Hello Everyone! Father Krishna here! You may remember me from such great posts as "Shmup Up The Volume!" and "Father Krishna's Big One" ...
But if the truth be told, I've been a little slack around these parts of late. Sure, I've been checking in for those great Gagaman(n) posts, and adding the odd comment, but I've not offered any insight, thoughts or even my ususal posted bullshit lately... "No shit Sherlock!?" I hear you cry? Well OK... I'll address that right now by hitting you all with a frankly mediocre and inferior post! (Business as usual then?)
The game which has been 'resident' in my Dreamcast recently is Resident Evil 3 (Did you see what I did there?)
2006 (and some of 2005) was the season of Shenmue in the Krishna household. If I wasn't playing it (or re-playing it) I was on the internet looking at websites, wallpapers, walkthroughs, video or reviews/articles about it...
Cut to February 2007... I decided to play RE1 on the Saturn, and just wasn't that impressed... (I hated it) Then an article I'd seen on J's corner of Randomness convinced me to pick up RE4 on the PS2. WOW! That really changed my opinion! Both on the PS2 as a games console and on Resident Evil as a franchise...I played it, completed it, loved it and wanted more...
But what could I play? The most obvious choice was the preceding title in the franchise... Resident Evil:Code Veronica. At the time it was released it was the first RE Dreamcast exclusive. The gameplay and mechanics were SO different to RE4, and yet I found the game to be both enthralling and enraging in equal measure... the main reason for this was the miserly ammunition and save potential. After the luxury of the innovative merchant in RE4, and the liberal smattering of typewriters (that didn't need ink ribbons) RE:CV seemed harsh...
Still, I eventually played through the game relishing every story twist, plot line and cut scene... I loved the graphics, and thought it brought out the best in the Dreamcast. Since then, I've played Resident Evil in it's original glory, - (though not on the Saturn, on the DS, in it's interactive "DS friendly" RE:DS incarnation - .
I followed that by buying RE:CV Gun Survivor for the PS2 (an RE Light Gun game!) followed by re-playing RE4 on the Wii!
But recently, in a Blue Stinger 'break point', I decided to pick up RE2 and play it on the Dreamcast, swiftly followed by RE3:Nemesis! Oh the joy! Both games were PS1 ports to the Dreamcast, and therefore the graphics were only "tidied up" for it's 128 bit release... But HELL! RE3 is a stunning game! And it's a Dreamcast "must have".
Plus you play as Jill Valentine! Feisty (hot) original ginger character from the first installment!
But I didn't play as Jill in her (optional) foxy boob tube and mini-skirt unlockable, I played as Jill in her S*T*A*R*S uniform, it was something of a continuum (spelling corrections welcomed) to my last Umbrella themed outing... RE:DS
The whole adventure was glorious! Getting back to the RCPD hedquaters was fun! Seeing it trashed and burning was great, but seeing more of Racoon City was a revelation! God I loved kicking zombie ass all over the place! But then we have to mention 'him'...
Ol' Nemesis, the skirt wearing, dentally challenged, well erm... Nemesis, that pussies around in his Goth splendour throughout the game, kicking ass, with either his bare hands or on occasion with a rocket launcher.
God he's a pain in the arse! But you know what? He's 'take-down-able,' and, with the right load of ammo and health, that bitch is toast! Which means I eventually, completed the game! And if you want more you can always play the Mercenaries mini-game where you have to shoot as many zombies as you can in a set time...
So that means within 2007, I played five Resident Evil games on various consoles and completed them all. It even led me to posture on the Planet Dreamcast Forum that the franchise was better than Shenmue...
Bollocks! That's mad talk! But being so bowled over by Capcom's odyssey, I was lured into making such a statement...
Shenmue 1 & 2 still remain the defining games for the console... But the Resident Evil titles give my favourite a GOOD run for it's money!!! Buy RE2, RE3 and RE:CV for the Dreamcast and revel in their unique glory... Oh and BTW, I've just been kiling time on my favourite console till the new kid on the block comes around... Umbrella Chronicles on Wii. You can find out more about that... here!
Resident Evil 3 At IGN
Resident Evil 3 At Planet Dreamcast
Capcom's Official Resident Evil Site