10 Reviews

October 26, 2005 + Over the Edge

Video Games

Gory Gaming Hit List for Halloween

GAME Resident Evil 4

DEVELOPER Capcom

PLATFORM GameCube (Playstation 2, unreviewed)

YEAR 2005

Six years after the Racoon City in- cident, Leon Kennedy (of RE2) is back, and this time he has to rescue the President's daughter. You are sent into a foreign country, a lone govern- ment agent, to investigate and rescue the First Daughter, who has been kid- napped. Different from other Resident Evil games, you are now able-to aim precisely and watch your enemies, thanks to the camera that now follows behind you, When you begin to play the game, you can tell something is wrong. The first house you come to has a person inside who comes at you with an axe. All the villagers are like this, not quite zombie-like, but capable of tak- ing two 9mm shots to the head, They also work together and strategize to better kill you. The villager you have to watch out for the most is the one with the chainsaw. If he comes after you and you don't have a shotgun, run. Different areas you travel to include a secluded warehouse, where you must kill one of at least 5 boss characters. The story is much larger than just a simple kidnap- ping, expanding further into the “some maniac wants to rule the world!” type plot. What evil megacomglomorate is

helping the maniac in his goals? Yep, '

Umbrella. It’s up to Leon to kill the

enemies, rescue the girl, and blow up stuff: all in a day's work.

Graphics and Sound: The graphics are much improved from the other two Resident Evil games available for this system. Everything can be seen from every angle, and the characters are even more detailed than those in the first two games, One of the most impressive scenes is when you go onto a large lake and must battle a sea creature the size of a small submarine. Sound like fun? It is. The sound in the game is excellent, with exact lip-synching and villagers speaking a foreign language.

Gameplay: The controls are identical to those in other Resident Evil games, but, thanks to the camera, they feel much better than in earlier games, The inventory system has changed to what you would normally see in an RPG, having to move items around in your pack to make space for other items. There is even a mysterious salesman who is willing to give you guns and improve your existing repertoire... for a price. Saving games still involve use of the strategically-placed typewriters, but there is no need to find ink ribbons this time around.

‘The best Resident Evil game so far, and one of the best games on any sys- tem made to date, Resident Evil 4 should be in every video game collec- tion... so long as you are over 17.

Rating: 5/5

GAME Silent Hill 2

DEVELOPER Konami

PLATFORM Playstation 2 (X-Box, un- teviewed)

YEAR 2001

You play the role of James Sunder- land, a young widower who has re- ceived a mysterious letter from his dead wife telling him that she is waiting in the town of Silent Hill. Unable to be- lieve that it is a hoax or a joke, he goes to investigate, but something is wrong. When James arrives at Silent Hill, he finds the place deserted and filled with monsters. You receive weapons ranging from a steel pipe to a rifle, not to men-

tion the obligatory chainsaw thrown in for good measure, as you control James and attempt to discover what has hap- pened to his wife. Through the game, you run into some other characters: Eddie, whom you meet for the first time puking into a toilet, a small girl who keeps running away from you, and a strange woman name Maria who has an uncanny resemblance to Mary, James’ dead wife. The game is filled with inter- esting puzzles and dark, claustrophobia inducing corridors.

Graphics and Sound: The graphics in the game are very crisp and clear, the lip-syncing and voice acting suited per- fectly to the games eerie atmosphere. The town of Silent Hill is rendered

RAY THIBEAULT STAFF WRITER

spectacularly, though at times you find that the ever-present gloom is just a bit overdone. Don't worry about being totally surprised by enemies walking the street, though: James is equipped with a radio that emits static whenever there is an enemy nearby, even if you don't know which direction they are coming from. The sound in the game, from echoing footsteps in the Silent Hill hospital to the moans of attacking mannequins, is flawlessly executed and simply adds to an already-frightening game,

Gameplay: For veterans of the hor- ror-survival genre, there are no surpris- es in control, Walk, run, shoot, activate, and inventory are all very basic and easy to use. You cant walk and shoot at the same time, but you can swing the pipe while you move. A map that can be ac- cessed by pressing one of the buttons keeps track of where you are and where you need to go next, indicated by circles for places that you must explore and covered by an X once the puzzles in the area are completed. The overall control is well-suited to the game, giving you a chance to fight the monsters but not requiring it for the completion of the game. Don't forget to keep your health up, indicated in the inventory screen by a picture in the upper left corner. The more interference on the picture, the lower your health.

Overall, this game delivers a grip- ping story with engrossing puzzles and enough action to keep things inter- esting, Even if you've played through the game once, you still need to play through it again: there are four differ- ent endings that can be reached. Good luck staying sane!

Rating: 5/5

GAME Resident Evil Zero DEVELOPER Capcom PLATFORM GameCube YEAR 2002

Taking place before the events of the first Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero follows Rebecca Chambers and an escaped military convict named Billy. You start the game as 18 year- old university graduate Rebecca Chambers, who has been recruited by S.T.A.R.S. as a medic for the Bravo team, After being separated from the rest of your team (of course), you run into Billy, an incarcerated military man whose ride crashed, allowing him to escape. Like all Resident Evil titles, you battle a legion of undead people, dogs, and larger creatures, in- cluding a giant scorpion aboard a run- away train, As you progress through the game, the areas also change. You begin on a train, move to a mansion, and later discover a hidden under- ground lab, all of which you destroy at the end of the game (yay explo- sions!), Rebecca and Billy work to- gether to solve the many puzzles and

kill che many monsters that are trying to kill them, all the while discovering disturbing secrets about the city's big- gest business, Umbrella.

Graphics and Sound: Very similar to the remake of the original, this game has incredible graphics that have only slight improvements on the GameCube Resident Evil. Most notable is that, sometimes, when you shoot an enemy, you can see the bul- let hole and blood begin to seep out and trickle down either the front or the back of the enemy, depending on the camera angle. Moving items and trees whizzing by in the background when you get on top of the train are small improvements at best.

Gameplay: Unique to this game is the ability to swap characters at the push of a button. Each character has different abilities that must be used to solve the increasingly-com- plex puzzles. Billy, being larger and stronger, is able to push items that Rebecca can't, while Rebecca has the ability to mix herbs and chemicals. ‘The two of them must work together to get out of this predicament alive, and can swap items and give each other simple commands, such as to stay behind or not attack. Saving still requires you to find ink ribbons anda typewriter (why not a computer and a floppy disk?).

If you enjoy the Resident Evil series and are looking to discover as much as possible about the Umbrella con- spiracy and T-virus cover up, this is a game to get. Just don't expect any- thing to blow you away compared to others in the franchise.

Rating: 4.5/5