Ragequit - Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 (henceforth referred to as 4 Resident Evil because that's what the logo says and typing it that way infers Capcom doesn't know what the hell) is one of those games that, while I hated it, I was sorely alone in that and it became more and more painfully obvious that I was going to remain that way.  4 Resident Evil has transcended that status from "good game" to "great classic" or however you want to phrase it, so with that status, it will never really get panned aside from the outliers like me who just seem bitter about its success or whatever.  And maybe I am just bitter, but I'll tell you one thing I am, and that one thing is "Not Wrong".  I firmly believe that I am not wrong in hating the game and thinking it's a fairly poor game because it has all the -things- that we point at in other games and say "This?  This right here?  THIS IS BAD." and the only reason I think that 4 Resident Evil got away with it is because it was another installment of a beloved franchise that had a very obvious leap in a few areas and had a lot of potential, even if the lot of it was completely undermined and/or unrealized.

So, the premise of 4 Resident Evil (seriously, gonna keep on doin' that) is pretty simple, even though it's really quite far removed from your 'normal' Resident Evil title.  (Re-reading the Let's Play series of 0-4 with Code Veronica in there as well leads me to say that there's no 'normal' Resident Evil game)  Whereas most of the Resident Evil games have you going into a situation caused one way or another by Umbrella with their wacky viruses and the like, 4 Resident Evil sees you doing something quite different in heading what is basically a search and rescue mission directly from the top brass of the United States of America.  The President's daughter (who might actually just be the incumbent President's daughter, since Capcom can't be arsed to really think out dates for this type of thing) has been kidnapped by a crazy cult.  'Are you a bad enough dude to save her?!'  This is basically the entire premise of the game at the start.  Of course, it gets a little, er, 'deeper', but at the start of the game, it's billed as just a simple in-and-out job.

A simple in-and-out job for none other than Leon Scott Kennedy (I don't know why his middle name is important enough to get mentioned, just roll with it) who was last seen in a terrible GameBoy Color game Resident Evil 2 which is still, among certain groups, regarded as the best game in the entire series despite its many many flaws.  Certainly is my favorite of the group, but I'll get into that at another time.  Tonight is negative night.  Now, Leon's been hired by the Secret Service and is then dropped into a location that is definitely not Spain to single-handedly find out where the Incumbent President's daughter is, since I'm sure this is exactly how that type of thing works.  And, of course, since gameplay is -much- more important than story, Leon is handed little more than a handgun and given a pat on the head before sent along his merry way.  Because, you know, a standard-issue assault rifle is too much to ask for or a more convenient drop or anything that somewhat makes sense.

It's worth mentioning that this is a cap of the PS3 remaster.  Thus it's shiny.

So, as soon as Leon gets split up with the guys who are presumably going to drive him to the place he ends up walking to minutes after their death (by the way, if you haven't noticed by now, I'm going to be spoiling the story for the whole game, so if you're not into that, maybe head off now) he encounters villagers who are a little more than hostile towards the American.  In fact, they're downright rude, what with trying to bite him and such and oh, yeah, they're actually just trying to kill him.  Because they are all 'zombies', or at least what 4 Resident Evil calls zombies, which are really just people with parasites in their bodies.  This is sort of important.  I will touch on it more in a couple paragraphs.  Suffice to say, there's at least a reason why getting bitten by these guys doesn't offer an infection chance in theory (since the games prior kind of did and it was never really mentioned outside of something really silly in 3) and it's mostly because to be infected like these guys, you kind of need a giant alien parasite in your body.  Not...you know, a virus or something manageable.

In the village that he walks to (which is, as I assume, the destination goal or at least a stop) he runs into more of these as well as, potentially, one of these 'zombies' who can wield a chainsaw because fuck you.  This whole section is pretty infamous in its own right and it more or less sets the bar for "Will I like 4 Resident Evil?".  It's one of the highest-tension moments in the game, it uses a randomization feature depending on your actions (which isn't used anywhere else in the game) and there is generally just a shit-load of 'zombies' for you to get used to the experimental control scheme that other games have since adopted and made much much better.  Thereafter, the game -really- starts to get weird because it chiefly features Leon just sort of wandering around until he stumbles onto parts of the cult and destroys them and such.  Also a Merchant who is a gigantic asshole because he charges the one guy going around and killing zombies for supplies with which to kill zombies.

