Ebonsword
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Messages
- 2,340
Is it a masterpiece? No. But, damn, it's pretty entertaining. I picked this game up for less than $15, and I definitely feel like I got my money's worth.
As a fan of the earlier Resident Evil titles, it's nice to be able to go back to Raccoon City, especially to familiar locations like the police station. It's cool to finally be able to walk around them in full 3-D without fixed camera angles.
There is some nice atmosphere going on, too. I particularly like the level where you have to fight your way across a foggy graveyard. Very spooky.
There's also a surprising amount of depth to the combat. For example, you often find yourself in three-way battles between your team, other mercenaries, and zombies. If you wound an enemy mercenary, the zombies will get excited by the flowing blood and swarm the injured enemy. Also, you can do stuff like grab a zombie and use it as a meat shield to protect you from enemy fire. The basic gameplay is way better than, say, Resident Evil 5 (or RE4, for that matter).
Also, the pseudo-RPG elements are kind of addicting. I found myself always wanting to do one more mission so I could get enough XP to pick up a new weapon or upgrade one of my special abilities.
Are there downsides to REORC? Of course.
For one thing, the base game is short (only about 4-6 hours long), but there seems to be a lot of replayability due to the six different characters to choose from. There's also DLC (this being Capcom, you knew that there would be) which seems to double the number of missions available.
Another problem is that the AI of your teammates and your enemies is pathetic. Luckily, you can revive your teammates at will (like in Rainbow Six Vegas), so it's not too much of a hindrance if they croak. The stupidity of the enemy AI is a little more disappointing. I mean, I expect zombies to not be too bright but when supposedly highly trained soldiers act just as stupidly, it takes a bit of the shine off your victories.
Also, while the controls are better than pretty much any other Resident Evil game, they're still not as fluid as they could be. I particularly found it annoying that REORC uses a cover system where you automatically stick yourself to a wall if you get close to it. I'd much rather have that kind of thing controlled by having a button specifically assigned to it.
As I said, though, I'm pretty happy with the game, especially for what I paid for it. If you're a fan of third-person shooters and/or the early Resident Evil titles, it's probably worth checking out.
As a fan of the earlier Resident Evil titles, it's nice to be able to go back to Raccoon City, especially to familiar locations like the police station. It's cool to finally be able to walk around them in full 3-D without fixed camera angles.
There is some nice atmosphere going on, too. I particularly like the level where you have to fight your way across a foggy graveyard. Very spooky.
There's also a surprising amount of depth to the combat. For example, you often find yourself in three-way battles between your team, other mercenaries, and zombies. If you wound an enemy mercenary, the zombies will get excited by the flowing blood and swarm the injured enemy. Also, you can do stuff like grab a zombie and use it as a meat shield to protect you from enemy fire. The basic gameplay is way better than, say, Resident Evil 5 (or RE4, for that matter).
Also, the pseudo-RPG elements are kind of addicting. I found myself always wanting to do one more mission so I could get enough XP to pick up a new weapon or upgrade one of my special abilities.
Are there downsides to REORC? Of course.
For one thing, the base game is short (only about 4-6 hours long), but there seems to be a lot of replayability due to the six different characters to choose from. There's also DLC (this being Capcom, you knew that there would be) which seems to double the number of missions available.
Another problem is that the AI of your teammates and your enemies is pathetic. Luckily, you can revive your teammates at will (like in Rainbow Six Vegas), so it's not too much of a hindrance if they croak. The stupidity of the enemy AI is a little more disappointing. I mean, I expect zombies to not be too bright but when supposedly highly trained soldiers act just as stupidly, it takes a bit of the shine off your victories.
Also, while the controls are better than pretty much any other Resident Evil game, they're still not as fluid as they could be. I particularly found it annoying that REORC uses a cover system where you automatically stick yourself to a wall if you get close to it. I'd much rather have that kind of thing controlled by having a button specifically assigned to it.
As I said, though, I'm pretty happy with the game, especially for what I paid for it. If you're a fan of third-person shooters and/or the early Resident Evil titles, it's probably worth checking out.
