An absolutely brilliant blend of cheesiness and seriousness. My friend put it best: if Silent Hill took inspiration from David Lynch films, then this takes inspiration from all those cheesy 80s action movies. However, just leaving it at that understates how well this game understands tone, for the most part. Outside of a few very odd moments, the game manages to perfectly balance itself between being a completely straight-shot story about a rookie cop trying to save his town, and an over-the-top extravaganza of gore, guns, and G-viruses.
The gameplay is silky smooth, it never felt clunky despite the fact that I was playing on controller in a game VERY aim-heavy. Some QOL features from the original RE in regards to your map marking unfinished puzzles and missed supplies also make things a lot more enjoyable, as well as being able to craft ammo for whenever you might need. Inventory space can be expanded, which makes things so much more comfortable than RE1, while still retaining moments of having to properly manage space. Puzzles are still fun and rack your brain without ever feeling cheap, and feel very satisfying and rewarding when you solve them. The length was also perfect, it never felt like it was dragging or losing steam, everything had a constant momentum and consistent pace to it.
So you might be wondering, why the 4.5? Well, as much as I did love this, I really was not a fan of the sewer area. I know they tend to be low points in most games, but man it really shined here. I had multiple instances of the sewer monsters completely blocking my path, forcing me to take damage, waste ammo, or use a self-defense item. Perhaps I played it wrong, I don't know. It was still an unenjoyable experience that stuck out like a sore thumb in a game this fantastic. Maybe I'll get over it in future playthroughs.
I am writing this upon just finishing my Leon playthrough, and I plan on going back to replay the game with Claire, and perhaps more after that. Not only does the game heavily open itself up to replayability, it's also just a downright fun experience that you'll WANT to come back to over and over again. I can definitely see a 5 for this in the future if Claire's run turns out to be good.
Edit: Ahahahahaaaaaaaaa, fuck yeah. This is a 5. Any potential problems I had with Leon A were wiped out in Claire B, while still having the difficulty to always make things interesting, as well as switching up where certain things were to make the experience similar, but still different enough to be an entirely separate path. Toss in an awesome ending section and a gnarly final-final boss, with some added emotional connection from Sherry, and you got yourself a playthrough that I actually think I preferred more than my first. Can't recommend this enough to anyone both inside the horror game realm and out.
The gameplay is silky smooth, it never felt clunky despite the fact that I was playing on controller in a game VERY aim-heavy. Some QOL features from the original RE in regards to your map marking unfinished puzzles and missed supplies also make things a lot more enjoyable, as well as being able to craft ammo for whenever you might need. Inventory space can be expanded, which makes things so much more comfortable than RE1, while still retaining moments of having to properly manage space. Puzzles are still fun and rack your brain without ever feeling cheap, and feel very satisfying and rewarding when you solve them. The length was also perfect, it never felt like it was dragging or losing steam, everything had a constant momentum and consistent pace to it.
So you might be wondering, why the 4.5? Well, as much as I did love this, I really was not a fan of the sewer area. I know they tend to be low points in most games, but man it really shined here. I had multiple instances of the sewer monsters completely blocking my path, forcing me to take damage, waste ammo, or use a self-defense item. Perhaps I played it wrong, I don't know. It was still an unenjoyable experience that stuck out like a sore thumb in a game this fantastic. Maybe I'll get over it in future playthroughs.
I am writing this upon just finishing my Leon playthrough, and I plan on going back to replay the game with Claire, and perhaps more after that. Not only does the game heavily open itself up to replayability, it's also just a downright fun experience that you'll WANT to come back to over and over again. I can definitely see a 5 for this in the future if Claire's run turns out to be good.
Edit: Ahahahahaaaaaaaaa, fuck yeah. This is a 5. Any potential problems I had with Leon A were wiped out in Claire B, while still having the difficulty to always make things interesting, as well as switching up where certain things were to make the experience similar, but still different enough to be an entirely separate path. Toss in an awesome ending section and a gnarly final-final boss, with some added emotional connection from Sherry, and you got yourself a playthrough that I actually think I preferred more than my first. Can't recommend this enough to anyone both inside the horror game realm and out.