As Halloween is approaching, and I am currently watching a friend play Resident Evil 4 (I've only run through RE4 once), I've thought of reviewing Resident Evil 5.
NA Cover Art
Resident Evil 5 is a survival horror third-person shooter (admittedly a little light on the horror aspect) developed and published by Capcom and released in 2009. You play as B.S.A.A agents Chris Redfield (returning from Resident Evil 1) and Sheva Alomar who are trying to find information about a bio-organic weapon. Their search leads them to Albert Wesker and a brainwashed Jill Valentine (also returning from RE1, amongst others). Wesker has a plan to infect the entire world with the bio-organic weapon and it is up to you to save the world (a cliched premise I'll admit).
Split Screen (2 player) Gameplay
The gameplay is solid. The controls are relatively simple and there is a lot to discover in the game (mostly all the treasures, but also the weapons to a lesser extent). The ability to upgrade all the weapons make the game interesting (although much less challenging on multiple playthroughs). The difficulty is pretty irrelevant until you get to professional mode which is exponentially more difficult, especially with the intelligence of the AI, which can border on retarded. RE5 also offers tons of different modes which includes Mercenary mode and the DLC which includes Lost in Nightmares, A Desperate Escape, Versus and Mercenaries Reunion.
All in all a fun game (I spent enough time to platinum the game) and it is a good game to play if you need some time to kill. It may be a bit weak when compared with the rest of the series (especially RE4) but nonetheless is a credit to the series.
Before I begin this post let me clarify something: I am by no means a fighting game expert. I have very small amounts of experience playing fighting games. These include Soul Calibur 2 and 3 (very casual play with my sister), all iterations of Street Fighter IV (constant basis but not much play on my part) and Street Fighter Third Strike (similar to SFIV but I have probably played more), a tiny, tiny amount of Blazblue and also the Smash Bros. series (however I don't consider this in the same vein as the other fighting games, however Marvel vs Capcom 3 was the first fighting game I absolutely fell in love with.
NA/EU Cover Art for MvC3
Here is my journey into the world of MvC3:
I have been playing since July and despite promising myself (for reasons I can't remember) that I would never play it, I relented (after about 5 months). Marvel vs Capcom 3 drew me in with it's interesting, fast paced gameplay (I had never played a tag fighting game or any Vs series really), colorful cast of characters and relatively simplistic controls. For the first few weeks I played to get to know the game so I could play against my friends but as time passed something I couldn't even believe happened: I actually wanted to get much better at a fighting game. After a mere month I found myself not only playing in online ranked matches (something I had never cared to do in any game, regardless of genre; in simplest terms I am usually a very casual gamer). But by the beginning of August I had placed an order for the Qanba 4 Arcade Stick and haven't looked back. Today (about 3-4 months and 75 in game hours later) I am still quite mediocre at the game (even compared to most of my friends but that likely has to do with my ineptitude with the genre as a whole rather than just the game itself), but feel like I have learned a lot and I am constantly learning and surprising myself with what I can do (I have definitely come a long way from my beginnings with Wolverine, Sentinel and Akuma; currently I have been working on Magneto, Doctor Doom and Wesker).
One of the first matches I played against a friend (on the left)
Nice Random
Now let me backtrack a bit. In July (likely a few weeks after I picked up MvC3) Capcom unveiled Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, a "sequel" to MvC3. I was happy to hear this and I immediately made plans to buy it when it was released (still waiting; it comes out 11/15/11). However I was absolutely blow away by an admittedly terrible event (terrible for Capcom anyway), the 8 new characters not unveiled at San Diego Comic Con (there are 12 new characters total) were spoiled via images online and one of them is Capcom fan favorite (myself included) Phoenix Wright (from the Ace Attorney series).
I am a huge Ace Attorney fan and was thrilled to hear that Capcom had finally put him in a fighting game (I knew they had tried before). So as the weeks went by and more characters were unveiled, by mid-October only 4 remained. I attended New York Comic Con and on the first fay of NYCC I saw this video before heading off to the event:
I was ecstatic that not only had I finally seen Phoenix Wright's gameplay, but this meant that at NYCC and specifically at Capcom's booth I would be able to play Phoenix Wright. I got my first chance to play with a friend (who was more than excited to play Vergil), and I was enthralled by how weird his gameplay was. I also attended the UMvC3 panel and witnessed the unveiling of some details of UMvC3.
Me (Cosplaying Phoenix Wright) with Ryota Niitsuma (director/producer of UMvC3)
After the UMvC3 panel
So this is where my journey has led me. I am still anxiously waiting for UMvC3 to drop and really can't wait to get a real grasp for the changes implemented in this new iteration of the game, so in the meantime I constantly check sites like eventhubs, shoryuken and Maximillian's videos (Online Warrior and Assist Me series, especially the Assist Me series, which really helped my love for the game grow and as such I seriously recommend checking out Maximillian's videos if you haven't seen them before, a perfect blend of information and comedy) for updates and new content. I feel that this game can easily appeal to all gamers, from those who enjoy MvC3 to those who have never played a fighting game before. And who knows maybe I'll get into more fighting games, Street Fighter X Tekken is around the corner.
One of the games I have recently dusted off is an old favorite of mine, Advance Wars: Dual Strike (released in 2005, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS).
For those of you who have never heard of this game (or the series), it is a turn based strategy game based around the efforts of a coalition of 4 nations (Orange Star, Blue Moon, Green Earth, Yellow Comet) trying to stop the evil plans of a group known as Black Hole, which is now being led by a mysterious old man named von Bolt (after the likely death of the previous leader Sturm). This game introduced a few new concepts into the Advance Wars universe, namely new units and CO's, (Commanding Officers) the ability to choose up to 2 CO's (and the use of simultaneous CO Powers) and the use of both screens on the DS to simulate a 2 front battle.
Dual-Front Campaign Map
The gameplay is brilliant, you control army units and must win by either capturing the enemy HQ (headquarters) or routing the enemy (destroying every last unit of theirs) or sometimes have to complete a special objective (destroy a unit, capture certain territories, etc.), there are dozens of units to choose from and the amount of thought that goes into every move (both yours and on the part of the AI) seems staggering (especially when you replay maps and notice the computer makes different moves even though you make the same moves). Admittedly the story is slightly lacking and seems to play second fiddle to gameplay (not entirely a bad thing but something that is changed, at least to some extent in the next game of the series: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin), it is still a very interesting game with it's multiple game modes (2 of which are new), medal system (an accomplishment/trophy system), multiple interactions of CO's and units. It is an extremely deep game waiting for you to plunge its depths and if you enjoy games in this vein you will likely love Advance Wars: Dual Strike.
I hope you enjoyed my first post from this segment. Hopefully they will get refined as I go along.
Well here it is, the first post in my blog. I want to thank those who have spent the time to check this site out and I hope I can offer something special. I plan on reviewing anime/manga series and video games for the most part, focusing on what is special (good) about it, rather than harp on the negatives. While there may be times where it might not be easy for me to speak about new material and as such I hope to supplement posts of new things with posts going back a few years and talk about something regardless of whether it is famous or obscure or possibly just a general discussion. I also hope to make posts that revolve around either audio or video footage.
