Devil May Cry Review

Well, its time for a new review, well of sorts as this one is of a post I did AGES back on this blog and the subject of the post is the classic action game, Devil May Cry. So, this post will be another rehash of the original with extra stuff added in.

And its amazing to think this game is now almost 20 years old, so after all this time, let's take another look at it and see how it fairs...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the game begins with demon hunter, Dante, who receives a visit from a strange lady called Trish, who attacks him with magic and stabs Dante with his own sword but he manages to fight her off, and he tells Trish that he hunts demons, who were responsible for the deaths of his mother and his brother.  Trish tells Dante that the demon emperor Mundus, is planning to make a return, who was responsible for the deaths of Dante's family. Dante then makes a trip to a castle with Trish, who vanishes over the castle walls, leaving Dante to explore the castle, and inside he faces a variety of demons, including marionettes, a big hybrid spider/scorpion, a bizarre shape shifting cat, called shadow. 

Later Dante is attacked by a demon Nelo Angelo, who later on turns out to be his identical twin, and long lost brother, and after Vergil eventually dies, Dante takes Nelo's half amulet, which turns out to be identical to the one Dante has.  On forming the two halves of the amulet, which transforms Dante's sword into the legendary Sparda sword, that once belonged to his father (also called Sparda funnily enough).  Sparda was once a legendary demon fighter, but after time he settled down with a wife and two children, one being Dante and the other Vergil. 

As the story progresses it is revealed that Trish also works for Mundus and betrays Dante to him, however Dante chooses to save Trish when her life is in danger, and soon after, Dante does battle with Mundus to determine his fate and the fate of the world...

THOUGHTS

Devil May Cry was for its time was quite ground breaking with its innovations in its control system, action scenes and gothic visuals and for me is still the best game in the series and its great to see it remastered again this time for the PS4, which I've been playing it on lately. Devil May Cry also has its fair share of tongue in cheek with Dante being a charismatic hero, who quips with his enemies and he is ultimately quite a likeable character. Dante's representation in the series however would go on with mixed success as the sequels continued.

The game is also known for its challenging gameplay and it certainly raised the bar at the time of its release but in comparison to other titles such as Dark Souls or Hollow Knight, DMC 1's difficulty overall isn't too bad. Having said that, back in the day I really did struggle with this game in terms of getting to grips with its tough enemies and bosses.  

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay itself is very solid for its time even if it is now almost a 20 year old game it still holds up well control and combat wise and below I will go into more detail on the gameplay aspects.  

MOVEMENT

The game deploys a 3D/2D approach in that the environments are 3D like but Dante runs along a somewhat fixed path at times as the camera controls the view of Dante's movement and the game of course uses third person perspective with the camera changing view behind and infront of Dante. Dante's moves however are primarily just running, jumping and attacking with not a great deal in between in terms of other controls. Dante's running pace is a bit sluggish in comparison to the later games but his movement is still fairly fluid.

COMBAT & WEAPONS

As for the combat system, Dante will use a melee weapon and a firearm for general fighting against his enemies and he can select from different ones that he can access as the game progresses. Dante's primary sword (or great sword even!) Alistore, is his main weapon and he can perform lightning attacks with it but later in the game, Dante can gain another weapon known as Ifrit, which are a pair of gauntlets that deal fire damage. 

Another aspect of the combat system is the rating scale as the game will rate your performance throughout the game and each level on how you perform in combat and the rating scale from a low D (for Dull) up to S (for Stylish). In order to be successful in your combat, you will need to perform a successive series of attacks without interruption. These ratings are important towards your overall final score for the game but they also allow to gain bonus points based on how well you perform in each level.

As for firearms, Dante has a small selection available to him such as his main pistols called Ebony & Ivory but as he progresses, he can also pick up a shotgun and a grenade launcher. Dante will also gain other weapons, which he can only use in specific places such as a needlegun for underwater areas and a weapon for using in the underworld later in the game.

ORBS & UPGRADES

One of the main features of the game is of course the orbs, which Dante collects from enemies he has killed but some can also be found strewn throughout the game. The orbs are also available in different colours with red orbs being a form of currency that Dante can use to pay for upgrading his combat arts or obtaining additional items. Other colour orbs have different charactersitics such as green orbs, which restore Dante's health, purple orbs will restore Dante's devil trigger status, yellow orbs can bring Dante back to life after death and blue orbs are used to boost Dante's health. 

As for other upgrades, Dante can upgrade his weapons to include new moves, such as with his main sword, Alistore, he can perform a series of lightning aerial attacks, a thrust attack known as stinger and air hike, which allows Dante to perform a double jump. As for Dante's Ifrit gauntlets, he can gain a number of pyromancy attacks to boost thier power in combat that include powerful kicks and fireballs. As for Dante's health again he can upgrade this on finding blue orbs but he will need to find 4 in order to boost his health incrementally. 

