Resident Evil Remake Critique and Observations
May 4th, 2008
Over a year ago now I completed Resident Evil 4 on my beloved Gamecube and much like a zombie waiting for the next brain to munch on, I was hungry for the next Resident Evil fix. With this is mind, a few months ago my brother was kind enough to buy me a good condition, used copy of the Resident Evil Remake on the Gamecube.
I’ve been playing parts of this game on and off for a few months now and last week I decided to lay this game to rest and finally complete it. As I was playing this game I noted several observations and points of interest, my account can be found below.
The Prior Expectations
There are numerous judgments and criticisms of the original Resident Evil games that are common knowledge among most of us. They are:
- tank like controls
- cheesy voice work
- cheap scares
With these three issues kept in mind I decided to approach Resident Evil Remake in a way which would lessen the outdated pain that I was going to be dragged through. I had already experienced some of this with a PC port of RE3 that I nabbed a few years back and I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic to experience these dramas again. So my first remedy was to play guide my way through this game and boy am I glad I opted for the play guide. 
Lets Get Dangerous!
So with guide in hand and preconceptions cast aside I began my RE Remake experience. Off the bat the bad dialog was readily apparent. But as I started discovering more of the mansion I noticed that there were only a limited number of instances with dialog so contrary to my original ideas there is actually very little voice acting to complain about. What was there though was poorly written and just plain cringe worthy material. I cannot understand why Capcom would re-record the voicework but stick to the original script. This damages the tension of the game, something that I’ll get to later.
Read the rest of this entry »
DP’s Gaming Wallpapers
April 30th, 2008
Oh boy, this is somewhat embarrasing. As mentioned in the previous post I am interested in graphic design and also photography, you can find some of my work on my deviantART page and on my flickr account. Many years ago I created a few video game based wallpapers when my design skills weren’t too crash hot. Even though it is painful looking at these pieces now, some of them, the more recent ones (2 years ago) aren’t too bad. Since I don’t have anywhere to upload these wallpapers to, I thought that I could make this site their last resting place. So below are the wallpapers that I am talking about. Also I apologise for scrolling on the main page, Wordpress’ awful formatting has my hands tied. 
You will find that some of them are tagged, I should explain this. Firstly Raven is an old screen name *giggles*, some of the wallpapers were volunteraly made for the Advanced Media Network, a site in which I use to post at quite a bit (the forum that is) and Nexus and Ravens Domain is something of a portfolio site with work from myself and my twin brother. Anyways, I think that the majority of these wallpapers are quite crude but if you like them then…yeah, let me know. Click the titles for a full view.
Advanced Media Network Wallpaper - 1024×768
Bowser Sprite - 1024×768
Day of Disaster - 1280×1024
Fierce Deity 2006 - 1600×1200
Gamecube Advanced - 1024×768
Kirby - 1280X1024
Lost in Blue - 1600×1200
Super Mario 64 DS - 1024×768
Playstation Portable - 1600×1200
Paper Mario #2 1024×768
Paper Mario Dragon - 1600×1200
Raven (Fire Emblem) - 1600×1200
Tags: day of disaster, fire emblem, gamecube, konami, lost in blue, mario kart, nintendo, paper mario, Pokemon, super mario, wallpaper, Wario Ware, wii, zelda
Link Out (13/4/08)
April 12th, 2008
To talk slightly off topic for a moment, I must say that in the past week or so I have been in a consistently chirpy mood and as such I would like bring forward this month’s Link Out post and share that happiness.
This happiness is in due part to my University 2 week break which starts Monday, completing a Chinese test and of course and the steady maintenance of this site. These are all great contributors but it is two other events in the recent days that have really made my day. Firstly I have been offered a $5000 scholarship and an additional $1000 travel grant from my University to study in ShangHai (China) from September to January this year. Secondly some of my recent articles, namely the Morgan Webb article has been receiving numerous trackbacks from sites like Shack News and GameSetWatch and as such my traffic has seen another large jump. Actually I am quite pleased about the GameSetWatch link out because I have much respect for that blog and it’s main site; Gamasutra. It reconfirms to me that my writing is on the right track.
So I figured that in my time of great happiness I would share the love and disperse another round of recommended readings for the month. So here are some of the links that I have been keeping in cold storage in the recent weeks.
MIT’s Jenkins On Gamers, Youth Culture, Brother Leeroy - GameSetWatch
Henry Jenkins is a professor over at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) he specializes in cultural convergence, learning through digital media and related fields. He is a leading researcher in under these fields and created many of the terms and concepts. This article outlines one of his recent key notes as well as some questions at the end. An incredibly interesting read.
Incredible Metal Gear Solid 3 Photo Captures
You remember the camera feature in the Metal Gear Solid games? Well take a look at some of these incredible images that this Japanese guy captured. You wonder how people figure these things out.
WAZ – Bruce on Games
Bruce Everiss brings to light something which should be a reference point for us gamers on the issue of video game violence. WAZ is another one of those disgusting torture porn flicks which appear to be filling new releases rental shelves everywhere. The point he raised was that the British Government recently provided a fund of a million pounds for the release of this movie yet contrast this against the rough time that ManHunt 2 has been getting in Europe.
Metroid 2 16Bit Remake
Another fan remake of a classic gaming title. This time its Metroid 2: Return of Samus being remade into 16bit. Unlike some of the previous fan remakes (OOT 2D, Metroid Prime 2D, Final Fantasy VII 2D, the list goes on) this one is actually might just get finished, well heres hoping. The blog proves to be quite resourceful on the remake and there is a downloadable demo as well.
Legend of Zelda 4 Swords – 5 Gamecubes, 5 TVs - Retro Gaming with RacketBoy
Back in the time of GBA/GCN connectivity and 8 player LAN Mario Kart my friends and I were always keen to test out these new play experiences. This article is a throwback to that sort of gaming culture. As the title states fastbilly1 and some of the community members over at Retro Gaming with RacketBoy strung together a series of 5 Gamecubes (4x utilizing GB Players) with 5 TVs each with a copy of Zelda 4 Swords Adventures (4 players + one main TV). The stuff of legends, there are images and video inside so take a look.
Bangai-O Spirits Critique - Action Button
While doing some random blog surfing I was directed to this site which provides some interesting game critique. I started reading this review of Treasure’s new Bangai-O Spirits for the DS and I was instantly grabbed by the linguistic rhythm of this writer. So I figured you might be too.
Other Great Links
Fun With Modifiers – Press The Buttons
Game Criticism, Why We Need It, and Why Reviews Aren’t It
Blog Banter: Where’s the Harm? - Man Bytes Blog
Going to the Carnival: Why Violent Video Games Help Society - Write the Game
Best April Fools Video Game Gags – VideoGames Blogger
Tags: , bangai-o spirits, fan remake, gamecube, henry jenkins, metal gear solid, metroid, zelda 4 swords
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