Lauren's profileLauren "Atheistium" Wain...PhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
Lauren "Atheistium" Wainwrighta small blog of ramblings from a british gamer |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
February 15 Resident Evil 5 [Hands on Preview]
Console Monster was invited to Capcom Headquarters in West London to check out a near to final build of Resident Evil 5. Setting us up from the start, in co-op campaign mode, was Ben LeRoutetel, Head of PR at Capcom, who offered up some tips and tricks in tricky situations as we were given free reign within the game. I won’t go into detail about the story line because it would really ruin the game but the basic jist is that you (Chris Redfield) have just arrived in Kijuju to investigate and meet up with Sheva, your new partner. Walking through the streets, you can see there is certainly something wrong with the situation, the people are brutal, beating down creepy body bags with nail covered planks, and even though there is no real threat (since you are currently unarmed) there is this aggressive atmosphere in the air. The people don’t want you there. Obviously, you are there to find out what is going on, and as you know, kill a lot of ‘infected’ people! The control system is very familiar to fans of the series; maybe those new to Resident Evil will find the stop and shoot tactic a little uncomfortable but not something too difficult to understand. It’s when a large horde of infected start to group around when quick thinking and control is needed. Oh, no there is no ‘Gears of War’ styled ‘action’ controls as rumoured before, I just wanted to clear that up. Quick time events are back but only as an occasional affair. Gorgeous cut scenes aside you’ll need to really be concentrating for the buttons appearing on your screen, co-op mode also has features where only one of you will be pulling off certain QTE moves. One cut scene had Chris pushing Sheva out of the way with a button press and then Sheva shooting her gun at just the right moment to cut him away from a chain dragging him across the floor. They are done in a tasteful manner where cut scenes have taken a long turn. This really keeps the player engaged and keeps up the tense atmosphere throughout the game.
Co-op play runs rather smoothly and is particularly more enjoyable than alone with an AI partner. I was previously concerned with how this would affect the ‘horror’ aspect of the title but for some reason, relaying on someone else to help you is even more terrifying than being on your own. A great example would be when traversing around pitch-black tunnels – you can’t see anything if you both head in weapons ready. There is a lantern available but it takes out your ability to fire weapons, one of you must lead the way while the other protects. This causes a lot of panic while one of you is trying to protect and the other is trying to alert you of the infected appearing behind you at the same time. It’s that chaotic feeling that brings a new lease of life into Resident Evil 5. While RE4 has been hailed as the ‘best of the series’, many people complained it had too much action and not enough horror – RE5 seems to have worked around this with putting you against the odds too many times. Even the most experienced team will have to learn how to run as ammo is in short supply. The combat has not changed dramatically from the forth instalment, its stop and shoot game play keeps things frustrating and frantic as usual. There seems to be a larger variety of weapons available this time around and they certainly feel much more comfortable to shoot. Get used to marking up your shots and don’t always rely on head-shots at the start of the game, they just don’t work until you have started upgrading your weapons. Logic would dictate you to pump as much lead out into the infected, but with such shortage for ammo it’s advisable to try getting the infected down to the floor with a swift blow and then stabbing them while they are down. One pet peeve I experienced was having to quickly stab the body, while a horde was around me, as well as being at a right angle to get the knife in. There were also occasions where I had stabbed the body just as it was getting back up only to have my knife drive through it and no damage occur. Of course, this was not a retail build of the game so I can safely assume it’s been fixed in the final version. Other frustrations included knowing when you could use your combat moves; a button will appear on the screen informing when you can use kicks and punches, but when being attacked by a group of infected it became hard to judge when to use this move. It becomes available when an infected has become dazed by a shot, leaving themselves open for close combat, it’s just being able to tell when that has happened when you have a variety of enemies around you is quite a challenge.