DEVIL TRIGGER

Another key aspect of the game is to do with Dante's ability to use a technique known as devil trigger, where Dante can unleash his demonic power and use it against his enemies and it also makes him move much faster and it slowly regens his health too. Dante can trigger these either by destroying enemies or by the use of an item called a devil star that refills Dante's trigger gauge. Dante can also use another star called the vitality star that also restores his health but he can only use one of them at a time.

SECRET MISSIONS

The game also has plenty of other content than just the main game as you can also take on a series of secret missions that are located throughout the game where Dante will have to defeat various enemies in a given timeframe. And the reward for completing these missions can lead to Dante receiving permanent power-ups but there are many throughout and can be quite challenging.  

ENEMIES AND BOSSES

And last of all in the gameplay is of course the enemies and bosses and there are plenty here for you and Dante to fight that's for sure!

The standard enemies are a mixture of demonic creatures known as lesser demons, which Dante will fight throughout and there are different kinds to be found. As a few examples the most commonly found ones are the marionettes, the sin scissors, who are the creatures with the large scissors of course and later scythes! Kyklops, who are large spiders that are made of earth and rock and can do much damage if you are not careful! Plasmas are another enemy, which Dante will encounter that appear as bats but can also shape-shift into a copy of Dante and can also duplicate themselves when attacked! And last of all is of the Shadow, who appear as a sort of mini-boss in the game and are essentially large demonic cats that can be a real pain in the ass to deal with!

As for the bosses there are actually only five bosses in the game but you will certainly face them more than once that's for sure as the game will force you to have a rematch with them all at some point! The bosses however are very well done and quite creative in design and feature one such as the Griffith, which is a large demonic bird that has some pretty nasty lightning attacks.

Nightmare is another boss and quite an infamous one as it is given many a player a mighty headache as it basically a giant amorphous blob that can fire out some nasty projectile weapons at you and can even perform a grab attack that sucks you down inside it! I was stuck on this boss for ages back in the day when this game came out but of late I found him to be not too bad (maybe I've just finally got good!).

GRAPHICS

As for the graphics, even by 2001 standards, this game looks pretty awesome and in its HD remaster, it looks even better as the environments look stunning with some fine detail added to them and this is especially notable in the opening levels at the castle. The game also makes great use of its elemental effects of lightning and fire when Dante uses his attacks aswell as environmental effects. The character models are also still quite impressive looking for their time and with the remaster they look even better than they did before. So, overall DMC 1 looks pretty damn good even 19 years on.

MUSIC

As for the music score, its an excellent one for sure and it was composed by Masami Ueda, Masato Kohda and Misao Senbongi and its very memorable and atmospheric. The score itself features a great mix of gothic metal and some chilling piano pieces and the theme that features early on in the castle itself really stays with you as soon as you hear it. So, overall its a very impressive score and one that perfectly suits the tone of the game with its dark mix of all things gothic and metally!

FLAWS

As for flaws...yes it has some.

And for starters one of the things that bugged me is that you can't save your progress during a level, you have to wait until you have finished the level before you can save again.  This is especially frustrating when you are facing a tough battle against one of the many bosses in the game, of which there are many! 

The game also has some limited options, particularly when Dante is killed and you have to use special yellow orbs in order to bring him back to life, and you can only have so many, and it starts with three, and if you use them all up, you have to reload your saved game, and start all over again!  Its almost like the game designers deliberately don't want to make things easy for you, although if you do lose in a boss fight, if you do get brought back to life, you do at least start back at the checkpoint just before the battle. 

Another issue is the camera movement as Dante moves, which is undeniably annoying at times, as it feels pretty static as I already said, and it still has the feel of the early Resident Evil games, with the pre-rendered visuals, and it wasn't until Resident Evil 4, where they impressively brough the whole 3D interactive experince to life. And its the way in which the camera forcibly winds the player around corners and then changes to a different viewpoint and you have to change the direction of the gamepad stick in order to keep in the right direction and if you don't it breaks the flow of Dante's movement. Yeah, its stuff like this that can be a real pain in this game.

Mundus takes two forms (well actually three) throughout the battle and both those parts are pretty tough, particularly the first one, where you have to defeat Mundus in the skies, as he takes on a God like form, who hurls lightning bolts and fireballs at you from all directions, as well as powerful rays, and in the second you fight him on the ground, where he summons firey dragons out of volcanic lava.  And it has to be said I struggled with this big guy as I was shot down more than once by him, but eventually I managed to get past him, but it was pretty frustrating!  

