Resident Evil 6 Review

These two look familiar...

Zombies, zombies, & even more zombies! This is just only a fraction of what the latest iteration of the “Resident Evil” franchise throws at you in an attempt to separate you from the undead.

“Resident Evil 6” is by far the most ambitious of the whole series. Sporting not one, not two, but four different campaigns to play through, each with their own style

The question is though, with four different campaigns, is it enough content to make the game a great one?
The answer is a yes and no. The game has a lot of content to play with, but by the time you complete two of the three campaigns, you find the third stretches on and your only goal is to finish the third as quick as you can to unlock the fourth story.


That’s the only bad part of the story mode. The story itself is seen through the eyes of Leon, Chris & newcomer Jake. Leon’s story is a nod to classic “RE” games with a more horror feel to it.

Spooky!

Dark environments, few herbs, and even fewer bullets all the while there are tons of zombies trying to feast on you. Chris's story has more of an “RE5” vibe. Its straight shoot'em-up against a new type of enemy called the J'avo who can mutate any lost limbs in to new weapons.

Sadly though, this is the one story that lacks a little compared to the rest. It’s largely due to the focus on shooting but it’s still good enough to play through.

Jake's is a mix-up of both Leon’s & Chris's. Since he is Wesker’s son, there is a focus on melee combat which is easily the best melee combat in the series. His story revolves around him and Sherry being chased around the globe by Neo-Umbrella.

Ada's story is just a kind of behind the scenes to the other three characters, but it is one of the most enjoyable thanks largely to the stealth and her trusty grapple gun. Each character has a fraction of the story and playing all clears up the whole picture.

The gameplay is still reminiscent of the “RE4” and “RE5” style but with some tweaks. Players can now dodge to all sides of their own accord without needing a quick-time-event. This comes in handy now that enemies run, jump, and shoot at you in every level.

On that note QTEs are back and now there a more of them. There is almost one for everything which is nice, but can make you feel flustered having to to push them or dodge every couple of seconds.

Another addition is that the inventory system has been simplified to be able to switch to any weapon or item on the fly. Generally, everything has been streamlined to deal with fast paced action that leaves little time to just sift through your items.

Partners are now invincible and smarter than in previous games. They will actually avoid danger and come to your aid when you need it. Capcom has listened to the fans criticism after the fiasco known as Sheva. Overall the gameplay is good enough to keep you enticed throughout the game.

The graphics look okay considering they’re still running on the same engine as “RE5”. Characters do look a bit more detailed than its predecessor. At times it has kind of a glossy feel which may not mix with the zombie ooze fest, but overall it’s not too bad on the eyes.

Ada looks prepped for some serious action.

 The soundtrack is perfectly in tune with game. It helps add tension when you hear an unwound piano being slammed as you’re being overpowered by the hordes. It also varies from character to character. Leon’s has more horror type instruments playing while Jake & Chris have heavy drums and orchestra melodies to go with the action. Ada has a kind of cat-sleuth vibe to it with soft melodies. With all the differences. The music still manages to hit the right note at the right time.

All in all, “Resident Evil 6” is a good game, not the great game we were hoping for but a good game none the less. Despite the, at times, lackluster story and streamlined gun-battle segments, It is still worthy of the price tag. That’s why I have to give “Resident Evil 6” a 7/10. Now "get the hell out of here!!" (That's the most overused line in the game.)

Call of Duty Black Ops 2: Send in the zombies

Kill it! Kill it with fire!

Zombies.

Next to Nazis, Russians, demons and orcs, zombies are some of the few enemies that the gaming industry never seems to tire of.

Oddly enough, Nazi zombies appear to be an unholy fusion that gamers await with baited breath for at the announcement of a "Call of Duty" title. It's strange that a game mode that really has nothing to do with the story or the multiplayer style has sold millions of copies for the franchise.

Obviously, the appeal is more than just shooting hordes of the undead. The survival mode that it offers is challenging in itself - repairing your barricades between waves and purchasing better weapons with the money you've earned from successful kills.

Perhaps it is the risk/reward ratio that really has people flocking to this particular mode of play.

 It's not often that gamers get to directly see results from their hard work so soon after an enemy attack unless there is a leveling system. It also shows a player's skill in direct correlation with their performance because of the rewards that they can spend on protecting their team and arming themselves.

Most multiplayer modes reward a fighter or team after the end of a match. The gradual skill growth is then displayed through items and perks. Player skill is measured in the fighting ability.

In a survival mode, it is measured in progress and effectiveness of weapons and defenses. It is almost unnecessary to show the player's skill when the rewards right there prove that they're excellent. Of course, as time gets shorter between the rounds, the skill of a player is much more important and the effectiveness of their defenses and weapons really come into play.

There aren't many defense-survival games out there. Games where you actually have to build up barriers from the enemy to stem the tide. Most zombie shooters have you traveling from one place to another. There are so few that have you staying in one place and fighting to the last man (or woman) and bullet.

Smile, handsome!

"Dead Island" came close to this, but you never really had a reason to stick around the survivor zones other than restocking and resupplying. There was more movement in there than anything. If "Dead Island" incorporated a game mode like the one in "Call of Duty" against zombies, it might actually add a level of survival to it, so much that you would actually dread the night and value your companions, NPCs or not.

Of course, "CoD: Black Ops 2" is close on the horizon and players are chomping at the bit to kill some more of the undead. Perhaps if we were to see more games employ this mode of gameplay when dealing with  the walking deceased, we'd see a lot more variety and success in fields other than "Resident Evil" or "Left 4 Dead." It's not that those games aren't phenomenal in their own right, but variety is the spice of life.

