Dan Geeks Out: Video Game Review #431: The Evil Within

The Evil Within

PlayStation 3

Nostalgia Factor:

This is one of those games that has sat in my backlog for years and years now. I've always been intrigued by the game, but it has never been the "right time" to play it.

When Mop Up Duty moved into the year 2014 and I saw that The Evil Within was released in 2014, it was like the stars aligned. It was finally the right time to play the game. And I was ready. I've always heard that the game was similar to Resident Evil 4, which is one of my favorite games of all time. How would it compare? Time to find out!

Story:

Might as well get the worst part of the game out of the way first: its story. I never really had any idea what was happening in this game. I'll start with the basics.

You play as Sebastian Castellanos. You and your partners are sent into a mental hospital after it was reported that multiple people inside were murdered by an inmate. Shortly after entering the building, all the officers black out and wake up in an alternate nightmare world filled with monstrous creatures, torture devices, and hanging meat - similar to something you'd see in a Silent Hill game.

The game then focuses on your character Sebastian as he fights his way through this world in an attempt to find out what is going on. Occasionally you travel to a central hub where you can save your game and level up your character's abilities. The hub is themed like a mental hospital, and the chair where you upgrade your abilities is an electronic shock chair that zaps Sebastian's brain.

It becomes clear fairly quickly that this all must be going on in your character's mind - or multiple characters' minds. This is really where I began to lose track of what was going on. I hate these kinds of games where you never know what is real and what is not. I referenced this in my Alan Wake review as well. That game has a similarly confusing plot.

After a while I completely stopped paying attention the story and instead just focused on the gameplay. And I really feel like I didn't miss anything. When the game ends and you beat the big bad guy, your character wakes up in some kind of pod where he was hooked up with some other characters.

I think that all the characters were connected to the bad guy's mind, and all this was happening in his head. He was trying to take over the body of one of the patients in the hospital? I don't know. Like I said, the game is very confusing in its story telling. I never really had much of an idea what was happening. They could have been a lot more clear what was going on, but I suppose that would have conflicted with the whole mental illness theme of the game.

Gameplay:

This game has a steep learning curve. To put things in perspective: I died on the very first enemy encounter of the game at least three times before I finally was able to make it through. At first I thought this game was going to be like Alien Isolation, as there is an enemy stalking you and you have to run from it, occasionally going inside lockers to hide from it. But after the initial chapter, I didn't find myself hiding even one time the whole rest of the game.

As the game progresses, it turns into more of a Resident Evil 4 kind of thing. The combat and the layout of the game are very similar. It's got the same behind-the-back, over the shoulder battle system. The way you use items and switch back and forth between weapons is very similar to Resident Evil. Even the setting for some of these stages is similar. A dark town filled with villagers coming after you with torches and pitchforks... sound familiar?

This game is a lot tougher than Resident Evil 4, however. Mainly because it is far less forgiving in how much damage you can take. If you get swamped by a horde of enemies, don't expect to make it through alive. You really, really have to be careful as you make your way through this game. Use stealth, pick off enemies one by one, and make sure you aren't just blindly charging in and attracting the attention of every enemy in the level. That was my mistake at first.

As is the case with RE4, you have to be careful to conserve your healing items and your ammunition. If you run out of either of these things, you are going to be in for a tough time.

I have to admit, I was REALLY struggling with this game through its first three or four chapters. I just wasn't having a good time. The story was confusing, I was getting wrecked by the enemies, and the long load times in between character deaths were really making my frustration level rise. The Evil Within almost went on my shit list. But then something clicked.

Once the game's mechanics start to make sense in your mind, you're going to have an infinitely better and more enjoyable time with things. I had been emptying all of my weapons into the enemies without using my matches to burn them after they fell to the ground. As a result, I was constantly running out of ammo and enemies were constantly getting up from the ground to come after me - and I was getting swamped. Repeatedly.

Once I figured out how to destroy enemies with minimal use of ammo, it was on. One shot to the knee. Knock them to the ground. Light 'em on fire. Boom. Enemy down and out of the way, permanently. All it took was one bullet. Even better: if you are surrounded by enemies and you light one on fire, they all light on fire and fall to the ground and perish. What an easy way to take out a bunch of enemies at once.

The more I played the game, the more powerful I began to feel. I added a shotgun, a magnum, and a sniper rifle to my arsenal. I leveled up my character at the shock treatment chair. Each time I'd tackle a new area or a giant pre-determined battle set piece, I would come in confident. This game became a ton of fun, right on par at times with the game it often gets compared to - Resident Evil 4.

I really began to fall in love with this game. It retains its challenge level all the way to the end, too. As good as I got and as confident as I became, the game still remained a stiff challenge. You learn things with each attempt though, and get progressively better and better until you make it through. This game does a great job making these difficult fights very addicting to play and rewarding to complete. I never wanted to put the controller down.

Graphics:

The PlayStation 3 never gets enough credit for its graphical power. Every time I play a game from this era, I come away impressed. The Evil Within looks like it easily could have been a PS4 game. And it is 9 years old!

The attention to detail with the graphics is impressive. I like just walking around and checking things out. The mental hospital is filled with all kinds of small graphical touches to enrich the environment. The enemies look good. They all react differently according to where on their body they are shot. I always like it when games do that. The boss characters and giant and grotesque, right up there with anything Resident Evil has to offer.

Even though I didn't know what was going on with the game's story, it is still immersive enough in its graphics and presentation that I found myself not caring.

Sound:

Sound design is excellent for this game. I feel as if this is something that needs to be played with headphones on for the full experience. Small audio cues keep you informed where your enemies are at all times. The voice acting is good, the sound effects are creepy and atmospheric. As far as sound design goes, this game has it all.

Overall:

I look back fondly on my time with The Evil Within. It is almost hard to believe how quickly my mind changed on it. I went from hatred and frustration to having an amazing time literally overnight.

If you are a fan of Resident Evil 4 and you can power through the first few chapters, I can almost guarantee you that you are going to like this game. Once these game mechanics became clear in my mind and everything clicked into place, I had an amazing time with this.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. When I was at work or watching after my child, my mind constantly kept coming back to The Evil Within. When can I play next? How many hours? I want to play. Gah!

I can't remember a game in recent memory that has kept me as captivated as The Evil Within. I had such a good time with it. And that's all without the game having a compelling storyline. And despite it having some of the worst load times I've ever experienced in a video game. In a game where you die as often as you do here, the load times are completely unacceptable.

But you know what? It's all good. The addictive and compelling nature of this game kept me plowing forward despite its shortcomings. I even started a new game plus and played through a few early chapters over again, for trophy collecting purposes. I had such a fun time doing this, I was tempted to play through the whole dang game over again. That never happens with me! Usually once I finish a game, I'm done with it. Rarely do I ever want to turn around and play it again. That should tell you something right there about how good this is.

It's not a perfect game, but I can easily recommend this to anyone interested in the genre. I've heard the sequel is good, too. Now that I have played through the first one, I'm really curious to check it out!

THE GRADE:

40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:

1982 reviews:

1983:

1984:

Frogger II: Threedeep!