Video Game Review #167: Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Episodes I and II

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episodes I and II

PlayStation 3

Nostalgia Factor:

I am a big time bargain shopper. I don't tend to buy brand-new video games. Instead, I wait for them to go down in price, and then I pick them up for just a couple dollars as opposed to 40 or 50 bucks each. I have been patiently waiting since 2010 for Sonic 4 to go down in price. I was so excited for this game back then. I love the classic Sonic games for the Genesis, so when I saw that there was an actual Sonic FOUR that had come out, I wanted to play it immediately. Buuuuuut then I read all the bad reviews.

I still wanted to play Sonic 4 someday, but I certainly wasn't going to pay top dollar for it. I periodically would check the PlayStation Store for sales, but every single time I looked, Sonic 4: Episodes I and II (why was it split into two parts?) were still full price. I was beginning to think I was never going to get a chance to play this game. Given the poor reviews for it, however, I was not too stressed out about it.

Fast forward to 2019, nine years after the initial release of Sonic 4: Episode I. I still had not had the chance to play Sonic 4 because it was still full-freaking-price on the PlayStation Store. On an unrelated note, I was playing around with my PS4 one random day when I decided to check out PlayStation Now and see what it was all about. My jaw hit the floor when I saw how many free games were available on the service. I am sure there are better games on there, but Sonic 4: Episodes I and II immediately jumped out at me. I made up my mind that I was going to sign up for the free seven day trial of PlayStation Now. Not only to test the service and see if it was worth buying, but to play Sonic 4 once and for all. I'd waited long enough.

Story:

I don't know. It's a Sonic game. You progress through levels and you fight Robotnik at the end of each world. As far as I know, this game doesn't have a storyline other than to fight Robotnik, destroy his work, and free animals from captivity - which is the same as in any old Sonic game. There are no cutscenes to be found here. No dialogue. What you see is what you get as far as storyline. And what I see is a whole lot of nothin'.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. Who plays Sonic games for their stories? Not I.

Gameplay:

This is where Sonic 4 received the bulk of its criticism from all of the reviews I'd read online. The game looked and sounded good, but controlled poorly. I heard lots of people complaining about the in-game physics being changed. Apparently, Sonic didn't control very smoothly, wasn't very fast, and would often slow down or stop when you were trying to go faster. This is where I came in with the most apprehension.

It turns out that I didn't have too much to worry about. No, the game didn't control exactly the same as its Genesis predecessors, but that was okay. Not too much had changed, although admittedly things did feel a bit clunkier for me. Instead of getting aggravated by the changes to the controls, I looked at it almost as a throwback to the original Sonic game for the Genesis. The classic Sonic formula that we know and love hadn't been perfected yet. This game tossed aside the tried and true formula in Sonic 2, 3, and Sonic & Knuckles and took a step back. It was doing something old, but something new at the same time.

Each episode consists of four worlds. Each world contains four stages: three standard Sonic 2D side-scrolling stages, and one boss stage. Beat all of the stages, and you complete the episode. There are two episodes.

Before we continue, I should add that I think this is technically two separate games, with Episode I being one game and Episode II being another. They are being sold separately, after all. But I am considering them to be one game. Whenever I encounter a game that is released in chapters or episodes (like Telltale games), I never review the individual episode, but the collection of all of them at the end. One of the big complaints (aside from the game physics) I heard about Sonic 4 was how each of the two episodes was super short in length. Seeing as how I played through each episode back-to-back and I didn't have to wait over a year in between games, it felt like a pretty long and satisfying experience to me. But I can definitely understand the frustration of the original buyers of the game, who only got four worlds per Episode, with each episode costing over 30 bucks apiece. I got to play these for free on the PlayStation Now.

There are differences between Episodes I and II. Episode I feels more like the original Sonic game. There is no Tails. Bonus stages are similar to the original Sonic game, except this time around you control the tilt of the screen and not Sonic himself. The levels all seem to be remixes of Sonic 2 stages, which also gives the game a Sonic 2 feel at the same time. I kind of thought it was cool how it merged the two unique styles of gameplay from Sonic 1 and 2 under one roof.

Episode II feels more like Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles. Tails is by your side. You can do special jump, grab, and fly combination moves. Tails is definitely a bigger help than he ever was in the old Sonic games. He even flies you around on his airplane, too. The stages feel more original than Episode I's. I don't like the bonus stages, however. Episode II utilizes half-pipe ring collecting bonus stages in the mold of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I got one Chaos Emerald, and couldn't get anymore. I suck at that damn game and I hate it.

Boss battles are consistently large and exciting between both episodes. One of my complaints about this game is that some of the bosses are too hard. I came into one particular boss stage with 21 lives left, and ended up burning through them all. Ouch. Otherwise, most of them are pretty fun. I like how so many of them are throwbacks to classic Genesis Sonic bosses. The fan service is strong in this game.

So yes, both games follow similar formulas (4 worlds made of 3 stages and 1 boss stage). They do have very unique differences. Different bonus stages, different sets of Chaos Emeralds to earn. Tails adds a whole new dynamic to the second episode. On a whole, I thought the two episodes complemented each other very well.

Graphics:

This game looks really nice. I don't mind the visual upgrades they made to Sonic's character. I think the stages look wonderful fully rendered in 3D, especially the re-imagined ones from Sonic 2. It was super cool getting the chance to see them remade with "today's" graphics. I put the quotation marks because this game is like nine years old now.

Nothing is bland looking. Everything is interesting to the eye. Sonic 4 excels in creating a rich, visually entertaining atmosphere that should please any old school Sonic fan.

Sound:

I can't say that this game's musical score was one of its high points. Almost every Sonic game has some kind of catchy tune, or really fun and memorable stage themes. I can't say that there was anything that stood out to me in Sonic 4.

I will say with clarity that the game's sound effects are very good. The classic Sonic sound effects like jumping, collecting rings, and getting hit, all return in their full glory.

Overall:

I think that all the negative reviews this game gets are unwarranted. I had a fun time with Sonic 4! Looking at it objectively, I can see why people would complain. They wait all these years for a proper Sonic 4, then they want you to fork over 30 bucks to get a really short game with just four stages and busted gameplay mechanics. Then they make you wait for more than a year before releasing the second episode of the game, which is also very short and 30 dollars in price. Boo!

