The Evil Within Gameplay Analysis: A Fresh Take on Terror or Something We've Seen Before?

When news first broke out that Shinji Mikami, the grandfather of horror and creator of the Resident Evil series, was working with his new studio to bring us an original survival horror title, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm.  First off, no longer working under the containment of Capcom and the "direction" they have chosen to drive most of their once-beloved franchises is a great start.  Mikami being at the helm of his own studio, Tango Gameworks, will give him the creative freedom he deserves to allow us to really dive into the most sick and twisted experience he can concoct for us.  Also, being published by the well known and respected Bethesda will hopefully allow leniency on any would-be controversial content.  But, none of that means of a damn thing if the game doesn't deliver and now we have footage of two demo locations to draw some speculation from.  So will The Evil Within fulfill its promises to an audience that has felt long abandoned?

The contents of the demo showcase, in my opinion, were a bit of a mixed bag, though mostly good.  I think it might be easier to just layout the contents in a digestible list.  The extended demo I watched was found here and is the most comprehensive gameplay footage (without stage commentary, thank god) I've seen to date.

What I Enjoyed

1. The Varying Locations

I guess this is a bit preemptive as I can only draw from the 10 minutes of footage, but the entirety of the game seems to take place in a recently post-apocalyptic city, as revealed in the last segment of the prologue.  I say recently post-apocalyptic because our main character seems quite surprised to reach the outside only to find the crumbling leftovers of a once populated city before him.  I'm sure there will be some sort of amnesia involved as a plot device.

But in the demo alone, we've seen some sort of butcher's den, a hospital or asylum, and a small cabin in the woods (very reminiscent of Resident Evil 4).  Sometimes, switching up the locations too fast can break the gameplay flow and breach into the immersion.  There is no point in minding your surroundings, if you aren't going to need to backtrack, which I feel is a staple to classic horror.  But, the gameplay seems to showcase some backtracking elements, such as finding keys and items to progress further into the environment.  So the multiple locations could be a great asset to the game by giving us plenty of settings to create different types of tension and shock, or it could go south if we're never allowed enough time to become fully absorbed in an area before being whisked off to the next one.  For now, I'm seeing this in a positive light, because the entire game taking place in an asylum borders on cliche and sometimes you need to change things up so the audience doesn't become familiar and bored with the same jump-scare tactics.

2. The Enemy Design

We really only got a glimpse at three enemy types in the demo.  The hulking butchers, armed with chainsaws and knives, the standard lumbering zombie, and well, one of the most terrifying takes on "creepy girl with black hair and pale skin, crab running around" I have ever seen.  These are all monsters we've seen before in film and games, but the design looks great.  The zombies really are standard, but certain touches like their clumsy movements and being wrapped in barbed wire makes you question their fate.  They almost seem more of a tribute to Ghouls from the Fallout series than a classic zombie, and the hint of mystery surrounding their origins makes you question if there is any humanity left within them.

It also seems like enemies like to pursue you through most of the area, a similar element present in Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 and the Regenerator from the Dead Space series.  Now a lot of gamers hate that mechanic; a somewhat invincible monster that will relentlessly chase you, rarely giving you a moment to rest and compose your thoughts.  I think a lot of the hatred stems from the waste of resources that tends to come with those enemies.  Most bullets and ammunition you use tend to be for a good cause; you're permanently destroying an obstacle hindering your progress.  But with the unkillable baddies, all ammo dispensed is for nothing.  They won't stop and you can't find that moment of peace with them continuing their pursuit.  I personally welcome the chase and find the horror I see in it to drive home the scariness of the game, but I can understand why many gamers see it as an annoyance.

The blackhaired spider lady is what really drove the terror home.  Her appearance was quite unexpected and her quick movements and seemingly lethal presence already has me wondering "How the hell am I supposed to deal with that?"  I don't know anything about her, but its an origin story that I hope stays a mystery.

3. Psychological Thrills

The dumpster full of bodies in the butcher's lair, blood streaks on the ground, abandoned wheel chairs, and tidal waves of blood rushing down a hallway in a shameless tribute to The Shining.  No matter how many times we've seen these things make their way into a horror title, I don't think I'll ever get sick of them.  I'll admit, my initial reaction to waking up on a meat hook in a slaughterhouse was pretty tiresome, but you can't deny that after a few minutes in that environment, the chills start creeping up your spine.  These things are horror stereotypes for a reason; they work.  Being in an asylum, abandoned hospital, or creepy cabin are staples to the genre and I'm in full support of sticking to the classics, since we are fully aware how well those classics can be executed.

