It was far from great, but I actually enjoyed the first Saw video game. It did the films justice and it did enough to justify their making a game based on the movies, which at the time had already seen five entries. The transition to the realm of bits and bytes was a relatively smooth one, a rare happening for a licensed game and an impressive genre debut from the relatively small developer, Zombie Studios.
It was twisted, gory and it forced us to witness the entirety of the scenes that some of us tend to look away from when watching the movies, because now they were interactive. That added a visceral element to it that made the game even better, assuming you don’t mind not only seeing the act but partaking in it as well. The original game’s flaws were many and a few of them were moderately serious, but it built a strong enough foundation for a sequel.
Then in 2009, that sequel released and it burned everything to the ground. Flesh & Blood’s dramatic step back can be at least partially attributed to that thing I mentioned earlier: time constraints. It was released a week before Saw 3D promised to finally kill off the franchise — because licensed games — so it was a bit of a rushed job. That explains some of it, but it still doesn’t fully explain some of the more unusual design choices, like the dramatic oversimplification of the combat, which was turned into a series of quick time events.
This game burned me, and it burned me bad. I was so excited for the Alone in the Dark reboot that I even took part in the Alternate Reality Game Atari created to promote it. I watched every tech demo, staring at the realistic fire rendering system like an aspiring pyromaniac.
Then it released… and… devil trees.
Alone in the Dark is a mixed bag. Usually, that wouldn’t kill a game, but the negative aspects of that mixed bag are so detrimental that they completely overwhelm the positive stuff. The music is beautiful, but it’s rarely used in interesting ways, usually relegated to the background so we can hear the atrocious dialogue. The world is beautiful, but you’re limited to this incredibly linear portion of it, with the exception of the Central Park bits, which introduce a whole other issue to get pissy over (devil trees). The combat is an awful idea of gargantuan proportion, the characters are silly and wholly unrealistic, the story is… that too. I’d keep going, but what’s the point?
I’m sure some of you could include Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6 and Operation Raccoon City here, but for me, this one has been the most disapponting. I enjoyed the last two games in the main series, to certain extents, but this was a huge disappointment. It’s not worthy in the least of the series’ name, which sadly, has lost much of its credibility and legacy this generation.
Operation Raccoon City was meant to be Capcom’s long awaited answer to the pleas of their fans who have been requesting another entry in the Outbreak series — the short-lived series of spin-offs released on the PlayStation 2 that were set in the chaos of Raccoon City, pre-nuclear annihilation. What they actually delivered was another game that tried and failed (miserably) to emulate the action franchise Capcom so desperately wants this franchise to become, so as to appeal to the illusive Call of Duty gamer. It was a bad game, unworthy of the series and the only way Capcom can make it up to us is by giving us a true follow-up to the Outbreak series developed by a studio that has more than a passing interest in Resident Evil.