I admit that I am spoiled getting to play both of these games without having to wait between episodes, AND I got to play it for free. Playing it all at once is definitely the way to go. Again, I can see why people didn't like it. But I had a different experience. I thought this was good! And to think, all the bad reviews have scared me away from this game for so long.

It isn't the greatest Sonic game of all time, but it does stay true to what makes a Sonic game fun in the first place. Good graphics, good sound effects, good controls, awesome level design, big boss battles. This is a better Sonic game than anything that is not Sonic Mania or one of the old Genesis Sonic games. The fact that it is even being mentioned in the same regard as those games should tell you that I thought this was pretty good.

Is it worth shelling out 30 bucks for each episode of this game? Probably not. But if you have the chance to play this for free on the PlayStation Now, you should definitely check it out. It is not as bad as all the reviews say. Don't let them scare you away. I thought this was good.

Overall:

B

If you liked this review, please check out some of my other game reviews:

Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

Sonic Colors

Sonic Mania Plus

Re-Review #5: Super Star Wars

Super Star Wars

Super Nintendo

>>>click here to read my initial review of this game!<<<

Super Star Wars. Now that’s a game I haven’t heard of in a long time.

Well, not really. It depends on your definition of a long time. I last played and reviewed Super Star Wars back in January of 2015. That's a little over four years ago, if you are keeping track at home. My initial goal was to beat all of the Super Star Wars games in the span of just a few months and then put up reviews for them. That never happened. When I play and review games, I like to jump around from console to console and from genre to genre, mix it up. Every time I came back to the Super Nintendo, I was never in the mood to play Super Empire Strikes Back.

I still plan on getting around to the sequels… eventually. I just have to be in the mood to play them. That’s the problem with me. I always have an idea in my mind of what I want to play, but then when the time comes to actually start a new game, I pick something completely different. I am not too worried about it, though. I’ll get around to them someday.

But why would I come back and play Super Star Wars again in the first place? Simple: I am doing the one week free trial of PlayStation Now, and I saw this game on there. I was curious as to what kind of changes, if any, they’d have made to the game. Would it be a straight up port? Would the graphics or gameplay be changed? Would there be added content? There’d have to be trophy support, right?

Yes to some of those questions, no to some of the others. This is for the most part a straight up port of the original SNES game. The only changes are trophy support, which I predicted, and an added save feature. I didn’t think the save feature would add much to the game, but it did. This is a tough game. There is nothing worse than progressing deeply into the game, only to run out of lives or lose the powerful blaster upgrades you've been building up over time. With the save feature in play, you can periodically save your game as a fail safe in case you screw something up.

Other than that, don't expect to see many changes from the SNES version of the game. The graphics are the same, as are the music, the sound effects, the level design, the enemies, the controls, everything. This is literally a straight up port, aside from the added save feature and trophy support. Speaking of trophy support, I have to give props to the game's trophy system, as it encourages multiple playthroughs and gives the game replay value that it lacks otherwise.

If you are a fan of the original Super Star Wars, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't like this game. If you are new to the series, keep in mind that this series is notorious for its difficulty. Even after all these years of playing Super Star Wars, I still have to turn the difficulty down to easy in order to beat it. That is something I virtually NEVER have to do for video games, so that should tell you how hard it is.

Aside from the difficulty, this is a fun and action packed game. The bright colors, the music, the level design, the bosses, the collectibles, the ability to change characters and fighting styles, and the game's undeniable all around Star Wars charm make it a pretty darn good 90's 2D side scrolling shooter. I still don't consider it an all time classic, but I do think I was just a touch too harsh on it in my last review. I'm upping the score this time around to a regular old B instead of a B-.

This is a good, solid game. Again, not an all time classic, but still a good time.

Overall:

B

VHS Tape #10: John Tape

It has been a while since I've posted the contents of one of my VHS tapes. A little over three years, in fact. This is VHS tape #10. If you don't know what that means, I posted links to past VHS tape contents at the bottom of this blog entry.

This tape is from 2004. I was working at a gas station and I was obsessed with this cranky little old man who used to work there, who people referred to as Little John. I liked him so much I named this tape after him. The sub title for the tape is: "Box or soft? Eh? All these darn twenties.... bag?" Those were all his famous catchphrases when ringing people up, although it is disappointing that I didn't think to put his famous "Q!!!" (for thank you) on the label. Okay, off we go!


START OF TAPE

(00:00:00)

Street Smarts. This is continued from the last tape. Jerri and Alex from Survivor square off. Alex ends up winning by a narrow margin. Yay!

America's Funniest People- The Jackalope! Fast as fast can be, you'll never catch me! OMG. In this clip, an old man at a beach tries to chase after the Jackalope.

Live video feed of fish in an aquarium at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

COPS
  - An old man who looks like Santa Claus is caught driving a stolen car

Mad TV
  - Fake Kobe Bryant shoe commercial
  - Stewart interacts with a vacuum cleaner salesman
  - Marilyn Manson sings Personal Jesus

SNL. There's only one clip here. Liam Neeson plays a hippy who lost his weed, and tries to get the police to loan him a drug sniffing dog so he can find it.

Spongebob Squarepants movie promo on Extra. Also, a Friends season 8 DVD collection preview.

Clip from the end of a Packers game. Ryan Longwell kicks a field goal to beat the Vikings 34-31. Brett Favre celebrates.

Jay Leno: Headlines. Love these!

(00:30:23)

COPS
  - Hyper Jamaican dude is arrested.

Hey! Spring of Trivia. This is a bizarre dubbed Japanese show that features many unusual things.
  - It is revealed that in ancient Japan, people were hired by royalty to take the blame for their farts. "It was I who farted."
  - Meowing frogs
  - It is revealed that artificial teeth were indeed made of wood way back in the day. An old toothless man tests out an ancient pair of wooden dentures. Ew.
  - A Belgian museum exhibit honors a boy peeing on a bomb to put it out.
  - Japanese people talk about kicking their shoes off. They get a soccer player to kick his shoe off and it goes 108 feet.

Clip from Girl, Interrupted. This is the scene where "End of the World" by Skeeter Davis is playing, and Winona Ryder walks in on the girl who killed herself.

(00:57:44)

Ken Jennings from Jeopardy interviewed by Barbara Walters. This is after he finally lost and had his streak snapped.

The TV Guide Channel visits the set of Lost. Charlie is interviewed.

The Learning Channel health show.
  - A foreign man named Jose has a flap of skin on his face connected to his chest. Doctors are forced to remove it.
  - Obese couple has gastric bypass surgery and loses a ton of weight.

