Resident Evil or Silent Hill - Who Did Survival Horror Better?

It's time to get spooky.

It's October, that means that Halloween is fast approaching and for one month we all get to be a little morbid and spooked before we enter the time for good-tidings and merry, merry, jolly, jolly, stuff. That was probably the worst way to describe the Christmas period but you get what I mean right?

Anyways to celebrate this I'm planning on doing a few Halloween themed articles this month and I figured what better way to start than examining the survival horror genre. Specifically the two grandfathers of survival horror and seeing which one did it better.

Today we try to answer question, Who did Survival Horror better, Resident Evil or Silent Hill?

Lisa in P.T

The 90s were a marvelous time to be alive, even though I didn't show up until 1997. The PlayStation 1 was the best thing since sliced bread letting us play games like Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, Spyro the Dragon and so, so many more.

But the PlayStation 1 also paved the way for a new breed of horror. Most horror games up until this point were simple point and click or text based adventures such as Alone in the Dark, Sweet Home and The Lurking Horror. But with the the PlayStation 1, horror found a new home and in 1996 it cemented itself in gamers lives with Resident Evil.

Led by Shinji Mikami, Capcom revolutionized the horror genre, not only by scaring the pants off of the gamers who dared to enter the nightmare but also by challenging them with confusing puzzles, a map that is easy to get lost in and of course an inventory system that needed to be micro-managed throughout the entire game.

Resident Evil also dealt with the topic of bio-terrorism. Shady companies using lethal viruses to create vicious and terrifying monsters as well as unnaturally large spider creatures which even thinking about makes my skin crawl. Combine that with a dash of betrayal and some of the most cheesiest lines ever recorded for a game and you have Resident Evil.

via GIPHY

And of course this was only beginning. It would be another two years before Resident Evil truly became a gaming masterpiece.

In 1998 Capcom released Resident Evil 2. Taking place two months after the events of the first game and featuring an entire new cast of characters, Capcom proved with Resident Evil 2 that they could not only make a fantastic sequel to an already great game but make a sequel that new players could jump in on with no prior knowledge of the first game.

If it weren't for the big two after the title and the little tidbits referencing back to the "Spencer Mansion Incident" you could easily pass off Resident Evil 2 as its own game.

Around this time though another Japanese publisher called Konami decided that the formula Capcom had made with Resident Evil was a lucrative one and decided to throw in their own two cents. They grouped a bunch of their developers, ones who hadn't actually made a game with the company, and tasked them with making a game to rival Resident Evil. This group of developers would become Team Silent and would be responsible for making, arguably, not only the best horror game every but one of the best games ever.

Silent Hill 2 or one of the best games ever made!

In 1999 Konami released Silent Hill and at face value the game comes across as a another take on the Resident Evil formula but once you start playing, you'll find things are massively different. Silent Hill takes a more Lovecraftian approach to story-telling, using the supernatural, the cult and of course the fear of the unknown which allowed Team Silent to breathe a new life into horror, one that Resident Evil wouldn't really achieve for another twenty years.

Silent Hill also stripped back on the survival mechanics. While it does feature an inventory system the amount of inventory slots are limitless meaning you can carry as much as you want and don't have to micro-manage. That being said, ammo and health items are very scarce so use with caution. I also think that the puzzles in Silent Hill are also more thought out and convoluted than those found in Resident Evil.

But by cutting down on the survival elements, Silent Hill was able to spend more time building atmosphere through imagery and sound and oh boy does this game have imagery. You'll spend more time in Silent Hill exploring new areas whereas in Resident Evil you'll find yourself re-treading familiar ground just to drop off a few items because you're carrying too much.

The true success of these games however lies in their replay-value. Apart from the multiple endings you can chase down I find that these games encourage you to return to their horrors at a higher difficulty, especially Silent Hill which offers multiple difficulty settings for not only its combat but also its puzzles.

But we're here to talk about the horror elements and honestly on a second go Resident Evil's horror doesn't hold up. This of course was Capcom's goal, after one playthrough you're suppose to know the shocks and scares, you're suppose to know the puzzles. On a second playthrough Resident Evil pushes players to survive, health and ammo are practically non-existent and enemies are extremely vicious. Silent Hill is the same, however I do feel that Silent Hill retains its horror no matter how many times you've played the game.

