Reviews
[Review] ‘Resident Evil Resistance’ is Messy Multiplayer Mayhem
Resident Evil 3 came and went last week to a somewhat mixed reception. While it was a fun game, I personally thought there were plenty of missed opportunities throughout. At the same time, the open beta for the packed-in multiplayer game; RE: Resistance, had experienced issues with PS4 and PC players, so I left it out of that review.
But over the weekend, the issues had seemingly been fixed, and so I played many matches of RE: Resistance to give my experiences of it so far in its current state.
With it being a modern multiplayer game, this incarnation will be the first of many, with plenty of changes and updates over the coming months and even (Capcom would hope) years. In its current state, however, I was left feeling bored and frustrated, with a lot needing to be improved upon in every aspect of the game.
RE: Resistance aims to give you a sort of throwback to Resident Evil: Outbreak and Left 4 Dead, with a fair sprinkling of modern asymmetrical multiplayer titles such as Dead By Daylight thrown in for good measure. There are two ways to play. ‘Survivor’ is essentially a run from one point of the map to another before a time limit expires. The other mode is called ‘Mastermind’, where you’re essentially an Umbrella-employed director playing a twisted version of Kevin from the film Home Alone, laying traps and enemies on the map to maim and kill the survivor team as they try to clear the level.
Before you begin, you are brought into the Tutorial section, where you can try out both Survivor and Mastermind modes, and have the rules explained without the pressure of a live game.
In Survivor mode, you can play either on your own or in a group of four – there’s no other option. You need to go from one part of the map to another, all the while picking up cash in the form of ‘Umbrella Credits’, helping out teammates, and shooting/avoiding all the enemies that the ‘Mastermind’ spawns.
Even though there are six characters with varying abilities, Valerie, Tyrone, and Becca are the only ones, for now, worth playing as. Their speed and effectiveness when battling hordes of zombies really helps to survive the onslaught. But even so, the controls can still feel sluggish. Pressing the usual ‘Tab’ key to bring up weapons or items to use takes far longer than in Resident Evil 3 for some reason, and being able to help your teammates also feels drawn out. I also expected to share items or ammo, much like how Resident Evil 5 managed this system, as it would have given better variety and better teamwork dynamics, but it’s nowhere to be found here, which is a shame.
I was able to ignore the above faults at times. There were a few fun matches played with the tension and excitement of scraping by, balancing risk and reward to grab ammo and supplies. You need to make sure you’ve got enough for the hordes of enemies that the ‘Mastermind’ player almost always spawns, and the kicker is you never know what exactly you’ll be dealing with.
Usually, towards the end of the level, many zombies and zombie dogs were spawned, alongside William Birkin or Mr. X from RE2, which would predictably end up in game over more often than not. It gives Resistance a feeling that it isn’t as fun and fair as it could be, that the ‘Mastermind’ and their arsenal of undead tricks have no fair balance to what they could spawn over the course of the match. Your only viable choice usually is to go down the ‘every man/woman for themselves’ path and stock up on ammo and health before this horde of G-Virus enemies come to end you all.
It has quickly become a chore to play through Survivor in its current form; it all still feels rather unfinished, an open beta that seems like it could have done with being released separately and given time to iron out these issues that could have made this side of the game more compelling to play.
As I previously noted, the Mastermind side of the package lets you be the director of those stages. You are presented with an area map to lay down your traps and enemies before the survivor players reach the rooms. You’re also given ‘boosts’ to place down different enemies, or multiple amounts of some to make it more challenging for the players. You can also take control of enemies, from the shambling zombies all the way to the hulking William Birkin and Mr. X, to really cause some damage.
I had the most enjoyment in this mode, mainly because I was able to control the bosses from RE2. If it wasn’t for the risible controls and the UI, I would have had even more fun.
Cycling through the enemies to spawn is an often confusing act. When you do spawn some, you’re not really sure if they will actually appear on the map. One example was when I spawned a pack of dogs onto the map, but because of a pillar in the way, it only spawned a couple of them, instead of just letting me know to spawn them somewhere else. The spawn cards themselves are also confusing, as you’re not sure what exactly you can spawn, and even how to cycle through them all. I tried every key imaginable to swap between traps and enemies. It made the whole thing more frustrating than it needed to be, and in the end, I just waited until I could spawn Birkin and went on a desperate onslaught across the map. Finally, connecting to a match takes far longer than it should. Every match took at least five minutes to let me in to start playing.
Overall, I came out of this feeling frustrated and more than a little bored, and honestly would have much preferred the Mercenaries mode to come back in a remade form instead. Resistance is a jumbled mess of ideas without a clear vision, albeit with the potential to get better. Unfortunately, it’s released in a buggy, slow, frustrating state. There are cracks of hope that it could eventually be a good game once feedback and new seasons of content are implemented, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to the game anytime soon.
Resident Evil Resistance review code for PC provided by the publisher.
Resident Evil Resistance is out now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC as part of Resident Evil 3.
