No Boredom for Me!!

As mentioned in my previous blog, there are various predecessors that use the conventions and mechanics in Resident Evil 4.

As mentioned before, the genre itself has been coined as 'survival horror', survival in that yourcharacter is required to escape from their situation, and horror mainly due to the theme , storyline and overall atmosphere involved.

3d Isometrics

I refer to the 11th Hour as there are various plot similarities, the unexplained location and the erry/creepy environment. There is little similarity in terms of game mechanics, so i will leave that till later. However it should be noted that the 11th Hour and its predecessor the 7th Guest where the first to produce true 3d isometric viewpoints, though they served mainly as a backdrop. These games were purely puzzle based i.e. you are moved to a location and you have to solve a puzzle literally, i.e. re-arrange books in a certain order or win a game of chess. There is no actual character on-screen except for the frequent FMW cutscenes.
3D static rendered images have commonly been used in games for dialogue screens and FMV cutscenes, as aforementioned, but only since the Resident Evil games were they used for in-game activities.

Gun-Fighting

I refer to gunfighting here, as in warding off attacking enemies through the use of fire-arms. The pioneer of shooting game is un-doubtedly Space Invaders, but in this context i submit that the most influential game for Resident Evil 4 (being decidedly different from its predecessors) is probably Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Being a variant of the stealth-based game aside, the appearance of the character on screen (apart from more restrictive camera angles in RE4) and particularly the way the gun is aimed and fired are very similar between these two games, as pictured below

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(ABOVE LEFT) Resident Evil 4 on GameCube (ABOVE RIGHT) Splinter Cell on the PS2

This is decidedly different from all the other Resident Evil series (aside from various 'rail-based shooters like Resident Evil:Dead Aim), in which the aiming of any firearms are based on judgement and angle alone. This method was appropriate I felt as the camera angles mentioned early made this method fairly user friendly. However the gun-fighting mechanic has been completely overhauled for Resident Evil in this instalment and therefore the camera angles have changed too.
The way you maintain your primary weapons in Resident Evil 4 has a more arcade-style feel to it, in that destroying enemies will reward you with ammunition (as well as health and money) Also destroying containers such as pots, barrels and crates will reward you with the above, and you do find them lying around as well. In all previous Resident Evil games you have to investigate various cupboards and drawers only, and lack of ammunition can quickly become an issue.
This issue is present in RE4, but i find that the main reason you run out of ammunition is due to lack of aiming skill, whereas in all prior installments it was due to the onslaught of enemies and tactics. This moves on to our next mechanic;

Item Collection and Management

Collecting items is equally important in this game as it is with so many different genres. However it is important to note that the items you collect have no 'power-up' abilities instilled in them - the items you collect in Resident Evil 4 are there to bolster you stocks only (ammunition and health particularly).

Various keys can also be picked up and used, from traditional everyday keys, to strange objects that are to be positioned in a certain place to activate a door or a switch. You can also upgrade your weapons, through the previously mentioned 'merchant'. This merchant is more or less your only means of getting better weapons - finding them in the various parts of the game you adventure through only happens on a couple of occasions. Better weapons are available as a reward for completing the game itself and its various 'extras' too. These weapons all need ammunition though, and you have to pick them up as you go along, they cannot be bought.

I feel the item acquisition in this game takes a back seat in the gameplay when compared to games such as Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for example. In Resident Evil 4 the items don't increase your abilities as such, they are just necesaary to survive. Therefore the general term of 'item collection' doesn't really apply. This type of item collection is that of developing an arsenal only. The keys you collect and trinkets you sell are arbitrary and therefore serve little (but necessary) purpose. This type of item collection shows similarities to 'run'n'gun' games like Metal Slug, with the exception of the various powerups, in that your gun is your only realistic form of offense and defence and therefore it has to be maintained in order to survive. The Legend of Zelda was one of the first games which allowed you to 'keep' items you have collected such as energy in an inventroy.

Many games before or since will only let you collect them if you actually need the energy at the time. Legend of Zelda was probably one of the first games that encouraged the player to stock a (limited) array of weapons, instead of relying on a single weapon throughout the game.














(ABOVE LEFT) RE4 Inventory Screen (ABOVE RIGHT) LEgend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Inventory Screen

The collection of ammunition borrows a lot from First Person Shooters such as the famous Doom and Wolfenstein series. These games pioneered the first person shooter genre, but also allowed other genres involving weapons some inspiration as well and i feel that this is where the idea of relying on your weapons comes from, as well as the importance of being well-stocked.