Your character also seems to be suffering from some sort of mental trauma as he imagines blood flooding towards him.  Having your character imagining things puts you at the mercy of the game designers, as all breeches of reality are fair-game.  Monsters are scary in their physical form, but at the same time, you know you can run away; you know you can defend yourself and that they are limited to the rules of this world.  But once you start diving into the psychological scares, you need to be prepared for anything.  One moment you can be walking into a room, and the next a giant twisted mouth could be forming from the ceiling, slowly descending upon you.  Is it all in your head?  Who knows; all that's certain is that its there, its coming for you, and it could happen when you least expect it.

What I'm Hesitant About

1. Another Third Person Shooter

I had an intense excitement during the first part of the demo, when you're extremely vulnerable.  You have no weapon, no form of self-defense, and you have to sneak your way through a hazardous environment.  The intensity was doubled when you sustain an injury that has you limping for the rest of the segment.  With limited mobility and no protection, you are truly exposed and nothing could be scarier.

But then, the latter part of the video shows you defending a small room from waves of zombies as they try to break through the windows, which is about as subtle of a nod to Resident Evil 4 as a brick to the face.  You're armed with a revolver and a scarce amount of bullets.  Okay, that's fine; limiting your character's ammunition is a great way to add to the intensity. But then all of a sudden your character has access to mines.  Mines?  Really?  Talk about breaking the immersion.  What kind of cabin is stocked with some hunting trophies, a few bookshelves, a revolver, a handful of bullets, and time bombs?  Being armed to the teeth is not an element of horror and is one of the primary reasons the Resident Evil series began to suffer.  Give your character an arsenal, and you get rid of the tension.  Hopefully, these are just sections of a much bigger experience to break up the gameplay.  But for now, I'm remaining skeptical.

2. Fetch Quests and Linear Puzzle Solving

As I stated before, I enjoy backtracking in horror games.  I think it gives you a reason to take care in your actions and the enemies you dispose of, since you're going to need to re-enter that area at another point.  I also like puzzles contained to an area that force you to examine your surroundings and recall certain aspects of environments previously explored.  But, puzzle solving was killed off in Resident Evil 4 as the experience was meant to be more linear.  You find a locked door.  You go a different way, fight your way to the end, find a key, loop back around to said locked door, and continue on your way.  There was no search and discovery or necessary backtracking, only a short lived obstacle.

The Evil Within showcase demonstrated this early on.  You find a locked door, look to see the key hanging from a hook, you sneak over to get it, and make your escape.  Now I fully realize this segment of the game seems to be extremely early on, if not the beginning, so I have no problem with that existing as a tutorial.  It does, however, worry me about their further use of such "puzzles" and how they will handle the exploration of your environment aiding to your progress.

3. What The Story Will Bring Us

Now there's a few ways of executing a story in horror games, but typically your character either exists as the hero tasked with saving the world, or just some sad sap who got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong type.  I'm a firm believer that the latter is a much stronger way of a capturing the horror genre than the former.  The Resident Evil remake for the Gamecube, one of my favorite games, keeps the characters human; they are just some people who got wrapped up in some shit they were far too unqualified to handle.  It was about surviving a nightmare they were unprepared for and simply escaping with their lives intact.  The Last of Us is a similar experience and I think driving home the point that your character is vulnerable and just as clueless as you are drives the mystery and strengthens that aspect of the story.  It wasn't until later Resident Evil titles that the characters became the heroes; the ones meant to uncover the secrets, battle giant monsters, and save the planet.  When something of that caliber is already expected of your character, all fear is out the window.  You already know you are capable of incredible feats, and a few zombies or mutated freaks in your way isn't going to stop you.  This form of narration kills the suspense of whether or not you'll succeed or even survive and leaves the story drained of mystery and the overbearing unknown.

It is obviously far too early to tell what direction The Evil Within will go in, but I think its a fair criticism to be worried.  Overall, I think the game will be refreshing, even if we've seen some of it done before.  The context of the setting and the discovery of your character is what makes the first entry to a series a great experience.  There is no expectation; just a blank slate to captivate us with.

Review: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix

Its been 11 and a half years since Kingdom Hearts first dropped onto the Playstation 2.  I remember seeing the first footage back in the day and coming away completely confused.  Why exactly were Mickey, Goofy, Captain Hook, and other Disney characters being thrown into this adventure JRPG?  It seemed out of place and caused me to shrug off the experience after that initial glance.  That is, of course, until I found out that Squall, Cloud, and Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy series made an appearance, and I found myself anticipating giving it a thorough try.  I mean, what can sell a game better than Sephiroth?