Jump Cuts
  - Movies are parodied
  - Guy rambles on about stupid shit while he draws. Yawn.
  - Condom commercial that trashes Carrot Top

Discovery Health show
  - Bloody and gross intestinal surgery is performed after a police officer is shot in the gut.

Jump Cuts
  - Red nosed animated man sings opera while his face morphs. This is trippy and pretty cool, I will admit.

COPS
  - Two white guys are arrested after police find crack pipes in their car. The driver claims he was just driving the other dude around to find drugs.

(1:24:25)

Funny pet clips on the Animal Planet
  - A duck and a dog go at it
  - Dogs chase after bowling ball
  - Bird that says peek a boo
  - Dogs and water
  - Funny reporter interactions with animals
  - Man knocked over by running deer
  - Animal brushing tips
  - Dog pees on woman sitting on the ground
  - Squirrel crawls all over woman at a birthday party
  - Llama spits in man's face
  - Animals getting along with other animals
  - Funny catnip commercial
  - Ostrich chases vehicle
  - Attention seeking llama
  - Frog scratches itself, and it looks like it's fixing its hair
  - Dancing animals
  - Adorable dog climbs into boy's lap
  - Dogs chase each other in a circle around the room over and over again
  - Polar bear plays with giant red ball
  - Dogs watching TV

(1:43:48)

Motormouth on VH1. This is a show where hidden cameras record people singing in their cars. I totally forgot about this show! I think this shit might be fake, because one of the people singing is a mustachioed guy that I remember from the farting chair episode of Spy TV. What are the chances the same person would be pranked on multiple hidden camera shows? There is also a loud, obnoxious blonde.

COPS
  - The police respond to a call made by some young lesbians. They are fighting and one of the lesbians pukes on the other one's car. Intentionally.
  - Dogs escape from a yard and kill the neighbor's cats. The owner of the dogs, an Asian woman, comes home while the dogs are being taken away.

Highlights from a Marquette/Wisconsin college basketball game. Travis Diener is discussed.

(2:03:48)

COPS
  - Possible stolen vehicle is pulled over. The driver tries to run but gets taken down. Then he tries to lie about the whole thing. Genius.
  - This is from Albequerque and features the same cop from the Rudy clip a few tapes back. A transexual is questioned for being a public nuisance. "I'm sorrrrrry! Can you release meeeee? Excuse my beauty!" It's great. Here is the link to the video:

COPS
  - John stings. First two clips feature white men in cars who are arrested. Then a black man on foot is arrested for patronizing a prostitute, and he pretends like he doesn't know what that means. "I ain't patronize nothing!"
  - Cops organize a raid on a crack house, Crack is found in the sink while basketball plays on the TV

Mad TV. This clip features a spoof on the Weakest Link. It's called the Missing Link, and is a gameshow featuring monkeys. And Lorraine.

(2:33:00)

Maury Povich
  - Crazy looking deformed boy is giddy with excitement after getting free tickets and NY Giants paraphernalia

The Ken Jennings interview again. Oops.

Maury Povich
  - Four year old boy named Jordan weighs 140 pounds. He sings "Old McDonald"
  - Black woman overfeeds her 8 month old, morbidly obese son. She says she chews food up and mashes it up for him. Ewwwwww!
  - Another overweight child. She is 2 years old and 75 pounds.
  - More overweight children
  - Jessica is at the end. She is 5 years old and 222 pounds.

MXC. Romance vs Firearms
  - Great Holes of Glory
  - Dope on a Rope
  - Skid Markers
  - Wall Buggers. Barney Babaganoosh is the very last contestant.

(3:10:25)

MXC. Snack Food vs Print Media
  - Slippery Slope of Death
  - Door Jam
  - Circle Jerkers
  - Brass Balls. Santa Babaganoosh is in this segment.

Hey! Spring of Trivia
  - George Washington's dentures are replicated and put into the mouth of an old Asian man. Ew.
  - Why do you strut with jutting shoulders?

Snoop Dogg is interviewed by Tom Arnold on Fox Sports Net

Clip from the news where it is revealed that Jeff Probst and Julie Berry are dating

MXC. Paranormal vs Baby Products
  - Game where the players must catch a pink ball that comes down a Plinko-esque board.
  - Tug of War challenge
  - Flailing Wall
  - Log Drop. Olympus Babaganoosh is the last contestant.

MXC. Adventurers vs Dental Industry
  - Dash to Death
  - Hand Job
  - Wallbangers
  - Sinkers and Floaters. Azirak Babaganoosh in this segment.

(4:03:48)

COPS
  - Cops pull over an old man in a blond wig dressed as a woman. He has a Mexican man in his car that he claims he is giving a ride to. The Mexican man seems shocked when the cops tell him that the driver is a man. It seems obvious though.
  - Police wrestle down and arrest a black man with an American flag bandanna. He kind of looks like Sekou Bunch from Survivor. He had drugs on him and tried to run from the cops.
  - Prostitution stings where johns are arrested. The first john arrested is an older guy who cries. The second one is a fat old guy.
  - Police respond to a domestic call. An old Mexican woman loses her false teeth on the roof. Her husband had smashed a piece of cheese in her mouth and it had pushed the dentures out the window. Yeah. True story.

(4:27:56)

Discovery Health Channel special about a boy named Novemthree. He has a massive facial tumor. He's given operations and shit, and it's really gross.

COPS
  - Police break up a fight between a hippy driving a mulch truck, and a drunken angry older man with a mohawk. This guy is really mean and threatens the cops with violence.

Conan O'Brien receives gifts from Santa

COPS
  - Black dude is arrested after trying to pull a scam at a store. He pulled items off the shelf and brought them to the counter for return. Security tapes are shown to prove guilt.
  - Group of kids gets in trouble when they try to use a counterfeit twenty dollar bill at a gas station

Survivor Vanuatu Final Four is interviewed on the Early Show. Chris is presented with the million dollar check.

Mad TV. Stewart interacts with his new babysitter.

COPS
  - Man is pulled over with weed in his vehicle. There are also kids in the car. The cop only lets him go because he's driving the kids to a funeral. The cop makes him dump it out on the side of the road.