I also found it a bit frustrating how you could only use one item at a time in certain cases and the most specific one is of course the vitality star, which fully restores Dante's health. Now, this is a major pain in the ass for sure and it particularly becomes a pest later on in the game when you fight the final boss, Mundus as I found it really difficult to get past him without using my one vitality star only to then take more damage and die and reload the fight again!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Devil May Cry is a very impressive game, and the creators deserve much credit for the game's stunning visual presentation, gameplay, story, voice acting, and its impressive ambient score, which as alot of today's games have the almost obligatory heavy metal guitar underlying it!  And yeah OK it does have some shortcomings to do with Dante's somewhat sluggish running movement, some inventory annoyances (why can you only use ONE vital star?!) and it is more than guilty of recycling the SAME bosses over and over again!

However if you can forgive this then the original Devil May Cry remains a must-play classic and its certainly worth revisiting 19 years on after its initial release.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another review, which might possibly be a review of Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening but we'll see.

So, its bye for now!

Doctor Who E-Space Trilogy Part 2: State of Decay & Warriors' Gate

Right, so to conclude my look at the E-Space trilogy from the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who, I thought I would combine the two stories into the one post this time round to save on posting two separate ones.

So, with that said let's take a look at the two remaining stories of the E-Space trilogy...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BOTH STORIES! (BUT NOT TOO MANY!)

STATE OF DECAY

STORY 

OK, so first up is State of Decay and the story for this one sees the Doctor, Romana and their stowaway companion, Adric arrive on a planet with a feudal society. The villagers live under the thrall of three lords—Zargo, Camilla, and Aukon—who dwell in a shadowy Tower, and experience a yearly ritual called "the Selection", in which young villagers are taken to the tower, never to be seen again.

And it soon transpires that these lords are in fact vampires, who feed on the chosen ones and unfortunately for Adric, he is selected to be one himself. And its up to the Doctor and Romana to try and find a way to stop the lords from their plan to revive their giant leader vampure, the "Great One"...

THOUGHTS

I have to say that I found State of Decay to be a bit disappointing even though I had heard good things about the story, I wasn't that interested in it as the characters weren't that appealing. The story also echoes the plot of Full Circle in that an alien society are being held back from their potential at the hands of their masters, the only difference is they are in fact vampires here!

PERFORMANCES

Performance wise, things are actually pretty good overall as the cast do their best with that they are given in the story.  

Tom Baker and Lalla Ward are both very good as usual in their roles as the Doctor and Romana and they work well together as normal (they were actually both married at this time although their marriage only lasted a couple of years!). Matthew Waterhouse on the other hand is the weak leak here as Adric and he plays him in a more obnoxious manner than usual as Adric gives Romana some lip in one of the later episodes although it is later revealed to be just a ruse but it doesn't make him that much more likeable! John Leeson also does a fine job in his voice acting role as K-9 although I don't think he is given that much to do here as it was clear that John Nathan-Turner was keen to dispose of K-9 from the series at this point!

As for the supporting cast, they are all very good although I will mention only the three principal cast members. Starting with William Lindsay and Rachel Davies who are very good in their role as the bloodlusting vampires Zargo and Camilla and you get pretty quickly what they are all about! And lastly Emrys James is excellent as Aukon and he is arguably the strongest cast member overall here in the story as his performance is suitably creepy and sinsiter.

DIRECTION

Direction wise, Peter Moffatt does a fair job here but I have to say that I am not overly impressed with the story's pacing as it does plod along a bit and for a four-parter it did drag somewhat. So, even though Moffatt would go on to direct better stories, I still think State of Decay isn't one of them. It is however interesting to know that the 5th Doctor actor, Peter Davison's real name is infact Peter Moffatt, so obviously it was easy not to confuse them! ;-)

MUSIC 

As for the music, Paddy Kingsland provides the electronic score for this story and its OK but nothing really special. In fact I felt there were times were Paddy's music just didn't suit the series as it was always a bit too jaunty and leisurely sounding and lack much in the way of dramatic weight that say Dudley Simpson brough to ther series. Overall its OK but it could have been better.

FLAWS

Flaws wise...not too much to say other than I just think the story is a bit dull, despite the vampire trio of Zargo, Camilla and Aukon there were no other characters that made the story that interesting or gripping, which is a pity.

I also felt that the reveal of the "Great One" was a bit stupid as we got no more than a giant claw emerge from the ground later on in the story. It just looked pretty silly and I don't think it was that threatening or well executed in the story for what is supposed to be a menacing mastermind villain.

And lastly, I thought Adric was a bit too obnoxious in this story as he really does give Romana some crap later on even though he did say it was all a ruse to gain the confidence of the vampires, so he could fake his selection for their cause. However, I don't think Adric's "ruse" did much for his likeability as a companion as it made him appear more like an irritating little dweeb than anything else!

SUM UP

So, to sum up, State of Decay for me was middle of the road story that didn't really hold much interest, which is a shame because it does have some potential but in the end this one wasn't for me.

So now we go on to Warrior's Gate...