After the Square-Enix-patented lengthy tutorial segment, it was safe to say I was hooked.  Traveling to different worlds, battling heartless, using melee attacks, magic, and summons; and on top of that there was a delicious coating of Disney charm to lighten the mood whenever necessary.  I have to admit, the Disney aspects were exactly what turned me off to the game at first.  Never in my craziest dreams had the words JRPG and Disney been in the same sentence.  But, it was those memorable characters and them acting exactly how you'd expect them to act that grounded the game in something a little more tangible (while the main plot scrambled my brain with constant reusing of words like "heart", "friendship", and "darkness").  Hearing Donald go bat-shit in his classic voice and Goofy's lovable dullness make for a much brighter adventure in the face of a tragic and convoluted story that can be downright exhausting to follow.

Now, the game is making a second appearance on the market as Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, which includes Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (never before released in the U.S.), Re:Chain of Memories, and 3 hours of cutscenes from 358/2 Days, all washed through a clean HD filter on one shiny disc.  Final Mix includes some new difficulty modes to choose from and fixed controls, closer resembling those of Kingdom Hearts 2 (using the Right Thumbstick to control the camera v.s the Shoulder buttons and moving Command prompts to the Triangle button).  Re:Chain of Memories is the PS2 overhaul of Chain of Memories for the Gameboy Advance, featuring a deck building based combat system and an additional campaign as Rikku.  Last, the cutscenes from 358/2 Days (originally for the Nintendo DS) have been revamped on a different engine and give the viewer a look into the life of Roxas and Organization XIII from the time spanning between the end of Kingdom Hearts and the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2.  When its all said in done, its a pretty neat package for a series newcomer or nostalgic veteran, especially at the discounted price.  But do these franchise tidbits stand up to the test of time?

Well, mostly yes, but some parts, definitely not.  To start, the combat is still as fun as ever.  Its a chaotic button mashing fest filled with vivid, flashy lights and spectacular sound effects.  Rocket punching the X button can get you pretty far, but there are plenty of abilities and spells to give combat an added flair.  Taking on classic Disney villains and the numerous Heartless is riveting, cartoon fun and while some bosses can be done with your eyes closed, there are still a few that will build that rage inside of you.  The characters are also just as splendid as they were when we first met them.  Sora, Rikku, and Kairi are all likable and worth cheering for, while Donald and Goofy make for excellent companions, even if they're bound to their own end goals.  Most cameo appearances are brief, but offer you just enough insight to their motives and general tie-in to the story.  The music is enchanting and surprisingly memorable; even though I never replayed Kingdom Hearts after my first playthrough over a decade ago, I still find myself able to hum along with the various themes easily.

The things that haven't held up so well would be the targeting system and the story presentation. Targeting as Sora can be kind of a mess. First of all, if you aren't actually locked-on to an enemy, Sora will still choose the closest enemy to "follow". He'll keep an eye on them and his attacks will gravitate towards their direction, which is fine. The big problem is its very hard to break that auto-lock; turning the camera away or looking at a different enemy rarely changes who he's soft targeting unless the original enemy flies far enough away. The easiest way to target the monster you actually want to follow is to lock-on with R1, and use L2 to cycle through each baddie until you're set on the one you want, which can be very time consuming in the heat of battle and really disorientate your position as the camera bounces around the arena. This isn't a big issue, and I have definitely gotten used to it, but it still makes me wonder why they chose to give Sora precedence attacking an enemy he hasn't even locked onto yet, instead of just letting the player control his aim freely.

The second aspect that really shows its age is the story. The story's content is great and the universe is absolutely rich with wonder, but even after playing all the Kingdom Hearts games and knowing full well what happens, it can still be a drag to follow along with. The cheesy script rarely varies in its terminology and it always seems like the player is either 10 steps ahead of the characters (and waiting as the characters on screen struggle to slowly figure out what's going on and announce it out loud) or the player is completely left in the dust once they get into some other odd ball story elements that are skimmed over way too fast despite their pivotal relevance.  For instance, what the Kingdom Hearts actually is/does is never explained in full, though accessing it is the sole motivation for the entire cast of villains.  Players returning to the series may already know these things, but newcomers picking up the title for the first time will probably feel a bit lost in a story that really isn't that complicated.

But this game still shines the same way it did in 2002.  Even with all its flaws and tropes of the past barging their way into the current generation, its a trip down memory lane worth taking.  Diving into the many enchanting Disney worlds and spotting beloved Final Fantasy characters along the way is an excellent ride and there's just no questioning the Kingdom Hearts' series level of pure captivation.

Additional Note: For anyone interested, Game Trailers made a fantastic Kingdom Hearts Timeline video that goes through the entire story so far.  Its about an hour long, very detailed, and incredibly well done.  I highly recommend checking it out.