(5:23:54)

Mad TV. I apparently didn't edit the commercials out of these.
  - Ms. Swan does the monologue at the beginning of the show
  - There's Something About Monica movie trailer (Monica Lewinsky)

 *Grand Theft Auto San Andreas ad in the commercials*

Mad TV (cont)
  - Keanu Reeves teaches acting school
  - Skit where CNN Breaking News updates cut into everything
  - Man calls a phone sex number and talks to Ms. Swan
  - Sonny's Widow and Cher Show
  - Rusty moves into a college dorm with a black guy
  - "He Got Gay" movie trailer
  - Crazy old couple hides under the bed
  - Black midget from Me, Myself, and Irene. He is pushed down.
  - Walls Mart advertisement.


END OF TAPE

Past VHS Tapes:

Introduction: VHS Tapes and Me

Funny Mix #1

Funny Cable Tape (2)

Rudy Boesch Mix (3)

Funny Tape (4)

The Ultimate Rupert Boneham Mix (5)

Are You Ready? (6)

Mixed Tape #7

Matteo Tape (8)

Funny If You're a Pothead (9)

Video Game Review #166: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

I knew as soon as I heard about Hellblade and its premise that this was a game I was going to have to check out. It took me a few years, as I was waiting for it to go down in price,  but I finally got around to it just a couple days ago. Seeing as how this was the first time I had ever played the game, nostalgia doesn’t really play a factor in this part of my review.

Story:

Luckily I knew what this game was about in advance, otherwise I may have been very lost or confused when I sat down to play it. You take control of Senua, a Pict warrior from ancient times. The game starts with a long introductory sequence as Senua rows across a corpse-laden river and brings her canoe to rest on the shore. As this sequence plays out, you hear what at first you believe to be the narrator of the story speaking, but you quickly discover that the voice is coming from inside Senua’s head. Senua has some form of mental psychosis where she hears many different voices speaking to her. Some of these voices she recognizes as her own thoughts, others appear to her like a guide telling her what to do. Other voices are… not so friendly or helpful.

As you play the game, you discover through these voices, as well as a series of flashbacks and hallucinations, what Senua’s quest is all about. Her boytoy Dillion was brutally murdered by a gang of violent Norsemen. Believing his soul to be lost, she hacks off his head and embarks on a quest to the underworld to save his soul from eternal damnation. Keep in mind that Senua suffers from severe mental psychosis. Much of what you see and experience as you play is either imagined or hallucinated, making it REALLY hard to follow at times. The game never quite lets you know what is real and what is not. I read an article online about the creation of the game, and one of the game’s creators said that it didn’t matter – everything is real to Senua.

As I remarked earlier, with all of the hallucinations and voices and nonsensical things going on as you play, it is really hard to follow the game’s main plot. I played through the game twice before writing this review, and I still can barely tell you more than the bare bones of the game’s storyline. I looked at Wikipedia, and there is this huge, in-depth summary of the game’s plot. I don’t know where they got any of that stuff from, as I certainly didn’t pick up on it as I played. But then again, my attention span is absolutely terrible, and I have never been very good at deciphering cryptic things. I have a feeling if you are a fan of David Lynch, you’ll love the style of this game.

Gameplay:

Most people seem to love Hellblade’s graphics, sound, storyline, and setting. The production values of the game receive universal praise nearly every website I visit. Where Hellblade is the most divisive is in its gameplay. I’ve heard the game described as a “walking simulator with puzzles a kindergartener could solve”. I’ve also heard the combat described as boring, mindless, and repetitive button mashing. I won’t really argue with either of those assessments, but I do think they are a bit extreme.

Basic gameplay does involve a lot of walking, sure. You walk, you explore, you look at things, you listen to the voices in Senua’s head. Most puzzles involve trying to find hidden objects located in the game’s scenery. For example, you will come across a locked door with a big X symbol on it. That means you have to go back and find the X hidden somewhere in the area around you. In this instance, you can create the X by looking at two leaning trees from just the right perspective. This unlocks the door and allows you to proceed to the next area of the game. Some of these puzzles can be easy, some can be quite difficult. I spent a lot of time wandering around, stuck as stuck could be, only to find the solution staring me right in the face.

Overall, however, these are not the most complex puzzle solving sequences I have ever seen in a video game. But they do the trick. They are different, and they also play into the whole psychosis theme of the game. You aren’t physically solving any puzzles, you just look at things and that somehow magically unlocks the doors barring your progress. It doesn't really make any sense, but hey: mental illness.

Combat, I was not so crazy about. You only fight a grand total of four or five different enemy types throughout the whole game. Battles are extremely scripted. The music changes, Senua draws her weapon, and you have to fight wave after wave of enemies that all look alike. Defeat the enemies, and Senua puts away her weapon and you can resume with your walking.

There is no leveling up. You don't gain experience. You don't use items or health potions. Combat is extremely basic. The X button dodges left and right. The square button is a weak attack. The triangle button is a strong attack. I found myself using the same strategy on nearly every enemy: Square, square, triangle. When the enemy looked like it was about to attack, I used the X button to roll out of the way. Square, square, triangle. Roll. Square, square, triangle. Over and over and over again. Of course, this doesn't work on every single enemy type, but it does most of them.

Later on in the game, you gain the ability to use a mirror related special attack by pressing the L2 button when a purple lens flare appears on your screen during combat. This puts your character into rampage mode, where it is hard to damage you, and your attacks are faster and more powerful than ever. Learning to master this mirror attack is critical to beating the game, as battles do get quite difficult the deeper into the game you progress.

That about sums up the gameplay of Hellblade. You walk around and explore, while solving perspective and vision based puzzles. You fight waves of repetitive enemies during combat sequences. You listen to the voices in Senua's head. You watch a lot of confusing cutscenes. You walk, you solve more puzzles. You take on more waves of the same kind of enemies you've already fought dozens of times before.

Graphics:

Visually, this game is absolutely stunning. The character of Senua is very realistic looking. The game shows her from every possible camera angle, and you are constantly seeing close-ups of her face as you play. She is one of those characters you just can't look away from. She is extremely intense. The role is very well acted. A game like this relies on the ability to get people to believe in its main character, and Senua definitely looks and acts the part.

The game's landscapes are all drop dead gorgeous. Everything around you looks amazing and very well detailed. You want to play this game in the dark with headphones on, as the atmosphere of the game is just tremendous. You really feel like you've stepped into this living, breathing, and slightly menacing and terrifying fantasy world.

