Currently only about the demo, but seems better to have one general thread, instead of making another one when the game ships, as the comments will still be relevant.
So a new demo is up, different from the one the came with Dragons Dogma. Much meatier, but to me, it only worsened the already poor impression I had of the game.
Major annoyances:
-Constant waypoints/instructions where to go: "The door is locked, what do I do?" "The key is in the room to the left, go get it!" Part of the fun in the old games was figuring out where to go and how to get there, none of this here.
-100% linear: You move from room to room, where all other exits are blocked of by everything from card board boxes to office desks. You are simply following the path, with no way of affecting the direction.
-Everything is now scripted: Everything scary or moody is in the game is carefully acted out by the game. If it wants to establish a somber mood, it restricts the speed the player can move for a while. If discovering a new zombie is supposed to scare, it starts a small cut-scene where the camera zooms in on the zombie. If it wants to build tension, it traps the player in locked room with zombies while waiting for the door to unlock (upon which a cut-scene makes the characters run through the door without letting the players decide when and if they want to go through it). There is no chance to simply experience the environments, the game keeps the interactivity to a bare minimum.
-The AI sidekick: I lined up a perfect headshot on one of the zombies. Right before I pulled the trigger Helena started shooting it in the stomach, ruining the entire shot. This happened all the time through the demo. Sometimes she would start kicking them or running in front of my sight. Can I play the game myself please?
-The camera: It's way too tight, making it hard to get a good overview of the situation. There's ammo and other items lying on the ground, but most of it I only discovered when the HUD told me I was standing on top of it.
-The pacing: It never lets you breathe. Every 20 seconds there is either a cut-scene or set-piece happening. This game seems to try it's hardest not to let players be bored for A SINGLE SECOND.
Minor annoyances:
-The controls: I walked through a door with my gun drawn, suddenly I was glued to the frame of the door, looking the opposite way of what I wanted. The aiming button is also used to stick to cover, so whenever you have your gun drawn, you must be careful not to go near walls.
-The dialogue: It's too hammy. And not in a funny over-the-top kind of way like the first game. This game takes itself way too seriously, trying to make every spoken line seem like the coolest and most important phrase in the world.
-The movement: Controlling the characters feel much clunkier than one would expect from a game today. I was constantly brushing up against - or even crashing into - the scenery; be it tables, walls, couches. It was hard to run in a smooth line, as the character would constantly make small adjustments to his trajectory.
-The unfocused combat system: Am I supposed to shoot the zombies, or kick them to death? Or should I maybe use the insta-hit method by hitting RT and LT at the same time? I don't really know. Shooting can be fun, but seems meaningless when I can simply wrestle them to death. And it's feels really jarring to pull of all of these crazy moves in what's supposed to be a moody horror game.
What I liked:
-The gunplay: The aiming has a nice flow to it, making the gun feel weighty yet accurate. Shooting zombies is quite fun whenever you're given the chance to actually do so.
-The graphics: The game looks good enough.
I might still end up buying it, as it has the words "Resident" and "Evil" in the title, but it looks to be the most underwhelming of them all so far.
So a new demo is up, different from the one the came with Dragons Dogma. Much meatier, but to me, it only worsened the already poor impression I had of the game.
Major annoyances:
-Constant waypoints/instructions where to go: "The door is locked, what do I do?" "The key is in the room to the left, go get it!" Part of the fun in the old games was figuring out where to go and how to get there, none of this here.
-100% linear: You move from room to room, where all other exits are blocked of by everything from card board boxes to office desks. You are simply following the path, with no way of affecting the direction.
-Everything is now scripted: Everything scary or moody is in the game is carefully acted out by the game. If it wants to establish a somber mood, it restricts the speed the player can move for a while. If discovering a new zombie is supposed to scare, it starts a small cut-scene where the camera zooms in on the zombie. If it wants to build tension, it traps the player in locked room with zombies while waiting for the door to unlock (upon which a cut-scene makes the characters run through the door without letting the players decide when and if they want to go through it). There is no chance to simply experience the environments, the game keeps the interactivity to a bare minimum.
-The AI sidekick: I lined up a perfect headshot on one of the zombies. Right before I pulled the trigger Helena started shooting it in the stomach, ruining the entire shot. This happened all the time through the demo. Sometimes she would start kicking them or running in front of my sight. Can I play the game myself please?
-The camera: It's way too tight, making it hard to get a good overview of the situation. There's ammo and other items lying on the ground, but most of it I only discovered when the HUD told me I was standing on top of it.
-The pacing: It never lets you breathe. Every 20 seconds there is either a cut-scene or set-piece happening. This game seems to try it's hardest not to let players be bored for A SINGLE SECOND.
Minor annoyances:
-The controls: I walked through a door with my gun drawn, suddenly I was glued to the frame of the door, looking the opposite way of what I wanted. The aiming button is also used to stick to cover, so whenever you have your gun drawn, you must be careful not to go near walls.
-The dialogue: It's too hammy. And not in a funny over-the-top kind of way like the first game. This game takes itself way too seriously, trying to make every spoken line seem like the coolest and most important phrase in the world.
-The movement: Controlling the characters feel much clunkier than one would expect from a game today. I was constantly brushing up against - or even crashing into - the scenery; be it tables, walls, couches. It was hard to run in a smooth line, as the character would constantly make small adjustments to his trajectory.
-The unfocused combat system: Am I supposed to shoot the zombies, or kick them to death? Or should I maybe use the insta-hit method by hitting RT and LT at the same time? I don't really know. Shooting can be fun, but seems meaningless when I can simply wrestle them to death. And it's feels really jarring to pull of all of these crazy moves in what's supposed to be a moody horror game.
What I liked:
-The gunplay: The aiming has a nice flow to it, making the gun feel weighty yet accurate. Shooting zombies is quite fun whenever you're given the chance to actually do so.
-The graphics: The game looks good enough.
I might still end up buying it, as it has the words "Resident" and "Evil" in the title, but it looks to be the most underwhelming of them all so far.
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