Review: Kingdom Hearts

Everybody has a favorite from their childhoods, whether it's Space Invaders, Pitfall, Super Mario Brothers, Sonic The Hedgehog, Earthworm Jim, Ocarina Of Time or Banjo-Kazooie... and Kingdom Hearts was my absolute favorite game as a kid. Even if I didn't know what to do and I had to resort to Gamefaqs to pass a bit or two, it was still a game I loved dearly. All the Disney characters, all the Disney worlds, and the fun combat – it just clicked and really kicked ass at doing so. Eventually, you revisit a childhood memory and find yourself analyzing it with a more adult mind (well, as adult as a near-20 year old can get), like why did you love it so much and was it as good as it was? Honestly, unless your old favorite was something like Metal Gear Solid or Super Mario Brothers 3, fuck no it wasn't! You realize that some screws were actually loose that were too small for your 7 year old eyes to see, but somehow, your 20 year old eyes can see them, and oh boy, Kingdom Hearts is quite an example of this. Still a fun game, no doubt about that, but come on, it's no masterpiece.

The basic idea of the story is that three teenagers from an island are seperated across the universe when the world's about to get destroyed. But amidst the chaos, Riku disappears into the darkness, Sora gets the Keyblade out of it and Kairi just disappears in Sora's arms. Meanwhile, King Mickey suddenly leaves the Disney Castle on a mission, leaving a note for Goofy and Donald, which tells them to look for the wielder of the Keyblade because he/she's important to save the world. Goofy and Donald meet up with Sora and they travel the universe to slay the evil Heartless and the even more evil Disney villains (from big boss Maleficent, to grunts like Captain Hook and Jafar) before they destroy the universe.

There are a few things that really stand out – for one thing, it's not so much about the original story as it is about Disney fanservice. You basically relive parts of a bunch of movies like Tarzan, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, except there are Heartless in them causing trouble. Honestly speaking, this is when the story is at its best – fanservice done right, if you ask me. It's fun going through these worlds, interacting with various Disney characters. In fact, just seeing them is awesome, like “man what are we/they going to do?” However, the game has an original story going on, and while the allies are stuck in their own stories, the villains sure as hell aren't, and...

...it sucks. I seriously spent more time picking on the plotholes, nonsensical bullshit and some questionable dialogue with my mates than actually get absorbed into it, and I'm sure you could make a drinking game out of it. For instance, take a drink anytime a plot element is introduced with barely any build up that should've been given some, and take two drinks if has no resolution... and four if it has a half assed resolution. Trust me, you'll be drunk off your dick by the time this is over, and that's just the very beginning. It's up to you how many you do for awkward dialogue, half assed character development and... just generally being a mess. Sure, it seemed good when you were a kid, especially with the Final Fantasy characters making cameos (but only actually doing something beyond some exposition towards the end), but then you learn about decent storytelling, and about how it has to have some form of coherence, and if it's not going to make sense, then it should at least be pretty damn cool... which this is far from, since a lot of the time, it just screws around, hoping it'll all fall into place, or at its most desperate, let nostalgia take over. It sucks, because there was potential for a good or at least a decent story in there somewhere, but instead, it's just a cut above the narcfest that was Cartoon All Stars To The Rescue... which doesn't say much, I'm afraid. Thankfully, it only really comes into play during the last third of the game.

Until then, it's time to get out your large keys and whack the hell out of whatever pack of enemies come your way! Combat is fairly basic – in fact, most of what it comes down to is hammering the X button, while often moving out of the way to dodge enemy attacks. There are no fancy combos (well, until you learn some at key points throughout the game), no light and heavy attacks and certainly no room for advanced tactics. Sounds bad, I know, but that's where the variety of enemies comes into play. I mean, you have your typical weak Heartless and brands of stronger ones, but you also deal with aerial enemies (some fast, some not so far), spellcasters and frontally defensive (usually blobs with heads, hands and feet) types. That alone has the capcity to keep the game fresh, and add the fact that only a few of them are consistent, I'd say it stays fresh. Just goes to show what enemy variety can really do if your combat engine is a bit “eh”.