Hellblade doesn't hesitate to throw all kinds of trippy hallucinogenic effects at you either. Like I said before, the makers of the game really want to sell Senua's mental psychosis to the players. In addition to the "real world" of this game, expect to explore all kinds of nightmare sequences designed to mess with your senses. The "hell" portion of the game with all the hands trying to reach for you? Terrifying, but awesome at the same time.

I like how they manage to blend FMV sequences in with the game's graphics during some of the cutscenes. I never thought I'd see FMV in a game again. But the way it is done is (to me) very classy. Flashing lights, bright colors, jerky camera, an FMV face floating in the dark, talking to Senua, surrounded by the hallucinogenic effects created by the game's graphics. It is a nice mix of old school and new. I've read a few reviews where these FMV characters have been criticized, but I don't know. I like it. It's different, and adds to the game's unique quirks and charms.

Sound:

Hellblade's audio quality is on par with its visual quality. It is incredible.

The game urges you to play with headphones on to get the full effect of hearing the voices in Senua's head. I would urge you to play with them as well. One of the main reasons for playing this game is to experience Senua's psychosis alongside her. I played without headphones for a few minutes once, and I can definitely say that I was missing a lot of important audio cues.

The game's music and sound effects are very good. Nothing I am going to remember, however. Where the game excels is in its ability to create an immersive environment for the player. Not only does the game's natural environment look and sound incredible, the voices and audio cues play a huge role in making this such an immersive atmosphere. I am not lying when I say that I haven't seen many games that have been as impressive in terms of audio and visual presentation as Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

Overall:

I really, REALLY wanted to love this game. The concept of portraying mental psychosis through the main character is so unique and intriguing to me. The graphics are amazing. The voice acting is amazing. The sound effects are amazing. The presentation is top of the line. This is one of the most immersive games I have played in my life. Technically, it is a marvel.

But is Hellblade actually fun? I harp on this all the time when I do game reviews. I don't care what the game looks or sounds like. It could have the ugliest graphics in the world, but if it was fun, I'd still like it. On the flip side, it could be the prettiest game in the world, but if it wasn't any fun, I wouldn't care for it. As much as I appreciate the intense amount of detail that was put into portraying Senua's mental illness, as well creating such an out-of-this-world sensory environment, I didn't have a whole lot of fun while playing.

The game doesn't do a great job at guiding you where to go. There were many times I played where I found myself wandering through the same areas, examining every nook and cranny, things I'd already examined dozens of times before. I'd be stuck, with no idea where to go next. I'd look online only to find that I was completely on the wrong track. Thanks, game, for telling me I needed to move on!! I feel like I wasted far too much time wandering around aimlessly due to the game not making it clear where I needed to go, and when.

As much as I earlier complained about the game's combat, it was its story that let me down the most. I never knew what was really happening on the screen. I know this is meant to show you things through the mind of someone who is insane, but I am a guy who likes cold, hard facts. I love a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. I came to the wrong place here. Nothing made any sense as I played this game. Nothing!

I mean, it is kind of fun coming into the game and putting together the bits and pieces of backstory the game gives you. But everything is fragmented, coming from the mind of an unreliable main character. I don't know. It was just not my thing. This could have been a great game if handled in just a slightly different manner, but in the end it was a bit too cryptic for me. Like I said before, if you enjoy dream-like ambiguous plot lines, like you would see in a David Lynch movie, you'd love Hellblade.

All in all, I found this game to be an... interesting experience. It is a very well made game. I can't say one bad thing about its presentation. I just didn't find it to be that fun. The combat is okay. The puzzles are okay. The storyline is a confusing mess. I hate to say it, but after hearing all the great things about Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, I have to admit that I am thoroughly let down. It is a decent game, but I expected much better.

Overall:

C-

If you liked this review, please check out some of my other game reviews:

God of War

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Undertale

Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage

The Last Guardian

Video Game Review #165: The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link

PlayStation

Nostalgia Factor:

I first played this game in 2002 or 2003. I rented it from Blockbuster Video with relatively low expectations. I absolutely loved the show, but I was not sure how it would translate over to a video game. It could either be really fun, or incredibly hokey.

Turns out, I liked the game a lot. I played it a ton with my girlfriend at the time, and her friends. We would play the multiplayer version of the game where depending on how many people there were, we each got to play as two or three characters. If there was an odd number of characters, the computer would control the final character, and we'd all agree to vote it out first.

Not only was the game a ton of fun to play given its format, it also got really intense too. Getting voted out in a game like this feels personal! Feels really good when you win, though. We played the heck out of this game, but eventually I had to return it to Blockbuster. It was sad to see it go, but I had gotten way more fun out of it than I ever thought would be possible.

I found The Weakest Link at a used video game store several years later. Remembering my fond memories of the game, I decided to buy it. It was only two or three bucks, too, so it was a great bargain. The game has brought me many hours of entertainment over the years. I've played it with several friends, old girlfriends, my wife, and even my late friend Jeff, the guy who wrote several guest reviews for this blog before his 2018 passing. It has never failed to be an amazing and fun experience with everyone I have played it with.

This is a game I have played a lot over the years. Seems only natural to review it for this blog. I picked it up today and decided to give single player a go. Would my opinion change, or would I still find this game to be a lot of fun?

Story:

There really isn't a story here, as this is based on a game show. I guess if there are any story related elements, they would be from the characters and their back stories. The characters are really varied and diverse. Hover the cursor over each character, and they all have little things that they say about themselves. You'll develop your own personal favorites the more you play. In particular, I am fond of Ravi, Eddie, and Gary.

Gameplay:

The game follows the format of the TV show surprisingly well. Each round, contestants are asked questions one by one. If they answer correctly, they earn a certain dollar amount for the team. The goal of the team is to string together several correct answers in a row, earning more and more money with each correct answer. For the money to count towards the game's winnings, however, players have to "bank" it. Here is what this means. If a player does not "bank", and answers incorrectly, all the money they have earned drops back down to zero. Banking the money saves it so it can not be lost, but at the same time it drops the earning ladder back down to the bottom again, meaning the players have to start another correct answer chain in order to earn more money. Each round is timed, and at the end of the timer, the round ends. All money that was banked is carried over to the next round.

I feel like I described that very poorly, but it is sort of hard to put into words. It is easy to get the hang of once you start playing it. After the end of each round of questions, the players must vote for who they believe to be the weakest link. Really, they can vote using whatever criteria they like. The player with the most votes is then cruelly evicted from the show. This goes on until there are only two players left in the game. These two players face off in a best of five question and answer battle. The winner takes home all the money banked over the course of the game. The loser gets nothing!

