You know, getting attacked by that killer doll back there's making me think maybe this home isn't so sweet!
I've never seen the 1989 film on which Capcom's Sweet Home is based, but I am familiar with the games development history and role as a precursor to the Resident Evil series. I think we all are by this point, but it was a precipitating factor in me playing it, because I sure do love me some Resident Evil and experiencing the game inspired it would be nothing if not novel.
Sweet Home is pretty good, though. Solid enough that it can stand on its own, though dated in some ways. The survival horror genre as we understand it hadn't yet been established, but you can see kernels of Resident Evil staples here, like its precise inventory and resource management. Puzzles have a similar sort of feel to those you find in the Spencer Mansion; items you pick up and ferry along on your journey are critical to opening new rooms and passageways, and the dark history of the house is exposed the more you unravel its secrets.
It also has a unique party system where each member of your team has their own clearly defined utility both for puzzle solving and combat, which is handled in a RPG style that (naturally) reminds me a lot of Resident Evil: Gaiden. Party members can die in Sweet Home, and while you can give items more crucial to progression to surviving members, this eats up valuable inventory space. Of course you also lose their special abilities, which help tremendously in surviving the night. You might be able to get by with one or two members of the team dying, but after that you might as well restart. Death is impactful, and there is a certain screwed up fun in trying to squeak by with a dwindling team.
While I think Sweet Home is conceptually impressive, it is limited by the NES hardware and some JRPG design conventions of the time. Combat is incredibly repetitious and the house's many winding corridors have a tendency to blend together. I'm also not a fan of needing wooden planks to patch up holes in the ground. I get that the intention was to build tension by making you waste space on a limited resource, and plan carefully where and when you need to set a plank down, but it doesn't quite translate and just becomes annoying.
I should probably watch Sweet Home, but I'm going to be honest, any time I think about sitting down with a Japanese haunted house movie, I just end up watching Hausu. It can't be helped, really. Where's my god damn Hausu video game? Get on that, Capcom.
I've never seen the 1989 film on which Capcom's Sweet Home is based, but I am familiar with the games development history and role as a precursor to the Resident Evil series. I think we all are by this point, but it was a precipitating factor in me playing it, because I sure do love me some Resident Evil and experiencing the game inspired it would be nothing if not novel.
Sweet Home is pretty good, though. Solid enough that it can stand on its own, though dated in some ways. The survival horror genre as we understand it hadn't yet been established, but you can see kernels of Resident Evil staples here, like its precise inventory and resource management. Puzzles have a similar sort of feel to those you find in the Spencer Mansion; items you pick up and ferry along on your journey are critical to opening new rooms and passageways, and the dark history of the house is exposed the more you unravel its secrets.
It also has a unique party system where each member of your team has their own clearly defined utility both for puzzle solving and combat, which is handled in a RPG style that (naturally) reminds me a lot of Resident Evil: Gaiden. Party members can die in Sweet Home, and while you can give items more crucial to progression to surviving members, this eats up valuable inventory space. Of course you also lose their special abilities, which help tremendously in surviving the night. You might be able to get by with one or two members of the team dying, but after that you might as well restart. Death is impactful, and there is a certain screwed up fun in trying to squeak by with a dwindling team.
While I think Sweet Home is conceptually impressive, it is limited by the NES hardware and some JRPG design conventions of the time. Combat is incredibly repetitious and the house's many winding corridors have a tendency to blend together. I'm also not a fan of needing wooden planks to patch up holes in the ground. I get that the intention was to build tension by making you waste space on a limited resource, and plan carefully where and when you need to set a plank down, but it doesn't quite translate and just becomes annoying.
I should probably watch Sweet Home, but I'm going to be honest, any time I think about sitting down with a Japanese haunted house movie, I just end up watching Hausu. It can't be helped, really. Where's my god damn Hausu video game? Get on that, Capcom.