Raj Agrawal

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You are here: Home / Archives for resident evil

Is ‘Resident Evil 6’ The End Of The Series?

October 25, 2012 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Games are like time bombs. Not with respect to sales, but with respect to the scrutiny they go through. This is especially an aggravated scenario for a series where one game sets phenomenal standards for its successors to follow. And if the follow ups do not live up to the hype, they get bashed to hell. The Resident Evil series is at the Apex of such scrutiny.

When Resident Evil 4 was released, it changed the way people looked at the horror genre. Lots of horror games had come before, many of them achieving great successes both critically and commercially, but none of them combined horror, tension and action to this degree. The game was the absolute pinnacle of survival horror and was a pivotal game in the Game Cube life cycle. It eventually made its way onto the PS2, garnering critical acclaim and commercial success. And as expected, the bar was set too high.

resident evil 4 pose
A poster for Resident Evil 4

This bar, this hypothetical tower that builds itself whenever something good is created, this is the thing developers must be really getting scared and pissed of. This bar changes everything. It creates expectations, of monumental proportions. And this is what affected the Resident Evil franchise. The fifth game in the series was not a bad game. I actually enjoyed it a lot. The gun play was really improved over the previous games and the enemy AI was better. But what it gained in the action perspective, is what is lost when it came to providing the chills. The game simply did not have the eerie feel of its legendary predecessor, and did not give that feeling of hopelessness. The last feeling a horror game needs to impart a player is that of actually being able to survive, or worse still, of being a badass with great chances of making it out with your head and limbs intact. And this is what most horror developers don’t seem to get these days. And Capcom are no exception to this.

I think what the industry needs is different directions for different genres. These days, action is integrated into almost every game, at the cost of originality, at the cost of the elements which actually made the game good. There is a huge market for the casual gamers out there, and every company is trying to attract that market by making their games more accessible. And accessibility means including elements that people on a large scale will like. But that will not necessarily make a game better or even good compared to what it was. The focus should be on providing a better experience, and not on making one which should cater to many. If what you have created is great, it will garner an audience. This was what Resident Evil 4 did so well, and look how well it sold. With what i’ve been hearing about Resident Evil 6, that does not seem to be the case. And if the future releases follow the same path, then I believe the series as we know it is dead.

Filed Under: Gameology Tagged With: resident evil

The Hottest Game Announcements Of 2012. It Only Gets Better.

April 25, 2012 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

The year 2012 is gearing up to best 2011, as one of the best years for gaming ever. 2011 served up some great feasts for gamers with games such as Portal 2, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, all taking the gaming world by storm. Now we have an even better line up this year, and the announcements just keep on coming. So, lets talk about some of the hottest announcements of this year.

Crysis 3

Crysis 3
Expected release date : 2013

Crysis 2 was a good game. But still the fans weren’t convinced of its greatness, especially given how much of a hit the first game was. The diversion of focus to consoles, loss of the open ended environment, and the loss of emphasis on game-play didn’t bode too well with the fans. And the sales testified to this. And now Crytek seems to have learnt a lesson, and are trying to woo fans again by promising a PC focused game which will take more from the original game than its successor. And if it’s even as good as the first game, if not better, then we will gladly put our social lives on halt to play it. Color us excited!

God of War : Ascension

Expected release date – 2013

Well well well! We did not see this one coming. Actually we did, but not the direction it would be taking. Instead of continuing from the mess that was God of War 3’s ending, we’re now being taken through an entirely new chapter in the life of the almighty Kratos, the most bad-ass God of War out there. I’m a hopeless God of War fan-boy, so i’ll accept it in whatever shape or form it arrives, so long as it arrives.

Medal of Honor : Warfighter

Expected release date – October 23, 2012

EA’s reboot of the Medal of Honor series last year was a love or hate affair for many. It had an excellent and compelling multiplayer component, but the single player lacked the quality of previous Medal of Honor titles. Now EA is having another go at its beloved franchise, and this time around, they seem to be focused on doing it right. Rather than describing a single conflict, Warfighter will be based on a multitude of issues spanning the entire globe. It’s a formula the Call of duty series has used since the beginning, and if done right, it cannot go terribly wrong.

Halo 4

Halo 4
Expected release date – November 6, 2012

Halo 3 was considered by many to be the end of Master Chief’s journey. But how could Microsoft ever sell even more copies of their beloved console without of constant barrage of the big sellers. And so we have Halo 4. The obvious difference between this Halo title and all the previous games in the series is the change of development studios. While Bungie developed the first three games, it is 343 industries who will carry the torch from here. And if they don’t deliver, a one Mr. Gordon Freeman will be waiting to strike the definite blow on the whole HL vs Halo debate. And while that may sound enticing from a sadist’s perspective, I just don’t want to play a Halo game and feel bad about it. So here’s hoping it will be another classic I will be talking for years about.

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil 6
Expected release date – October 2, 2012

This for me is the hottest game announcement of the year. And it topples Halo 4 mainly for one reason: I loved RE4, but I also loved the action oriented approach of RE5. So, to have a game which switches between survival horror and action definitely sounds like a good prospect. As long as they can maintain the balance, and still keep the game horror friendly, i’ll be happy. And you cannot possibly match a zombified president scaring the hell out of Leon Kennedy. Bring it on Capcom. I’m ready!


That’s it folks. These are my picks for the hottest game announcements for the year. This is not a most anticipated 2012 list, or the list would have been drastically different. The city of Columbia intrigues me more than anything else, and it’s number one on my wishlist. So lets see how that goes. So what are your most exciting announcements of the year? They may take time to be actually playable, but the hype meter does not need to be alien to their existence.

Filed Under: Gameology Tagged With: Crysis, god of war, halo, portal, resident evil, skyrim, uncharted