Something heavily featured in the gameplay is QTEs which are almost universally reviled by gaming people as a whole unless they're in a game that you like which means they're okay in that game only.  (Notable examples include God of War series, 4 Resident Evil, Shenmue, etc.  Because it's just silly to acknowledge that maybe QTEs aren't the problem, just poor implementation is.)  Said QTEs are, of course, of the "Get it right or die" variety, which is sort of the worst kind, but let's ignore that I suppose.  Adds to the 'horror' and 'survival' elements in the whole 'survival horror' theme that 4 Resident Evil clearly carries.  It also features the QTEs less offensive (Perception-wise) cousin:  Context-sensitive actions, to the tune of "Press button to jump out a window" and the like.  Both are generally not seen as positive additions to any games (with the latter being pretty much overlooked anymore), yet they don't seem to drag 4RE down in opinion like they do in other games.

Also featured is the staple tank controls (admittedly of a different design) and limited inventory space (again, different design) that have been decried in previous titles (while not being enough to outwardly despise them enough to say they're bad games).  Of the former, the most note-worthy thing is the inclusion of the whole "cannot walk and aim" thing that has been series standard since the first game (and is, in fact, only being dropped in favor of good third-person controls in Resident Evil 6, as in they were still present in 5) but generally it's just awkward to get around and, at least personally, I feel the camera is usually a little too tight to accommodate the desired play-style anyways.  With the latter, there's at least a 'neat' idea behind it, in pretending that Leon is carrying around a giant metal suitcase that he is never seen with that has enough space for generally more than the usual inventory, provided you're willing to organize things to eek out those extra spaces.  It is, much to everyone's benefit, also upgradeable through the game, adding more and more space with which to work.

Now, the main thing I take issue with, the main problem I have with 4 Resident Evil, is far and beyond the plot of the game.  What I've already said is relatively tame compared to what the rest of the game has to offer, and I can't even cover the full breadth of -dumb- that the game carries, story-wise.  Not that the other Resident Evil games offer 'smart' plots or anything resembling them, but I daresay that 4 Resident Evil carries one of the dumbest stories of the entire series, just below Resident Evil Zero, which manages to retcon retcons and have the dumbest antagonist ever.  I haven't played, nor experienced Resident Evil 5, so I can't comment on that, but of 0, 1 (remake included), 2, 3, 4, Code Veronica, Survivor and Dead Aim, 4 Resident Evil takes second place handily.  While I'm overstating it quite a bit, also potentially setting it up to be a little less dumb than you might be anticipating, I do have to make it pretty obvious on where I stand on this, because it makes it that much easier for you to get it while I then describe the why.

I would like you to take a look at the above cutscene from 4RE.  I'll offer no real input at this point beyond simply asking you to watch it so that what follows makes a little sense.  And waiting....waiting....Okay, I'm going to assume at this point that you have watched it.  Now I would like to make three points very very clear about what is wrong with that video and, in fact, the entire plot of the game because of it.  First off, Saddler sees fit to just sort of explain the whole plan to both Leon (whom is completely unnecessary to the entire plan, more on that in a minute) and Ashley (whom the entire plot hinges on in -several- ways).  That's probably in the great big list of cliches somewhere, also on the evil overlord lists and such.  It's dumb.  Don't do that.  Because it is dumb.  Under most circumstances, it is only mostly dumb, but in 4 Resident Evil's scenario, it's obscenely dumb, so much so that I had to stress it this much.

Now, the second point hinges on the first because it more or less explains why it is obscenely dumb to do the first point in the first place.  The entire plan is to kidnap Ashley and inject her with a Plagas and then send her back to America so that the Plagas can incubate and hatch so that Saddler can assume control of her to wreck up America from the inside.  Ignoring the glaring ways in which that could go wrong (up to and including the fact that a giant fucking tentacle thing (or an egg of a giant fucking tentacle thing) is likely to show up on an X-Ray which is probably part of the litany of tests she'd be put under upon returning to the States to ensuring her well-being) the problem is that they fucked up halfway through the plan.  The entire game hinges on Leon showing up to rescue Ashely which suggests that she has been held for long enough to warrant Armed Response (barely) which means they got to the part of the plan in which they kidnap and inject her and then stopped.