WARRIORS' GATE

STORY

So, the story begins with the TARDIS continuing its passage through E-Space but becomes trapped in a while null space between the universes of E-Space (Exo-Space) and N-Space (Normal Space). Meanwhile, a slave vessel, also caught in the null space, loses its navigator, Biroc, who escapes the ship and makes his way to the TARDIS via the winds of time. Biroc warns the crew of the vessel's captain, Rorvik and his treachery as he has been using Biroc's race, Tharils, as their navigator.

And its from here that the Doctor explores outside the null space and soon stumbles upon a gate that leads into what appears to be a castle filled with robotic armoured knights known as the Gundans. However its not long before Rorvik and his crew catch up with Romana and Adric at the TARDIS and then make their way to the Doctor to confront him...

THOUGHTS

Well, unfortunately I have to say that Warriors' Gate is easily the weakest of the trilogy as the story is very confusing and hard to follow. Its also rather poorly paced and slow and filled with unappealing characters that don't make the story any more likeable. And that's pretty much all I have to say about my thoughts on that!

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section may contain the odd spoiler or two!)

Performance wise however, Warrior's Gate isn't bad at all with a decent supporting cast.

Starting with the regulars, Tom Baker is very good as the Doctor although he doesn't exactly shine in this story as it certainly isn't the best but he does what he can with that he is working with. Tom also gives an all too brief farewell to Romana, which was not too bad and it does give the story its best dialogue.

So, in the scene Romana tells the Doctor she isn't coming with him, so the Doctor gives her K-9 as a parting gift and he tells her "Wait, there's something else! K-9. He'll be all right with you behind the mirrors!" which refers to the dimensional mirrors in the story as K-9 was damaged as he passed through them. So, Romana says to the Doctor "I'll take care of him" and the Doctor quickly says to her "I'll miss you!" and he shuts the door but then quickly opens it again and tells her "You were the noblest Romana of them all!" and closes the TARDIS door.

Lalla Ward is also excellent in her farewell role as Romana and its a pity to see her go out on such a weak story as she really did deserve better than this one. In fact it was even said that Lalla argued with John Nathan-Turner over the briefness of her departure scene and how it was handled, which is understandable as it is too brief.  Despite this though, Lalla did a great job in her tenure as the second Romana and in my opinion the best one even though Mary Tamm was almost as equally good.

Matthew Waterhouse however as usual is pretty so-so in his performance and he actually really isn't given that much to do here and spends a bit more time with K-9 than the actual cast (although I might be wrong about that!). But to be fair to Matthew, from here, Adric does take a more prominent role as begins to improve his performance a bit as he progressed in the part although Adric didn't become that much more likeable!

As for the supporting cast, they are pretty good for the most part.

Starting with Clifford Rose, who does a fine job in his role as the unscrupulous Captain Rorvik, of the slave vessel even if he isn't given the best script he does his best with what he is given here. David Weston also does well in his role as the vessel's navigator, a member of a feline-like race of creatures known as Tharils although again he isn't given the best material to work with here. And last of all is Kenneth Cope who also does very well in his role as the slave vessel crew member, Packard and he of course is better known as Marty Hopkirk from the detective series, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

DIRECTION

Direction wise, Paul Joyce is at the helm here and unfortunately he doesn't fair too well here but to be fair he has been given a mess of a story to deal with but the pacing is slow and its a very boring story for the most part with little of interest.

Joyce however does deserve some credit for the story's opening camera sequence as it moves continually throughout the set of the spaceship in one take and he tries to add a unique visual style to the story but in the end overall the style misfires against the script itself, which needed to have been better. Joyce interestingly enough, clashed regularly with JNT during the production and he was temporarily replaced by Graeme Harper but eventually he was re-instated to finish the serial but he never worked on the show again after this.  

MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS

As for the music score, it was composed this time by Peter Howell and its pretty good and it has more of dramatic weight to it than the more light and fluffy scores by Paddy Kingsland. Howell also composed the new theme for the show during Tom Baker's final season and would go on to be used throughout the Peter Davison era and first season of Colin Baker's time on the show as well.  

I also would like to mention the sound effects on the story, which were done by the long term sound designer for the show, Dick Mills and they are excellent and very atmospheric. The sounds for the time winds in null space are very effective and are one of the few aspects of the story that really work well, so I think Mills really deserves much credit for them.

FLAWS

As for flaws...yes Warrior's Gate has plenty but I will keep it brief!


For starters, I just think that this story is an incoherent mess and it really has a very complex plot that is difficult to follow. I also don't think the story is very interesting as the struggle between the slave vessel members and the Gundans and even the Tharils are just a bore fest. And that is the main issue here with the characters of the story as they are simply not memorable or interesting.

