I would like to preface this review by thanking The Evil Within for saving me lots of money in the future, as it has discouraged me from buying games the first week of their release. I would also like to state that even though this game is looked upon and often reviewed favorably, there are a large number of reasons as to why I simply don't find it a good game.
The overall structure ofI would like to preface this review by thanking The Evil Within for saving me lots of money in the future, as it has discouraged me from buying games the first week of their release. I would also like to state that even though this game is looked upon and often reviewed favorably, there are a large number of reasons as to why I simply don't find it a good game.
The overall structure of the game is Resident Evil 4 down to minute details. The way the enemies attack you, the way many enemies look, quite a few cutscenes are similar, the environments, and I would like to say the combat, but combat in The Evil Within is too awful to compare it to Resident Evil 4. The storyline is different, and also the main selling point of the game. I wouldn't mind playing the DLC's simply to fill in holes in the story (and trust me, very little actually gets explained) but that also adds in a whole different problem; the fact that people who only wanted to pay for one game and get a complete storyline with it are left out. I can't reveal a whole lot without giving away major spoilers, but I think everyone knows where I'm coming from when I say things like "glaring plot holes" (how can Sebastian go from unable to walk at the end of Chapter 1 to sprinting like all hell in the beginning of Chapter 2?) and "incomplete/unexplained story points".
The combat in The Evil Within is an interesting thing, and by interesting, I mean frustrating and atrocious. The way all un-upgraded guns start is with a low "Accuracy" rating, meaning that your aim is unsteady and your bullets tend to miss their mark at medium ranges, which is horribly frustrating, particularly on higher difficulties. I personally feel that where your bullets fly should be dictated by the skill and precision of the player, not an upgrade you purchase for your weapons. The reason why this mechanic is so frustrating is because every single enemy is faster, stronger, and more animate than you are. Even the first and most basic Haunted you encounter can do long sprints to grab you, and those with weapons can do a series of multiple slashing motions that last longer than your sprint time. You can be hit while going into motions, such as over cover, up/down ladders, and using matches, when you're unable to move away or otherwise defend yourself. There are also a lot of occurrences of the game going into a mini-cutscene as you are helplessly stabbed by an enemy, doing massive damage to you. You can't attack, block, or escape, just take the damage for being a little too close to an enemy. That is just with typical Haunted, there is a large number of enemies (Sadists, Laura, Ruvik clones, bomb traps, AlterEgos, the fish, and the Chapter 10 boss) that have the ability to kill you in a single hit regardless, even on Easy difficulty.
As a side note in combat, this game introduced a new mechanic that had potential to be great, the matches. When an enemy was incapacitated or knocked down, you should be able to run up to them, hit B, and toss a match on them to kill them. If there are any other enemies in the area, they should be burned up as well, making matches a great ammo saving tool. Unfortunately for us, the match mechanic is broken. There have been a great number of times where I have run directly up to a fallen enemy and spammed B, and no match was dropped. Within seconds, the enemy was back up beating my face in. There have been other times (particularly against Laura) where I drop the match, the enemy is engulfed in flames, but I still get hit or otherwise killed by an enemy the game considers to be dead. In fact, the first time I fought Laura, I dropped a match on a corpse that consumed her in flames. The screen quickly changed to the move of her beating me to death, while she was shrieking, and the achievement for killing her unlocked on the death screen. A very poorly designed mechanic.
The game presents with a large number of graphic issues and glitches that just shouldn't be present in a 2014 release. I have been tossed through walls, hit through floors, watched enemies descend ladders into a floor, have been hit by dead enemies, have seen massive drops in framerate (usually in critical, speed based parts of the game) and have even seen a video on Youtube where a player was trapped in a room in Chapter 11, because a character wouldn't open the door to progress the level. He died, restarted, reloaded, but all to no avail. Normally the game on 360 looks fine, and looks fantastic on the One, but 360 players will usually encounter multiple glitches before a playthrough is done.
So, there you have it. The game does have its upsides, the enemies look pretty awesome, the story is engaging, and if you really like Resident Evil 4 you may look upon this more favorably. I simply felt I've been here and played this before, in a much better and more polished version.
5/10… Expand
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