We couldn't think of a good caption. So, implied rape.
Writer's note: This is a review of a Downloadable Content for the full game Resident Evil 5. If you haven't please go read that. Also, ahead are spoilers of a couple downloadable chapters, and the main game if you haven't played it already. Proceed with caution. I also apologize for lack of pictures. Blogspot feels like being an ass to me and I don't wanna sift through HTML code.
So, the Untold Stories bundle consists of every bit of DLC for Resident Evil 5, except for Versus mode. All of this includes the costume packs, Mercenaries Reunion, and the two extra story chapters Lost in Nightmares & Desperate Escape. These two extra chapters take place around Chris and Sheva's adventures and explore parts of the story that have mostly been established, fleshing them out into two full-length game chapters worth the adventure. I chose to bundle them together in one review because they're similar to each other and they can be downloaded as one. It also prevents me from having six different reviews all stemming off of Resident Evil 5. I can't be that lazy and spread it over six weeks of updates... but it sure is tempting.
First up is Lost in Nightmares. For those of you who have played Resident Evil 5, you'll remember that before Chris met Sheva, he and Jill went to confront Spencer (the head of Umbrella) hoping it would lead them to Wesker, which it did. This is where Chris lost Jill and these are also the events that Lost in Nightmares expands on. And expand it does, where the main game would have you believe it was a rather straight-forward mission they were on, here in this chapter it's far more fleshed out, all harking back to the old days of Resident Evil with creepy atmospheres, hefty text diaries to read and even an easter egg that turns the camera into a fixed security-camera like style of the older games. It's obvious Capcom was trying to please older fans with this chapter, but were they successful?
I'd like to say yes. While there's nothing here that actually scared me, I was washed over with nostalgia when I would backtrack a couple times through halls solving miniscule puzzles. Here you'll find yourself playing with the team of Chris and Jill. (technically for the first time in the entirety of Resident Evil) The first portion of this chapter takes place in the main hall, and a few branching rooms of one of Spencer's mansions. Throughout this main portion you'll be gathering items, weapons, solving one or two simple puzzles, and even saving your partner from a good ol' crushing ceiling trap. It's all a welcome, slow-paced meander through creepy halls, all so you can proceed forward into the dank, gross underground torture chambers of the mansion.
And it's here, in these gross undergrounds that you'll encounter your first enemy. He's a large, hooded, multi-toothed bastard with a giant eye growing on his shoulder, and wielding a huge anchor. At first you'll think you can take him with little problem. But when you find out that his grab move is an inescapable death-grip, you'll be panicking just to get a shot off into his weak point on his back, trying desperately to run past him and hoping your partner is close enough to save you should he grab you. There's definitely more than one of thes
e guys, and their sheer death-dealing power will make you panic and run with your heart racing (especially when there's two of them) a good feeling that the Resident Evil series has been missing. Unfortunately, these guys are the only enemy in the chapter (aside from Wesker) and they're literally just a re-skin of the Executioner with some boosted stats from the main game. Reskinning would make sense, but it's still quite lazy for such an interesting looking enemy. Because he shares the same animations, it's awkward to watch him swinging his anchor wildly just like the axe man because his anchor constantly clips through the cramped, narrow hallways. The animations just don't fit this chapter's claustrophobia. It's rather dissapointing, but regardless these guys are deadly, and (if you don't want a cool gameplay spoiler, proceed to the next paragraph) there's even a part where you lose your weapons and you must kill up to four of these dudes using cranks and ceiling spike-traps. Being the bait for that isn't comfortable.
So, the Untold Stories bundle consists of every bit of DLC for Resident Evil 5, except for Versus mode. All of this includes the costume packs, Mercenaries Reunion, and the two extra story chapters Lost in Nightmares & Desperate Escape. These two extra chapters take place around Chris and Sheva's adventures and explore parts of the story that have mostly been established, fleshing them out into two full-length game chapters worth the adventure. I chose to bundle them together in one review because they're similar to each other and they can be downloaded as one. It also prevents me from having six different reviews all stemming off of Resident Evil 5. I can't be that lazy and spread it over six weeks of updates... but it sure is tempting.