But yeah, you can learn abilities, most of which range from adding an extra hit to your basic combo to passive abilities (for instance, you'll either get more HP/MP/Munny balls or rarer treasures when you kill enemies), but the best come in the form of combos. Accessed from the battle menu (the only menu that can be used in real time), you'll unleash a combo that can really fuck shit up and you'll be immune the whole time. They have the potential to be great, but they're usually reserved for when you're in a jam and have a decent amount of MP left. The other abilities can be quite helpful either during battle or just in a pinch, but unlike the sequel where they make Sora overpowered, they actually give you a fighting chance against some of the bosses, particularly the later ones.

So beyond enemy variety, what keeps this game interesting if there isn't much to the combat? Why, looking forward to the next boss, of course, and the bosses are mostly well designed. Yeah, a couple of them suck balls, but the rest make up for it. Theoretically, they require you to smack them senseless, but there's always a method to their madness, like how some of them have two targets (the infamous Stealth Sneak + Clayton combo – by the way, how the fuck does a shotgun suddenly fire like a sniper rifle? TELL ME), or spam certain attacks, but as you'd expect, the idea is to hit them when the times are right. The thing with these bosses is that it's so much fun just figuring out their motives and countering them. Even if the combat engine itself isn't the greatest and the difficulty pacing is a little all over the place (the aforementioned Stealth Sneak is only the fourth boss, and it'll be a fair few more bosses down the line before you fight one that's harder), they really manage to make something work out quite well.

But this game has some huge gameplay problems. For one thing, the camera fucking sucks. The only way to move it is by using the shoulder buttons... no right stick is involved; just the shoulder buttons. Now, when you target enemies (which in and of itself is a bit on the schizophrenic side of the fence), you use the shoulder buttons to change targets. Putting two and two together basically says “yeah this fucking sucks”. Plus when you're dealing with enemies that constantly move, it goes all over the place, which can make fighting them much harder than it ought to be. Oh, and only controlling the x-axis is not only really outdated, but also very limiting when against flying enemies.

Another thing is that some levels are designed pretty badly. Most of them are fairly linear and merely require finding where the next cutscene lies, but some are ridiculous. To be fair, it's all in the first half, but the last of them is a doozy and a half, requiring you to fuck about in the depths of some ruins. While the rest simply required trial and error, this one required Gamefaqs because holy shit, what the fuck am I supposed to do!? How did I know I was meant to fall into a pit and swim around... shit, since when could you SWIM UP WATERFALLS!? They're not really big, but still, that's something not even Bear Grylls's cameraman could do, let alone some kid with a big key and three timeless cartoon characters.

Might I also add that the only way to travel between worlds at first is to go through a shoot em up segment, flying through space while shooting up Heartless ships – and man, these segments are dull! Even in the second half of the game when there's more ships to shoot and obstacles to dodge, eh, the only time you feel something positive is when you get to the next world and be thankful for the warp drive being installed into your ship after a while, especially for the Donkey Kong 64-ish sidequests (in which you collect shit like the iconic 101 Dalmations and the Trinity Marks) and optional bosses (including fan favorite Sephiroth... I wish there were more Final Fantasy bosses, but whatever). It's mainly because the enemy ships don't exactly pose a threat as long as you move around and hold X (the shoot button). There aren't any bosses here, so all you fight are grunts. Thankfully, it never takes too long... at least if you go by your stopwatch, but it sure feels like forever since your ship moves fairly slowly, even at its supposed “fastest”. As for actually building your ship, eh, I just fuck about with various parts and see what fits, and I'm sure you would too. Nothing really good. Maybe adequate, but it's a decent cure for insomnia.

Finally, whenever you're forced to platform, you'll be subject to some rather crap controls. Jumping from platform to platform is made hard with how stiff it feels. It's not quite as stiff as, say, Castlevania on the NES, but suffice it to say, the few platforming segments that are (thankfully only) in the first half of the game will be a bit of a pain in the dick.

There were certainly no punches pulled in the graphics department. Some lip syncing issues aside (didn't know some two syllable words suddenly had six but okay), the visuals are bloody stunning! The locations are appropriately colorful, with green jungles and blue seas, while the character models definitely look the part – whether that means like their 2D animated selves in 3D or possible post-Nintendo Final Fantasy characters, whatever the case may be, they look great. Maybe the character designer had a zipper fetish if you look at Sora's outfit (and it gets worse in the next game), but it's overlookable, especially considering that the environments have a good amount of detail and stand out enough to make small details seem smaller. Oh, and the opening and closing cutscenes... back in 2002, they looked fucken real, I swear! I mean nowadays, they look like something out of a Pixar animation, but the amount of detail put into each of the models in these scenes was pretty unreal for that time and even now, it still looks pretty impressive.

