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REVIEW: RESIDENT EVIL 7 (PS4, Xbox One, PC - PS4 version tested)

30/1/2017

20 Comments

 
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As you may have read in my review-in-progress, I had a little bit of an issue when it came to playing Resident Evil 7 on the PlayStation VR headset. Actually, quite a big bit of an issue, given that on my first go I came within one retch of forcefully expelling the contents of my stomach.

It's with a degree of regret that I report that the issue didn't really go away. More than any other game I've played on the PSVR, Resident Evil makes me feel sick.

I accept that, maybe, it's because I hadn't played anything in VR since the autumn, and my tolerance threshold has been reset. Or maybe there's something fundamentally wrong with VR which means it doesn't work so well with some people. The jury is out.

Fact is: I can't play Resident Evil 7 in VR for more than half an hour without sweating profusely and feeling nauseous. Hilariously, that nausea then stays with me at a low level until I go to bed. Frankly, it's a massive, massive, shame - because, without a shadow of a doubt, the scariest version of Resident Evil 7 is the VR version of Resident Evil 7.

But hey - how is it for those who didn't fork out for a piece of hardware seemingly designed to make them do a big blow-off (vomit)? 
TALES FROM THE SCRIPT
In true Resident Evil style, the acting and script in 7 aren't exactly up to par. None of the characters are convincingly real, through a mixture of melodramatic acting and poor dialogue.

You sort of expect it from these games now, but how much better would they be if they actually sorted it out? Fortunately we don't come to Resident Evil for a logical, well-rounded, plot and engaging characters. We're here for the frights. And - oh - what lurid frights there are in Resident Evil 7. 

The biggest news here is that while many of the hallmarks remain intact - yes, there are medicinal herbs, inexplicable puzzles, and limited ammo gun action - the series has gone first-person. It's not the first time in Resident Evil history where you've viewed the action through your character's eyes - remember the assorted light gun games? - but it's the first time we've had it in one of the core instalments.

It works brilliantly. Due to the first-person graphics, what would've been a mildly scary game becomes a genuinely terrifying game. The psychological tricks they play - footsteps, shadows, the blink-and-you-miss-it-corner-of-the-eye-what-was-thats? - are predictable and original, and mostly lifted from a dozen horror movies, but no less effective for it. When hiding from those who wish you harm, it feels like Alien Isolation done right. 

Not playing in VR improves the graphics, and is significantly easier to play - but the most significant way the game improves when on the TV (other than not making me want to hurl) is that it dilutes some of the scares.

Honestly; I'm not someone who gets freaked out by horror films, but I don't like the idea of something jumping out at me. Seriously; try it and I don't care whether you're a white supremacist or a four year-old girl - do it, and I'm going to kick you in the throat.

Suffice to say, there's a lot of that in Resident Evil 7, with a lot of waiting for it to happen in between. Indeed; it was usually a relief once I had been attacked, and there was some action - because it meant I was rewarded with a few minutes where nothing was going to jump out at me, hissing or screaming, and flashing its teeth.
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TOTALLY TAUT & PANTS
Essentially a reboot for the franchise, following a few instalments which -  contrary to the perceived narrative - were solid enough, but felt like they were missing what made the series great, it's primarily set in one claustrophobic location.

As absurd as the plot is, the setting feels more grounded and relatably real-world, and that in itself helps to keep the atmosphere taut.

The first half is undoubtably the best - there are some left-field plot twists which take the action in a slightly different direction, and your enemies become less human (and somehow less scary) - but the tension remains high throughout.

The few downsides - the combat remains as frustrating and relentless as it always has in the franchise  (you do now have the option to block, although not that it seems to do much good; one early encounter ensures your character is irreparably scarred) - are easy to overlook in the face of what it manages to nail. Namely, that this might be the scariest game ever made. Especially if you don't have an inner ear, and can play it in VR for extended periods.

From that point of view, it has to be considered a success.

SUMMARY: The biggest biohazard is the one you'll have in your underwear.
SCORE: 5.123123123123123123 out of 5.2323232322323

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: PLAYSTATION VR
IMMERSE VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET REVIEW
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TOP 20 VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCES
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18 REASONS WHY THE PLAYSTATION VR IS THE MOST EXCITING VIRTUAL REALITY OPTION!

20 Comments
PeskyFletch
30/1/2017 12:35:58 pm

FIRST! That is still a thing, right?

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PeskyFletch
30/1/2017 12:41:43 pm

On topic, i find games far too immersive to play scary ones. I can watch horror movies till the cows come home but give me an avatar and i'm soiling myself every few seconds. Had to give up on the original when the dogs came through the windows. Tried again a few years ago with Colonial Marines(I know i know, but i'm a huge alien fan boy) and ran into the garden screaming the first time the motion tracker pinged.