I also felt that Romana's departure from the show as handled pretty poorly as it is reduced to quick "goodbye!" between the Doctor and Romana and its far too rushed. Romana was an excellent companion to the Doctor and she really did deserve a better send-off than she got here and in fact even a better story would have been a bonus! Ironically at this time, Lalla Ward and Tom Baker were in a relationship, which starting to go sour even though they were married around this time it would only last a couple of years before they divorced in 1982.

And lastly while the story has a unique visual style and that is to be commended, its just let down by the script and a very uninteresting story, which is a pity as there could have been a great mix between its visuals and an imaginative storytelling but it just doesn't gel.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Warriors' Gate is very disappointing end to the E-Space trilogy as it is a boring and uninvolving Doctor Who story with an overly complex plot, dull characters and a very rushed exit for Romana. To its credit however, the director Paul Joyce did try and give the story a unique visual style but he was let down by the script itself and its a pity we didn't get a better combination of story and visuals.

So, in the end, I can't really recommend Warriors' Gate or even the full E-Space trilogy either for that matter as it is definitely hit and miss with more miss than hit.

Right, well that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon.

Till then its bye the now! 

Resident Evil 5 Review (Revisited)

Right, well its time for another revisitation post and this one is of the survival horror game, Resident Evil 5, which I have recently replayed and finished, so I figured I would look over my original review and update it given that its just paragraphs with no headings! ;-)

So, with that said let's take another look at this game and see how it fairs 11 years on...

And usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the story takes place five years after the events of RE4 it follows the main character, Chris Redfield who was a former S.T.A.R.S. operative but is now a member of the BSSA (Bioterrorism security assessment alliance) who is sent into Kijuju (which is actually a fictional region in Africa) along with Sheva Alomar, a fellow BSAA operative based in Africa.  Chris and Sheva together are sent to aprehend Ricardo Irving, before he can sell a BOW (bio-organic weapon) on the black market.

Chris and Sheva both discover on arriving they find that the locals have been infected with parasites, which they fight off and they are soon rescued by the BSSA delta team, one of whom is Josh Stone, Sheva's mentor.  Josh reveals to Chris that he has a data file with a photograph of his sister, Jilly Valentine, who Chris believed to be dead after an encounter with his old foe, Albert Wesker.  Chris and Sheva along with the Delta team advance on Irving but he manages to escape, however he leaves behind some documents, which contain information on the whereabouts of the deal, which is in some oil fields.

Chris and Sheva then continue into the marshlands and they track down Irving, who injects himself with a variant of the Las Plagas parasite and he mutates into a monster, whom Chris and Sheva finally defeat and with Irving's dying words he leads them toward a cave belonging to a tribe which holds the flower from which the T and G viruses were created.

From here Chris and Sheva continue their investigation into who and what is behind the BOW attacks (which is soon revealed to be Albert Wesker after all) and also they learn a far greater threat is brewing in the form of a new enhanced bio-organic virus, which they must stop from being used across the world.....

THOUGHTS 

As a follow-up to the excellent RE4, Resident Evil 5 does a fine job in doing so and it maintains the movement and gameplay mechanics that RE4 introduced to the series and revolutionised the franchise. RE5 also takes an even newer approach here as the game is largely dependent on its use of co-op gameplay as Chris and Sheva fight together and with one another. This in itself is a welcome change and rapid departure from RE4's Leon and Ashley, where Ashley basically was the damsel in distress, which Leon had to rescue but there is none of that here with Sheva, who can hold her own and Chris and Sheva work well as a team throughout the game. 

CO-OP GAMEPLAY

Gameplay wise the game is very similar in style except the single player game now almost takes on almost co-op based style as the main playable character, Chris has Sheva run alongside him and at certain points she has to perform some tasks to open doors or help take out enemies to cover Chris, which again was covered in RE4. Chris and Sheva can both share weapons, ammo and healing items during the game also and heal each other as and when necessary. 

Chris and Sheva at certain points in the game also have to perform timed actions together such as bashing down doors and Chris himself at times will be required to carry out physical actions in scenes where he has to evade baddies or perform a melee attack when he is in close contact with an enemy. The game also continues to use the quick time event feature that featured in RE4 and here it can apply to both Chris and Sheva although primarily to Chris alone when evading enemies or counter-attacking them.

ENEMIES 
 
The game features similar enemies to those in RE4 (the Ganados) the Majini who are Africans infected with the parasite and they also can run, wield weapons and dodge attacks.  And one of the notable enemies in the game is the return of the crazed leatherface chainsaw psycho (well except this will be an African one rather than Mexican) who Chris will have to run away from fast or he run risk being sliced up (and you are treated to a rather gruesome cutscene if Chris is killed by him!). There are also several bosses to be battled throughout the game most of which are BOW's (biological organic weapon) that Chris and Sheva have to work together to take down.  

