Wednesday, February 18, 2015

First Impressions: The Evil Within



Hey, guys. How've you been? It's been hard to get around without my laptop, but I won't let that get me down. I'm gonna load you down with blog posts until I run out of content. Again. Now, won't that be fun? Prepare yourself for a lot of game talk, and to set that pace, here's my impression of The Evil Within.

I know. I know. This game came out October 2014, but this game hit me like a hurricane. I actually avoided it initially because it didn't seem very interesting. Well, that is interesting enough to play. I finally gave in because of tumblr. More and more people started talking about it, and okay, fine. I finally gave in. Thanks to the community center, I actually got to play it for myself. And I'm pretty glad I did.

One of the things to note about this game is that it does not hold back on the gruesome imagery. It's one of "those" games and fits in very well with the survival horror madness that's become popular over the years. Even in its bloody glory, the game is very nice to look at. Unfortunately though, that's not enough to set it apart. But! There are two very distinct things that set it apart: the AI and the mind games.

The AI actually made me laugh in the game. Not because it was bad, but because it was actually pretty cunning sometimes. The enemies are actually pretty bad ass. As an added plus, they're incredibly and wonderfully flammable, but it's so hard to try and get them into fire traps. I applaud them for paying attention. Also, enemies with guns have the ability to screw up your progress by being trigger happy little "bar stewards". There are actually a few different examples of the enemies being cheeky and clever, but I think yo can gather the point. There are some intense ones that keep you on your guard, and it's a wise idea to up your shooting precision as you go.

This game is a psychological nightmare sometime, and it's amazing. It doesn't happen all the time, actually. The game expertly picks and chooses when it's going to mess with you. It makes the experience more enjoyable. From what I remember, there aren't many jumpscares. I think most of the energy of the game went towards the scenery change and shifts in reality. It's hard to say much about the game and its numerous games without getting too much into the plot.

The game's leveling up system is pretty unique as it occurs in an electric shock chair. Unfortunately for me, it gave me some horrible phantom pains. But I grit my teeth and bared the pain, if only because I was lucky enough not to be in the chair myself. I do like the characters, though I didn't feel particularly attached to any of them for very long. The ending of the game left me wanting more, but I wasn't completely unsatisfied.

This was the most out of touch review I've done in a while because it's been a couple of weeks since I last got into the game. A lot of other things have consumed me since then. However, what I do remember is that this game really likes to mess with the player, and having a big bad boss like Ruvik really gives me a sense of helplessness that I felt was missing from a lot of titlts in this genre. Maybe I feel that way because I've been playing a lot of indie. Who knows.

I feel like this is a game a lot of you would really get into. I say check it out, especially since the DLC is going to be coming out in March. This is a chance to really get into something that has a chance to be different in some key, respectable ways. If you've played the game, let me know how you feel about the game and the upcoming DLC.



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