Resident Evil 7 - Review

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Resident Evil 7 - Review

Postby Doodle Dee. Snickers » Thu Nov 16, 2017 5:10 am

I mentioned earlier that RE 7 was going to be my favorite game of the year before I'd even finished the game. Now I've finished the rest of it over the course of a week (I only get about an hour or two of time per day in to play these days), and I have to say: No change in opinion.

Never before have I seen a game that so effectively blends both its own identity and the current trends in other games of the genre. By the time I got to the first boss battle (technically a misnomer since the bosses have a penchant for chasing you everywhere and you often have multiple boss battles with them, but the first point in the game where we were locked in a small room together with no escape) I realized how incredibly Resident Evil this game was. I'll get more into it in the review proper, but this is a game that may look like Outlast or Amnesia, but it plays more like Resident Evil 1-3/Code Veronica.

On the off-chance it's not clear, I've loved this series since I was a kid. The last two main entries into the series have broken my heart, and for as fun as RE4 was, I kinda hated it for what I knew it would do to the franchise. Resident Evil 1 was one of my favorite games alongside Doom 2 when I was young, so I'm a bit biased. Anyways, review:

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Story
: It's clear to me that somebody took a seat in front of Capcom execs and actually said "I love this series, and I have a clear vision for what I'd like this next game to be, so let me fix the mess that you've made out of this series". They wrote out a story, decided on the themes they wanted in the aesthetic, and then laid Resident Evil gameplay into it. This story concerns Ethan Winters, whose wife has been missing for years but mysteriously sends him a message from the backwood swamps of Louisiana telling him to come get her. Ethan does just that, arriving with the intention to save his wife Mary Sutherland Mia. However, he's swiftly subdued and captured by the family who lives in the manor she's imprisoned in. He gets free and has to solve the mystery of what's happening to this family, his wife, and a strange young girl he keeps seeing.

Overall, the story is much stronger than any in the series because it's simple and much more tightly focused. Jack and Marguerite Baker in particular are very memorable and hammy villains, often taunting you as they roam about looking for you and even as they fight you. Jack especially toes the line between terrifying and hilarious, where Marguerite is creepy and disgusting. Lucas, their son, is infuriating (in the best way) and hilarious. Mia (your wife) is a particularly good character as well, though she kinda disappears in the middle of the game whereas she's very visible in the beginning and end. Zoe, the only other character you contact over the course of the game, I could've used more of her, but I'm glad she's getting her own DLC.

Part of this game's confidence is that it's not afraid to be hammy--without being absurd to the point of inviting mockery. The story it tells is a very sympathetic one, especially when you learn exactly what happened to the Bakers and why the final boss does what they do. Despite that story, however, the Bakers are not above being fun and creating both a sense of dread and genuine enjoyment as they chase you about. I had to try the boss fights multiple times, but because Jack and Marguerite are so entertaining and fun, I never felt too frustrated trying again.

For the cons: I REALLY do not like the choice they give you. It's a bit of a spoiler, but I'll tell you now: make the conventional choice. If you don't, you're just going to be angry at what the game does. Also, while I truly adore the twist about the identity of the little girl you keep seeing around the property, the last quarter of the game drags a bit and doesn't add too much that a few more documents wouldn't have done, which would've contributed to a much tighter game. Lastly, Ethan is too much of a blank slate. He reacts in combat and scripted events, but he's often WAY too muted when he does things or things happen to him that would absolutely traumatize a regular person. Either Ethan is a complete sociopath, or the writers needed to do a bit more work on him.

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Overall, the story and characters were stronger in this game than any other RE game, though that's not saying much. Writing has never been the attraction of this premier franchise, but they decided to narrow down the focus of this game, and to their benefit.

Gameplay: If you saw the demo for this, you may have dismissed this game like I did. However, after I played this, I can tell you that this is the most Resident Evil game since Code Veronica. Inventory management is back in spades, forcing you to decide what you want to bring in the next stretch and often seeing you backtracking for items after you dump some stuff at the save point; the combat is sticky and difficult, making you think smart and avoid taking on fights that you don't strictly need to fight while making you evade and block to buy the time you need to get in a good shot; ammo preservation has come back, strongarming you into using your ammo more effectively so you don't use too much on a mook and come up short when a boss fight rears its head. You search every nook and cranny for ammo and crafting items (more on that in a bit) to get you through to the next boss, so you can spend all that ammo, then build your way up from the ten handgun bullets you're left with afterwards.

As for what's new: the first person perspective is used to the fullest extent I've ever seen a horror game use it. Enemies are often up in your face (bosses especially) and have a tendency to always seem to be moving faster than they actually are, while this perspective makes every corner a small crisis as you slowly ease around it to see what's down the hallway. This perspective also helps make the Baker family far more threatening, as Jack especially likes to get face to face with you, often taunting you as he beats you down.