While you lack the ability of buying directly from a certain ‘merchant’, each chapter ends with a chance to purchase, upgrade or sell items/weapons that you have picked up. Now the gold and diamonds make complete sense. This also lets you organise your inventory so you can select what items go into your quick switch slots, which you select with your d-pad. Before heading into the shop section, my advice is that you sell any diamonds and treasures you have picked up along the way, most of which offer a hefty amount of gold. There are only a few weapons available to purchase near the start of the game, most of which you can pick up in certain area’s so you might not want to pour all your money into a new armoury just yet. While you cannot purchase any ammo, you can buy upgrades for your weapons. These included; Reload Speed, Capacity, Critical/Penetration Damage and Ballistic Damage. While capacity and reload upgrades were relatively cheap, others such as increasing the damage strength on the weapon cost considerably more. The ‘Critical’ upgrade was an interesting choice which I used on the N2fs (pistol), and it increased the chances on true head-shot instant kills. So the game play feels solid, upgrade shop and combat system are enjoyable and the co-op is running smooth. What brings this all together so wonderfully? The breathtaking graphics and art-style. Okay, so graphics are not everything, but the detail on Resident Evil 5 is defiantly worth a mention. Just panning around Chris and Sheva was a real delight, certainly some of the most beautifully rendered characters I have seen. Resident Evil has always excelled in detailed character models and 5 is no-exception. Watching my co-op partner run off in front of me gave me real chance to see the hard work put in. Everything on the models seems to move, from hair to weapon holsters. Character stances were realistic and stylish, even during combat. I particularly enjoyed the kicking animations used when saving each other and how Chris places a reassuring hand on Sheva’s shoulder while healing her – little details like that have really brought the whole experience together. While some details are a little over done, Chris’ ‘big gun’ arms for example, they are lavished with amazing detail. I couldn’t stop myself looking at the veins on his arms! It felt strange to play a survival ‘horror’ type game in the blazing sun of Africa. It’s seemed to work in their favour however. Stale, maggot ridden corpses litter the floor only making your experience that little more uncomfortable. While we only got as far as mid-chapter 3 in our 2 and a half hour hands on with the game – each chapter appeared to progress the day along. Chapter 3 seemed to be getting darker as we hit desert like areas and motorcycle crazed infected. Environments were polished well and the whole experience was an enjoyable one. I was lucky enough to experience my co-op play with someone who was new to the Resident Evil franchise. Seeing them enjoy the title as much as I did only confirmed the feeling I had an hour into the game. Resident Evil 5 has taken the success of Resident Evil 4 and added so much more. The horror is back, the zombie-dogs are back, Resident Evil is back. Against all speculation the co-op works and this is certainly a title well worth a purchase. As always you can get all my latest work first at viera.nu January 10 2009 go go go!With 2009 already blasting past I thought I'd make a little post on here to let you lot know what's going on. So what am I doing currently? Well you should know I am writing for Consolemonster.com, which is an awesome games news & community site. We have a lot to be excited for this year as we have an iPhone application on it's way out so you can check out news, achievements/trophies and hopefully community on the go! We are also getting an influx of members lately and it's perfect time for you to jump in and check us out! While the site has been going for a long time, it's always nice to get new members in for the new year! My podcast work with Destructoid.com is still going strong and one year later we are still talking utter crap and video games to you! You can download our shows from this little link here or if your really clever you can keep up to date with our Twitter. A lot of people are enjoying the Podcast and I've lot to know your thoughts. I've started keeping my work together on my personal website Viera.nu which will host all of my reviews/previews/podcasts/guest appearances etc. Event coverage will also be posted up there and sometimes I'll make a personal blog. hehe. Last year has really seen me jump from going to a few gaming events to getting invited to loads! I'm finally getting closer to living the dream haha and the other big news is that my number one choice University has just offered me an interview! 2 WEEKS TIME! I got to build a portfolio and I am so scared but it's going to be all good! Who knows.. end of this year I could be a student again! scary thoughts. I wanted to let people know that I really love it when you message me and email me. It helps so much, and I am super sorry if I haven't been replying lately. People who know me very well know that while 08' has been full of good times it has also seen me through a lot of bad times regarding family and death and money etc. I am trying to raise above that and start 09' a fresh! I hate friends, I am slowly paying off debts and I have a career plan! Something to live for. So keep up to date with me via my personal site Viera.nu or via my Twitter. My twitter is updated constantly!! Adios amigo's! November 02 New NXE Cards!  