It’s a big world out there, and that alone can make it seem pretty scary for some people. The uncertainty, the unknown, the unfamiliar – while there are those among us who crave exploration, they’re seemingly outnumbered by those who prefer to close their doors, their borders, and their hearts to whomever – and whatever – sits on the other side. The temptation will be strong to label The Outer Threat as a Temu Disclosure Day, but open your heart to it (and accept its budgetary limitations), and you’ll be rewarded with an engaging, hopeful genre tale.
Daniel (Mark O’Brien) is an astrophysicist living on a remote farm with Michelle (Constance Wu) and their two children (Callista Crowe, Isaac Smelcer-Zhang). He retreats every day to an underground bunker where he monitors and searches the universe for signs of extraterrestrial life, and one morning he finds just that – clear evidence of an advanced civilization that’s successfully found a way to harvest the power of their solar system’s sun. He’s understandably ecstatic and in a hurry to tell the world, but Michelle, a retired scientist who’s nearly given up on humanity as a whole and chooses to focus solely on her family, is adamant that he keep quiet.
He goes against her wishes, obviously, and sends an email filled with data attachments to his boss at NORAD. The result is almost immediate as electrical power, internet connections, and cell service all shut off in and around their small nearby town. Soon small drones are buzzing their farm and peeping in their windows, MQ-9 Reapers are bombing their bunker, and unmarked cars are following their every move.
Writer/director William Woods makes his directorial debut with The Outer Threat, and while his ambitions dwarf his resources, the end result is a compelling family adventure that argues for opening our metaphorical doors to the unknown. A strong cast, that also includes a supporting turn from the always welcome William Fichtner, helps carry the downtime between suspense sequences and minor set pieces. It’s an undeniably small film, but its ideas and conversations are exponentially bigger.
Michelle’s beef with humankind stems from both the personal and the general state of the world at large. Her father (Oscar Hsu) is also a scientist, and like Daniel, he risked valuing his work over his family to the point that Michelle no longer speaks with him. Her bigger issue is knowing that our species is a poor steward of both this planet and each other, and when Daniel accuses her of having little faith in humanity, she replies only “not without reason.”
One of The Outer Threat’s most interesting sequences will feel like a disjointed detour to some, but it actually encapsulates one of the film’s central themes in one simple exchange. The family is on the road and heading to Michelle’s father’s place – she’s not thrilled, but his past work with the government might come in handy – when they decide to stop for food. They reach a tiny town that looks deceptively abandoned and are welcomed into a diner by the owner, Sam (Fichtner), and his young granddaughter.
He’s initially cautious and explains that soldiers had passed through, telling everyone to remain indoors, but he proceeds to feed the family in need while explaining that he’s hoping to scrounge up some fuel to reconnect with the rest of his family. Sam also shares with Michelle that he hesitated to open his door to them simply because they were different. He was fearful, and now he’s ashamed and worried that maybe he’s not the man he thought he was. “What really scares me,” he adds, “was the thought that maybe, just maybe, we’re all rotten.”
She listens. She leaves. And she never tells him about the numerous extra canisters of gas they have in the back of their pickup truck.
It’s a striking character beat as our protagonist, even halfway through the film, remains steadfast in her disconnect from others. She’s far from the only one in need of change, though, as it was Daniel’s hubris and ego that led to this situation in the first place. “Our kids should be home safe,” she tells him at one point, “but you just had to let the world know how smart you are.” Woods and his cast mine drama from this brilliant but misaligned couple, and both Wu and O’Brien are convincing in their motivations and emotions.
Somewhat less convincing are the film’s occasional swings at big visual effects. Drones and weather balloons in the sky are passable, but explosions, vast encampments, and more land with an iffy digital thud. None of them are deal breakers, though, both because they’re used sparingly and because the characters and their dilemma take center stage.
Woods, whose best and brightest accomplishment remains serving as a producer on the criminally underseen 2020 film, The Kid Detective, arguably bites off a bit more than he can chew with The Outer Threat. His big ideas on both story and humankind are inevitably under-explored in a film of this size, and you’ll be left wishing he had a bigger budget behind him. Audiences are bound to expect something more from the film’s third act, especially, so set your expectations accordingly going in that this is more a film about human connection and ideals than it is a tale of alien invasion.
There are moments here of genuine suspense and thrills, but the film’s power rests in those human beats. From Sam revealing he was concealing a gun while making them pancakes, to Michelle’s father pushing aside huge news of world-altering significance so he can instead spend time with grandchildren he’s only just met, to feuding kids combining their skills for an act of bravery, this is a movie about people who can be so much more than we believe ourselves capable of being.
“For thousands of years human beings have been the dominant species on this planet,” says a character at a certain point, “but that’s no longer the case.” The trailer teases this line, and while you can’t fault the marketing department, it might feel like a bit of a bait and switch by the time the end credits roll. You can choose to be underwhelmed, but here’s hoping you open the door to the film’s hopefulness instead.
The Outer Threat is now available on VOD and Digital.
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