First up is Lost in Nightmares. For those of you who have played Resident Evil 5, you'll remember that before Chris met Sheva, he and Jill went to confront Spencer (the head of Umbrella) hoping it would lead them to Wesker, which it did. This is where Chris lost Jill and these are also the events that Lost in Nightmares expands on. And expand it does, where the main game would have you believe it was a rather straight-forward mission they were on, here in this chapter it's far more fleshed out, all harking back to the old days of Resident Evil with creepy atmospheres, hefty text diaries to read and even an easter egg that turns the camera into a fixed security-camera like style of the older games. It's obvious Capcom was trying to please older fans with this chapter, but were they successful?
I'd like to say yes. While there's nothing here that actually scared me, I was washed over with nostalgia when I would backtrack a couple times through halls solving miniscule puzzles. Here you'll find yourself playing with the team of Chris and Jill. (technically for the first time in the entirety of Resident Evil) The first portion of this chapter takes place in the main hall, and a few branching rooms of one of Spencer's mansions. Throughout this main portion you'll be gathering items, weapons, solving one or two simple puzzles, and even saving your partner from a good ol' crushing ceiling trap. It's all a welcome, slow-paced meander through creepy halls, all so you can proceed forward into the dank, gross underground torture chambers of the mansion.
And it's here, in these gross undergrounds that you'll encounter your first enemy. He's a large, hooded, multi-toothed bastard with a giant eye growing on his shoulder, and wielding a huge anchor. At first you'll think you can take him with little problem. But when you find out that his grab move is an inescapable death-grip, you'll be panicking just to get a shot off into his weak point on his back, trying desperately to run past him and hoping your partner is close enough to save you should he grab you. There's definitely more than one of thes
e guys, and their sheer death-dealing power will make you panic and run with your heart racing (especially when there's two of them) a good feeling that the Resident Evil series has been missing. Unfortunately, these guys are the only enemy in the chapter (aside from Wesker) and they're literally just a re-skin of the Executioner with some boosted stats from the main game. Reskinning would make sense, but it's still quite lazy for such an interesting looking enemy. Because he shares the same animations, it's awkward to watch him swinging his anchor wildly just like the axe man because his anchor constantly clips through the cramped, narrow hallways. The animations just don't fit this chapter's claustrophobia. It's rather dissapointing, but regardless these guys are deadly, and (if you don't want a cool gameplay spoiler, proceed to the next paragraph) there's even a part where you lose your weapons and you must kill up to four of these dudes using cranks and ceiling spike-traps. Being the bait for that isn't comfortable.After you've escaped from the gross-ass sewers, it's time to confront Wesker. It takes place in the exact same room as the cutscene only now you get to fight him, making a total of four Wesker fights throughout Resident Evil 5 and it's DLC. This particular fight with Wesker is actually quite different from the main game ones (again, good gameplay spoilers coming up) in that there's nowhere to hide, so rather than hiding you must provoke Wesker into attacking you and hope you're good at Quick Time Events, otherwise you'll be suffering some serious pain. Along with the new way you must fight him, he also comes packed with a couple extra moves and a bit of attitude, such as the ability to send you flying back at a wall, then laughing right in your face as you're trying to recover. Unfortunately, the QTE events being pretty much the only way to open him up for attack, it's a shame they aren't responsive. I can't tell you how many times I've obviously pressed the required X, and still been hit by him, and an AI partner isn't quite helpful here. I find that they tend to try and shoot Wesker rather than punch him off me, made worse by the fact he dodges bullets. But regardless, either you've gotta dodge his moves and smack him, or have your partner smack him when he's busy on you. Survive for a set amount of time, OR inflict enough damage, and the chapter ends, showing the cool fight scene from the main game and giving you your score.
So that's the gist of the chapter, but it sounds like one round would be enough right? WRONG! Thankfully, this DLC chapter boasts a few thing inside it to keep you playing at least a few times over. As you raise the difficulty for example, the game becomes significantly harder beyond just tougher enemies. For example, at one point the mini-bosses stop showing up on the GPS radar on Professional, and on some difficulties they may even begin to spawn inside the first mansion area, totally throwing you off guard. Also spread throughout the level is hidden score stars. Shoot these as you would a BSAA emblem for more score. While the only thing you can unlock from finding them all is an achievement, they're still fun and well hidden if you like that sort of hunting thing. Alongside difficulty changes, the game will randomly swap out it's weapons. While the area they spawn remains the same, what weapon actually spawns there is different each time. What might be a shotgun one round, could be a simple machine gun the next. Overall, Lost in Nightmares is a fun chapter that brings itself back to the good old days of Resident Evil for the most part, and is worth playing over and over.