The half-assed explanation is that they need to ransom Ashley off to the States before returning her so they can wait for her Plagas to hatch and then take control of the States which I'm sure you can read into why that's a half-assed explanation.  That's....whatever.  In that sort of scenario, I can sort of see Leon being just an interloper, even though he's trying to perform the ultimate shared goal of getting Ashley back home, which I would just sort of roll with.  You don't get money immediately, of course (not like you're going to anyway because of the whole "America doesn't negotiate with terrorists" thing, the fact that they clearly know where the cult is operating from, the fact that they actually send an attack chopper to said location and the fact that they kidnapped the daughter of the man who is not President yet) but you get Ashley into the States where, presumably, nothing happens until she hatches the Plagas and shit goes golden for Saddler and his homies.  Since that's part of the original plan.  If you want to really play Devil's Advocate, I guess you could say that they needed to take her back so she could go through channels that would keep her sheltered from American doctors and such until the Plagas was ready, but this is the same cult that is run by a giant, the above Saddler who is loving this shit and is also into the Evil Overlord thing to the degree that it ruins his plans, and a crazy midget.

The third issue, which is kind of the biggest issue is that, directly after explaining his big smart plan to the guy who could safely be shot in the head at any point and disposed of and the girl who needs to not know any of the plan because assuming she gets back to the States, it would be best if she didn't know so that she can't say "THERE'S AN ALIEN IN MY BODY", he tries to kill both of them.  I say 'he' tries to kill both of them because two dudes with Plagas in them (I'm not saying Ganados because those are the villagers, literally 'cattle' and I'm not saying Cultists because that doesn't convey the fact that they have the brain-controlling parasite from somebody's fucking basement inside of them) pop out and he can apparently control people with Plagas, which would suggest that he made them pop out with flaming crossbows and take aim at not only Leon but Ashley, upon whom their entire fucking "Get Rich and Destroy America" plan hinges on not killing.  The worst part is that this is -not- an isolated incident as, in any scenario wherein Ashley is with you (and there are a lot), the Plagas dudes either attempt to re-kidnap her (which as I said is barely acceptable) or just straight-up murder her (like by burying a fucking axe in her head) through these beings that Saddler can apparently control.

The fact is that 4 Resident Evil's entire plot is pretty much made superfluous because the people actively ruining the Antagonist's plans is the Antagonists themselves.  Leon running around and shooting things until they die doesn't help matters, certainly, but the plan is actively circumvented by the ones who came up with it for little reason beyond "Shit, we can't redo the entire story -again-, oh well, ship it".  Being that 4 Resident Evil in its current state was like the fourth or fifth incarnation of the game itself (one of which ended up apparently being Devil May Cry, completely serious) I imagine there was something of a time crunch, especially considering two or three of the builds had been shown off as if they were going to be the game that ended up being released, which they certainly were not.  So suddenly changing it around so that Leon was yet again doing something other than originally broadcast (perhaps something that actually made more sense than single-handedly rescuing the daughter of the incumbent president from a cult that was too stupid to achieve their own goals) would have probably done more harm than good to the thing overall.

Ultimately, what turned me off to the game was simply the controls as they were just too bad for them to actually be usable for me.  I didn't get far enough into the game for it to reveal its stupidity to me (however, I did have a friend over who managed it, so I almost experienced it first-hand) but that's really something that it no more or less egregious depending on the way you're informed (unless, of course, you're simply being misinformed which I do not think I've done) which means I think it's pretty open for ridicule whether or not I beat the game myself.  And while I don't think the game is a good one myself, I certainly don't begrudge anyone who managed to enjoy it because I certainly would have liked to.  When it comes down to it, more people enjoyed the game despite its many many flaws than not, and that's why it gets its spot in success history and whether I like it or not doesn't matter.  Doesn't mean I can't angrily write about it to the internet, though!

Celebrating My Birthday with News

There's a plethora of things that have been tossed out today - partly because of GDC I imagine and partly because it's Monday, and companies just like throwing things out on Mondays, I've found.  Regardless, the first bit here is that Assassin's Creed 3 has more information than a mere setting confirmation and box art release.  The first official trailer, the reveal trailer, for Assassin's Creed 3 is above and you've likely already watched it by the time you get to here, but if you haven't, you might as well get to it.  A little additional information to go along with that is the fact that our Native American protagonist has a name that I'm sure tongues of this generation just are not meant to pronounce, ("Ratohnhaké:ton" apparently) and will be known as "Connor" for about 90% of the game.  Just because, I guess.