WEAPONS

Weapons and ammo wise the game is also fairly similar to RE4 in that Chris can pick up ammo from dead foes as well as money, which you can use at the end of a level to upgrade your weapons and ammo as well as buy other items which will help you along the way.  Chris can also break open creates and barrels to pick up items. e.g. ammo, first aid sprays or herbs to restore his health.

The weapons in the game are also pretty varied as Chris can pick up various guns such as handguns, shotguns, sub-machine guns, assault rifle and a sniper rifle and as the player can actually select the weapons and health items during the action rather than go into a menu to access what you need.  The game also features the standard combat knife which is practically useless except for breaking open crates, but you can also pick up different grenades such as incindenary, flash or frag grenades, which can come in handy.    

GRAPHICS 

As for the game's visuals RE5 looks stunning as it is the first game in the series to have been made in high definition and the game's environment are richly detailed and sharp.  The character models are also great even by today's standards and in some instances almost lifelike and one example is the character Josh Stone, who you could swear is an actual guy when you look at him in the game!  Chris and Sheva's charactel models are also excellent as well (and it has to be said that Sheva is rather sexy!).

There is also great graphical variety with the baddies in the game not just the majini infected humans, but also other monsters as well, a giant mutated octopus and also infected dogs, which can split open into two, which looks gross and like something from John Carpenter's The Thing! (probably the influence here!).

So overall, RE5's graphics are one of the game's main highlights and its HD upgrade to the series is very impressive.  

MUSIC

The game also features an excellent music score by several Japanese composers that include Kota Suzuki and Akihiko Narita, which contains many exciting, fast paced tracks that are guaranteed to get your adrenaline going.  In fact one of the tracks, Majini 2 remains one of my favourite video game music tracks of all time and its pretty intense with its use of strings and African drums, its a superb piece of music. In fact, this score is so good, I would even suggest that it could be listened to it independently from the game. So, yep RE5's score is a real good one.

VOICE ACTING 

As for the voice acting, overall its excellent as Roger Craig Smith is fine in his lead role as Chris, who get's some pretty standard serious RE dialogue but also one or two amusing lines aswell such as during Chris's fight scene with Wesker, where Sheva says to him "He's lost it!" and Chris says "He never had "it" in the first place!".

The other voice cast members are also very good such as Eva La Dare as Sheva, Chris's partner and she and Craig Smith work well together as Chris and Sheva's partnership is a convincing one and makes for a refreshing change of the somewhat helpless Ashley in RE4. T.J. Storm as Chris Stone, the BSAA delta team team leader who aids Chris and Sheva. And there is of course D.C. Douglas who delivers a pretty hammy performance as Albert Wesker and his accent is somewhat bizzare as it almost borders on being English, so its almost like he's a Bond villain here!

FLAWS

So as for flaws... well yeah RE5 has some worth a mention...

For starters I think the game feels a bit like a retread of RE4 as it maintains the same combat mechanics, movement and quick time event system although the co-op is a welcome one.  However even though RE4 was a landmark in the franchise, it also lead towards RE5 moving further away from the roots of what made Resident Evil good in the first place, the creepy corridors, the dark hallways, moaning zombies or other monsters coming at you out of the shadows. However by RE5, the series really had moved into the action genre and getting a bit further away from its original horror-survival concept, even though this is something the games does pretty well is still immerse the player in the action.

I also was annoyed by the fact that Albert Wesker now has been effectively given an English accent as if all archetypal villains in video games now need to be English in order to be a real badass and in the game his accent just sounds silly anyway!  And D.C. Douglas, the voice actor from Wesker, delivers some naff dialogue in such an exaggerated accent such as "You're merely postponing the inevitable!" and "there's no point in hiding!". For me its the worst representation I've seen of Wesker in the series!
 
I also have issues with the quick time event sequences (introduced in RE4) where you have to press a button on your controller prove to be a bit of a pain in some instances, particularly in the last battle Chris has with Wesker when he has to push a big boulder into lava to clear a path and he will die if he mistimes it.  This bit whilst not difficult, does highlight what a pain in the ass all this quick time event nonsense can be these days in video gaming, where the player can be reduced to a raging wreck simply because they couldn't time pressing button just at the right moment!  

Further to this issue I think that it becomes really apparent in the encounter where you fight Jill, who is under Wesker's control and you need Chris to remove a device implanted on her chest that Wesker uses to control her. Now, when doing this part of the game, it was a HUGE pain in the ass, as I to constantly keep tapping a specific button frantically over and over to make Chris tear the pendant from Jill but it took AGES to finally do it! And I think its moments like this that drag the game down a little as they mount alot of frustration in a player...or maybe that's just me?! ;-)  
 I also felt at times the co-op gameplay aspect of the game was a bit frustrating as you had to keep going into the menu to swap weapons and at times this could be awkward when you are surrouned by enemies! This is also the case with asking Sheva for ammo when you run out and yeah OK it happens quick enough but in real pressure moments, it still does leave you vulnerable to enemy attacks.