Moving on from that is Mercenaries Reunion. This particular incarnation of Mercenaries technically comes with Lost in Nightmares, and the big deal about it is that it features new characters. Originally, you'd have to unlock these characters by purchasing the different bits of Resident Evil 5 DLC, and this is a vicious move, so the Untold Stories Bundle is definitely your bet. Among these characters is two different costumes of Chris and Sheva, Josh, Excella, and the most significant additions are the supporting characters from Resident Evil 1. Barry Burton and Rebecca Cha
mbers. Among the new characters however, you won't find any new stages but the stages have been altered a little from the main game Mercenaries. Time bonus locations are changed, and depending on the stage, the frequency and types of mobs have been tweaked to change difficulties. Some stages are tougher, and some have been significantly nerfed. It's all a somewhat fresh experience, and the new characters here have some incredibly amazing moves. Barry has the ability to headbutt someone so hard their skull will rupture open. That's fucking manly.
But the Mercenaries Reunion is called Reunion for a reason, the inclusion of Rebecca and Barry. The original Mercenaries characters can't be brought into Reunion and as a result you're stuck with the eight-character roster. Now don't get me wrong, I do like Josh and Sheva, but I would have gladly chopped these two to include Wesker, and especially Jill in her STARS outfit. It's a reunion, and the full STARS team are the people that deserve to be here, not these newcomers. It's a rather kick in the balls, because many people were hoping Jill would get to fight alongside Barry once again. Still, despite that rather shady move, the characters are all blazing fun, and Reunion is just as awesome as it's predecessor, more even.
Finally, we move on to the extra chapter Desperate Escape. Again, if you've played the main game you'll likely remember the fight with Jill Valentine, and that after you freed her of Wesker's mind control, you don't see her again till the end of the game when she's on a helicopter with Josh. Desperate Escape covers that entire area in between. Apparently what had happened is that Jill passed out after departing from Chris, later to be found by Josh. Throughout this chapter you will play as Jill and Josh, both on a mission to get to a control tower, and radio their friend "Doug" (a character exclusive to this chapter) for a helicopter so they can later help Chris and Sheva. This chapter however, is nothing like Lost in Nightmares. Rather, Desperate Escape pumps up the action to the absolute maximum. As you make your way through the world you'll h
ardly have a moments rest. Dangerous enemies, spawning mini-bosses, and constant explosions will rock your world as you struggle to proceed through the chapter just to get to the end.
Even at the end , you'll find yourself having to survive on a rooftop for what is only a few minutes, but with the absolutely ruthless enemies, and the mini-bosses that spawn in coming at you, it seems like an eternity just watching the seconds tic down. The entire chapter is a crazy run through hell, and it's made even more interesting by the fact it shares some replay value similar to Lost in Nightmares. Weapons here are randomized even moreso, and while you won't find any emblems or special stars to find, the enemies often come across as random too. Even going so far as the entire mob-list could be completely different in one run. What may have been normal town Majini and axeman first, could turn into military Majini and constant Reapers on another run. It's insane, heart-pumping, and you won't always know what to expect so it's definitely something you'll play more than once.
Finally, if you're looking for a serious challenge, these two chapters are your bet. On Professional difficulty, both chapters hold back not a single thread, and it'll get to the point where you'll be wondering how it's physically possible. Sometimes it was ludicrously hard to the point I almost broke a controller, but Desperate Escape has an achievement called "Run the Gauntlet" for a reason. It truly is a gauntlet, one that will test even the most hardened, veteran players.
FINAL SAY:
As far as I'm concerned, this entire pile of DLC was well worth my.. what is it, seven dollars? Microsoft points are weird. Anyway, Lost in Nightmares was a well-loved harkening back to the old games, and Desperate Escape goes to the complete other end of the spectrum, challenging me to my wits end. While I'm a little agitated at Mercenaries Reunion for putting in Excella rather than a STARS Jill, it's still a fun, worthy alteration on the original formula that I'm glad I payed for. If you need more Resident Evil 5, here's where you'll find it.
So that's the gist of the chapter, but it sounds like one round would be enough right? WRONG! Thankfully, this DLC chapter boasts a few thing inside it to keep you playing at least a few times over. As you raise the difficulty for example, the game becomes significantly harder beyond just tougher enemies. For example, at one point the mini-bosses stop showing up on the GPS radar on Professional, and on some difficulties they may even begin to spawn inside the first mansion area, totally throwing you off guard. Also spread throughout the level is hidden score stars. Shoot these as you would a BSAA emblem for more score. While the only thing you can unlock from finding them all is an achievement, they're still fun and well hidden if you like that sort of hunting thing. Alongside difficulty changes, the game will randomly swap out it's weapons. While the area they spawn remains the same, what weapon actually spawns there is different each time. What might be a shotgun one round, could be a simple machine gun the next. Overall, Lost in Nightmares is a fun chapter that brings itself back to the good old days of Resident Evil for the most part, and is worth playing over and over.