Hands on ZombiU

Aim for the head!

Ubisoft’s Wii U title that has been passed around and casually looked at by press and gamers is something of a mystery. At this year’s E3, I was able to watch some people play a mode of the game where a single player fought hordes of zombies that came in waves as they held a point down. What I got to experience first hand at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend was an entirely different story.

Jumping into the shoes of a survivor, I had to escape Buckingham Palace and survive the zombie hordes within. Inside, I had to scrounge for ammo to go with my handgun and the Royal Guard carbine that I had looted off the ground. The people at the demo booth told me that the game relies heavily on survival and tactical instincts, making you really conserve your ammo and get down and dirty with the zombies if you have to.

That made sense as I only had eight rounds for my pistol and three rounds for my carbine. But what I did have was an unlimited supply of skull bashings thanks to my handy-dandy cricket bat. Very “Shaun of the Dead” if you ask me. And like Shaun, I aimed for the head and cracked a few zombies in the skull a few times to make sure they were good and double-dead.

That's pretty much how it looks when you play the game.

The game’s menu is on the Wii U gamepad, so instead of having to press pause, you just look down and slide the inventory in to view, and the game on the screen pauses while you rummage through your pack to figure out what you want to use or discard. Now, this is a really interesting use of the gamepad and I actually liked it. What was hard was that the mini-map was down there as well, and having to look at my hands while also running on the screen was a little difficult. Especially when little red blips show up on it to tell you where zombies are and you don’t immediately look at the controller to see if there’s danger. It’s going to take a lot for gamers to get used to that on Nintendo’s new system.

The graphics were good. They were passable for current-gen systems but nothing too impressive for a next-gen machine. I suppose that’s actually a compliment for a Nintendo console as they’ve never been the most graphically-intensive machines on the market. Often times, if you crack a shot off at a zombie’s head, you might actually give them a real close haircut and expose their brain.

Zombie John!

Something fun was that when I actually died in the demo, I was put in the place of another survivor and I actually encountered my past-self in game as a zombie. When I killed that version of me, I could loot myself and get all of my previous items back. That kind of reminded me of the old "Diablo II" mechanic where you could loot your corpse. Something fun they were doing at the booth was also allowing you to use the camera on the Wii U to zombify yourself and I was told that you could even put zombie-you in "ZombiU."

All in all I think that “ZombiU” might present an interesting experience for a title on the Wii U. The game isn’t anything new, but it utilizes enough of the technology available in the system for it to be somewhat interesting to people who pick it up for the first time. I’m equating it to “Red Steel.” Hopefully it is much more refined and well executed than the other Ubisoft flop. Keep your eyes out for this game to come out Dec. 31.

Don't fear the Slender Man

Hope you didn't need to go to the bathroom.

It's pitch black, your flashlight is running out of batteries and this is the fourth time you've seen that tanker truck sitting in the middle of the park. Of course you're lost, how could you not be after running for your life from him. The music gets louder as he gets closer and you know you're supposed to run but you can't move fast enough. Turning around, just to see how close he is, you're shocked to find that he's just outside your field of vision, much closer than you want him to be.

This is not the next "Silent Hill" game, nor is it "Resident Evil." It's in fact, "Slender," created by Parsec Productions. This survival-horror gem comes to you free of charge on the game's site while it is still in beta testing. Not only that, the team at Parsec is encouraging fans who have the game to send them feedback and help with troubleshooting on their forums.


"Slender" is not pretty, it's not complex and it doesn't introduce any new game mechanics to make it a groundbreaking IP. What it does deliver is a frightening and simple experience that is almost laughably easy to come up with, it's a wonder no one has done it before.

For those who haven't seen the viral YouTube video playthroughs by numerous internet celebrities like Tobuscus and Pewdiepie, the game's goal is to collect eight papers that are scattered throughout a park in the dead of night with nothing but the ability to jog and use a flashlight. The entire time, the player is being chased by Slender Man, the internet boogie-man created on the Something Awful Forums some years ago.

Slender Man doesn't slash you, he doesn't attack you, nor does he whittle away your health over time if you are unlucky enough to be caught by him. What he does do is end the game immediately. Done. No more playtime. Not only that, but if the player is getting too nervous and needs a break they can't pause the game to get a reprieve. If you hit the escape button the game takes you to the main menu and you must start over, ultimately forcing you to endure Slender Man's pursuit in a fresh situation no matter your progress.

Slender Man as seen in the popular YouTube series Marble Hornets.

To correctly nail down exactly what makes "Slender" so popular is hard because of the many great things about it. The simplicity behind the game is rather mesmerizing: run for your life and get what you need before Slender Man gets you. Atmosphere is built by music and lack of visibility. Slender Man's positions are always just outside of your flashlight's radius and often times players tend to see him when they do a sweeping arch to make sure that he's not behind them.

Making a game with the intent to scare a player is not an easy task. The games that tend to be the scariest and have the most successful franchises always end up using the same tricks. In "Slender," the idea that there is no escape from Slender Man except for victory or quitting is quite brilliant. It reinforces the idea that the player is really trapped in their situation and they have to stick it out. If they quit the game, it's either because they can't win or they're admitting to themselves that they are really truly scared.

I highly recommend you all go pick up this game to see how a game can be scary without monsters, violence, flashy graphics, or even story. "Slender" is a study in suspense and simplicity. Check it out, and make sure to bring clean underwear.