The game is really easy to control, even if you are not a veteran video game player. You are asked a question, and two to four possible answers are displayed on the screen. You move up or down to select an answer, and press x to lock it in. If your turn comes and there is money you wish to bank, press the square button to do so. To vote people off, simply pick the character's name and the corresponding button to cast the vote. Really, anyone can pick this game up and play it, which adds to its appeal. You could play this game with your grandma and still have a fun time.

If you like trivia or  question and answer games, you should have fun with this. Anne Robinson and her hilarious insults only make the game even more fun. I find it hard to picture anyone playing this game with friends and not having a good time. If you are only looking at the single player experience, the game can be a bit lacking. It's still fun, but it isn't the same, and it gets old after a while.

Graphics:

You don't really play a game like this for its graphics. All you see is what is happening on-stage and the audience in the background. The characters all look decent by PS1 standards. They aren't anything special, but they are just enough to give each character their own distinct look and personality.

In between game rounds, the game cuts over to FMV scenes of Anne Robinson exploring the rules of the game, as well as throwing insults at its contestants. The presentation of the game show graphics on-screen gives it a very authentic feel, and the game faithfully recreates the look and feel of the television show.

Sound:

Tying into the game's visual presentation, its music and sound effects help make this a believable Weakest Link experience. All the music is pulled directly from the television show. Anne Robinson lends not only her physical likeness, but her voice to the game as well.

One area the game shines is in its character banter. I've been playing this game for years, with nearly every combination of every character in the game, and I still to this day hear insults from Anne and character speeches that I have never heard before. Seems like a lot of work was put into making each game experience unique as far as where its conversations turn. A seemingly small detail, but something that gives the game a lot of depth.

Overall:

If you are a fan of the Weakest Link TV show, you will find that the video game faithfully recreates everything you love about the show. The game's presentation, music, and voice acting is spot-on. The makers of the game did a very good job creating such an authentic experience 

Played with friends, the game is an absolute riot. It is very addicting and hard to put down. The game not only forces you to use your brain to answer some hard questions, it also makes you react quickly when it comes to deciding whether or not to bank. Play this game with a group of pals, and it almost always results in a good time.

If you are looking for a solid single player experience, you could do better than the Weakest Link. There is some decent replay value here, as the game's bank of questions is massive, and you rarely see the same question used twice (although I am sure you will see more and more repeats if you are playing for long periods at a time). The computer is extremely good, though, and is pretty hard to beat. Usually what I do is just pick multiplayer mode and make half of the players my players, and the other half computer players. Then I make sure I do just enough to always stay on the right side of the vote!

This is a good, solid game that I attach a lot of strong memories to. It is not something I can sit down and play by myself for hours on end, but it is something I like to pull out when I have friends over. It has been a solid member of my game rotation for years now, and I like to pop it out every once in a while for shits and giggles. Fun game, don't dismiss it as just some crappy video game based on a game show, like I almost did. I imagine the game may be hard to find nowadays but if you happen to see this little gem for sale at your local used game store, pick it up. You won't regret it.

Final Score:

B+

If you liked my review of the Weakest Link, check out my review of:

Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Second Edition

Video Game Review #164: Primal Rage

Primal Rage

Sega Genesis

Nostalgia Factor:

Back when I was 13 or 14 years old, I was a big fan of games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. When I first caught wind of this game, Primal Rage, it immediately worked its way onto my radar of games to check out. A fighting game where you took control of monsters and dinosaurs? Sounded awesome!

I ended up renting Primal Rage from Blockbuster Video. I got home, popped the game in my Genesis, and was immediately underwhelmed. This was near the end of the lifespan of the Sega Genesis, and I expected a lot better. The graphics were ugly, the character animations were choppy, I didn't like the game's controls. I couldn't even figure out how to do any of the game's special moves, as my rented copy of the game didn't come with an instruction manual of any kind. No typical Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter button combinations seemed to do anything, so I was relegated to using run of the mill punch and kick attacks. Obviously, I couldn't figure out how to do any of the game's fatalities. Back in 1995 or 1996, we didn't have the internet in our house, so I couldn't even look to that for help.

Primal Rage gave me a serious case of renter's remorse. I could have used my six bucks to rent something, anything I would have enjoyed more than this.

Let's move forward in time to the year 2018. This is about 23 years after the game first hit store shelves. I have this box of Sega Genesis games that my cousin Ryan loaned to me. If you have been loyally reading this blog, this is the same mythical box of Genesis games that I have been mentioning off and on for a few years now. I was looking for something quick and easy to play and review, so I picked Primal Rage. I hadn't played the game in 20 plus years. I turned it on, and was once again immediately turned off by the game. I played it for about ten minutes, got my butt kicked, and turned the game back off again. I hated the game for all the same reasons I did the first time I played it back when it first came out.

I didn't beat the game, so I didn't write a review. I kept telling myself I would come back to it and play it again and get it out of the way, but I never did. This was seven months ago. Just now, today, I came back to finish off Primal Rage once and for all. I got sick of looking at it sitting there next to my TV. Would I still hate Primal Rage, or would I finally begin to see what all of my friends who love the game see? Read on and find out.

Story:

There is really nothing to report here. I still don't have an instruction manual for the game, so I don't know what it says in there. There is literally NOTHING in-game that explains what is going on. If you don't press any buttons after turning on most fighting games, it will show you little story scenes before you actually start playing the game. Primal Rage does not. When you do decide to press start and begin playing the game, there are no introductory story sequences. When you beat the game, it is just like "okay congrats you conquered the world byeeeeeeeeeee". That's it.

When I look at the Primal Rage Wikipedia page, there is a synopsis of the game's storyline. Something about humanity nearly going extinct, and the beasts rising up from underneath the planet's surface. The remaining humans worship these beasts as gods. I don't know. It is nice to know that the game does have a storyline, but at the same time I wonder why it isn't even in the game at all. If I have to look it up on Wikipedia, does it even count?

Gameplay:

Clearly, the game's controls are styled after Mortal Kombat. You move left and right. You hold back to block. Up makes you jump. You have a high and low punch attack (or head snap if your character has no arms or short arms), and a high and low kick attack. Those are the only buttons you use.