These won't work 100% because I don't have NXE yet. You can try looking at these those;   July 22 Updating you allSo I've been a really bad MSN Space updated! Seriously, I am sorry. I am waiting for the Blogs at Destructoid to get individual RSS feeds so make it much easier to update here. After a little playing around with Justin.TV, I really didn't like the broadcasting live idea... I don't really have the right set up to work it to it's full advantage. I really need a computer monitor AND TV and not just my monitor. That way I can actively see the chat as well as game and keep the camera on that. So look forward to that happening in... the futures! I have been busy working away on a few small articles as well as my current trail with pwnordie.com which will hopefully be my first proper part time writing job! I am really excited as they contacted me about writing for them, so let's just hope. Random things I've talked/excited about; E3: Is Gaming failing its most important demographic? A cast of thousands: Feena Official Tomb Raider Teaser First Video Blog on pwnordie.com followed by the second. Anything else I need to update? Not really. I've been so busy but I am really excited about Soul Calibur 4! So I hope a few of you will play with me :-) Also anyone catch that article on Ueda-san (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus) in Games Tm this month? So good :D June 20 Playing around with Spore Creature CreatorAhh! Sorry I haven't been posting a lot lately. Reality sucks! I have a nice little comic in the making for my recent skit with Metal Gear Solid 4 so keep your eyes peeled for that but for now enjoy the creation that is..... MY SPORE CREATURE!! *lightening*
June 08 Broadcasting to the nationSo I have been told millions of times to do a video log or youtube show. While I probably won't hit that option I am doing random broadcasts on justin.tv where you basically watch me game, answer questions and giggle :D we all love to giggle be honest. You can check out my channel at justin.tv/atheistium June 01 Getting more competitive I have always been a fun gamer but after really getting into the online capabilities of the 360 I've started to get more aggressive with my online play. I remember staying up till 5am with Gears of War then heading to work after an hour of sleep then coming back then playing GoW all night again! I never played ranked matches or cared about how good I was, it was just about playing with my Destructoid friends in America. Now I am doing a lot of work with teamvvv.com with organising their website and such, I've become really competitive in Call of Duty 4. Some of you might of saw me in that "CoD4 Boot Camp" video on Xbox Insider and I got through to the finals. So I play with the VVV COD4 team a lot now and they are the nicest bunch of competitive gamers I have ever met. Most competitive gamers tend to be a little abusive and never heard of the word 'sportsmanship'. So me and the other female who plays with the COD4 team decided to get some doubles on gamebattles and after 2-3 rocky matches (ie guys can't handle being beat so resort to cheating) we are having a lot of fun. So if anyone would like to challenge us at doubles sometime and are in the European league then please send us a challenge.
May 25 A trip to Gamerbase London Today I met up with some good friends from teamvvv.com to check out Gamerbase, located in HMV near Piccadily. We run upstairs into the gaming section of HMV and hidden right at the back is Gamerbase - a swanky looking gamer heaven. Sign up took literally seconds and we had no troubles getting ourselves onto PC's together. As the day progressed however it became really busy, which is a nice atmosphere to be in. We hung out on COD4 the majority of the day. I'm so used to console COD4 so playing the PC version was a bit daunting. After that we had some lunch, drinks and then headed back for C&C3, COD4, GoW and Unreal Tournament 3. I'd never played UT3 before so it was a delight to have it running at full spec infront of me. I'm really tempted to purchase it now too :-( Oh I have no money! Talking of spending, I did get two rather awesome Asuka and Rei maho figurines in one of the few Anime Boutique's in London. I'm really lucky they only cost £15 each and Marcus, my boyfriend, paid for one for me *aww*. So yeah I am really happy as I have been looking for them for ages. Anyway this was just a small blog update for those who care :p May 23 Alone in the Dark - UK Preview
Today I was lucky enough to attend a preview for Alone in the Dark, the newest survival horror title to hit the market this June. The event was held at the very classy Everyman Cinema in Hampstead and was also a mix of press and competition winners attending the event.
The majority of our time there was being shown the general game play mechanics of the title. First of all I just wanted to say how beautiful the game looks - details on objects are superb and I was really taken away with the over look of the park and buildings in the surrounding area. After some hands on time with Alone, I found movement very sluggish and slow - something you should expect from most survival horror titles. However if you are looking for a title that relives classic survival horror moments I will say you could be in for a major disappointment. While AitD runs on a rather captivating story to grit our teeth into, and can run up to 15 hours of solid point to point game play, I can only feel that the developers Eden Games have taken the 'Hollywood' idea too far. For example, if you pick up the game and have forgotten key moments of the story you can access a small trailer that outlines the key happenings in the game by replaying clips of cut scenes and gameplay etc. Get ready to snigger when "Previously on Alone in the Dark..." plays onto your screen - I couldn't help but laugh and so did a couple of attendees around me. It seems the general consensus from the team was 'how can we make this more addictive? what's popular right now?' Shows such as Lost and Heroes must have been a huge influence seeing as when you enter the menu it shows a DVD style screen and options. Don't like a difficult part of the game? Skip it. Yes you heard me right, skip it. Fast-forward through the hard bits. I don't want to try any more! Don't like that boss? Skip! SKIP! SKIIIPPP!!! The whole game is organised into Episodes and Chapters making replaying certain parts of the game a snap, but also completing the title so much easier. You can pretty much play quarter of the title and still watch the ending. I find this the most ridiculous thing to ever be brought to a game, especially a survival horror title. What next? Auto play!? Okay, I don't know why I am raving about an optional feature of the game but the temptation to use it and miss vital scenes was upset me. 
