gameplay is too fast for me to really let things sink in.

I would say for all the flaws I actually don't mind the story. With all the lead up it kinda makes sense IMO to have this big global scale game where many of our characters return. Though minor nitpick - the side characters are pretty darn generic and if they're doing this kind of big story, why not go all the way and bring back Jill, Claire and maybe even Sheva again? Helena and Pierce have both felt underwhelming as companions and I think it could have been interesting to either pair Leon with Claire again for that RE2 nostalgia, OR pair him with Jill - who from my knowledge hasn't shared an on screen scene with him in a game (?). You could also have had Sheva working with Chris instead of giving him another 'generic military dude' companion. I don't know, not saying these things would have improved the game massively but why not? If you're going for fan service. I also like the idea of having Wesker's son in here. I will know more how I feel about him in the story after his campaign but I think Wesker is an interesting character and him having a son is interesting on paper because there would be a lot of inner turmoil there I would imagine.

As far as negatives go there's just a lot of small things that annoy me. Too many QTE sections. I kept failing one as Chris when you run through the docks with a chopper shooting at you because the character didn't respond to my button presses and I found it very frustrating. On a personal level I also don't like the side of RE that has almost become a meme of "This isn't even my final form". I can give some leeway to big iconic bosses like Nemesis or Wesker coming back for round 2 or round 3, but Simmons in this game was way too extreme. We fight him on the train, then he comes back as a T-rex, then we fight him with Ada, then we fight him shortly on the roof in humanoid form and then he returns as a giant praying mantis which we "kill" but wait he returns a final time in that same form. Similarly in the Chris section we had a humanoid demonic squid looking boss that just kept coming back time after time. I feel exhausted and I already know that Jake and Ada most likely have a similar "big boss" in their campaigns because why wouldn't they? I also have minor nitpicks on how this game is really dark for some reason (even with gamma cranked up) and I also thought the addition of grinding herbs into tic tacs was a weird choice. Did we need that? Also the AI can be very frustrating and I feel like playing this single player is a much more frustrating experience than I imagine Coop would be.

Sorry for long rant. Hoping to finish the game before the weekend and I can give closing thoughts then.

 

[psylockolussus]

The campaign of Sherry+Jake and Ada are a bit different, so finish them.

Looking back, RE6 was notorious. I can't believe 2012 is more than a decade now. I remember following the game during those times. There are still moments that I can appreciate about it. It does feel a bit too blockbuster - some worked, a lot didn't, but its not a terrible game imo.

The early parts of Leon were good before they headed to China. With Chris, I liked his relationship with Piers and I enjoyed the drama moments between the characters. The cutscenes were nicely done.

 

[Zantera]

Rolled credits on RE6, just around 20 hours played. Definitely a mixed bag for me though I might not be as negative as some others might be. There will probably be quite a few comparisons to RE5 not only because it's the game before and the one I just played, but it's also stylistically the closest one I can compare it to and before playing RE6 it was the bottom of my list of the RE games (I still enjoyed it).

If we start with positives I think this game starts better than RE5. The Leon campaign starts off promising and I felt more invested in what was going on with the terror attack taking out the president than I felt running around a town in Africa shooting up infected. However while RE5 to me got better as it went along and I felt more interested, RE6 was a bit of a reverse. I appreciate the ambition of a global scale story with multiple characters we know and like, and going for a 4 campaign interwoven story is an interesting choice in theory I think. Enemy variety was pretty solid and across the campaigns you do get a bunch of different weapons to test out. And I still enjoyed most of the story even if it took some weird turns. I think after the first 5 games this kinda made sense? You go from very contained stories set in a mansion, to Racoon City, to a village in Spain and then a bigger chunk of Africa. It made sense that eventually there would be a bigger story of someone using these viruses in terror attacks across the globe. In order of enjoyment I'd probably put the campaigns in the order of Leon > Ada > Jake > Chris.

On the negative side my main take away coming out of this is the length. 20 hours might not be long for some games but for an RE game it's about twice of what you expect. While the interwoven stories was an interesting thing initially, by the time you get to the 4th campaign you're really tired of some of those set pieces coming back. I also think the gameplay just got very repetitive especially in a campaign like Chris, where you just run and gun for like 5 chapters and the story feels very simple. This game felt like it had more in common with other game franchises than it did with Resident Evil. Too many random segments as well where you drive a car, a snow scooter or random QTE events of running. I also thought the way the game was structured made the ending feel a bit lackluster because you basically end on the big Simmons fight again which you just did 14 hours earlier and nothing new is really added in my opinion. Despite succumbing and playing this on easy instead of normal (something I normally wouldn't do) this is still the RE game where I died by far the most times, and it was pretty much always because of stupid QTE scripting or like crashing the snow scooter, or not outrunning a boss fast enough. Even at a lower difficulty some enemies and bosses still felt way too bullet sponge-y.