The sound design is a touch hit and miss. For instance, a lot of characters have good voice acting like Riku and Ansem, but some of the Disney cast and a lot of the Final Fantasy cast... nah, they just don't really sound too good, like they couldn't care less about the game and just want their cheque. Ah well, can't let a few small rotten apples spoil a lot of big juicy ones. The soundtrack is especially on the hit and miss side of the fence – not that any of the songs are bad or anything, but the level tracks (both battle and non-battle tunes) can get a bit grating when you're spending a lot of time navigating through a level, plus the songs themselves, while good, aren't much to shake a stick at. But it's all worth it, just to hear the glorious boss themes (depending on the boss). Good fucking god, these songs are epic and can make a boss battle really come to life with some intense symphonic tracks! It's tracks like those that can really strenghten a game...

Kingdom Hearts is quite a mess if you look at it from a logical designing point of view. So many instances that could've been redone, so many that could've used some rewriting and so many plot points that could've used better foreshadowing and resolution. But if you're looking at it from an emotional point of view, you really can't hate this game too much. It's just so much fun interacting and fighting alongside/against Disney characters, and the combat itself when you weren't wresting the camera was very fun. Add the awesome soundtrack and mostly excellent graphics, and you've got yourself a game that's technically mediocre, but emotionally pretty good.

7/10 (Good)

Review: The White Chamber

Holy shit, it's the point and click version of Dead Space!

No, that's seriously what I was thinking as I was playing through this game – it takes place exclusively inside a spaceship, it has a horror theme, and there are monsters terrorizing a ship. Sounds a lot like Dead Space, except, as I've stated, it plays out like a point and click game (not unlike Tales Of Monkey Island or Broken Sword), and there's a lot more emphasis on horror. The White Chamber tends to fuck with your mind while Dead Space just makes you jump with sudden monster encounters. Maybe not like Silent Hill, but it can still instill fear into your mind.

Anyway, a nameless woman wakes up inside a coffin, forgetting what had happened beforehand. What you have to do is explore the spaceship, figuring out what you were doing there. But there are many dangers – or are there? Like I said, it has a bit of a tendency to fuck with your mind a bit, but you keep playing anyway, because you want to know how this will play out, and vicariously, how it will screw with you. Like I said, this has nothing on the likes of Silent Hill or The Suffering, especially since those games are much longer, but with sudden appearances of monsters and dark visuals, it becomes apparent that you may want to figure out what's going on, plus it does have quite an atmosphere that'll draw you in to do so.

You collect video discs that vaguely detail what happened to somebody on this ship prior to when the game begins, and with the vague details, you press on, hoping to piece it altogether, and... well, I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say that the ending will unload a can of worms on you... BLOODWORMS – nah, just worms, but it still comes out of nowhere. The payoff is damn fine, to put it simply. I won't spoil anything, but suffice it to say, it's certainly worth playing through to experience.

The idea is to point and click to find, collect and use objects in order to proceed. It's always a good idea to “scan the room”, so to speak. Thankfully, it's not a pixel hunter (seriously, pixel hunting in 2005? hahahahaha); in fact, the items are fairly big. It's pretty convenient how your character knows what most of these things are, especially since they tend to help you solve the puzzles in this game – most of which consist of placing the right item(s) in the right place. Commonplace for point and click games, for sure, but a lot of them are based on common sense, and as such, they're pretty easy. You never really have to bust your balls to figure out how to solve a puzzle – except on a couple here and there. Even then, that's practically the bulk of the game right there.

Throughout the game, you can earn karma points by performing certain actions. As the name would imply, you earn them by being a good person. Some questions will test this, and there are some actions that you should do because you're a good person like that... right? RIGHT!? But yeah, whenever there's an opportunity to be a good person, do it. That's... really all. There's like one moment where you can be a dick and lose a karma point, but that's it. It just feels like it was put in there because why not? The issue is that it becomes a chore to play it again... maybe that's why it's so short – so that you won't feel like you've wasted a lot of time playing the exact same game except you do some things differently, and if I'm being honest, these were more of a noodlescratcher than most of the actual puzzles. I don't know whether to say that it's sad or good, so I'll just say “meh” and proceed...