The trailer also doesn't so much as confirm something I had suspected, but at least hints towards it with the extensive showing of nature scenes rather than large, sprawling buildings.  Especially the parkour in the trees section (the trailer is apparently all in-engine, or at least that's what I've heard) leads me to think that there's not really going to be the safety of the city around you and that this might just be a very, very different game than AC2.  Perhaps it'll go back to the roots of the original game, with all the wilderness areas that existed in it.  Granted, it's looking like that might be the majority of the area to cover (I could see some American and/or British camps being navigational, perhaps even some settlements) but if there's anything the Assassin's Creed team is good at doing, it's making interesting vistas to traverse, as that's the majority of what I spent my time doing during Brotherhood.  With any luck, they'll still be as interesting, especially if the majority of the game takes place during the winter as it looks like it might.

I'm a little surprised, honestly, that it's not really that great of a trailer.  I get that they wanted to do in-engine (again, that's what I heard it is) rather than FMV which basically means a little bit of quality loss (Unless you're Naughty Dog) since you can't tweak every single thing like in FMV, but I expected a little more than that.  Overall it looks pretty decent aside from a few poor spots here and there (my main issue is when he's pulling the hatchet out of the soldier and tugs it out near weightlessly by the middle of the haft of it; that's not how you do that at all) but it lacks the real -punch- that previous trailers have had.  For the reveal of a brand new game theory, a brand new character, and the 'final' chapter of the game, it deserved a little more time and effort, I think, and it's just a shame that it didn't get it.  Still, we'll see how it starts shaping up real soon; as said last time, we'll start to get some real details in April when GameInformer features it as their cover story.

The above is the video that accompanies the second piece of news which is more or less only tangentially related to it, but it's worth a look anyway, since it gives us a good look at MotorStorm RC for the Vita.  Now, why would you want to get a good look at MotorStorm RC, you might ask?  Aside from likely being quite a good game, since it's from a really established franchise, it's going to be free on the Vita for North America.  At least, it will be free on March 6th; I can't attest for any time thereafter.  "North America" is often a more exclusive term than it would imply, oftentimes meaning just "USA", but the Director of Network Advertising for SCEA, David Winding, assure us that this offer includes Canada, so with any luck that holds and you'll get a shot at it too, Chance.  The quote, specifically is the below:

"Is the “deal” available in Canada as well?? Please say yes…"

David Winding on March 5th, 2012 at 8:27 am said: OK… Yes it is.

I wouldn't be surprised if people aren't going to hold their breath for it, but I'm rather hopeful, despite it being quite easy for me to be as much.  For the wonderful price of Free, of course I'm going to give it a shot as I gave Rag Doll Kung-Fu a shot years ago when there was a similar promotion.  Sprint sponsored the game, making it free of charge for a limited time, and I was one of the countless that grabbed it by virtue of being a free game.  Unfortunately...I don't think it was quite worth it, as it wasn't really a good game, shoe-horning in some of the worst usages of Sixaxis controls to date, but the music was nice and it had a little bit of charm at least.  Still, as I said, I don't think that will be an issue with MotorStorm RC since it has a pedigree behind it and looks pretty interesting on its own.

I've said time and time again and will likely continue to do so, but I'm not really a racing guy, nor am I a fan of overhead cameras like that (I'm not against them, but they certainly take a lot of getting used to, like in Grand Theft Auto:  Chinatown Wars).  That's not to say I haven't had a cursory interest in the games ever since I got a copy of MotorStorm bundled in with my PS3 (that I admittedly never opened), but I've certainly not put forth the effort in grabbing one up and playing it yet until now.  I figure it's the best shot in on it that I'm gonna get, and I'm going to capitalize on that proper.  If nothing else, it'll keep the PSP games company that I'm going to grab in a couple days with the PSN funbux I'm going to get in a day or so.  All of the games!

Capcom has been catching quite a bit of flak for some DLC concerns lately and while that is nonsense, I find that I'm not as fussed by it as I am by the other DLC issue that's reared its ugly, mutated head.  I am really, really tired of 'exclusive' DLC being used as a means to try and buy your way to a certain platform.  Sure, I guess I don't mind it when it's on the PS3's foot which is a bit hypocritical of me, but let's face it:  How often does that happen?  Even when it's a game that I have absolutely zero interest in, I find that knowing, should I find myself wanting to buy it, I just plain won't get to buy the same amount of content as someone else just because there's a lot of money being exchanged elsewhere.  It is, in fact, directly counter to what any good developer should want to do, since it alienates potential buyers for reasons that don't really matter in the long run.

