Release Date: 24/01/2017
Developer: Capcom Co., Ltd.
Publisher: Capcom Co., Ltd.
Theme: Survival Horror
Try this if you enjoyed any of the Resident Evil, Silent Hill or Bioshock games.
So I finally invested in the PS Now streaming service on my Playstation 4 for £8.99 a month and I have to say that so far it hasn't been a disappointment, so we decided that The Geek Monkey would share with you the games we are playing! They may not be brand new games, but we think that those who haven't played the games we cover for whatever reason, or who may have skimmed over them for whatever reason, might enjoy our reviews! Plus we just want to share our hobbies with you all!
The first game I downloaded and finished was the 7th installment in the classic Capcom survival horror series, Resident Evil 7: Bioshock.
RE7 is less of an action game than its last few predecessors (I'm looking at you RE6), and takes the player back to the heart of the original Resident Evil game, through a series of beautifully detailed and tense visuals and terrifying jump-scares in a true survival horror experience which takes the best parts of the original Resident Evil and thrusts them into a completely new and modern approach to the series.
You play the part of a young man named Ethan who is looking for his wife Mia, whom he thought to be dead for the past three years. After receiving a mysterious e-mail from the missing Mia (yep, Mia is M.I.A.), Ethan comes searching for her deep in the heart of Louisiana where he finds a filthy, putrid old house full of rotting food, trashed rooms and god knows what else. This is a horrifying place and doesn't get any less so the more you explore it, and eventually, you come across Mia, or what looks like Mia anyway.
After a rather, erm, interesting encounter with his wife, Ethan soon finds himself in the company of the house's occupying family, the Bakers, and it's here that things begin to go horribly wrong for the poor guy, and when I say horribly, I mean terrifyingly.
There was no point in the 12ish hour-long game that I felt safe, wandering dark dingy rooms and creeping through corridors. I lie, actually, I found myself running back and forth to the house's numerous save rooms frequently because the atmosphere was just too much to take at times and I was convinced I was going to be slaughtered at the very next turn every five minutes!
While a vast majority of the game is spent exploring, figuring out puzzles, and defending yourself from gross goo-creatures called 'The Molded', among others, it also throws bosses at you every couple of hours or so, and they increase in grotesqueness the further into the game you get, as nuts as the first boss battle is, I wished it was back again by the time I reached the end battle I can tell you.
To make matters worse RE7, like its predecessors before it, shares supplies in a few and far between ratio, you can't shoot all of your ammo off in one hit, you have to make it last, same with the healing supplies as well, some of which you can craft yourself using Chem Packs and herbs, etc. There are also permanent upgrades throughout the game that add extra health and storage to your character.
This horror is all tied up in a horrifying first-person POV, which only adds to the fear as you skulk about the mansion, listening to dripping pipes and dodging cages that held only god knows what. It's not just the player that suffers either, Liz was watching me play one evening and decided it would be safe, and sane, to hide behind our cat Ianto, bad move lady. She ended up with a nice claw mark down her face after jumping 6 feet off the couch and taking him with her! Score: Ianto and RE7 1 - Lizzie 0
In summary Resident Evil 7: Bioshock is a game that wants to scare the bejesus out of you, and by gum, it succeeds!
My Rating out of 5:
Lou out!