Single player mode has you fighting through each character in the game. There is a game map after each fight that shows which areas you have conquered. Conquer all the areas and you beat the game. Simple stuff. A playthrough of the game lasts about 20 minutes. I am extremely glad I didn't buy this as a kid, or I would have been so upset. With no proper storyline to speak of, there is little to no replay value to be found here.

Controls are clunky. Hit detection is terrible. Now that it is 2019 and I have internet access, I was able to look up how to do each character's special moves and fatalities. The special moves helped a bit. I am glad I was able to look online, because I never in a million years would have figured out how to do any of these moves. Most of them involve holding down multiple buttons at once, and then inputting directional combinations into the D-pad. It is a pain in the butt. Why couldn't they have just had simple "down, right, punch" button combos like every other fighting game?

Even with a list of how to do each fatality right in front of me, I still never managed to pull off a single fatality. Not even one. Insult me and say I suck. I don't care. I have no idea what I was doing wrong. To me, this is a flaw in the game design. Seeing as how I don't enjoy this game very much, I wasn't going to spend a whole lot of time trying to figure it out. I ended up watching a YouTube video of all of them instead.

Graphics:

This is not a pretty game. As I alluded to earlier in the review, this game came out relatively late in the lifespan of the Sega Genesis. I expected so much better. It's sloppy, it's pixelated, it's grainy. The character animations are choppy, and their movement is not smooth in any way, shape, or form. If I had to say anything positive about the game's graphics, it would have to be that the stage backgrounds are... decent?

I should add that I have never played the arcade version of the game. In fact, I have been to many arcades in my life, and I have never even seen this unit anywhere. When I was looking on YouTube to see the game's fatalities, I stumbled upon a video with footage from the arcade version of the game, as opposed to the Genesis one. The graphics for the arcade game are SO MUCH better than the graphics here. It is unrealistic to expect a home console port to look as good as the arcade version, but this is just unacceptable. I know the Genesis can do so much better. No way around it, this is simply a bad, sloppy port.

Sound:

You know a game is not very good when I would say that its music and sound effects are the highlight of the game. The sound effects are relatively unremarkable, but nothing stood out to me as annoying or out of place. I liked the burp and fart noises Chaos made when performing his special attacks.

None of the game's musical tracks stand out too much, but they do the job pretty well. I did like the music when they showed the game map in between fights. It had kind of an Ecco the Dolphin vibe to it that I thought was pretty cool.

Overall, I would say that this is the area where the game excels the most. Which really isn't saying a whole lot.

Overall:

In case you can't tell from my comments so far, I didn't enjoy Primal Rage. I didn't enjoy it back in the mid 90's, and I don't enjoy it now.

Playing it again was certainly an interesting trip down memory lane, but that is about as far as I would go. I am never going to play this game again. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone else. I know there are people out there that love this game, but it is what it is. I tried to give it a shot, but Primal Rage is just not for me.

Final Score:

D-

If you liked my review of Primal Rage, check out some of my other game reviews:

Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat II

Batman Forever

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition

Side note:
Kind of funny, the only two other fighting games I have reviewed, Mortal Kombat I and II, got a D and a D- respectively. Now this game gets a D-. Can you tell this is not my favorite genre?

Video Game Review #163: Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

Resident Evil 2 for the original PlayStation is a game that I spent a LOT of time with. There was just so much to see and do in that game, particularly when you factor in that you could play through four different variations of the main story. I knew the game inside and out, and to this day I consider it one of my favorite video games of all time. When I heard that they were remaking the game with present day graphics, I understandably got very excited. Before I knew it, the release date was upon us. Everywhere I went on Facebook, people were talking about this game. Reviews kept popping up on Youtube. I saw people on my PS4 friends list playing it online. I couldn’t escape the RE2 fever.

Normally I am not a person who rushes out and buys a game brand-new. I like to wait for it to go down in price first. But seeing this game pop up everywhere I turned was starting to really get to me. I wanted to play the game, and I wanted it bad. As luck would have it, I had received a 50 dollar gift card for Christmas. I figured that if I put the 50 dollars towards Resident Evil 2, I could pay the rest out of pocket. Ten bucks wasn’t too much to pay for a brand new video game that I really, really wanted, was it?

So that’s what I did! And here we are now.

Story:

If you played the original Resident Evil 2, you should know what to expect here. When the game starts out, you are given the choice of selecting either Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield as your playable character. Whoever you end up picking, the game starts out with your character arriving in Raccoon City. Claire is looking for her brother Chris, who has been missing since the events of the original Resident Evil game. Leon is arriving because he has been hired by the Raccoon Police Department, and this is his first day on the job. You quickly discover that things aren’t exactly right here. Zombies, dead bodies, that kind of thing. A zombie attack at a gas station brings the two very confused main characters together. They hop into a police car, looking to head to safety, when a violent crash with a semi-truck separates the two.

After a tense opening sequence where you have to dodge zombies on the carnage filled streets, your character arrives at the police station, only to discover that it has been overrun by the undead. The game heads the same direction regardless of which character you select, but the path to get to that destination is different. Leon encounters a mysterious woman named Ada, who seems to know a lot about what has happened in Raccoon City. Claire meets a young girl named Sherry, whose father is one of the scientists responsible for the outbreak.

Just like in the original RE2, this game also contains “B” scenarios for each character. For example, if you beat the game with Claire, you unlock Leon’s B scenario. This tells the story of what Leon was doing at the same time you were playing through the game the first time as Claire. Because each character has both an A and a B scenario, this makes Resident Evil 2 basically four games in one.

Gameplay:

This game does not feature tank controls like the original game. Instead, Resident Evil 2 takes place from a behind the back perspective, similar to what we’ve seen in games like Resident Evils 4, 5, and 6.

The goal of the game is to explore the police station and find a way out of the city. Resident Evil 2 differs from its behind-the-back predecessors in its style of gameplay. Rather than being focused mainly on action, the tone of the game shifts back to survival horror. You are going to be taking your time in this game. There are many poorly lit areas that you have to explore with your flashlight out. You'll slowly walk through corridors, fearing zombies that could be lurking and jump out and attack you at any moment.