"Nemesis Mode" for Resident Evil:  Operation Raccoon City sounds pretty poor in all honesty.  In so much as I don't quite know what the hell is being said in its description.  "Nemesis Mode has the USS verses the Spec Ops in an eight-man battle with someone able to control a Nemesis. While one team tracks down a control unit, the other can "give the Nemesis orders to destroy the opposition.""  I guess...four versus four, but one team has a friggin' Nemesis that's controlled by a player?  Where's the balance in that?  The hell is a 'control unit' and why is it the mission goal?  I guess it is a little silly to expect something cohesive out of day one, console-exclusive, charged DLC, but oh well.  I'm sure it'll make a few people happy; people who will likely enjoy the game for reasons beyond shooting Leon Kennedy in the face at some point in the storyline.

That's quite a good bit of news and while the majority of it is good, it can't all be good news.  But, to ensure that I end this on a high note, I'll go ahead and just pass along the fact that came up whilst I was typing this up.  Lollipop Chainsaw hits June 12th.  I can't wait to slice up some undead douchebags then and, with any luck, I'll be able to pick it up with minimal hassle.  Until then, I guess I'll just have to ceaselessly watch all the trailers out for it.

....Again.

Today is News Day, Apparently

As per usual, there's an absolute dearth of anything worth talking about (I like the word dearth, can you tell?) for days and I'm scrambling for something to talk about and the one night where I have something that I could probably work out on my own, BLAM, NEWS DAY.  It just gives me more time to get my big post thought out better, so there's no real problem with that, but still it is a little annoying that everything comes out at once, instead of over days.  But then again, that seems how it just goes for everything; I've noticed the same sort of trend in the Playstation Store Updates over the last few weeks.  Very few things come out worth of note for a couple weeks (which isn't to say the things that come out are bad, just not things that -everyone- is waiting for) and then, suddenly, one week pops up where it's like "Hey, here's a bunch of PS Vita games, Mass Effect 3 Demo, Binary Domain Demo, The House of the Dead III HD and the first PSP game you've seen on the store in weeks."  It's like nibbling at little bits of food all day and then eating a four-course meal for a midnight snack - it lacks pacing.

Regardless, let's get into the news rather than listen to me rant and ramble.  As you might suspect, the first piece of news regards Ni No Kuni:  Wrath of the White Witch, pictured above.  It seems that a few wires might've been crossed regarding the North American localization, as far as the date is concerned.  It's still going to happen, let me just assure you of that up-front, but it's going to be considerably later than anyone thought.  The nebulous window of "Early 2012" has been replaced with "Winter 2012" because....I dunno.  Translation is hard business, I guess, or like all Level-5 things, it just takes a really long time for unknown reasons.  My own personal rationalization is that the translation part of the localization is done by a single, dedicated guy who goes to his desk every day, chain smokes a carton of cigarettes and ends up with about two pages of progress.  But it's still progress, damnit, and he's trying.

Late as it is, it'll still be welcome, though I fear we might be exchanging one "oh god, there's too many games" periods for another, what with "Winter 2012" sounding a lot like "Holiday Season" where it, unfortunately, stands the very real chance of getting overshadowed by whatever AAA games are going to be thrust into the world around that time.  I guess we'll just have to see what happens in that time, but I'm still going to be looking into it for sure.  I don't know a lot about the game other than the fact that it is beautiful thanks in no small part to the special brand of magic that Studio Ghibli carries around with it wherever it goes.  Such magic is on the scale of Naughty Dog's magic over technologic wizardry, or Louis C.K.'s magic over being able to make just about anything funny.  That is magic to be envied, and everyone else should take note of these magics to try and develop their own.