Lets move onto more pressing matters - The combat system. Shooting will always be in first person and will automatically change if you are playing in 3rd person. Why? Apparently because they wanted to use the right cameras for the right situations. I do agree that shooting has always been great in first person but after spending a lot of time enjoying the combat in Mass Effect I was curious as to why they didn't adopt that system as well as having an FPS view. There is also no auto aim as such, your laser will only attempt to lock onto enemies if you get it over them but apart from that your on your own. Guns are not the only weapon available either - the game is prided over having a pretty rich choice of weaponry from your environment. While you can't pick up an Axe for example and shove it down your trousers, you can pick it up and use it again enemies in your area by either hacking away or throwing it in their direction. I really like the way you handle objects as well. Picking up and using the right analogue stick to swing the object around and over your head. You can also combine objects to create pretty powerful and effective killing tools. Your gun not doing the job? Pour fuel onto the bullets and now they are enhanced with fire. Pour some whiskey into a bottle and wrap some sticky tape around it and you now you can throw it at enemies, shoot at it and oh noes their head asplode! Another interesting aspect was the AI in the game. Enemies will seek you out and use the shortest route to get you. We were being attacked and so we ran off through a door, still outside was the enemy and you could see him through the window. Guess what? He can see you too! I know this isn't really revolutionary but most survival horror games work on that "run through the door and hide" system. Sadly the enemy worked out that politely opening the door was not the quickest route to me but jumping through the glass was. I found it weird however that when we jumped out of the glass after him jumping in he got a little confused and walked around in the small room before running out to attack us. I also found it strange that when I ran off an extra character I was with, Sarah, just stood there. The enemy didn't attack her though... I did ask the developer as to why that is and she basically said "if the enemy sees you then you become it's primary target". So a little buggy perhaps? Also did I mention you could drag dead bodies into the fire? YAYAYAAYAYAYA! 
I absolutely love the inventory in this game. It reminded me of Resident Evil 4 and "What ya buying?" with the inventory completely compiled from your jacket. It's all in real time too, so if you really need to make a molotov cocktail cocktail and if your surrounded by a number of enemies you will still be vulnerable to attacks. Honestly, a very refreshing take to the idea of inventories and hopefully more titles will take on this more direct approach in the future. As I mentioned earlier with the Hollywood feel of Alone, I can say it works in some aspects. For example, you start off in the building and after a long and slightly annoying opening/interactive cut scene. Once you start to run around the building is constantly falling apart and shaking. Even with simple tasks such as rappelling down a wall can feel like an epic journey. Explosions were constantly going off and the fire technology in this game is outstanding. Everything that is flammable will catch on fire and you can slowly watch a whole room light up with fire. Seriously, it was amazing. My jaw was getting closer and clover to the floor as we were scaling across a building and bricks and wood and everything was falling off around me, exploding and rumbling. We also got to see a rather impressive driving section of the game where you have to speed through the city as it collapses around you. The ground was shifting and buildings were falling and blocking your path. Really reminded me of playing Halo 3 on co-op at the end, screaming at that final jump! It looked fantastic and I really cannot wait to see more of the action in this game. Oh man, I could go on for hours but all I can say is apart from some small disappointment's I cannot wait for this title to come out. I am upset to hear that horror isn't a main focus point throughout the game however the action will make up for it. DLC? Co-op? Who knows, we did ask but they cannot comment. I am upset to tell you that once you've completed the game that's pretty much it. No multi endings or unlocks. I really enjoyed the event. It was great to see some regular faces and keep your eyes peeled on xbox insider as I was interviewed haha. I got to see Phil Harrison (shiny head) and enjoy the below video for some Nour Polloni action, who also presented the game to us. Thank you Acey & MrPointyHead for getting me in ;-) May 07 Mirror's Edge - My thoughts
April 23 My current Gaming Rig
April 21 Nintendo Adverts - Wait.. what?I was at work today reading though the MVC during my lunch and I have something interesting to show you about Nintendo's Wii Fit advertisements. April 18 I'm ready to Russian Friday
So Destructoid doesn't like blogs with any foreign characters in their title. So my plan to have "I'm ready to Friday" in Russian backfired. I didn't want to just have "I'm ready to Friday" because 1) I didn't want to steal Topher's thunder and 2) The Heavy in Russian sounds bad ass.
April 17 Tomb Raider Underworld - update #1
April 10 I CAN HAS NEW PC?
Spec
Counter Strike (not source) What else do I need? What are you playing? Can I has happy :D My steam is "atheistium" Thanks for visiting!
|
Places of interest
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