Moving on from that is Mercenaries Reunion. This particular incarnation of Mercenaries technically comes with Lost in Nightmares, and the big deal about it is that it features new characters. Originally, you'd have to unlock these characters by purchasing the different bits of Resident Evil 5 DLC, and this is a vicious move, so the Untold Stories Bundle is definitely your bet. Among these characters is two different costumes of Chris and Sheva, Josh, Excella, and the most significant additions are the supporting characters from Resident Evil 1. Barry Burton and Rebecca Cha
mbers. Among the new characters however, you won't find any new stages but the stages have been altered a little from the main game Mercenaries. Time bonus locations are changed, and depending on the stage, the frequency and types of mobs have been tweaked to change difficulties. Some stages are tougher, and some have been significantly nerfed. It's all a somewhat fresh experience, and the new characters here have some incredibly amazing moves. Barry has the ability to headbutt someone so hard their skull will rupture open. That's fucking manly.But the Mercenaries Reunion is called Reunion for a reason, the inclusion of Rebecca and Barry. The original Mercenaries characters can't be brought into Reunion and as a result you're stuck with the eight-character roster. Now don't get me wrong, I do like Josh and Sheva, but I would have gladly chopped these two to include Wesker, and especially Jill in her STARS outfit. It's a reunion, and the full STARS team are the people that deserve to be here, not these newcomers. It's a rather kick in the balls, because many people were hoping Jill would get to fight alongside Barry once again. Still, despite that rather shady move, the characters are all blazing fun, and Reunion is just as awesome as it's predecessor, more even.
Finally, we move on to the extra chapter Desperate Escape. Again, if you've played the main game you'll likely remember the fight with Jill Valentine, and that after you freed her of Wesker's mind control, you don't see her again till the end of the game when she's on a helicopter with Josh. Desperate Escape covers that entire area in between. Apparently what had happened is that Jill passed out after departing from Chris, later to be found by Josh. Throughout this chapter you will play as Jill and Josh, both on a mission to get to a control tower, and radio their friend "Doug" (a character exclusive to this chapter) for a helicopter so they can later help Chris and Sheva. This chapter however, is nothing like Lost in Nightmares. Rather, Desperate Escape pumps up the action to the absolute maximum. As you make your way through the world you'll h
ardly have a moments rest. Dangerous enemies, spawning mini-bosses, and constant explosions will rock your world as you struggle to proceed through the chapter just to get to the end.Even at the end , you'll find yourself having to survive on a rooftop for what is only a few minutes, but with the absolutely ruthless enemies, and the mini-bosses that spawn in coming at you, it seems like an eternity just watching the seconds tic down. The entire chapter is a crazy run through hell, and it's made even more interesting by the fact it shares some replay value similar to Lost in Nightmares. Weapons here are randomized even moreso, and while you won't find any emblems or special stars to find, the enemies often come across as random too. Even going so far as the entire mob-list could be completely different in one run. What may have been normal town Majini and axeman first, could turn into military Majini and constant Reapers on another run. It's insane, heart-pumping, and you won't always know what to expect so it's definitely something you'll play more than once.
Finally, if you're looking for a serious challenge, these two chapters are your bet. On Professional difficulty, both chapters hold back not a single thread, and it'll get to the point where you'll be wondering how it's physically possible. Sometimes it was ludicrously hard to the point I almost broke a controller, but Desperate Escape has an achievement called "Run the Gauntlet" for a reason. It truly is a gauntlet, one that will test even the most hardened, veteran players.
FINAL SAY:
As far as I'm concerned, this entire pile of DLC was well worth my.. what is it, seven dollars? Microsoft points are weird. Anyway, Lost in Nightmares was a well-loved harkening back to the old games, and Desperate Escape goes to the complete other end of the spectrum, challenging me to my wits end. While I'm a little agitated at Mercenaries Reunion for putting in Excella rather than a STARS Jill, it's still a fun, worthy alteration on the original formula that I'm glad I payed for. If you need more Resident Evil 5, here's where you'll find it.
No comments:
Post a Comment