While I would put RE6 last in my rankings for now and I consider it a very mixed bag. I think there's probably a better game in here if other choices were made. First off you really should have cut at least 1 campaign I think. They could have used the interwoven stories in a better way because in some sections you're doing the same thing you already did as Chris except now you're Jake. Or fighting Simmons as Ada in a chopper but it's the same fight you just did as Leon. I also thought Helena and Piers felt a little bit underwhelming as companions. While the game would still have issues I would probably have enjoyed it more if you partnered Leon with Claire (RE2 reunion) or Jill (they've never appeared together right?) and why not put Sheva with Chris? Either you keep the ending of the Chris campaign but you have Sheva infect herself and sacrifice herself (would probably have made us feel more, rather than Piers who was a bit one note) or you change the ending slightly because we care more about Sheva. If this game had been a slimmed down 10-12 hour game with some of those changes I think I might have preferred it over RE5 but as things stand RE6 is just too much and too bloated. The only way I could see myself replay this game is if a friend or my GF wants to play it in Co-op in 10 years or something. I doubt I'll play it again otherwise.

Will probably do RE0 next but I might need a few days, playing RE6 over 3 days or something feels like an overload.

 

[psylockolussus]

That was fast. Though iirc i did it in 1 week.

 

[Zantera]

Played and finished Resident Evil 0.

Starting off with positives I thought the train section was really strong and my only complaint is that you get out of there too soon. I actually found the 2 protagonist system interesting and I kinda enjoyed the parts where you need to split up or help one of them through a section to a key item before meeting up again. The atmosphere and general vibe of the game was really great, even though some parts of this felt like RE1R Light (mainly the Umbrella facility being reminiscent of the Spencer Mansion but not as good). But overall I really enjoyed most of the areas we go through in this game and I don't think it had one area I just hated and suffered through. I did have fun playing this after the more braindead "run and shoot" RE5 and especially RE6. I heard mixed things about the removal of the item box but it didn't really bother me much at all. I found spots in the different chapters to put my items such as the main hall at the Umbrella facility because I would always find myself back there every few minutes so it made sense to put items on the floor there. It was only really annoying when Billy was absent for a while and I had to carry a lot of items back and forth as Rebecca. I do think overall it's a nice little companion piece to RE1R even if it's not at that level.

I have quite a few negatives though unfortunately and these are the things keeping me from really loving it. Characters felt a bit weak. Rebecca grew on me a little bit but Billy just feels pretty bland and their chemistry could have been better. They didn't do Wesker or Birkin any favors not just with how they were portrayed but also the voice acting felt pretty off to me. Having just played RE5 and RE1R recently, Wesker sounded pretty off in this game for some reason. I also thought the voice acting of James Marcus was comically bad. Like when you try and do the grandpa voice and it sounds off. That leads us to the story and this my biggest concern going in and sadly one of the big weaknesses here. Doing a prequel just on the doorstep of the story of RE1 is risky and for me this tried to answer questions I didn't have but instead managed to raise more questions I didn't have before. So all of this is because of leeches?! The main villain felt pretty bad as well. Finally I think my biggest negative is the enemies and bosses. When I'm fighting zombies or other type of infected monsters, I'm pretty happy. When I'm fighting big cockroaches, monkeys, bats, spiders or big frogs that can one-shot me with their tongue - I'm like "what?". As far as the bosses go I will give the Tyrant a pass because I thought that fight felt like a slightly better version of the RE1R Tyrant. I'll also give the final boss a pass because it was a big weird RE monster. But the rest? A scorpion boss, a centipede boss, a giant bat boss! Bo-ring.

So in short RE0 is a bit of a mixed bag for me with some very enjoyable parts to it but also some frustrating flaws. I think honestly just better enemy choices (less beasts more RE-feeling creatures) would have bumped this up a point. You can't really do much to fix the story or the inconsistencies between this and RE1/RE2 or the over-the-top voice acting. As far as ranking the games goes, before this I had RE6 bottom and RE5 just above. I'm struggling whether I think RE0 belongs over RE5 or below. This was probably a more enjoyable experience throughout but I definitely would take Wesker over this anime villain. I think both games do different things better, it's a tough one for me. I'd say both of them are in that 7/10 bracket.

Probably taking a small break from RE after doing 7, 1R, 5, 6 and now 0 in about a month. Still have both Revelations games on my list but it's no rush.

 

[psylockolussus]

I just feel indifference with RE0. I think the fact that Rebecca and Billy didn't return for a new main game, hurts a bit.

 

[Zantera]

I've played some Revelations, about 1/3 through the game but I'm not really feeling it.

On the plus side I do like the atmosphere on the ship, I do like that we have some recognizable faces back (I like the Jill stuff more than the Chris stuff so far though) and it feels a bit more horror again compared to like RE5 and RE6 (i'm not quite sure when Revelations came in relationship to these, probably between?). However I also feel the "3DS game ported over to PC" aspect and the game feels a bit cheap? The ship has a cool atmosphere but for some reason the corridors and rooms, it all feels a bit dull. The story also feels a bit bland. Overall it's not awful or anything but it does feel a bit like a side project and I'm struggling to push myself to play it at the moment.