Speaking of magic, Capcom seems to have harnessed the magic that allows action game protagonists (Or 'survival-horror' protagonists, wink wink) to shoot and move at the same time which is, as we all know, insanity and never before seen in a video game that involves shooting things that may or may not exist in some sort of grey area between life and death.  Resident Evil 6 is going to sport a greatly enhanced combat system that allows not only the above wizardry, but the ability to "slide, roll in any direction, and take cover" as well as including an 'enhanced melee attack', whatever that means.  Again these are all entirely new things that have never before been seen in a video game of this genre, so it looks like Resident Evil 6 is a hotbed of innovation and is most certainly not just grabbing every element from better, but less successful by comparison, franchises to strengthen its hold on the market and bring itself back up to prominence.

Snark aside, you can look at all this as either "about time" or "Awesome, sounds like it'll be a good game" , so let's just go with the latter opinion for now, if only for the sake of playing devil's advocate here.  Anyone looking to enjoy the next Resident Evil game can look forward to a campaign that takes place in a fictional area of China called "Lanshiang" which is, indeed, fictional and suspiciously not very Chinese-Territory-sounding at all but perhaps that's just me.  The game is also set in 2013, which, I'm not sure if Resident Evil games have been following our timeline fairly well or not, but for people who know more than me, this'll be the chance where we can all see just how long this situation with Umbrella and the fallout from it has been going on.  I suspect it's a little bit around 20 years, but I might be overselling it.  And this is basically with absolutely no knowledge of the franchise beyond reading a walkthrough (with pictures!) of Resident Evil 1 religiously like it was a book as a young'n and playing Resident Evil 2 on N64 like eighteen times.

I look forward to when it comes out to see the debates between whether it's better than the recently released and relatively well-reviewed 'Resident Evil: Revelaitons' [sic] or if the latter is inherently worse by virtue of being on a handheld.  It should be rather amusing for someone who is quite far removed from caring about RE as a whole.  But there does exist the chance that both games will be legitimately good, which is a little bit of a strange thing to consider, yet it is possible.  I probably won't be picking up either game in the near future (lack of a 3DS and all), but if I do, it'll likely be Revelations since it interests me purely because of the Raid Mode, which has been described as PSO (as in, Phantasy Star Online) like, designed solely to get my attention, I suspect.

And, rounding off things that seem tailor-made to catch my attention, Assassin's Creed 3 has just been announced shortly after the time I spent with Brotherhood.  While I haven't played Revelations (huh, two games with Revelations in the title in the same post), nor could I possibly do so anytime soon, I can't help but feel that familiar twinge of curiosity bordering on, but not crossing into, excitement at the prospect of trying that universe again.  At the prospect of seeing if it can recapture the excitement I felt for the first, despite the ever-stacking odds against the possibility.  Perhaps because I haven't played Revelations, I might no be able to fully appreciate just what to expect from 3, but I certainly know what I want, and I, unfortunately, doubt that all that I want will be fulfilled.

I don't know if there's a real reason for Desmond to hop back into the Animus after the events of Revelations (and indeed, after the ending of Brotherhood, I wonder if it would be a good idea), but apparently the internet thinks so, as it has been abuzz with the theories of just where Desmond's family line went after Ezio.  Popular theories include periods set during revolutions, particularly naming the American and the French Revolutions as high probabilities.  Considering the assassin line apparently gets better and/or more important the closer it gets to present time, for some reason, (Never mind that Altair was apparently running around with unbreakable armor and the best weapons seen by man after starting the Assassin order on the path that Ezio would eventually only improve upon) both of those are perfectly viable, I should think.  Unfortunately, both of those periods, in my mind, would involve some sort of gunplay which....well, after making extensive use of the crossbow in Brotherhood because it was basically the "SHUT UP AND DIE" button....I dunno what to think.

I do know that I want and hope, regardless of whether there's an animus element to the game at all, that we finally get to really, really flex Desmond's assassin muscles that we've been building up for four to seven games (depending on if you count the spin-offs as "Desmond did these" or "Only Altair/Ezio did these", though they don't seem very mutually exclusive).  I'm not talking free-running challenges, I'm not talking running around in ruins, and I'm not talking walking around the rooftops of a ghost town using Eagle Vision to track a mysterious red line (that may or may not be tire tracks) from Point A to Point B uselessly and pick up useless artifacts.  I want Desmond to go "Hey, there are dudes in that building, also an Animus or a decent base or something, guess I better go kill them" and then getting to do that.  This has been the entire point of the series, so I would hope three numbered titles or five full titles in, they would do this.  Here's to further speculation that will run rampant as we near October 30th - the day all, most or some of your Assassin's Creed questions will be answered.