That's not to say that it's bad or even mediocre – just easy. They're still fairly well crafted puzzles with logic in mind – just basic logic. Don't expect any that'll rattle your brain like in the old Lucas Art-made games. At least it'll stop you from being frustrated, unless you require your puzzles to be hard as fuck.

I suppose you could say that a lot of the budget went towards creating the mood. There's a lot of dark and gritty stuff in this game. Lots of blood, lots of dull dark colors to emphasize the feeling of isolation – really, it's designed to give you the feeling that you're alone on this shit, and yet, you're not actually alone, given that there's some blood in a few rooms and it may be fresh... the designs also look nice. You and the monsters are presented in an anime style, although the animation is as fluid as your typical American animation (put it this way – Japanese animation moves more slowly than their American counterparts)... at least for the models, anyway. The few anime cutscenes you get seem to be at the usual 20/30fps, with a bit of choppiness here and there, and it's pretty fuzzy looking... at least on my monitor (my resolution is 1920x1080 and there's no setting to optimize for that size, though given that everything else looks crispy, I guess it does so automatically and these just weren't meant for a monitor of my size).

As for the sound design, it certainly works well enough to really draw you in and tense you up. There isn't much in the way of music – just a droning sound and your footsteps do wonders to lull you into a false sense of security, only for the music to intensify for a potentially intense situation. Damn, this is fucking sick! I mean, it's not overly impressive on its own merits, but in these kinds of games, it's better to go for atmosphere than for a top 40 hit. But honestly, I don't feel that the voice acting is that good. In these kinds of games, it should be really convincing, getting you into it... yet here, I can tell that there are people behind a microphone providing the voices. Maybe it's because the emotions feel exaggerated? Seems like it. Plus I've noticed that some clips have inconsistent volumes, like one clip will be quiet and the next will be at a medium volume... eh.

The White Chamber is a serviceable point and click game with a pretty good story and atmosphere. The puzzles might be pretty simple, but they're still fairly well integrated into the game. The morality system isn't a bad idea, but there isn't much of it... in fact, there isn't much of The White Chamber, period. Add onto the fact that nothing is ever as tense or scary the second time around as it was the first time (save for maybe Silent Hill and The Suffering), and there's almost no point in replaying it. A nice distraction with a tense atmosphere, but that's it.

6.5/10 (Above Average)

Review: Resident Evil 5 (360)

If I were to compare Resident Evil games to metal albums, I'd say that Resident Evil 4 is Sons Of Northern Darkness, and that Resident Evil 5 is All Shall Fall (both albums by Immortal). What do I mean? Well, Sons Of Northern Darkness is Immortal's most accessible album, just like how Resident Evil 4 is the most accessible Resident Evil game, but yet it never feels wrong to enjoy it. However, All Shall Fall is a shameless disgrace to the Immortal name, despite following in Sons Of Northen Darkness's footsteps, and the same could be said about Resident Evil 5. Resident Evil 4 was fun, but I don't want Capcom to go down this road again, especially if they're going to further ditch everything that gave Resident Evil its identity in the first place, not even bother to work on the controls, and insert co-op because shit, co-op is the only way a game can work nowadays.

Fuckers.

It's been a long time since the events of the first Resident Evil game - so long in fact, that Chris Redfield took up weightlifting in his spare time and he's now fucking huge! He could give Marcus Fenix a run for his money! But seriously, he's assigned a mission in Africa, alongside some chick named Sheva, to chase down some guy named Irving, who has a biological weapon that he's planning on selling to the black market, and it turns people into zombies. Somewhere along the line, Chris finds pictures of Jill Valentine, his partner from the first game who he assumed had died, but nevertheless, he hopes to find her. Unlike Resident Evil 4, the story isn't deceptively simple; it's just simple, and pretty boring to boot. It does an adequate enough job to keep the game moving, but unlike Resident Evil 4, nothing really grabs you, and it just changes its mind every so often - one minute, you're chasing Irving down; the next, you're looking for Jill Valentine. Like it matters - there isn't much in the way of development and the only cutscenes worth shit are the ones you'd find in an action movie. When there is plot and character development, it's minimal enough to give you something to work with, but that's all - otherwise, meh.

