Recent reviews by BogBoog

it really was our final fantasy

i screwed up and skipped the first ability and nearly softlocked myself 10/10

your "package" "came" in the "mail"? 🤨

gottdamn leon s kennedy boy got a fat ass

After having played and beaten RE7, I was finding myself disappointed in how that game failed to capture the horror and feeling of hopelessness I found in previous RE titles. Gun play felt forced, and scares were placed everywhere so obviously that nothing really gave me a feeling of terror I had come to know and enjoy, even in more action heavy titles like RE4 and RE6. So after that experience I was left with fear that RE8 would be more of the same, since it built off what RE7 had "done so well." And after having played through RE8, I find that my fears had come true, and in not the horrifying way that they were going for.

Starting with the character himself, Ethan Winters: In RE7 I found him to be an insufferable "self-insert" of a character that it brought me out of every single moment I had even begun to feel accomplished in, and that character trait stays true and is amplified in the sequel. Giving him such amazing one liners as "In death as he was in life. Disgusting." that completely makes you forget that you had just cleared a boss, and instead remind you that you're playing through what can only be described as a poorly written middle school performance. These lines are a far cry from anything RE4 brought in its amazingly campy humor. And this game violently reminds you of that every time Ethan begins to speak.

And while Ethan is poorly written, It does not help that his character is placed in the most cardboard flat world written, With characters quickly introduced with seemingly only one trait, and then they completely dismissed within the hour. The advertising leads you to believe that you have to deal with Lady Dimitrescu for the game and much of it shows her as the main antagonist. And that is true, for about an hour and a half before she is completely forgotten about and maybe offhandedly mentioned once more for the rest of the story. The pacing of the story is not exempt from being poorly done too, as it makes you bounce around 4 different areas for about an hour or two before returning to the hub area like you’re playing Super Mario 64.

All of this could just possibly be excused if the gameplay itself is good, RE4 arguably didn't have that much of an amazing story if we took away the great character writing from it right? Well unfortunately, I think that’s where RE8’s biggest sin is shown, as the gameplay is filled with terrible choices and problems that haven’t been issues in gaming since the early 2010s.

Starting with one of the biggest offenders that no doubt everyone has heard about, The lack of an FOV slider. Sure with 3rd person games, the need for an FOV slider could be an afterthought, as you typically don't think about needing that if the camera is far enough away from your character. But with a 1st person game, it is almost a necessity, as some people need a different FOV if they experience motion sickness if the FOV is too low. As you may have guessed, RE8 shipped with a locked 80 FOV that, as far as I know, still cannot be changed in the settings, causing motion sickness in some players, and generally looks bad. Most esports games are played at around 110, and a typical first person FOV is 90-100.

This isn't the only thing stopping me from enjoying playing the game, a personal grievance is that I play with a particularly low DPI on my mouse, 700 to be exact, that means I need to move my mouse farther physically to move my camera. Nearly every game I have played, including RE2R, I had no issue with my low DPI and the camera controls. But with RE8, the default settings had my mouse almost geriatric, leaving me to swipe my mouse across my desk several times to even turn my camera 180 degrees. That has me diving into the settings to change my mouse sensitivity, in which there are 3 different options, one of which is on a scale from 0-9 and the other two on a scale from 1-50. Completely unintuitive at minimum, and downright annoying to fiddle with at worst. I found myself pausing over and over again for 20 minutes trying to dial my mouse settings in a way that I found comfortable.

With my settings successfully set, I was finally free to experience the gunplay.

I cannot fathom how they possibly did this, but they made the weapons quite possibly the worst weapons I have used. No weapon felt satisfying to use, except for maybe the revolver as it had the stopping power of an entire 18 wheeler. With every weapon, it felt as if I was kicking myself in the crotch in an enemy’s direction and they were feeling sympathy pains. The default shotgun was the biggest offender, as even if the reload animation finishes, Ethan takes an extra second before firing the weapon, almost as if he’s contemplating if he left the stove on before his daughter got kidnapped. The sniper rifle has about maybe the same amount of recoil as a base pistol, it makes you feel as if you’re shooting a glorified nerf rifle at a boss until he falls over like a father playing dead when his kid doesn't stop shooting him with his McDonald’s happy meal toy gun.

None of the failures in the gun play, however, detract from how piss easy the game is on the base difficulty. As I found myself having an abundance of healing items and ammo for my weapons. This was without even crafting any of the health or defense upgrades, as I did not know that system existed until I randomly killed a chicken, harvested it, and unlocked a menu in the shop. The only times I actually struggled was with mechanics that felt were unpolished or sluggish to the point that I felt as if the game didn't want me to play it.

With all of these problems stacking, what does the game leave me with after everything is said and done?

Well to its credit, the RE engine that capcom has developed makes for some outstanding visuals and RE8 does still manage to look pretty good in sections that have a lot of details placed in them, I found myself in the village looking around legitimately enjoying the scenery, until eventually I had to fire another couple of foam darts at yet another group of enemies, and hearing another Ethan Winters’ classic one liners for me to groan too. The performance is also great, As I have everything maxed out at 1440p with a rock solid framerate. Granted this is with a RTX 3080, but I still find myself impressed that the game rarely stutters, even with Denuvo.

That leaves us with my last thoughts about RE8

The game fails to provide anything of note that I would expect from a survival horror game, especially one from the RE franchise. With gunplay and writing leaving more than enough to be desired, I simply think many would be fine to simply not play this entry into the series. I believe there are simply better games within its own series that provide a better experience. RE4 has simply just a better combat system and story that really give more to the action to the RE franchise than any game has. The RE2 remake takes the action down a notch, but makes up for it in simple atmosphere and enemy designs alone that set it apart from the other games in its genre. And if neither of those, RE1 simply is a must play for anyone that wants into the franchise or is looking for a survival horror game that really defined its place in the genre. RE8 provides almost nothing of value to any of the aspects of survival horror or to the RE franchise to warrant playing it through.

woah

10/10