Second to last one in the project. These two will either be the easiest or hardest blogs I will ever write about a video game. Lets find out.
-Day 16: Super Mario Bros. 3
-Day 17: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
-Day 18: Super Metroid
-Day 19: Chrono Trigger
-Day 20: StarFox 64
-Day 21: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
-Day 22: Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
-Day 23: Burnout 3: Takedown
Day 24
Resident Evil 4
-Nintendo GameCube (also on Playstation 2, Nintendo Wii and as of this week: PlayStation Network and Xbox Live) January 11, 2005
Prior to 1/11/05, I HATED the Resident Evil series. Just burning intense hatred. A very irrational hatred that goes way back. Let's hop in the DeLorean again.
Prior to anyone even knowing what the hell Resident Evil was, it was a Japanese import called BioHazard, the first "survival horror" game. Yes, I am aware of the old "Friday the 13th" game on the NES could be considered survival horror, but lets be honest: survival was not much of an option in THAT game.
At this point in time I was hanging out/working at Game Stuff (the game shop mentioned in the Street Fighter 4 blog, Day 4 Not Top Ten. go read it first if you have not. we can wait for you) and everyone was going crazy over it. One particular employee (not me FYI) was so obsessed, he played it everyday. EVERY DAY. To the point where it annoyed everyone. OK, maybe it just annoyed me.
I am NOT against anyone playing a game obsessively (if you have been following along, I am VERY guilty of this), but what I AM against is subjecting everyone around you at work to this game endlessly. I had seen every cheap scare, every possible death and every boss fight. This guy kept playing it over and over to get his overall time down to unlock the alternate costumes and extra weapons. By the time the game had been localized and brought to the US as Resident Evil (a name back then was hated, but the internet was not what it is today so the gaming media did not have a public venue to openly whine about it) I was intensely sick of it. When my buddies at school were freaking out about how awesome this new game was, I would react very negatively due to my over exposure to it, which many saw as insanity of course.
Resident Evil 2 came around and while hesitant, I no longer was at Game Stuff so my exposure was less extreme. I tried it out finally, but the over all game play was not my cup of tea. My inherent problem with the early entries of the series was this: tank controls aside, you are given the bare minimum amount of supplies and ammunition to fight off WAVES of attacking zombies and bio-organic WEAPONS. Yes, I get the "survival" portion of the game, but I DO NOT play a game to prove to myself how resourceful I am, I play to HAVE FUN. That is the POINT of playing "games" in MY opinion.
I ignored future installments of the series because the formula was still the same. Run and hide, scrape by, save everything you have for the big bad at the end. We move forward to E3 2004 and everyone is making a big deal about Resident Evil 4. Both the Capcom and Nintendo booths had huge displays and long lines of people waiting to play. The whole time I thought, "what a bunch of suckers, same formula, new coat of paint". I ignorantly passed by and did not even LOOK at the game in action. I refused, thinking it was a waste of my valuable E3 time to spend any on THAT series. Later on, the demo of it was in my GameStops GameCube and I IGNORED it. All I heard was people getting chainsawed in half over and over and thinking, "suckers, you can't kill the scary chainsaw man, it's RESIDENT EVIL". Anytime some one came up and reserved the game, I would think to myself, "another glutton for punishment". I would rant and rave to my employees at said GameStop about how dumb the Resident Evil series was and how people are just wasting their money and time on it.
Now here comes the ironic portion on my tale.
The day the game comes out, I had the day off from work. I did not even want to BE there. I go to my comic shop and pick up my books and head across the street to Game Stuff (I think at that point it was re-named "Game-X") to visit a buddy who worked there. They of course are playing the damn game. I yell out, "Come on, what the fuck! You guys too?" and that is when I saw it.
The first time I saw Leon Kennedy kick the head off of one of the villagers.
Literally. Splat!
I was taken aback. I was suddenly paying attention. There was ammo EVERYWHERE on the ground. He was smoking villagers with his shotgun and fending off the above mentioned Chainsaw Maniac. I asked my buddy, "wait a fucking second, what is going on? you are CLEARING out the village? there is ACTION going on?" He responded, "yes, they changed the damn formula" I kept watching as I saw that they had radically changed it from survival horror to action asskicking.
I left the store and went to my GameStop. My assistant manager (and Best Friend) Jai was there and he asked "what the hell are you doing here?" I walked up and asked him very quietly and said "I would like a copy of Resident Evil 4". Jai being Jai responded:
Jai: "what the hell is this? Mr. I HATE Resident Evil, the President of the "I HATE Resident Evil fan club" coming into MY store and asking for the very game he stands against?"
Me: "Sell me the damn game"
Jai: "well sir, did you have it reserved? I don't think we have any extras"
Me: "I am the DAMN Manager of this DAMN GameStop! I know very well we have extras! Sell me the damn game!
I took the game home after Jai had his fun and proceeded to play it for the next 6 months. I was hooked. It was everything that the previous entries in the series was not. Tons of action, crazy boss fights, the interactive cut scenes where a lack of attention meant seeing the Game Over screen. The first time and only time an escort mission was actually playable and not broken. "Hide bitch, hide!" was my mantra every time I ordered Ashley into a dumpster. My favorite weapon in the game, the sniper rifle, a first for a Resident Evil game I believe. I would look ahead and take out several of the villagers or psychotic druids with some carefully placed sniper shots, it was a work of art every time I perforated some poor bastards head. And my most hated enemy of all, the DAMN Dogs. These plagas-infected DAMN Dogs. I wrong turn and my neck became a chew toy for these DAMN Dogs. The first time I saw their red eyes from the boat in the lake, I knew they were trouble. I had them eat shotgun shells every time. These DAMN Dogs legitimately scared the shit out of me on several occasions when they succeeded on a sneak attack. I fucking hated those DAMN Dogs.
I played through the regular game, I played it again in the harder "Professional Mode". I unlocked the Chicago Typewriter weapon and just went 1930s on everything in sight.
The other mode in the game after completion, "The Mercenaries". Endless waves of enemies and boss level monsters combined with a limited amount of time. I sunk the most time into this mode. Probably 3 of those 6 months playing every free moment to get a better score, get the 5 star ranking on every map and every character. The satisfying snap of Hunk killing a hostile with his neckbreaker. The twang of Krauser's bow letting loose an arrow. The pink mist of every sniper shot from Ada's rifle. So damn awesome.
I love this game so much, I bought it again when it was later released on PS2 AND bought it a THIRD time when they released it on the Wii. And after I get a bigger hard drive for my Xbox 360 I will buy it a 4th time on Xbox Live now that an HD version now exists. JUST TO PLAY IT AGAIN.
And as I said to Jai a few days after I bought it, "Resident Evil 4. Game. Of. The. Year. Bitches!"
Hands down, one of the most amazing games I have or ever will play.
Tomorrow we get to the final game in this series of blogs. The game that caused the discussion that lead to this project coming to fruition.
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