For some reason, Resident Evil 5 plays very similarly to Resident Evil 4, and yet, it just feels like you're playing with dog turds. The basics of Resident Evil 4 are in tact and feel about the same, except even more action-y. In this game, you go through ultra-linear levels, encountering groups of enemies, and shoot them in the head - rinse, lather and repeat, with a few exceptions here and there. Sometimes, you'll be subject to an on-rails section, where you have to shoot down groups of enemies before they destroy your ride or whatever. Sometimes, you'll have to fight off some enemies until something happens, but there tends to be some ammo lying around to make it easier, plus enemies drop ammo, so conservation in these areas is a bit on the easy side. Course, you'll have quick time events to deal with, and they're a bit more forgiving and can lead to some exciting events, so no issues there. Really, the basic gameplay formula, itself, isn't bad. It's everything else that doesn't work.

The survival in this game is a fucking joke - instead of the awesome briefcase, you're given the boxes of old that can only carry one item each, regardless of the item's size. The worst part is that you hardly ever feel like you have to conserve anything. Ammo is always lying about somewhere, and the closest to conservation... is that you should never go overboard, and always aim for the head. But that should be, like, common fucking sense! Not to mention, using items, equipping different guns and trading with your parner is done in real time. This would be okay if the rest of the game was fast paced, but this is Resident Evil, and even the action games are slow paced. But then again, it goes with the co-op that's constantly shoved down our throats... I suppose Capcom got cornered here, so they just went with this, and while it does alright with the online co-op, it doesn't mesh with the slow paced combat, especially when there are lots of enemies about to rape you.

If you found Ashley annoying, then prepare to not lose your shit, because Sheva is ten thousand times worse. Theoretically, she shouldn't be - she's got guns and her own inventory - surely, she's not going to be useless, right? WRONG! Her AI is dreadful. She will be very, very quick to waste bullets, waste good healing supplies on some boo boos, and worst of all, because she's armed, she's quick to get in your way! Did I mention that neither of you are allowed to die? Well, neither of you are allowed to die. Once again, survival isn't in conservation; it's in protecting an ally, except this time, you're protecting somebody with the capacity to protect themselves, except they don't because their AI is god awful. Enter what is essentially forced co-op - yes folks, you can play with another person, either online or offline. Sadly, this is the only way to make this game sort of bearable.

It's one thing to keep old-ish controls in a game with a different playstyle within the same series because I'll admit, old habits do die hard; it's another when you make the exact same mistake years later, and yet change the playstyle to something even further away from what used to be! There's no excuse not to let us move and shoot; there's no excuse not to actually use the right stick to turn instead of the left stick (which is also used for movement); there's no fucking excuse for a fucking run button - you have two analogue sticks... but they're not good enough for Capcom, it seems! Sure Capcom, keep deluding yourselves into thinking you're evolving the survival horror genre, while I keep being honest in saying that this is straight up action with crap controls.

The Gold Edition has more post-game content than the original version, so if you actually want to buy this piece of shit, buy that. The original version still has some post-game content - just not quite as much. I mean, you get Mercenaries mode, where you have to kill as many enemies in an arena-like battlefield within a set amount of time, and you can at least play this online unlike Resident Evil 4 (mainly because online wasn't nearly as important back then as it is now). Other than that.. umm... you can play through it again to get the achievements you missed? Meh.

As far as the graphics go... seriously, I can't help but laugh at Chris's design. The dude has obviously spent the 9 years since Resident Evil 1 bench pressing until the cows came home - how else could he be that bulky? His head is small, too! The other designs range from okay to reasonably good, and they do look quite realistic. The textures on the enemies would give you the impression that they're zombie-like (or unwelcoming of outsiders) in behavior, while the work on Sheva would make her look close to photorealistic. The same could be said about the environments - danky caves, cold facilities, villages that may or may not have gone through a civil war before being zombified, they all work out well with some excellent textures and colors... maybe too excellent, because I've noticed a bit of lag here and there, especially in the cutscenes. Chris's hulking biceps are far from realistic, but they make him stand out, not to mention that they're hilarious at the same time.

The sound design is similar to Resident Evil 4's - music has a tendency to play as you're about to encounter enemies, getting rid of whatever tension there may have been. Otherwise, there isn't a whole heap of music, except during some intense action scenes, which are made better with the music. The voice acting is actually pretty good, and I couldn't really detect any characatures, so to say it's pretty damn good and does its best to draw you into the story is an understatement.

