They don't make 'em like they used to - thank goodness

This month's free game on PS Plus is the remastered Resident Evil. I had a go the other day, thinking it would be a decent game to play during Halloween month.

I have fond memories of playing the original back in the mid 90s. In my mind, I played it on the N64, but Wikipedia tells me that this is impossible. So I must be confused.

I definitely remember playing it, though. There's a point where a zombie jumps out of a cupboard, and I hurled my controller at the screen, falling backwards off the bed as I did so. Thrilling and exciting, to be so immersed in the world that I had a physical reaction.

And, of course, it's a very significant game. A huge, successful franchise, which is still going. A series of film spin offs, which are closer to the source material than most game spin offs manage. So I though it would be interesting to revisit.

And, unfortunately it sucks.

A hero with two left feet

What is wrong with the control system? How on earth did anyone ever play the game like this? I spent all my time trying to move Jill Valentine around rooms, constantly bumping into tables and wandering backwards into walls. A lot of the time, I just made her spin round on the spot, pointlessly.

The first time I encountered a zombie - the famous over-the-shoulder shot that has come to symbolise the game - I tried to back away. But once I backed out of the fixed-camera frame, the screen changed so everything was in a different place. And the controls I used suddenly made me go in different directions from the ones they had a second ago. Which, in this case, was right into the zombie I was trying to get away from.

Bite, bite, bite.

20 years on and I still want to throw my controller at the screen. But not for the same reason. How was this ever how we played games? Jerking between different camera angles, our relative positions and controls constantly shifting.

In short, I did not enjoy this and will not be going back to it anytime soon.

On a happier note, here's a lovely article about The Last of Us, and how it makes us identify with its characters.

Here


One thing it doesn't say, but which is definitely a reason why we identify with Joel and Ellie, is this: when you try to make them move somewhere, they just do it, rather than dicking about and circling on the bloody spot.