Capcom Wants You to Hate Them

So, waaaaaaaaay back, Capcom announced HD Up-makes of RE4 and RE:C:V and everyone was like "Yay, RE4 HD and some other game!" except for me, who said "Oh boy, another version of RE4 I'm not buying" since my distaste for RE4 is well-documented.  (Though, not well-documented enough, yet.  Hint, hint)  Then shortly after, it was said that the game would be DD-only in NA and only a few people lost hype, but figured they would actually print the games on a disk -eventually- and announce it just before the DD versions came out to let everyone know your choice of media is doable for them.  But that hasn't happened and, with just how poorly Capcom has been doing lately, I'm not holding my breath on seeing a two-in-one disk coming out.

Resident Evil 4 HD just came out this week on PSN and XBL and has generated quite a few issues in the short time it's been out.  What some call a blessing, others, like me, call a curse is the fact that the gameplay has remained largely unchanged (except for the fact that Dash and Attack are mapped to the wrong buttons and unchangeable) which is not a surprise.  Usually, these HD updos don't do a whole lot to the gameplay itself, as it's more or less about the graphics, and that's generally where you see the biggest difference.  Though....apparently that's not really so with RE4 HD.  I've only seen a couple reviews and I haven't bothered to read them through, but they mention that the GameCube version of RE4 was clearly the basis of the game and the textures and graphics really reflect that.  While they're still HD they're only barely so and they do nothing to address the fact that parts of the game are just ugly and would need completely re-touched, rather than just upscaled.

Another issue, albeit a likely minor one depending on where you stand, is that, after promising "Full Trophy/Achievement Lists" for the games, RE 4 HD came packed with a whole 12 Achievements/Trophies.  The numbers are broken up enough on the 360 version of the game so that you'll end up with 1000 points upon completing all twelve tasks, so that's all...well and good there, I suppose.  But what about the PS3 version?  A trophy was certainly dropped in lieu of reserving a Platinum spot, right?  I mean, it's a full game.  Full Games get Platinum.  Well, no.  No it was not and apparently Capcom is strictly about the numbers.  And here's the numbers for you:  Of the whole twelve trophies, Nine of them are Bronze, Two are Silver and One is Gold.

After doing a little looking around, it would seem that the game also has some fairly noticeable audio issues (admittedly not from the best source, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised), and all of this honestly just has me wondering what the hell Capcom is thinking.  This rabbit hole goes much, much deeper, as I've only been talking about one single port of a game they just released.  I could bring up any of the multitude of other issues like how poorly their new IPs did (Dark Voooooooooid), how....honestly damaging they've been to their own reputation lately, and all of the poor decisions they've made in the clear and public eye.

Keiji Inafune recently spoke about the 'truth' behind MML3 and it's cancellation (despite never being green-lit in the first place) and said, basically that Capcom's antics were what drove him to want to get out of the company.  But, not wanting to leave his projects un-finished, he offered to keep working on them even at his new company.  Capcom was...less than thrilled with the idea, clearly as Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Legends 3 will likely never see the light of day.  It's quite unfortunate on both parts, really, as the former really would have lent itself to getting more people trying out these Creative Sandbox titles, to maybe think a little better of them and broaden horizons, whereas the latter would have...well, just made a lot of people happy.

In one of the classier statements out of this sort of situation one could expect, Inafune doesn't really point fingers, though he should, and says simply that he left behind "a great team" who he hopes somebody will step into his vacated role and really fight for these games and try to see them through Capcom's unwillingness to cooperate.  He's not too optimistic that anyone will fight Capcom as he did, but he's not really talking bad about anyone here, which seems a little hard to do, given the circumstances.  I guess saying that he had to fight Capcom to have his two projects even considered is sort of a strike against them, but he's being fairly diplomatic about it.

I don't have to be, though.  I, like many others, think Capcom's taken up the rotating mantle of "Game Company Insanity" and I'm not quite sure when they, or anyone currently wearing it, will give it up, but as we know, it is a burden that is able to be gotten rid of.  EA did for a while after their massive show of goodwill towards new IPs, creating both Mirror's Edge and Dead Space, as well as plenty of other moves that were, well, good ones.  Only Dead Space stuck (for now), but it stuck good and it's a good thing.  Faced with the prospect of Dead Space 3 is a great one, even though I haven't even played the second one yet, and Mirror's Edge hasn't been completely forgotten, though there's not a lot to show for the repeated talks that say as much.