There are many things wrong with Resident Evil 5 - from plotholes, to inconsistencies, to horrible controls - but above all else, it's not a survival horror game; just a shitty action game. If it wasn't for the bad controls, I wouldn't really have an issue with this game, but Capcom just deluded themselves into thinking crap controls makes for a good survival horror, despite a lack of actual survival horror elements. God, this game sucks. I never got into Resident Evil and even I feel like an old school survival horror fanboy, that's how much this game blows.

3/10 (Lame)

Review: Resident Evil 4 (PS2)

Hold on a minute, THIS is the game that changed Resident Evil? Many would say for the worst, but I say it's for the better, and that the PS1 Resident Evil games were mediocre. I'm sorry fanboys, but I will never see the early games your way because I found them generally irritating to play, despite excellent survival mechanics. Resident Evil 4 is both a natural evolution for the series and a bit of watering down of the old formula. How so? Well, while it's easier to play and no longer plagued by atrocious camera angles (were they on purpose or did they just fuck up), the survival element (which was the only thing I liked about the older games, funny enough) felt less prevalent, like newer gamers couldn't handle it or something, although it was at least given a facelift to go with it.

One thing I found impressive with its story is that it's deceptively simple. At first, it's about Leon, the guy from Resident Evil 2, having to rescue Ashley Graham (the president's daughter) from a cult located in a small Spanish village, but then you start to learn more about their motives, and it just "clicks" after a while. Memos that are scattered across the village and the various cutscenes that are given careful attention manage to captivate you for the duration of the game, especially as it gets more into the cult and into the "zombies", as you'll be wondering what's going on (in a good way) and what's about to happen. It's a bit tricky to explain without spoiling the story, so I'll stop praising it here and give it the one bit of criticism I have for it - it has moments which border on cheesy. Not quite on par with the older games (oh god, not even close), but one of the characters' accents and some of his writing feels like there's an actor behind it, which detracts from the story when everybody else's voices and writing actually feels convincing enough to breathe life into these characters. Ah well.

Although it's a Resident Evil game, priorities have been changed. Instead of running around a maze-like area solving puzzles, you're running through linear levels, shooting zombies' heads off. That's quite a change of pace, because in the earlier games, combat played second fiddle to the puzzle solving and exploration. Now? Get out your weapons and fuck shit up! Surprisingly, the combat scenarios are actually fairly well done. The enemies here aren't brainless zombies; they're villagers that just aren't welcoming of strangers and will do anything to appease their god, meaning that they will try to put up a fight. They're quick to rush towards you, impale you, throw shit at you when they think they have a good shot at your head, and can try to dodge your attacks. Shit, some of them have chainsaws that'll cut your head off and kill you instantly. I'm not saying that they're perfect, but the important thing is that they're trying. The bosses aren't bad, and when the fight is going more for a cinematic approach, they're actually quite well done as it feels like an intense fight, especially one towards the end, but the not so cinematic ones... they function on a basic level, but are otherwise mediocre.

Speaking of cinematics, this game utilizes quick time events, something that was far from commonplace back when this was made. In fact, it was only seen in the Dragon's Lair arcade games, those shitty FMV games on the Sega CD and 3DO, and the extremely ambitious and fucking expensive Shenmue (still kicking yourselves for that one, Sega?). In fact, speaking of Shenmue, this game takes many cues from it by using quick time events to add some excitement to cutscenes (and certain boss fights). If you don't know what I mean, during some cutscenes, you'll be required to press or mash the right button(s) in order to perform an event, and if you don't do it, you'll die. Resident Evil 4 popularised it, but fuck, it can be unforgiving at times - often giving you little time to react, leading you to a cheap death.

It's changed around so much, that the puzzle solving feels like a distraction instead of the centerpiece. Occasionally, you'll be required to find some items and deliver them somewhere, or... something. The puzzles in this game feel so underdeveloped and mediocre, that it's like he forgot what made Resident Evil... Resident Evil in the first place.

For some bizarre reason though, the controls mirror the earlier games, in that you move like a tank and cannot move while shooting. For an action game, it may seem very, very inconvenient, like they were stuck between making a survival horror and an action game. Well, at least they figured out how to use the analogue stick right, because movement feels a bit more fluid, like you can move in 360 directions instead of a mere 8, although only half of them feel right. When moving forwards, it's fine; moving backwards feels a bit sluggish, although you can hold down and press O to do a quick 180 degree turn. Aiming is also made to take advantage of this (as well as the new over the shoulder camera angle), in that you can move the laser pointer around to get a more precise aim, which is important because... well, you want to kill the zombies, right? Course you do! I also find it perplexing that you still have a run button - you have analogue support so what's the point of this? There weren't any stealth missions, last time I checked. I just wished they put more work into the survival aspect - after all, survival horror should be about survival, not about how shit you can make the controls.