The crafting system is very well done, because it's an extension of the game as a whole: you'll have to choose whether you want more bullets or more healing items. The way it works is there are many different items that can craft bullets, meds, explosives, and fuel. However, you require chem fluid for each of these transactions, often leaving you with plenty of gunpowder and herbs, but only 2 hits of chem fluid, forcing you to decide which of them you want. You can collect all kinds of crafting items around the house, but without chem fluid (which is sparingly distributed), you can't create a one of them, and its use as a common denominator often sees you choosing priorities. I also liked the introduction of the separating agent, which breaks down items to give you chem fluid; after one particular boss, I realized I wasn't going to need my flamethrower anymore, so I broke down all of my burner fluid for chem fluid that I recrafted into bullets and meds. It's a very fitting and clever system, one I'm glad they added.

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The boss battles harken back to classic RE: You're locked in a small space with a nearly invulnerable enemy: good luck. In all seriousness, Jack and Marguerite are especially strong boss battles, while the final battles felt a little underwhelming by comparison.

Overall, the gameplay is what grounds this as a Resident Evil game, all while the influences of newer games are felt. If anybody ever asked me the best way to advance with the new trends in gaming while holding onto the core of what made your series relevant in the first place, this and Doom would be the games I point to. While the game suffers a bit in the back half, the tension of the gameplay does as much to build tension as the surroundings, leaving the second half less terrifying but still tense enough to grate on your nerves.

Aesthetic: This world is created much like the Spencer Mansion from RE1. You will backtrack, you will learn the layout of the house by necessity to figure out the best way to avoid the Bakers, you will search every uneven floorboard for items. The music is appropriately terrifying (I especially like the 'theme' for this game, which is a southern folk song modified to be completely demented) and smartly declines to introduce itself during some scares, instead letting the surprise and graphics do it themselves. It's a lost art these days, allowing (relative) silence to reign as the enemy surprises you or tension builds up.

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With a first person perspective, the tightness of the corridors, creaking of the doors/distant bumps and crashes all over the house, and roving enemies are oppressive. For a horror game, that's exactly what you should want. The surroundings are excellently crafted, and the sounds are perfect. There's nothing to really complain about on this front and some to praise, so it's an overall plus in balance.

All told, this is a return to form for the series and a fantastic standalone game. This is a game not afraid to be silly sometimes but ready to scare you at any time, one that doesn't require a ten year investment in the series, and one that fuses its own identity with current horror trends to remain an RE game while being updated for the times. I would suggest that anyone remotely interested in horror play this game. If you're not into the Resident Evil series or horror, I'd recommend you steer clear.

*EDIT* I was drunk when I wrote this. Needed to typo-check badly.
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Last edited by Doodle Dee. Snickers on Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Resident Evil 7 - Review

Postby KleinerKiller » Thu Nov 16, 2017 5:46 am

Agreed on all counts, and glad you enjoyed what's still my favorite horror game in a year chock full of excellent spooky releases. And I'm very glad to see you highlighted dissatisfaction with the choice, since the problem with it seems to fly over the heads of so many others.

Spoiler: show
I really hope the End of Zoe DLC isn't shit and actually brings her back to life, because you don't just build a promising character up for two-thirds of the game only to abruptly drop or kill her after her first scene in favor of a wife I didn't care much about at all.

I'm also not satisfied about being right that Not A Hero is going to have Chris hunting down Lucas, because I was really hoping he'd survive for a few games and be the recurring Spencer / Wesker figure of the new game line. It's so perfectly Capcom that they'd leave two gaping plot threads open just to sell DLCs. But what can you do.


Also just gonna shamelessly plug my review here since so few people apparently read it
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Re: Resident Evil 7 - Review

Postby Doodle Dee. Snickers » Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:07 am

KleinerKiller wrote:Agreed on all counts, and glad you enjoyed what's still my favorite horror game in a year chock full of excellent spooky releases. And I'm very glad to see you highlighted dissatisfaction with the choice, since the problem with it seems to fly over the heads of so many others.

Spoiler: show
I really hope the End of Zoe DLC isn't shit and actually brings her back to life, because you don't just build a promising character up for two-thirds of the game only to abruptly drop or kill her after her first scene in favor of a wife I didn't care much about at all.

I'm also not satisfied about being right that Not A Hero is going to have Chris hunting down Lucas, because I was really hoping he'd survive for a few games and be the recurring Spencer / Wesker figure of the new game line. It's so perfectly Capcom that they'd leave two gaping plot threads open just to sell DLCs. But what can you do.


Also just gonna shamelessly plug my review here since so few people apparently read it


Spoiler: show
Yeah, I really hated what they did with Zoe. That said, the storyline with Evelyn was so clever, the reveal that she's the old woman that's been popping up everywhere blew me away. I wish Jack and Marguerite had lingered longer through the game, though.
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