“Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” is the latest game in a historic franchise in the video game industry.
“Resident Evil 7”, released on Jan. 24, is a true return to form for the franchise. Not shying from its roots, the game returns to the survival horror style that made the franchise so popular. The past few entries in the series attempted to relive the franchise of the slower paced horror DNA and replace with a more action focused style. Needless to say, hardcore fans of the series have been unhappy with the change. “Resident Evil 7” seems to be an attempt on the part of Capcom to win back those fans. The game opens on Ethan, a man trying to find his wife, Mia, who had been missing for three years. Ethan receives an email supposedly from Mia, simply saying “Come find me,” and giving him the coordinates to a seemingly abandoned farm house in Louisiana. Ethan quickly realizes that things are much more sinister than they first appear, because he will soon come face to face with the cannibalistic Baker family. The first scene where players truly get to meet the Bakers, Ethan is tied to a chair in a dinner scene pulled straight from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Ethan is an unwilling participant in a dinner of human flesh and organs. In a way the scene plays out almost comically. The family sits and squabbles, as families do, players are confronted with a sort of macabre circus which ends with the father of the family, Jack, cutting/ripping the son, Lucas’, arm off and attempting to force feed bits of it to Ethan. Every scene in “Biohazard” is enhanced by the first-person perspective that the game utilizes. The series has historically used an over the shoulder third-person perspective. This switch to the new viewpoint restricts the peripheral view of the players. This instills a constant fear that there is something lurking just outside the boundaries of the camera. Many are praising Capcom’s utilization of VR in “Resident Evil 7”. One of the best descriptions of the VR experience was made by Chloi Rad in her review for IGN, “My Resident Evil 7 experience was positive with and without the PlayStation VR. (I played about half in VR, and half without.) There were only a handful of sequences that I felt were designed specifically to take advantage of VR’s unique capabilities (any sequence when a character brought an unwanted object too close to my face), but I never felt like I was missing out on anything substantial when playing in 2D.” The game’s narrative strings the player along, providing just enough to keep players moving on. This is somehow both a positive and negative. While the story takes a back seat to the gameplay, it works perfectly giving players just enough reason and motivation to explore the Baker estate. As with past games in the series, “Biohazard” utilizes a semi-open environment for players to explore. In ways “Resident Evil 7” is more similar to an adventure game, as opposed to an action game. It rewards players to explore and there are tons of optional puzzles, collectables and other assorted items to be found. Managing inventory is a crucial part of survival in this game. Not only is space limited once an item is dropped it is lost into the ether. This prevents players from item managing by dropping items momentarily to pick up another item, use it and pick the original item back up. Players can also manage inventory through storage boxes located in the save rooms throughout the Baker estate. Item combination also returns in “Biohazard”. By fusing herbs and chem fluid, players will create a curative item. Mixing chem fluid with gunpowder will create ammunition. This offers up a challenging conundrum. Do players make health items or bullets? Depending on the situation, it could be the difference between life and death. There is much more to talk about in this game, but due to a limited word count there are not many more details that can be added. “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” is just a frighteningly good game. Though not without its faults, this game is a gem that truly shines. Rating: 9/10
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In a world after civilization has fallen, a dark force rises to destroy what is left and it falls on one girl to save everything. “Horizon Zero Dawn” is the latest game by developer Guerilla Games. The first-party developer is known for the “Killzone” franchise.
“Horizon” is set in a fallen world. There is no given reason for why human beings have reverted back to living in tribal societies. These tribes live amongst the ruins of a previous society and strange mechanical beasts. This is where Aloy comes in. From infancy, Aloy was under the care of Rost, an outcast of the Nora tribe. Players first take control of Aloy when she is a child. A precocious child, Aloy stumbles upon ruins of the old ones. This is a forbidden place for the Nora, but Aloy explores anyways and winds up finding a mysterious device called a Focus. The Focus is a small device that provides Aloy with a holographic display that provides analysis of things in the world as well as highlighting tracks of animals, machines or other humans. Even at her young age Aloy faces discrimination from the Nora. Not only is she an outcast, but she also has no mother. The Nora are a matriarchal society, so not having a mother can cause some problems. From a young age, Rost trains Aloy for The Proving, a rite of passage for the Nora. If Aloy can win The Proving she will be granted one request. Aloy’s request: Where did she come from and who is her mother? After an attack on The Proving, Aloy sets out on an adventure beyond the sacred land of the Nora. This adventure will introduce Aloy to new friends, enemies, machines and answers. Answers to how the world came to its current state and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her birth. “Horizon Zero Dawn” utilizes a simple but effective combat system. Similar to “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”, players need to exploit machines’ weaknesses to be successful. Each machine has a different weakness to exploit. Some machines have exposed elemental canisters that, if shot with the right arrow, will explode causing massive damage. Tearing off armor among other actions can devastate enemies. Memorizing weaknesses and prep work can be the difference between life and death. Any machine encounter can be fatal and players need to remain vigilant to avoid making a fatal mistake. Many non-consequential animations seem to have fallen to the wayside. During conversations for side quests, and some during the main quest line, character animations are nothing more than awkward mannequins trying to mimic authentic human interaction. For some time, games have been falling prey to this. Developers have been adding movement to make conversations seem more realistic. In reality, the frenetic movement feels forced. Almost like the game is trying too hard. A less-is-more approach would actually work wonders. It would not necessarily fix the problem, but it would at least be a step in the right direction. “Horizon Zero Dawn” is a magnificent new IP that is a must have in any PS4 owners’ collection. Rating: 10/10 |
AuthorI am A.J. Goelz. I'm a gamer first and a writer second. I hope you enjoy the content on this page and check out the rest of my content on YouTube. Archives
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