Oh, but don't get me started on survival... okay, you got me started. Survival feels watered down. Although you still only get limited resources in comparison to every other action game (like ammo and various healing items), it feels like there are a lot more than in the earlier games. Sure, at the beginning, it feels like you're limited to a pistol and a knife with a bit of ammo, but eventually, you'll score a shotgun, and then you'll find a merchant who sells guns... but not ammo, strangely enough.

It does, however, get a facelift that I fucking love, and will continue to wonder why Resident Evil 5 didn't keep going with this. Basically, it's a briefcase that's set up like a grid, and you have to fit the items inside. Each item can take up a different amount of space, like herbs and first aid sprays take up a 1x2 section of your briefcase, while a shotgun can take up a fair amount of space, and that's not to mention the ammo. It makes so much more sense than a box that can carry anything regardless of size, because it forces you to think about positioning in ways that allow you to carry everything. I guess you could say it makes up for the lack of puzzle solving.

Survival isn't limited to Leon's; you also have Ashley to consider. Unfortunately, once you rescue her and for most of the time afterwards, you'll be required to protect her. This is where the game goes from fun to occasionally annoying, because you will have to keep an eye on her. She can't defend herself, she tends to take more damage from attacks than you can, and... did I mention that if she dies, you lose? Yeah, well, that's an escort mission for you, and unfortunately, it does tend to damper on an otherwise good time, but at least you can find some ways to keep her out of your way... just depends on the scenario. Sometimes, it's easy to dump her in a dumpster, and sometimes, she's on your six, ready for a chainsaw wielding maniac to cut her head off... her AI is decent enough to get away, but like any scared little girl (well, maybe not little, but you get the picture), she won't want to stay too far away from her saviour... eh.

After beating the game, you can play through a short campaign as Ada Wong, a woman who followed Leon around during his campaign. Her campaign involves finding some rather juicy items that'll add to the story. Plus there's an addition that wasn't in the Gamecube version, which is basically the same as Leon's campaign, just from Ada's point of view, and yet again, it adds to the story, so it's important to go through this. The other mode you can play through, which is in all versions, is Mercenaries mode, which basically has you killing as many enemies as you can in an arena type setting within a time limit... which can be extended by finding hourglasses. This mode can be rather addicting, as you could imagine... yeah, there's a lot to do after finishing the main game.

If you're coming from the Gamecube original to the PS2 port, you'll notice a dip in graphical quality due to the Gamecube being more powerful than the PS2, but don't get discouraged, because it still looks great. It's grainier, which helps give it a more rustic look, which goes well with the dull color scheme, which vicariously goes well with the dreary atmosphere. But it doesn't excuse some mediocre textures here and there, nor does it excuse some clipping issues, like how your arm can go through solid objects (what is this - Nintendo 64?). However, the character models are designed very well, displaying some sweet texturework on the clothes, and the enemies do look a bit zombie-like. Plus the cinematic sequences offer some slick animation, which looks lifelike... despite some over the top animations here and there, but you can't have a good action scene without that, eh?

As I've stated, the voice acting is pretty good. Each actor puts a good amount of effort to give each character life and make it sound convincing - all except for one. Seriously, his Mexican accent sounds like there's an actor behind the microphone, and given that this is much more serious than the older games, it feels out of place. As for the music, it barely exists, which would be fine for a horror game, but unfortunately, it has this odd habit of basically alerting you of nearby enemies. Same with the sound effects - there's barely any surprise when an enemy jumps out due to the audio cues. It's a shame, because it does function on a fundamental level... just that it could be so much better.

Resident Evil 4 is far from the masterpiece or disasterpiece people would make it out to be. For what it's worth, it's a good game that manages to create some fine action scenes and scenarios, and goes about survival in a creative way. I just wish that there was more to survival than just item management and keeping Ashley alive. I also wish that we didn't have to deal with mediocre puzzles and keeping Ashley alive. But despite its flaws, this is a game that can be very enjoyable at the best of times.

7/10 (Good)