I always find myself unnerved returning to the town of Silent Hill but I can't say the same for Resident Evil.

But I've rambled long enough and if you've stuck with me this far you're a true legend, the question still remains however, who did survival horror better?

Honestly, they both do a smashing job at it and that's all I can say. Each game has it's own standout gems but both also have their flaws. Resident Evil puts the survival in survival horror but Silent Hill puts the horror in survival horror and if you're looking for a scare on all hallows eve, I highly recommend checking out these two quality gems of horror gaming.

Let us know what your favorite horror game is and for more on Resident Evil, Silent Hill and survival horror,

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We Need to Talk About Death Stranding

Kojima is at it again.

Before we begin I feel like I should give fair warning that this post is mostly a rant. I've been thinking long and hard about Death Stranding and honestly I've got a few things to say, so if you're still reading do enjoy.

The release of Metal Gear Solid V way back in 2015 was a little overshadowed by the very public feud that was going on between series creator Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami. Of course all this came to an end with Konami firing Kojima, leaving fans to wonder, what would happen to Metal Gear and more importantly, what would happen to Kojima.

Look no further than the Pachinko machines and Metal Gear Survive to see the state of that once great series but on a more pleasant note, shortly after all this drama had gone down, Sony announced that they had teamed up with Kojima and his production team and that they were working on a new game called Death Stranding.

Now two years on and after all the trailers and teasers that Kojima Productions have shown we still don't know what the game is about or when it's actually coming out.

What spurred me on to write this was the most recent trailer of Death Stranding shown at the Tokyo Games Show this year, you can watch it below.

Now I don't know about you but after watching this trailer I've started to notice a little bit of a pattern developing. Every time Kojima Productions releases a new trailer for this game, it's always some form of cutscene and it introduces a new character.

Apart from the small bit of gameplay we saw at E3 this year, nobody knows how this game actually works as a game. I know that Kojima is the type of director who focuses more on story and would happily spend all his time building the story and characters in promotional material.

But lets look back at Phantom Pain, sure it had its fair share of story trailers but bundled in with those were a few gameplay trailers as well. We got to see both sides of the coin with MGSV but with Death Stranding it's almost like Kojima is avoiding gameplay.

This got me worried about the where Kojima Productions are in terms of development. I'm aware that recently Kojima said they are now at the stage where he has a controller in his hands and the game is coming together as a whole, but my question is, how long have they been in this phase?

If it's the case that Kojima and the team have only entered this stage of development then it could be a little while longer before we get anything substantial gameplay wise and that isn't exactly the best thing in the world. If rumors are to be believed then the PlayStation 5 could be hitting out shelves sometime in 2020.

I have a serious hunch, if you will, that Sony are planning to use Death Stranding as a launch title for the PS5. It wouldn't be the first time a Kojima game was used as a PlayStation launch title, that mantle sits with Metal Gear Solid 2 and while it wouldn't be a bad thing to see Death Stranding launch alongside a new console I think it would dampen the legacy that Sony have built this console generation. 

The PS4 didn't have a great launch line-up but since its release in 2013 it has gradually built up a fantastic selection of firs-party titles. God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, I could keep going but it is a damn big list.

The point I am trying to make is that Death Stranding is shaping up to be Sony's most ambitious first-party release for the PS4 and if the PS5 is landing on store shelves in 2020 then Death Stranding would be a fantastic way to cap off the PlayStation 4's legacy and I suppose end the current console generation with a bang.

We'll probably be hearing from Death Stranding one more time this year. As everyone knows, Game Awards host, Geoff Keighley, is best mates with Hideo Kojima so it is very likely that Death Stranding will be showing its ambiguous head at The Game Awards this December.

And hey even if Death Stranding is released on PS5, I'll still be playing it. Can't deny the game still looks pretty awesome.

For more on Death Stranding.

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Dare to be Greater - Marvel's Spider-Man - A Review

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Warning! The following review contains minor spoilers for the game in question. So don't complain if anything is spoiled, I warned you.
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Spider-Man's first outing on the PlayStation 4 sets out with one goal and that's to "be greater". Insomniac's decision to set this game eight years after Peter Parker became the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man not only places players in the boots of a more experienced Spider-Man but introduces them to a world of pre-established history and secrets just waiting to be discovered.