Another problem is to do with the inventory menu in-between chapters where you can buy new weapons or other items but you CAN'T buy actual ammo for your guns! Instead if you want to get more ammo you need to upgrade your weapon via that menu system otherwise you just need to pray to the RNG Gods that enemies will drop the ammo you need (which to be fair they usually do). However, this was an issue that was in RE4 and sadly they did not fix it here in RE5 either!

I think the game towards the end does overrun a bit too long as the action takes place in the last chapter feels pretty drawn out and by then you think the game has begun to outstay its own welcome. And it was the same in RE4 too even if it was an excellent game it seems to be something CAPCOM are very guilty at in creating games that are really good but not knowing when to end them!  

And last of all one of my biggest gripes about the game is the final boss, Wesker himself as his fight is one of the most tediously drawn-out fights I've ever seen in a video game! I mean you have to fight the guy in a hangar and then later on out on a volcanic rock with lava everywhere. I just wish they kept the fight to one location as it is really padded out beyond all belief!

Its also a bit confusing what you need to do in the fight later on as Wesker mutates, his arms turn into tentacles and the tentacles expose a orange core in his chest. Now, it turns out you need to stab him when core is exposed but I spent ages firing rounds into him and nothing happened! So, I really felt it wasn't made clear what you have to do in this fight.

SUM UP 
 
Anyway that all aside Resident Evil 5 is a fine follow up to Resident Evil 4 and its still well worth playing even if its a game that may not please all the fans of the series but it still stands head and shoulders over the mess that was Reisdent Evil 6. The game also keeps you entertained for the most part with its thick and fast action, good voice acting, excellent music score and the inclusion of the co-op gameplay is a neat touch and adds a new dimension to the franchise.

It does of course have some issues with its tiresome use of quick time events, a flawed inventory system not to mention one of the MOST annoying final boss fights in any game! However, despite these issues, Resident Evil 5 is stil worth replaying or even checking out for a first time 11 years on.

Right, that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon, which most likely will be the second part of the E-Space Trilogy from Tom Baker's era of Doctor Who, State of Decay.

So, until then its bye for now!

Doctor Who - Full Circle Review "What is this?! Noah's Ark?!"

Well, I figured its time I reviewed something else new on this blog and having just recently watched the Doctor Who E-Space Trilogy for the first time in its entirety a couple of days ago. So, I thought I would do a review of each story in turn although I was initially planning on reviewing all in one post but that would be a VERY big post!

The trilogy itself is from the Tom Baker era of the show and it sees the Doctor and his companion Romana trapped in an alternate universe known as E-Space and consists of three stories: Full Circle, State of Decay and Warrior's Gate. 

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!! (NOT MANY THOUGH!)

STORY

So, the story begins with the Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Lalla Ward) along with K-9 (voiced by John Leeson) enroute to Gallifrey to return Romana back home. However on the way, the TARDIS passes through a strange phenomenom that sends him into E-Space (Exo-Space) which is an alternate universe.


The TARDIS soon lands on a habitable planet called Alzarius where the inhabitants are looking to repair a spaceship called the Starliner to make it navigable. The colonists on the planet work in a hierarchical manner to their task but there are also a band of rebels lead by Varsh (Richard Willis) who has rejected the Starliner society and lives by stealing harvested river fruit and his brother Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) wishes to join them to prove himself to his brother. Adric however is a well respected youngster as he has a badge for mathematical excellence that distinguishes himself from the other young rebels.

Nevertheless, Adric attempts to join Varsh's cause by trying to steal river fruit but he fails to do so as he caught by one of the Starliner's chief members, Draith (Leonard Maguire) who is soon attacked by an unseen force from the marshes and before he is dragged into the waters he shouts "Tell them, we have come full circle!".

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Romana take a look around on Alzarius only to soon be separated and Romana soon encounters the rebels. But its not long before the a strange mist falls over the marshes and we start to see lizard like creatures emerge from the swamp to head for the Starliner....

THOUGHTS

As the first part of the E-Space trilogy, I felt that Full Circle was the strongest of the three stories as it nicely sets up the concept of the Doctor and Romana being trapped in E-Space even if it does lead toward a new and rather annoying companion in Adric! Regardless of that though the struggle between the colonists and marshmen is an intriguing one and its quite good as you learn more about their backgrounds as the story progresses.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section may refer to some spoilers!)

Quickly on the performances, the cast are all very good (well mostly!).

For starters, Tom Baker is once again excellent as the Doctor and he displays a fairly light hearted tone in this story, which is welcome after his dreary start to the first story of his last season in The Leisure Hive (although Meglos was an improvement, the story that preceded this one).