Taking Risks in the Gaming Industry

A few years back, developer Quantic Dream brought us Heavy Rain, a modified point and click adventure that puts you in the shoes of a handful of characters thrown into a classic murder-mystery case.  This Playstation 3 exclusive crossed the finish line as a success and though the genre isn't for everyone, Quantic Dream is continuing their trend (like Fahrenheit and Indigo Prophecy before it) with a new IP slated for this fall; Beyond Two Souls.  Even though Heavy Rain received its fair share of criticism, those who understand Quantic Dream's mixed style of cinematic gameplay got a memorable experience from the game and heralded its undeniable pushing of the boundaries acceptable in video games.

So why exactly am I bringing this up now?  Because it has recently come to light that Microsoft turned down Heavy Rain because the story was centered around child kidnapping.  Apparently, in fear of how it'd be received by the media, they told Quantic Dream that the content was a problem and that they wanted it changed.  I applaud Quantic Dream for taking their IP and walking instead of bowing to the demands of a publisher whose familiarity is more prominent in business and sales than in artistic integrity.  I'm not trying to focus on Microsoft here; I'm sure Sony and Nintendo have turned down their fair share of risky proposals.  But the pressing fact here is less about Heavy Rain being turned down, and instead the reason it was turned down.

Refusing to take on Heavy Rain because the story contained a child kidnapping was a decision that could have been very harmful to our medium, had Sony not stepped up to support the project.  Instead of trying to understand the presentation of the content, Microsoft was only focused on the content itself, and from the start considered the blow back of ignorant, letter-writing soccer moms to be more pressing than the evolution of gaming as an art form and a unique style of story telling.  Just imagine if Reservoir Dogs was asked to change its script to remove its highly memorable, character defining torture scene.  What if Children of Men was forced to edit out its visceral, dark violence?  What is left is nothing but a shadow of what the art piece was meant to be.

And isn't there at least a hint of hypocrisy contained in the other games Microsoft have brought to us?  Gears of War has no problem letting you saw someone completely down the middle with a chainsaw bayonet.  Blood, gore, and brutal violence are stacked upon each other without a second thought, and all for the sake of gushy entertainment and shock-factor, but the second a story contains a sex scene or a child kidnapping, its gone too far?  Allowing games to explore morally difficulty themes is how we grow as a medium and evolve as an art form, and without pushing the envelope, video games will never escape the image of immature teenage entertainment.

Film critics can watch a movie and appreciate the fact that every bit of violence, every sex scene, and every other sequence of rape, murder, torture, kidnapping, or war is every bit as important to the story as dialogue between characters.  They understand that if rape takes place in a movie, the film isn't saying "We condone rape;" they are expressing a bigger narrative beyond what's on the screen and weaving it into overall picture.  Why can't games be treated the same way?

Well, the primary factor still holding gaming back is the publicity that gets highlighted by the media.  Grand Theft Auto being blamed for poorly parented teenagers with greater underlying medical issues toting around guns or Mass Effect exploding into the view of parents because it contains a four second, fully censored sex scene; these are just the forefront example of how major news outlets view video games.  But the battle isn't won by kneeling before their wishes and promising to remove all adult content from our medium.  You don't get anywhere by playing it safe and even when you do everything you can to stay off their radar, they'll still dig for a reason to propagate a witch hunt.  "Video games are why kids are overweight."  "Gaming is why test scores are so low."  No matter what, if a new issue comes to light concerning kids, video games will be the primary target.

So how do we deal with the problems the media poses for this art form?  Short answer; we don't.  Rockstar has continued doing what they do best and making solid Grand Theft Auto games, quite successfully, in fact, without any hindrance posed from their past tangos with media spotlights.  Games being successful or praised is not affected one bit by how news casters portray them.  In fact, that's something very positive I can say about gamers in general; our opinions are not swayed by the negatives we read in the paper or see on TV, because we already expect games to be criticized and hated.  Truth is, games have been misunderstood since their creation, with parents and teachers whining and screaming about how their kids will be affected.  We already know full well that we are generally looked down upon by media outlets, and its nothing new when Nameless TV Anchor #406 presses a new story on why playing your 3DS will cause blindness or how holding a controller will develop arthritis.

In the past decade, we have come a long way.  Games are beginning to really blur the line between cinematic experience and fun pass time.  Motion capture and real actors are being used to bridge the gap into reality and renown composers are seeing video games as a dynamic, exciting new form with which to deliver music.  Instead of a room of lone programmers, development teams now have writers dedicated to creating the story, and crafting character personalities.  Environments are created, not to just exist as a plane for your avatar to walk on, but as a delivery method for atmosphere and narrative.  We are constantly maturing and are finally being taken seriously as an art form and we didn't achieve this by listening to the demands of ignorant parents and doomsday prophets who would still complain about the game anyways.  We ignore them, we keep creating, and we continue to expand.