I guess we'll just have to see how this pans out; eventually Capcom will be everyone's friend again, as the cycle starts anew, but I'm wondering at this point just what they'll have to do to make that happen.  It certainly won't be easy, but if you give gamers something they really want, it's hard to not win some good will; usually enough to forgive the past.  After all, if that wasn't true, then gaming would've died out long, long ago after all those bridges were burned.

Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D, aka, "The Art of Pooch-Screwing"

Developers suggesting only a single playthrough of a game is hardly something new in the gaming world, but so far, it's only been that, a suggestion, which is where it really deserved to be.  Between David Cage suggesting you only play Heavy Rain once, so the magic is there for you, and you'll always remember your play and Hideo Kojima's pipe dreams for a system that would destroy a game disk if you died (I have no article for this, but I'm pretty sure it's a real thing), the theory has been out there for a while, but nobody's really been dumb enough to try and implement it, because, and I'm assuming here, nobody wants to be seen as being that dumb.

But, Capcom can now claim to be the pioneer of this idea that I cannot stress enough as being dumb.

Earlier this week, Joystiq reported that RE: Mercs 3D saves are 'forever', which, at the time, I brushed off as being a silly misinterpretation.  And while I don't know how the words "Saved data on this software cannot be reset." can be taken at anything but that, I couldn't imagine, couldn't fathom that it would be gone through with.  But, I'm going to suggest that it is that big of a deal, given GameStop refused to take it as a trade-in, presumably because it has, in fact, no resale value.  They have gone back on that, of course, but others haven't been so wishy-washy.  HMV, a British retailer also put a halt on any and all trade-ins of the game, and EB Games Australia just plain aren't stocking the game.  They'll order you a copy, if you want it, but they're pretty outward with their distaste of the system.

I'd still like to know whether or not there's truly no way to reset the game to factory default, but from what I've been seeing around the interwebs, it ain't good.  Bravo, Capcom.  I wonder how the fallout/backlash from this will affect the chances of MML3..

Capcom Sure Does Love Some Ports - Resident Evil Revival

So, apparently, Resident Evil 4 and Code Veronica are getting up-ported, as part of possibly the weirdest duo of games to get bundled together yet.  (As far as same series goes.)  Resident Evil 4, which is most often lauded as 'the best one' (It's not), and Code Veronica, which, well, I'd wager that not a lot of people even know about, in the scheme of it.  I'd almost hope that there's something else coming with it, but it's hard telling.  Seriously, though, this is like releasing Super Mario Sunshine with Super Mario Bros. 2.  Sure, they're the same series of games, but really?

Anyways, this would be the point where I say, "Welp, looking forward to it!" but honestly, I'm not sure if I am.  I tried to like RE4, really I did.  But I just couldn't be assed to care for it.  Perhaps if it was a touched up version of the Wii Version (I.E. Move controls), I'd be up for it.  At least a trial.  If I was interested in either of the games, it'd be Code Veronica, since, as we know, I love me some batshit crazy, and Code Veronica has that in spades.  (As opposed to the later RE's brand of flat-out dumb.)

I don't know what all I want to say about RE4 here, since it's a topic that I can eventually get a bit long-winded in, in terms of my dislike for it, and as such, might end up with its own post later on down the road, but suffice to say, the story blows my mind, and not in the good way, the controls were dated years prior to the release (And were awkward enough that it wasn't even a "Haha, oh Capcom, you so silly" thing, it was actually a case of me wondering just how people managed to friggin' play it.) and I just can't put my finger on it, but there's just something that doesn't click with me.

Conversely, Code Veronica is more like every Resident Evil prior to 4 (Likely because it was also prior to 4) and thus, in some form, better than 4.  In my opinion.  And, like I said, I am a fan of batshit crazy stories and without really spoiling anything, Code Veronica has that to spare, not to mention a control scheme that, while still archaic, is archaic in a way that the players have likely already gotten used to it already, so it's not so jarring.  And sure, Steve sucked, but at least he wasn't Leon friggin' Kennedy.

Still.  More Compilations for the compilation gods!

Update:  So, Joystiq reported today that both of these games will be downloadable only in NA.  Until/If that changes like the PoP Collection, I won't be bothering.