I won't mention much here of Tom's scenes (or anyone else's for time) but I will mention a funny moment where the TARDIS materialises onboard the Starliner and one by one, Varsh's rebels exit and he expects to see Romana. So, the Doctor says as he sees the TARDIS door open he says "Romana..." and out steps out Tylos, one of Varsh's gang and the door opens again and the Doctor says "Romana..." and out steps Varsh and then the door opens again and its Adric. So, the Doctor says in surprise "Adric! What is this? Noah's Ark? Where is Romana?!".  

Lalla Ward also does a fine job here as Romana and for once she get's to do something a bit different in the story as she becomes possessed by spiders and ends up doing the bidding of the Marshmen later on.

And I will mention one of Lalla's scene and its the one where at the start we see Romana is upset about having to return to Gallifrey when she would rather travel with the Doctor. So, Romana says to the Doctor "So, you've made up your mind then?" and the Doctor says "Oh, yes we can't resist a summons to Gallifery. Anyway, I'm so looking forward to seeing how Leela and Andred are getting on. You can meet your twin, K-9!". However, Romana has gone from the TARDIS console room to the interior room and the Doctor goes in where Romana is lying on her bed, upset.

So, the Doctor says "Can, I come in?" and Romana says "The Time Lords want me back" and the Doctor says "Yes, well you only came to help with the Key to Time". Romana however pleads with the Doctor and says "Doctor, I don't want to spend the rest of my life on Gallifrey. After all this". The Doctor then solemly tells Romana "You can't fight the Time Lords, Romana" but Romana reminds him "You did once" and the Doctor says "Yes, and lost" and Romana resignedly says "Well, there's choice then. We have to go" and the Doctor says "I'm afraid so". 

Matthew Waterhouse however is the weak link in the cast here as the new companion, Adric, a young Alzarian, who is skilled in mathematics but wants to prove himself to his older brother, Varsh that can rebel against the conformity of the Starliner crew. Matthew looks very awkward without and again its clear he doesn't know what to do with himself onscreen as he has his hands pinned down either side of his body! Basically he just isn't a natural actor (or at least wasn't back then!).

John Leeson is very good also again as the voice of K-9 although he does become the victim at the hands of a marshman later on as K-9's head is literally knocked off by one of the Marsh people! Regardless of that though, K-9 still get's to do quite a lot here in the story and Leeson's delivery is always engaging.

As for the supporting cast, I will quickly mention a few of them.

Starting with Richard Willis, who is good as Varsh, Adric's older brother who leads a rebel group against the Starliner crew and its funny as you look at him, I thought he looked like a bit like Bruce Lee! George Baker is also pretty good in his role as one of the Starliner crew members and one of their leaders, Decider Login.  And lastly James Bree does very well also in his role as the main decider, Nefred, who apparently is holding back crucial information to the progress of the Starliner crew.

MUSIC 

As for the music score for this story it was done by Paddy Kingsland and its not too bad and has that typical, leisurely sound to it that Paddy brought to his synth heavy music (well all the scores were electronic at that time in the JNT era!). It is however a pretty forgettable score, so its nothing much to write home about that in that regard but it does sit nice enough in the background of the story.

FLAWS

Flaws??? Full Circle??? Yes, there are some worth a mention.

For starters, I thought the story was pretty slow to get going and the first episode or so can be a bit tedious as can be the main storyline of the Starliner crew planning to take off as their main objective. And this is also further worsened by the lack of decisiveness in the rather ironically titled deciders, who spend too much time deliberating over their next move!

I also felt that the Marshmen as enemies were a bit weak even if their emergence from the marshes was pretty good and their infiltration of the Starliner later is quite well done. And even though the Marshmen are supposed to be quite intelligent and adaptive, I thought it was a bit underwhelming how they were portrayed without any kind of voice from them or figurehead but instead their existence was explained the Starliner's ship files.
 
I also thought it was a bit daft how the Time Lords wanted Romana to return to them after all this time when she had travelled with the Doctor so long and the Doctor reminds her that she was only sent to assist him to attain the Key to Time yet that happened in Romana's first season. However if she was only to accompany the Doctor for that period of time, why didn't they summon her back after that instead of wait a LONG period of time to pass before finally requesting Romana's return?! So, I felt her request to be returned was a hastily written one given the amount of time Romana had spent with the Doctor since the Key to Time ended. Perhaps, the Time Lords are just a bit slow on the uptake!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Full Circle is a pretty decent story to kick off the E-Space trilogy and it features some good ideas and has its moments and good performances from the regular and supporting cast. However, it does take a while to get going and there is of course the new addition of Adric to the show, which really left a lot of fans disgruntled as he was seen to be a whiny little son-so, which is hard to dispute!

Despite its flaws however, this is still is a fairly good story and its easily the strongest of the three E-Space stories (well for me anyway).

Right, so next up will be the second part of the trilogy, which is State of Decay and I will be back fairly soon with that one.

Till then, its bye for now!