The Video Game Revue

Resident Evil 5, Final Fantasy: Crystal Defenders

Matt was asking me how RE5 is, and mentioned that he heard it was more of an "action" game than a survival horror game. There is some truth to that, but it's not quite accurate: aside from the co-op play aspect and the changes to inventory management, RE5 plays the same as RE4. What makes it more action and less survival horror has, so far, been the level design. I find that scrounging for items and fending off zombie hordes is roughly the same as it was in RE4, but exploration has been de-emphasized.

RE5 also has more of the style of an action game. The main characters are typical action hero stereotypes, whereas Leon Kennedy had a softer edge to him--by which I guess I mean that he looked like somebody you might bump into in a shopping mall (in his default outfit, that is). Chris Redfield would look right at home in a Predator movie. These stylistic differences go beyond the characters to encompass the setting, the dialogue, and the overall premise of the game.

The thing that originally struck me about RE4 was how shamelessly campy it is, but in a way that really works. It could be almost laugh-out-loud goofy at times while piquing my interest all the same. RE5 tones that factor down a great deal, which may be a refreshing change, but I still manage to be disappointed. I get the sense that RE4 will still be well worth looking back on in ten years, while RE5 won't be particularly interesting. It's pretty much the same feeling that I get when comparing Devil May Cry 3 (an utterly amazing game that propelled the series forward in a big way) to Devil May Cry 4 (more of the same with an upgraded graphics engine and not enough of a twist to really distinguish itself from its predecessor).

Another game that has been eating up hours of my life lately is Final Fantasy: Crystal Defenders, which is, from what I understand, a port of a cellphone game that borrows its theme and most of its artwork from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2. It's a pretty run-of-the-mill tower defense game, but a well-made one; as such, it manages to be extremely immersive and addictive. It's a little on the pricey side at 800 MS points given that a) obviously not a resources went into producing it (no flashy 3D models or epic musical scores here), and b) similar experiences can be had for free with online Flash games and the like, but still, I'm glad that I picked it up.

I've been playing a ton of other games lately. In particular, I played all of the way through Bully: Scholarship Ed., I got back into Mirror's Edge for a couple of evenings, and I picked up Noby Noby Boy from the PlayStation Network Store. I'm also continuing to make gradual process through Final Fantasy VII (my long overdue second play-through) and Lost Odyssey. The primary reason that I haven't written more about these is simply that I've been busy.

posted by Parappa @ 2:54 PM