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Resident Evil 7: Biohazard feels more like Resident Evil 7: Filled Biopanties! since after playing the first hour, I already knew the type of game I was getting into. Resident Evil is back and taking horror to another level; one some may be familiar with as they went the Silent Hills PT route with this one – claustrophobic and eerie. Was this the right way to bring this game back out of the grave it had dug for itself with Resident Evil 6?
The premise is that the main protagonist, Ethan, receives a very brief e-mail from his missing (and presumed dead) wife Mia; she is apparently at the Baker family household and asking you to come save her. Ethan takes his car and goes out to search the Baker house in Dulvey, Louisiana but ends up finding more than he bargained for as he fights for his life to find Mia and escape the Baker family.
I would usually add more to this, but trust me, I don’t want to give too much away as this will help with the atmosphere of the game keeping the surprise and suspense. There’s a lot of story to find throughout the game, not just during gameplay so remember to search your surroundings for the deeper lore of this depraved household.
When it comes to the gameplay: I love horror games and this one has to be one of those that really got under my skin. Yeah, go on if you want to comment saying you weren’t scared at all, but you will be just lying to me and yourself! This game has plenty of creepy, dark and foreboding rooms to explore in order to get the tools needed to escape the creepy large house of horrors.
The game’s controls are actually very easy to grasp. Most of what you will be using are: the thumb-sticks, bumper and trigger buttons, the X/A button to open or shut doors or drawers and execute main commands, the L buttons block and defend while R2/RT attacks and R1/RB uses first aid. You really need to keep on the defensive as you are very vulnerable and open to attack from a number of angles while you are being hunted through this maze like house. Confrontations can be terrifying and have you scurrying about looking for items or weapons to help against adversaries. There are a lot of useless items around that may give you info, but the game still runs while you look at anything, so this can be dangerous during battles.
Part 1 FULL GAME [1080p HD 60FPS] – No Commentary – MKIceAndFire
The graphics are stunning and pretty realistic at times. Facial features and skin textures look amazing and it enhances the fear factor as well as showing off the house and gore found within. If using VR for the game, I would say that the atmosphere would get you really deeply engrossed and make you forget this is a game. I’m not going to lie – I had jumped a few times during this game, plus I had a few WT -F moments which I won’t spoil. All in all, the graphics are amazing and push what current generation consoles can handle. Frightfully stunning!
Sound – Oh, now to talk about this ONE!!! I don’t mean that in a bad way at all, I just want to flip off the sound designers of this game for doing an amazing job of making me paranoid at every sound I hear in the game. Every step I make or sound I hear go off in the background put me so on edge that my cat scared me knocking stuff about in the kitchen! *claps*
Well done to whoever created the environmental sounds in the game (I tried looking up info on the sound team but had no luck). The music can go from tense to creepy depending on what you are doing or what area you are in, this really puts you into the game experience.
(DVDfever Dom adds: “I was just watching the gameplay footage on my phone while at the gym, so with the lights on full, and it made me scared! :)”)
Final Notes: Here’s where I cut through the good bad and uglyT the problem with this game is it is nothing like past Resident Evil games, but this is also its biggest strength. As confusing as this is, I mean that Resident Evil had to find a way to go back to its horror routes after the problems with Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 delving too far into action. Capcom knew they had to reinvent the series, while simultaneously taking it forward. I think they did a great job with this game, but I’m sure many purists will still complain (this is the internet after all). However, I’m sure there will be more lovers of this game than haters!
As much as it scares me to play (well done on that, Capcom) I will keep playing. I may not be getting the same experience I enjoyed with the earlier titles in the series, but horror is a thing I love and this game brings that to you with mystery, intrigue and story.
There are some cool throwbacks to earlier titles, most of which go back to the first game in the series. These are welcome easter eggs and includes gameplay elements that have some familiarity to its roots.
The only bad thing I can say is that I wish it felt like I was playing a Resident Evil game. As much as I enjoyed playing RE7, it didn’t give me the same satisfaction I received compared to one of the first 4 games in the series. Things always need to change to progress and we will always long for that feeling of enjoyment in nostalgia – it’s not a flaw in the game I think it’s a flaw in us the fans.
Graphics: 9/10 – I want to give this a perfect score but there are some elements which don’t look amazing all the time, I think if you have watched Rogue One and think Tarkin and Leia you may understand where I’m coming from.
Sound: 9/10 – This sometimes works too well putting the fear of god into you every step of the way
Gameplay: 8/10 – Simplistic which is useful in this first person experience
Enjoyment: 7.5/10 – For the story, most of it can be found in items, pictures, files and newspaper clippings but there is also a decent story thrown at you throughout your gameplay. In addition, some may find replay value to find any hidden secrets but I’d say most will let the game sit and collect dust on their shelf after their first playthrough.
Overall score: 8.5/10 – a fantastic experience I recommend to any horror fan, plenty of thrills and scares to be had, I cannot wait to try this in VR, need to get me some old man nappies.
Thanks to the Youtube channels featured for the gaming footage.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC, and click on the packshot for the full-size version.
Important info:
- Publisher: Capcom
- Players: single-player
- HDTV options: up to 1080p
- Sound: DTS 5.1
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
9 9 8 7.5 |
| OVERALL | 8.5 |
Director: Koushi Nakanishi
Producer: Masachika Kawata
Executive Producers: Yoshinori Ono and Haruhiro Tsujimoto
Writer: Richard Pearsey
Retro game fan, comic book reader, board game lover and film fanatic. I have loved videogames since I was 5 years old after visiting my first arcade, I have grown up with gaming since having my Atari 2600 then Commodore 64. I ended up building my own career crafting pixelised characters and have had the pleasure of meeting many of my retro gaming heroes who developed some of my absolute favourite games.