The left analog stick controls your character. The left shoulder button pulls out your weapon. The right analog stick aims your weapon, and the right shoulder button fires it. You run around, you examine things, you pick things up, you open doors. The game is very easy to get a hang of, in particular if you are familiar with classic Resident Evil. You've got the square inventory grid, you've got the red and green herbs you can mix, first aid sprays, you save at a typewriter, you shoot zombies, you find keys shaped like spades and diamonds and hearts, you unlock doors, you solve puzzles. The game is a remake, but aside from a few familiar sights, they changed a LOT of stuff around from the original game. As familiar as I was with the '98 version of the game, most of what you see here is all new territory. You could consider this to be a brand new Resident Evil game, simply inspired by the original 1998 hit. This is less of a remake and more of a re-imagining of the original game.

The main enemy type in the game is the zombie. Zombies are much tougher to take down than they were in the original version of the game. In that version, you could take down zombies with a minimal amount of ammunition, and once you took them down they stayed down. In this one, the zombies are much harder to hit. You have to line up head shots in order to kill them completely, but the zombies are always staggering around and bobbing their heads. Expect to miss a LOT. Sometimes it takes several clips of ammunition just to take down one zombie. This makes it very difficult, and sometimes frustrating, to kill them.

You won't just be fighting zombies, however. Many different enemy types from the original RE2 make an appearance here. Dogs, lickers, those plant creatures in the laboratory. This game introduces a new, completely disgusting enemy type located in the sewers that likes to vomit all over your character, repeatedly. I don't like these things.

One of my favorite baddies from the old version of the game makes a comeback here: Mr. X. What I remember most fondly about him in the original game is how he scared the ever living crap out of me the first time I encountered him. I had already beaten the game once, and hadn't encountered him. Then I started up a B scenario, and OMG this guy drops out of the sky and the music changes and he's stalking you around, and it is very terrifying and intimidating. You couldn't kill him, and you never knew when he was going to just burst through a wall and attack you. To me, this made the B scenarios more tense and terrifying than the A ones. I feel as if they missed the mark in this game with Mr. X, however.

First of all, he appears in every scenario in this game, both the As and the Bs. That is all four scenarios. He stalks you around for long periods of time, following you from room to room. You can run from him, but when you think you are clear of him, you can still hear his footsteps echoing loudly throughout the police station all around you. He is very persistent and doesn't give up looking for you. The game does do a good job at inciting panic and terror whenever you encounter Mr. X. The feeling of being stalked is quite unsettling. What I find wrong with the way he was handled, however, is that he is utilized too often.

In the original game, you only encountered him in the B scenarios, and even then your encounters with Mr. X were few and far between. That made them more unpredictable and thus, more terrifying when they'd take place. In this game, you encounter him a LOT. He becomes less and less terrifying, and more of just a general nuisance the more you play. I think the way he was used more sparingly in the original game was the way to go. He was a lot more terrifying when he wasn't being shoved down your throat all the time.

Graphics/Sound:

This game looks phenomenal. Words can't describe the level of detail that was put into bringing the police station and the entire world of this game to life. All the environments look like real, practical spaces that could actually exist out there somewhere. Just look at the desks in the police station, all the books, crime scene photos, papers printed out everywhere. Coffee mugs, family photos. The game is littered with small personal touches galore. As a fan of the original RE2, it fascinated me to see the environments of the old game re-imagined with present day technology. It looks better than I could have ever imagined.

The character models are fantastic. I like Claire, Leon, and Ada's new looks. Particularly Claire, she's a fox. The zombies look fantastic too. It is the small touches that count, like how they all look different and aren't just clones of one another. Different heights, weights, races, genders, different outfits, different screams. There is no lack of representation among zombie characters. Mr. X and all the bosses look terrific too.

Where the game's graphical style excels is in the atmosphere it creates. I have to give the game's sound credit here too. Play this in the dark with headphones in, and you will find yourself transported into the world of the game. When you are sneaking through dark, creaky hallways with a storm raging outside the windows, the game really sells it. When you are tip-toeing through a flooded basement, flashlight out and handgun at the ready, and you see the licker hanging on the wall just a few feet away, slowly breathing in and out, the game overrides your senses. You see and hear everything, and it is a thing of beauty.

Voice acting is good. The music of the game is very good. I have no complaints about the game's audio or visual style whatsoever. This may be one of the most well polished games I have played in my life.

Overall:

I had faith that this game would not let me down, and it did not! Great graphics, great presentation, a really immersive world. The game controls like a dream and stays true to the survival horror roots of the series. Capcom did a tremendous job with this game, and if other developers would follow suit, the possibilities are endless for classic games being rebooted with today's technology. The Resident Evil 2 remake is a great game by any era of gaming's standards. The audio and visuals are some of the best we've ever seen, and the game also appeals to nostalgia with all of the re-imagined characters and environments from the old game.

If you ask me which of the two games I prefer, I would still have to say the original version. I think this is a great game, but it has lost some of the charm of the old game in its transition to modern times. Maybe this is nostalgia speaking; it is hard for me to tell most of the time. But as good as this game is, I just didn't find it quite as fun as the original. Sure, the graphics and presentation of the remake are far superior. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the game at its core is any better. Mr. X is a big time pain. You backtrack quite a bit. The enemies are more tedious to take down, and they often come back long after you've given them up for dead. Don't even get me started on the laboratory section of the game with the plants. Ugh. The underground part, too, with the chess pieces is very annoying. Too often this game feels like a chore to play. I can't say the first game ever felt like a chore at any point.

If I have to nitpick, I would further add that I don't think that the differences in the A and B scenarios are very pronounced in this version of the game. Resident Evil 2 truly felt like four games in one on the original PlayStation. This version feels like four slightly different variations of the exact same game. I think that hurts the game's replayability factor.

But just because I don't think this game is as good as the original, doesn't mean I don't think this isn't a good game. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is a great game. I imagine someday twenty years in the future when Resident Evil: Nemesis and Code Veronica have been rebooted in the fashion of Resident Evil 2. 60 year old Dan is going to have a marathon session playing the old versions of the game. Then he is going to marathon the new versions of the game as well. Two completely separate versions of the same basic story line, both amazing in their own, separate ways. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Is this game as good as the original Resident Evil 2? In many ways, it is much better. But in my heart, it will always play second fiddle to the original. Other people may beg to differ, and there is nothing wrong with that either. When you get a chance to play a game, heck, a series this amazing, it doesn't matter which games we think are better and which are worse. The real winner is us, the gamers, for getting to play and enjoy the series to begin with.

Final Score:

A

If you liked my review of Resident Evil 2, please read some of my other reviews:
Resident Evil: Director's Cut
Resident Evil 2 (PS1 original)
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil: Revelations
Resident Evil (Gamecube remake)