I realize how late I am throwing my two cents in on this but after spending so much time with this game, absorbing everything it had, from its in your face action sequences and hard hitting story beats to its obscure Easter eggs and more, finally here is my review of Marvel's Spider-Man

It took me just two days to beat Spider-Man and that's probably down to the fact that I simply didn't stop playing. It than took me a further two days to finish the game 100% and nab the platinum trophy in the process and I have to say I enjoyed every single second of those 96 hours.

Insomniac set out to make a great Spider-Man game and a great Insomniac game and being completely honest I think they succeeded.

Before we talk about Spider-Man and everything he can do, lets take a minute to talk about his playground, New York City.

Of all the Spider-Man games that came before it, Insomniac's take on the city that never sleeps is a sprawling landscape filled to the brim with crime, familiar locations, collectibles and of course the occasional super villain. 

The random crime system is a fun addition when you're swinging around but because there are only a limited amount of each crime it can become a little repetitive after a while. There is only so many times I can stop a speeding car the same way before the novelty wears off.

via GIPHY

Thankfully Insomniac counteract this by adding in a bunch of collectibles if you're not interested in fighting crime all day. The stand out of these are Peter Parker's old backpacks which are scattered all over Manhattan, each with its own little trinket, if you will, that expands on the already pre-established history in the game.

But the best part of the city, for me anyways, were the landmarks. Not only is the game full of actual landmarks from New York such as the Empire State building and Times Square but also a bunch from other Marvel comics and films like Avengers Tower, Alias Investigations and the Sanctum Sanctorum.

And geographically all these locations have a bit of credibility behind them. For example, Alias Investigations and Nelson and Murdoch: Attorneys at Law can both be found in Hell's Kitchen while the Sanctum Sanctorum sits right next to Washington Square Park like it is in the MCU.

In short Spider-Man's open world feels alive and one that could exist not only in the real world but also in the fictional superhero setting the developers have created.

Now lets dive into the gameplay shall we? Lets start off with the main feature this game has to offer, the web-swinging. 

Swinging around the dense locale of New York City has never felt better. The web-swinging in this game not only looks great but feels great. It's very obvious that Insomniac Games looked to past Spider-Man games when designing the web-swinging, right from the get-go everything feels natural and while there is a small learning curve to the swinging, once you pick it up you'll be soaring through the New York skyline looking and feeling, amazing.

via GIPHY

Now when it gets to the combat it's pretty obvious that Insomniac Games took a few pages out of Rocksteady's book, it's very much akin to the Batman: Arkham style but rather than button mashing and knocking enemies about left, right and center, Spider-Man encourages you to be a little more tactical, using aerial attacks, web-strikes and gadgets to beat your foes.

via GIPHY

Every attack you land will build up focus which is essentially your bread and butter in combat. Focus allows Spider-Man to dish out special take downs but also, if you wish, can be spent regenerating health and you'll be surprised how often you'll be doing this. Nailing that perfect dodge isn't as easy as it looks.

Spider-Man of course comes with its fair share of usual suspects in action games. I am of course talking about the various enemy types. You have your grunts, heavies, the ones with shields and the ones with sticks that you can't hit unless you do something first. Games like the Arkham series, Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor, all of which use a similar combat system have these types of enemies but Spider-Man breaks its enemy types into factions such as, thugs, prisoners, Fisk thugs, demons and Sable agents with each faction being tougher than the one before it.

In other words, the Sable agents hit harder than the average thug. 

But of course this wouldn't be an Insomniac game without the gadgets. Using a similar layout to the weapon wheel in Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man has a collection of little gadgets and gizmos that aid in combat and while all are great in their own way but I found that I was only using three or four for the entire game. Web-shooters, impact web, web-grenade and the trip mines are probably the best of the lot and switching between them to take down the various enemy types regularly can turn a fight from mediocre button mashing to something quite tactical and stylish.

Like the swinging the combat also has a learning curve to it, one that took me a quite a while to master, but once you have the slightest grasp on how to perfectly blend all these moves together combat feels so much more satisfying and stylish.

But combat gets really interesting when you introduce suit powers into the mix.

Like the more recent Spider-Man games, suits are a big part of this game. The two Amazing Spider-Man titles had a variety of suits but I always felt they were more cosmetic than anything else. In this game however each suit not only looks great but each comes with its own individual suit power and each suit power gives you that little bit of edge during combat.

