I beat Resident Evil in little over 12 hours on normal, and easy took me less than five. The game itself is good, not really what I was expecting, nor is it a game that seems to tie-in to the series until the very end. However, the story uses the E-series of the T-virus, and I won't give spoilers, but the end of the game reminds me of a House of the Dead vibe, but it is still quite a fun game to play through. I'll be doing madhouse mode eventually, however, I'll not assume it is going to be one that I want to run through right now. I am looking forward to the DLC, and I'm definitely questioning if these add-one will take us away, or add more to the story, because there wasn't much in-the-way of information that I wanted, especially from the end of five and six.
The game follows Ethan, searching for his wife, Mia (pronounced Me-a not Mi-a) who had been missing for the better part of three years. You receive an e-mail from her with her coordinates, and you're off to the Baker farm in Dulvey, Louisiana. The game takes you off-the-grid to a home that is very backwoods. The Baker Mansion is a sophisticated structure, diliapidation is settling in however, from years of maltreatment. Still, I found the experience of seeing the mansion for the first time, along with graphics being incredibly well-done, it makes me appreciate the PS4 even more. The VR is something I must try with this game, as I'm sure it enhances the entire experience to a level that a television screen simply cannot provide.
After roaming around not the guest house, the game unofficially starts, and you're able to enjoy yourself for a moment of taking in the uninhibited beauty of the pond behind the house, and even the gorgeous rendering of the grossest parts of the game are almost clean and pristine in-nature. Happenstance that the disgusting bubbling viscera in the game is still amazingly well-designed that it is literally sickeningly beautiful. Once you're inside the dark house, and darkness is important for this game,mint comes with a great deal of the horror instilled in the NPCs, and simply makes the game scarier. The isolationism is terrifically done that you feel no peace with a NPC, either friendly or not present, or even by yourself.
After doing a couple of tasks, you discover Mia; who is surprised to see you, denying she ever made contact. She tries to then lead you out of the home, but something is different, let's say even...sinister with your wife. Let's just say wifey has been keeping secrets that are deadly, and become very dangerous for Iraq official fight begins, and you're given the standard handgun that has been a staple of the series since 1997. Even at the start, the game is far more terrorfying than the past few titles. Still, the game feels dire at times, and this is a very, very good thing. Especially when you're first introduced to the Baker family for the first time. We are now in the scene where you are surrounded at the dinner table by the family, as they're trying to feed you....what can only be described as other people. There's a knock, and this allows you to escape your bonds. By-the-way, the cutscenes are all in-game, which means it's seamless from going from a cut right back to the game. Flawlessly designed, this is by-far the best looking introduction to the series, and one of the most gorgeous games on the PS4/XBone.
The game is mostly spent inside the mansion, but you do escape from it, and yes, you do come back to it at the grand finale, very much like past games in the seekers,mint all comes full-circle. The Baker family are truly terrifying, but they're not randomized, as I hoped they would be. Because they cannot die, or take a hell of a lot to kill, they continuously come back at you without mercy. I would've hoped that in this design that the characters would chase you far more often, but it's apparent that they only spawn at certain points, and takes away from the game. I assumed before playing that the characters would chase you freely about the game, and they do to a point, but in reality, their spawns are quite predictable, unless Madhouse Mode is different, I found their fights repetitive and predictive. On the upside, the fights with the Bakers are indeed fulfilling, and the one with the matron Marguerite's fight was the tougher of the three. At the end of the game, I did pity the Bakers, it's a tragedy more than a horror, but the best scares are based in tragedy, are they not?
The controls are a bit wobbly, but you can turn off head wobble, and it'll play more like a traditional FPS, and not feel like P.T. With that realistic delay. The game is what P.T. could've been, but I think this game being entirely first-person was a mistake to the fans that love the third-person perspective...but it's impossible to have done third person in any way, because the scares wouldn't be the same if they weren't up-close and personal. The sound is perfect, especially the ambience, it sounds like the Bayou, and it feels like you're right in absolute isolation. If not for all the murder and violence, I'd say the experience would be more pristine. As I personally live in the countryside, I get that there's that somber silence, and van the occasional cricket or wild animal Wilhelmina howl of a she wolf.
The setting is a great exchange from Raccon City, which I've always assumed was modeled after Chicago for all the tight corners, and back alleyways. The Louisiana bayou is not as exploratory as the house, but you will see a great deal of this on the walls of the house. The house is really the star of the game, it has history, hidden doors, oddball keys, and screams Reisident Evil. The story could be longer...but we all know that today: DLC equals an end to the main story. In-truth, most stories simply do no "end" anymore. Even the older games with their respected prequels/sequels had a definitive end. I'm okay with this ending, because it really feels like a beginning. Will there be an eighth installment in the series, or just a lot of add-ons/DLCs?
Personally, I want a sequel, because this cannot possibly be the last game in the series, or should it be.no, if I had to make an educated guess,,this feels more like a relaunch than a co cousin, and I'm starting to believe that this may become the new st dared for the Resident Evil franchise, despite if VR succeeds or fails. Not to disregard the series' past titles, but most will agree that 4 was the last good title, and one of the better stories, and five,Merle five was s doomsday to six. Now that seven is out, and most people have officially beaten it by now that we have seen the game in-full, and will make most of our harsher judgments on the three (at minimum) tie-in DLCs. By-the-way, for your first playthrough, I highly recommend watching all the videotapes, it's worth the side quest information, and is vital to a part of the game.
Resident Evil 7 was a serious question for me, because: 1) I was always more a fan of Silent Hill, and was very upset...at first at least, that this game was more a joyous celebration to Konami committing career suicide, and 2) that I've not played a Reaident Evil game in years. I enjoyed the game,,however, and I love that if you're not a long-time fan, or someone like myself that has played almost all of them except five and six, I found it to be a fairly fun game to play, and it was an excellent reintroduction to the series, and one of the best-designed games I've ever seen on current gen systems. It was worth the $90.00USD, and I could say that it was fun to play, and still has quite a few surprises, like finding the Mr. Everywhere Man, that's, well everywhere, and all the antique coins that are around the house...though I still don't know, or have found/destroyed everything already, so I don't know what secrets/rewards you receive for finding them all. I didn't read spoilers, so I don't know what it does for you, but I will state that there is always a reason behind things in Resident Evil, and that means nothing is ever benign.
Overall, the game is fun, a nice creepy return, and one of the first true survival horrors on the current gen systems. The graphics are wonderful, and there is room for sequels to sprout from out of it, but I'm not certain we will see one for unite a few years, and another console cycle will come-and-go by then. If there is a need, I'll do s review of the DLC, and that, as with other DLCs, will be with greater description, because most times, there's no serious spoilers within them.
Thank you for reading the Malacast Editorial, feel free to follow me on Twitter: @mcasteditorial
I'll be doing several posts in the upcoming months, as I've given an update post, and none of those are likely to change yet. The first one starts next week, as it'll be the first full week of February.
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