This week i have been playing Resident Evil 4 on the PS2. I bought it from Game in Bolton, having traded in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within and Dark Chronicle n.b. i managed to get £12.00 part exchange for Dark Chronicle, which is the oldest and least popular of the three - will found out why!

The first Resident Evil was released nearly ten years ago in August 1996 (US), developed by Capcom of Streetfighter and Megaman fame, on the then top of the range Playstation 1 (as well as the usual PC counterpart). It popularised the genre of 'survival horror' and undoubtedly influenced games such as the Silent Hill series as well as later titles like Headhunter.

(ABOVE LEFT)Silent Hill 2 (ABOVE RIGHT)Resident Evil Zero
Predecessors to this title, and the genre itself, are sparse but I feel that some influence may have been taken from the ‘puzzle horror’ games like The 11^th Hour and maybe even point and click style ‘movie games’ like the Phantasmagoria games. The appearance and style of the game is likely toh ave been taken from the Alone in the Dark series pictured below, namely being a character stuck in a mysterious environment and trying to fgure out what is happening, whilst warding off attacks from bizarre creatures.


(ABOVE) Alone in the Dark

Featuring evil zombies and a suitable ‘corporate conspiracy’ storyline the storyline and the atmosphere of the game made it an instant classic and led to numerous sequels and spin-offs (Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil Survivor and various others).

(ABOVE) Resident Evil Soundtrack CD Cover

The game characterised the 'isometric 3D' viewpoint in games, i.e. the players sprite/character acts within a pre-rendered viewpoint. This I believe was done partially to add atmosphere, but mainly due to the limitations of the machine. The graphical quality of some of the areas in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis really are quite lush in their appearance, and this is solely due to the fact that the scenery isn't animated - i.e. the camera doesn't move so neither does the scene.

In a nutshell, aliens have taken over a village under the premise of a religion, and the villagers have all succumbed to the parasitic monsters and are under their control. The villagers are conscious to an extent and therefore they call in their peers to the attack, use weapons and their environment against the player and are considerably lighter on their feet n.b. and they do creep up on you with surprising efficiency!. The Umbrella Corporation (featured in all previous games, and of course both films) have gone bust and to be honest have little relevance to this title, with the exception of a few slight references.

(ABOVE) Resident Evil 4 screenshot

The key mechanic here is that of a basic fight. Your character must fight his way out of the scenario that the plot has placed him in. As this game is fairly linear when you strip the story away your character is basically palced somewhere where they must use their head or their gun. Whether you win or lose depends on having the (gamplaying) ability and inventory to overcome the enemies that attack you.

Also there is a strong puzzle mechanic, commonly that items have to be found by investigating areas and usually overcoming 'boss' enemies. The items are then used as some sort of a key to progress through a stage, either literally putting a key in a door or swapping an item with another character. Also the rearrangement of your environment plays a strong part in the bulk of the puzzles in this title.

When fighting certain characters there is a puzzle element too. The enemies called 'regenerators' can only be killed using an infra-red scope add-on that you find, and their weak point is only exposed after having read a document slightly earlier in the game.

Without the scope the creature is more or less invincible, unless you get lucky. So the puzzle mechanic transcends quite nicely with the battle mechanic as well.

There is a character building element to this game, but it is solely concentrated on firepower. These are bought from a trader that you encounter early in the game, and can be resold along with treasure you find in the game. As the game progresses the trader sells more powerful weapons, at a cost.

(ABOVE) The Merchant in Resident Evil 4

This element encourages the player overall to explore the environment to find all the hidden 'treasure' they can, in order to sell them, buy better wepons, kill more enemies and therefore live longer.

Also at many parts in the game a character called Ashley (n.b. you can control her on two occasions, but only briefly) follows you around and has to be protected. The enemies will pursue either you or her depending on who is nearest. You have the option of either having her follow you or placing her somewhere safe. If she dies or is abducted, you lose the game.

Protecting Ashley is one of the more challenging elements in the game, as you have to watch out for two characters at once.

At the end of each level/chapter you are rated on your weapon accuracy, your overall progress time is recorded as is the number of times you have 'died'. Monitoring and beating your own scores provides you with a way of self-monitoring your progress (n.b. i found that once i had completed the game and restarted it with the best weapons, i killed more enemies with less ammo so i was less careful. I found myself running out of ammo through my own carelessness, whereas when every bullet mattered i was more sparing), using these measures can help you set your own challenges such as 100% accuracy or not dying at all and still finishing the game.

This is the first post in my 'blog', as i have been advised to set one up commenting on my gaming experiences on a weekly basis. Time to dust off the PS2 and the Doritos then!