Each suit power is unique in its own way and depending on how you want to play you can choose your suit power accordingly. For example if you're the kind of player who likes to take down enemies as quickly as possible then use Web-blossom because it is ideal for crowd control.

The best part about the suit powers however is that once they're unlocked you can use them with any suit.

Take the Iron Spider suit which is of course taken from Avengers: Infinity War. This comes with an awesome suit power where spider arms come out of Spider-Man's back and increase the amount of damage you can deal. I love this suit power and while the suit itself looks amazing, it's not my favorite to wear but because I can use suit powers with whatever suit I want it just means I can "look the way I want and play the way I want" (hands down the best thing Bryan Intihar has said throughout the promotion for this game!)

I realize the picture above is not the Iron Spider but it's close enough I guess...

Honestly though the weakest part of the suits are the suit mods. Suit mods are pretty much perks, just added aid to help you along in a fight. There is a whole bunch of them to unlock but honestly I found myself using the same ones throughout the entire game, these were of course added ballistic and melee and a focus booster. I did try the other suit mods but honestly the three I had for most of the game were the most practical.

But the gameplay is not all about Spider-Man. There will be times where you have to play as Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and Miles Morales. Playing as Peter Parker usually requires you to walk around and play a few mini games to advance but this never felt like a chore and playing as Peter Parker allows you to see a side to the world that Spider-Man would never be able to show the player.

In other words it's great playing Spider-Man but it's just as good playing as Peter Parker.

Now playing as Mary Jane or Miles Morales is when things get really interesting. These sequences usually involve you sneaking around a heavily guarded area and while at times they can feel forced I have to admit I really enjoyed them. At one point Miles goes head to head with Rhino, a situation which is extremely tense as you've no actual way of fighting Rhino and he is huge. 

Moving right along into the story this honestly feels like the one aspect that I was worried for the most. Nailing a story in a superhero game is tough, not only do you have to craft an original story for the game but you also have to take into consideration the established lore of comics and such because if you didn't you'd pretty much divide a fan base.

Luckily Spider-Man has a brilliant, if not slightly conventional story. I particularity liked the fact that Insomniac chose to use Mr. Negative as the main antagonist for most of the game. He was a breath of fresh air, a villain that not many fans of previous Spider-Man games would know very well. Of course the more traditional Spider-Man villains such as Electro, Vulture and Rhino show up eventually and that's really when the story flies off the rails.

And before we go any further that while it was so blatantly obvious that Doc Ock was going to take the rains from Mr. Negative eventually I didn't mind this and instead couldn't wait to see the calm and kind Otto Octavius embrace his darker side. All in all the inclusion of Doc Ock and classic Spider-Man villains was a smart choice from Insomniac. 

But unfortunately the story does suffer from some good old fashioned predictability. While it's not apparent at every twist, it does kind of ruin the dramatic reveal when it does finally decide to show itself. Funnily enough though this game also has the ability of throwing you completely for a loop, dropping emotional bombs on you right when you least expect it and oh boy, they hit home really hard.

All of this, of course, would be nothing without the superb voice acting. Yuri Lowenthal, Laura Bailey, William Saylers and all the main cast deliver their lines spectacularly. Not one piece of dialog feels out of place or badly acted which is perfect for pulling you right into the immersion.

Finally lets talk about how this game looks.

I don't like talking about graphics in reviews, I really don't. Sure there's an expectation with modern games to look great but I would rather see a game boast awesome gameplay and an engaging story than have both of those elements suffer because the developers wanted to make their game pretty. With that said we have to talk about the graphics because, oh damn son, this game is whopper fine looking.

Character models look great, New York City looks great, Insomniac even went out of their way to model little rooms inside windows which just adds a whole new level of depth to the city. Every individual suit has its own unique look and don't even get me started on the lighting. Whether it's early morning or late evening this games lighting is incredible and completely changes the look of the city. Times Square is cool to look at but Times Square at night is a whole other thing. I stood there for ten minutes just soaking in the pretty lights.

Overall Marvel's Spider-Man is a brilliant experience and while there was so much doubt that Insomniac wouldn't be to pull it off I am extremely glad that they did. I have loved every minute of this game and honestly I cannot wait for the DLC just so I have an excuse to go back and play more.

For more on your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,

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