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King of Duckhenrys
30/1/2017 02:05:50 pm

I don't know about you, I think I find games scarier than films because there is more investment and consequence in them. If a hatchet wielding maniac jumps out at a protagonist, whether they get them or not is out of my control and the movie is going to carry on regardless.

In RE, when those dogs burst through, I panic about what I'm going to do, and I'm worrying I'm going to lose the last 30mins of progress.

I guess that was why RE6 really didn't do it for me. It was shooty-shooty-bang-bang then QTE repeated over and over. Dying cost you very little, just back to the last checkpoint. There was no real consequence, so no tension.

There seemed no point investing in helping NPCs (other than the game forcing you to) because they'd then die in a cut-scene 5mins later.

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Ross
9/2/2017 01:12:14 am

The problem isn't inherent to ALL VR games, "Roomscale" VR hasn't made a single of my friends sick (sample of around 15 people), where as non-roomscale seems to make everyone who tries it a little queazy at best.

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superdog
30/1/2017 01:04:26 pm

Without not wanting to sound like your mum...

Is is wise to combine a recent bout of erosive gastritis and an activity that make you want to throw up?

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Mr Biffo
30/1/2017 01:20:12 pm

Yeah, alright, mum. Thanks for that...

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superdog
30/1/2017 02:58:42 pm

Good! Now go clean up your room, you mucky devil!

Spiney O'Sullivan
30/1/2017 01:35:53 pm

And not to sound like your great aunt Hortense, but why don't you come to visit more? And the staff at this care home are terrible, I think they're stealing from me. And things were better back in my day...

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Gosunkugi
30/1/2017 01:43:18 pm

Minor spoilers ahead. I too thought the first half of the game excellent. Considering Resident Evil as a whole supposedly gets its inspiration from horror movies, there's never been anything tangible in the series that screams "cor this is just like out of that flick". You have the haunted house, the citywide zombie apocalypse, the frozen isolation, and even the cannibal crazies. And yet in none of the games have I ever felt like there was a real homage or love letter to the genre.
Until now that is. Yeah, sure, sometimes the letter is written in crayon and blatant to the point of eye rolling (family around the dinner table, I'm talking to you) more often than not, it's capable of showing a genuine love for the genre. It's actually quite fun to try and spot the all the references. Dare I say it, the game did more in a single sequence of a character spider scuttling away than the entirety of Code Veronica did to honour The Thing.

Sadly I feel the second part of the game, everything post-dockside battle with Jack lost focus. Ironically it was this latter half of the game that felt more like a true Resident Evil, where the first felt like a different franchise entirely. It seems that when the game armed you to the teeth, you immediately lost the tension, it because very difficult to feel scared again.
There was a brief moment during the finale when they threw a lovely Evil Dead moment at you, spoiled slightly immediately after it by the throwing of a typical Resident Evil moment at you.

Great game though. Bodes well for the future.

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Clive Peppard
30/1/2017 03:58:29 pm

Anyone else now planning when and where to leap out at Biffo?

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RG
30/1/2017 04:44:47 pm

And how to protect my throat...

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Leigh
30/1/2017 08:15:26 pm

If we all did it at once, would it be scarier or less scary?

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Spiney O'Sullivan
30/1/2017 10:29:37 pm

Looks like Digifest 2 is going to be terrible for all involved...

Alejandro
30/1/2017 08:12:40 pm

Out of interest have you tried travel sickness tablets to see if they make any difference?

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Euphemia
30/1/2017 09:27:11 pm

Might be better served with trying not to be a big girls blouse first.

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RichardM
30/1/2017 11:32:42 pm

Are we on the brink of a Dune-esque future, getting smacked up on Spice so we can navigate the interstellar medium / play 3D videogames without feeling sick?

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Mr Jonny T
30/1/2017 09:38:18 pm

I hate jump scares.

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Resident Weevil
31/1/2017 10:43:29 am

I thought Alien Isolation was Alien Isolation done right, so this sounds amazing!

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Lino
31/1/2017 12:13:19 pm

No.. I stopped playing this after those arsing spiders on the roof in the second game (Was it? I can't remember, don't push me). Stop putting spiders in games. Or things that look like spiders that jump THANK YOU VERY MUCH HALF-LIFE 2! What was my point? Whatever. This isn't here as yet more procrastination on my part. Nope. No way.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
31/1/2017 07:26:42 pm

Seriously, every game designer throws spiders in whenever they can't think of anything better, and there's a few games I'll never finish as a result. I'm aware that it's technically an irrational phobia, but that doesn't actually help...

I am going to be so annoyed if the new Zelda has skultulas in it. Those things made Ocarina of Time feel like Resident Evil.

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