First, let me start by saying that I'm probably a little biased since I'm a huge resident evil fan. I love most of them, and at least like the bad ones to an extent. And this is definitely one of the best of them. The fan base is generally split between liking the more scary, tougher games and liking the dumber, action packed games. I love both types of RE, and my top 3 RE games would be 4, 2 Remake, and 7. Biohazard is a great return to form for the fans of more horror based RE games. There are some good jump scares, the enemies are really tough, and the game is very hard at certain points, in a good way. The game has a really good and creepy atmosphere, as you explore this mold-filled, disgusting house in Louisiana with crazy rednecks constantly chasing you throughout the game. It makes exploration very tense, and RE games are at their best when there's a big, invincible enemy chasing you throughout the map while you explore. Everything in the Baker house is pretty much perfect as far as I'm concerned. As per usual with an RE game, the map starts to open up more and more as you explore, and there are always plenty of secrets to discover that make the game a lot easier. All of the sections in the Baker house are amazing- the main house with Jack, the secondary house with Marguerite, and the barn with Lucas. Lucas is definitely my favorite section, as going through the level itself has the best enemy challenge in the game, and the escape room is by far my favorite part of the entire game. It's such an interesting and obtuse puzzle, and solving it makes you feel very smart. One of if not my favorite puzzle in any video game. Jack's section in the main house is definitely the scariest part of the game, with the opening Mia scene, and Jack stalking you throughout the whole section. Marguerite's area is very good as well, and has the best boss fight in the game, and one of the best RE boss fights in general. Everything in the game up to a specific point is almost perfect. I was ready to call the game a 9.5/10. But then, they continued the Resident Evil tradition of introducing an area in the last third-fourth of the game that is completely different both stylistically and gameplay wise, changing the entire theme of the game. Nest in RE 2 and 3, the island in RE4, the factory in Village, et cetera. The boat section is honestly really bad. The section where you play as Mia in the flashback is decent, as it explains a lot of the story, but when you get back to playing as Ethan, it just goes on way too long, when it really doesn't need to be. They could've had all of the boat restricted to a tape, like Mia's boat section already is, and Ethan could've accessed it through one of the TVs at the baker house. He makes his way back to the house at the end, anyways, and I really wish they had just skipped Ethan's part of the boat. The mine section is bad as well. It's just boring. The extra 20-30 minutes you spend in the mine is completely unnecessary. The not a hero DLC is really good, because it's short and hard, and actually spends some time making the mine an interesting area to explore, and gives it a reason to exist (Lucas used it as a hideout). They should've cut out Ethan's boat section and the cave, used the cave area specifically in Chris's Not a Hero DLC, and just fast forwarded to the end after Mia's boat tape. This would have kept my interest, as the last hour or two of the game really lost it. The only other thing I would criticize about the game is its replay value- RE games are made to be somewhat short and very replayable. While this one is around the same length as other RE titles, I would argue that it is not nearly as replayable. Although I love it, something about the game just makes me not want to replay it as much. Right after I beat Village, I instantly started new game plus, and enjoyed it, but I don't really want to play Biohazard again, although I prefer it to Village. Although I have my problems, the everything else about the game is amazing, and it (mostly) overshadows the bad parts. The game has a pretty good story as well, at least compared to other RE stories. It has a more interesting plot and virus than most games in the series, and it kept me hooked. With amazing villains, great gameplay, a good difficulty balance, and fantastic atmosphere, this game is incredible until the last hour and a half. If the game did my idea of skipping Ethan's boat section and the mine, it would get my original score of 9.5 out of 10, but the boat and mine bring it down to an 8 for me. Still definitely worth playing for RE fans or just fans of horror games in general, and I still love it a lot, I just wish I could've loved it a bit more.
Review of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
