Friday, February 27, 2009

My Resident Evil 5 Demo Impressions

I recently got to play the demo for Resident Evil 5 at a buddies house. I sadly didn't get to far in my first attempt, but then again, I've never been too good with shooters. 

Resident Evil 5 stars Chris Redfeild, who we all should know by now from the original Resident Evil, and Code Veronica. As a fan of the series, I happened to be quite excited about the return of this survivor of the mansion incident.
In the demo, you get to play solo or co-op either on split screen (or so it shows on the menu), or via XBox Live. You also get to levels to play on. The one level I played was intense from the word go, as I found myself and my AI controlled ally stuck in an alley way with a mass of enemies on either side. Twice I found myself in this demo with the same problem I have in most games in the series, tons of enemies to kill and no ammo to do so with.
The co-op system reminded me vaguely of the Resident Evil Zero system in the fact that you have to watch your back as well as your ally, as if one falls, its over.

Here is the breakdown of the game
Gameplay and menu: If you remember Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube, PS2, PC and Wii, then you should pretty much have an idea of what you are doing in the game. The menu system is reminiscent of Resident Evil Outbreak. Anything you need to do in the menu, you better be quick about it, and/or do it in a safe room, as the game continues while you are in the menu, so no stopping in the middle of a battle to reload your weapon, heal, or read a file (who ever still reads those o_o; ) 9/10
Control: Since the release of the demo, I have heard people complain about the same issue with the controls: The fact that you cannot run while shooting. So what if you cannot run and shoot at the same time, you've never had that ability in Resident Evil!!! I really hope that it's newbies who are complaining the most about this, because I have never played a Resident Evil where you did have that ability. Everything else is the same as RE4 from what I can tell, so veterans of 4 should have very little problems adapting. 9/10
Music/Sound: To categorize this as judging the music is unfair as the series has never been known for its music, but the sound, I would say is on par with everything I have come to expect with the series. 8/10
Graphics: Like the Gamecube version of RE4 (arguably the best version) but enhanced for the 360, need I say more? 9/10

Overall: 9/10

It is a good game, Fans of the series will enjoy. Newcomers might also enjoy.

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Timeline of Zelda Part 1

As a fan of the Legend of Zelda series, I have played many in the series. It was the first RPG I had ever gotten to play. Over the years I have, much like any other fan of the series, noticed how broken up the timeline was. My current task is to attempt to figure this thing out once and for all.

The following was pre written by me in preparation for this post:
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In July of 1987, Nintendo released, in North America, A video game that changed the face of RPGs forever. Released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), "The Legend of Zelda" became one o Nintendo's greatest hits. It is classified as an Action RPG, the first of its kind. As a young gamer, it was my first RPG. The game was about 2 and a half years old by then, as was I. It was the spark that ignited my love for RPGs.

About a year after its release, Nintendo decided to follow up with a sequel. Taking place just months after its predecessor, "Zelda 2: The adventure of Link" took place in a larger portion of the kingdom of Hyrule, and played differently from the first one. It was so much so, that it was not well received by fans.

Nintendo had listened to the woes of the fans and for the third game, they took it back to a familiar style. "The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past" Was the first and only game in the series to find its way onto the Super Nintendo, and it was found to astound gamers. It was also found to take place before the first 2 games. As we had gotten use to this gam being the beginning, Nintendo introduced its first entry on the Nintendo 64. "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" is recognized by fans as the first in the story, and it is just where this project of mine begins.
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The Legend of Zelda timeline is a task that no one, not even its creator has ever accomplished, which makes this rather difficult.

I will attempt to Include every game in the series in this timeline, with the exception of the Philips CDi Titles, Links Crossbow Training, and the japanese only Satellaview titles (which don't really belong in the LoZ Timeline anyways.)

My current knowledge on the timeline is as follows
Ocarina of Time__Majora's Mask__