Showing posts with label Resident Evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resident Evil. Show all posts

Zombies, Zombies Everywhere

The End of Days is here. The dead are walking the streets and the zombie apocalypse is upon us...are you prepared?

Well you should be, because I am - I've had plenty of tuition; George A Romero, Simon Pegg, Woody Harrelson, and more recently Brad Pitt have all given me plenty of survival tips. It also feels like I've been killing zombies for years anyway thanks to current games that have zombie-themed modes, like Read Dead Redemption and Call of Duty Black Ops; and series like House of the Dead, Dead Rising, and Resident Evil. Which brings me nicely onto my favourite zombie game: Capcom's Resident Evil 2, or Biohazard 2 as it was known in Japan.


After the events of the first game, Chris and Jill barely make it out of the mansion alive, the T-Virus has been contained and the world is blissfully unaware that there was ever a crisis. Everybody will go about their normal routine and live in perfect happiness and harmony...yeah right. Thanks to those nasty people at the Umbrella Corporation, the virus is still around, mutating and growing stronger and is spreading rapidly across Raccoon City and beyond, and we are all still in deep trouble.

All is not lost though as this sequel introduces us to two new protagonists, Leon S Kennedy, a rookie cop and Claire Redfield, sister of Chris, whom she is looking for. After meeting in the opening sequence, they are separated and must now try to survive any way they can. Their paths cross at various times in the game and they will meet key people in the Resident Evil timeline along the way, like Ada Wong and Sherry Birkin, people who we see in later games.


There is a huge amount to do in the game, with zombies everywhere and mutated people and creatures to deal with, weapons to discover, puzzles to decipher and secrets to be found. This game will certainly challenge you as you play through the campaign, which is split into two separate stories on two separate discs, with decisions in one story affecting the other.

The defining moment in the first Resident Evil game is when you come across that first zombie, who is happily gnawing away at what is presumably his last victim, but what makes it particularly creepy is the little cut scene where the zombie slowly turns his head and then goes after you - fresh meat. There is an equally disturbing scene in Resident Evil 2 when you first encounter the Licker in the police station corridor which is preceded by it scuttling past a window. It gives you a sense of fear, you know something is coming and there is nothing you can do about it, your heart is racing, your palms are getting sweaty and you are struggling to hold onto the controller. This is survival horror at its finest and the best thing about this game is not knowing what is around the next corner.

So again I ask the question, are you prepared? No? Then go and play Resident Evil 2 on the Sega Dreamcast, the best training for a zombie apocalypse that I can think of.

"S*T*A*R*S!" Resident Evil 3




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".

For a start you have all the unlockable content from the original PS1 incarnation, meaning you can start the game with superior fire power and generous save potential. And that makes any Resident Evil game more fun...



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