Finished it last night, yikes I was rusty, I got so lost at times. Final time was 8 hours 46 minutes, I died 3 times all at the last few bosses (steve, alexia, queen ant). Retry function is really nice, forgot this game had that.

Overall the game is as fun and epic as I remember it. This one along with RE2 are games I can replay over and over, it never gets old. The layout of this game is interesting cause its almost never straight forward, for instance in RE2 during the sewers part, there was a stretch of the game where all you did was move forward, hardly any exploring or backtracking to be done. In this game its almost always a maze, they give you a large area and make you figure out how to approach it. This does lead to maybe the biggest issue of the game, the fact that there is lots of backtracking and many times the game makes you run to one side of the map to get one item that is needed to be used on something on the other side. This is really the first time in my playthrough that I was totally out of whack as to where to go next. I remember the puzzles, I know the locations and enemies but many I times I forgot a certain item I needed, I would be like "crap I need that" *run to item box*. So maybe its a bit much but I still think it works cause the game is always having you thinking about your items and inventory, it really pushes the adventure elements of the game while keeping the action at a great level, which is why I say its like RE1 mixed with RE2.

Last time I left off at the start of the Artic base. Another sweet location, hell all the areas in this game kick ass. Right away you see a new enemy, the moths, love the way the room is covered in webbing. The laying eggs attack is damn cool. I forget how dark this game, its cause this game uses lighting, unlike the other games cause of the static backgrounds, its well done, the whole base in the dark is creepy.

D.I.J.!!!! Love him, we need more of him. I remember the first time in that room when I heard the locker pounding, wondering what the hell is in it. Oh and the intro to Nosferatu, holy crap is that freaky, is moaning is chilling. I got pissed at the end of this section cause I forgot that when you pick up the sniper rifle it takes you to the boss fight, no chance to drop off items in your item box for Chris, luckly I didn't have all the weapons on me so it wasn't that bad (the game needed a better warning for that, thats something that can screw up a game nasty). Nosferatu fight is sweet as hell, a sniper rifle in a RE game, so well done, unlike any boss in the series up until that point. So they kill the monster, escape in the tractor and a freaking giant ass tentacle grabs them. I always wondered where Alexia keeps these tentacles.

Switch to Chris and how does he start off, by climbing a freaking mountain, what a beast. In no time Rodrigo is eaten by the Gulp Worm and you are in a boss fight, sweet. Finally got the trusty shotgun (so wierd going for so long without one). In this game though enemies limbs dont come off, not even heads, I forgot about that, sucks.

One of my favorite parts of this game is Wesker being in control of Hunters. I loved the fact that you got to see a finished, operational Tyrant in RE2. In RE1 you are told all these monsters are to be used as weapons but in RE1 they are just loose and act like wild animals. In this game you finally get to see the hunters being used as weapons and what a great job they did with it. I love the scout camera, almost MGS like as you have to avoid it or one of the bastards come and try to kill you. Hunters have always been my favorite standard enemy and its one of the reasons why I like this game so much. Oh and I forgot about the poison Hunters, badass.

The whole Chris aspect of this game was handled really well. Its not like RE2 where you still go through most of the map as if the first character wasn't there. Everything Claire did in the beginning shows up in Chris' game. A medal Claire used is now falling a whole created by the explosion. The medals she placed are still where she put them. The game plays with that knowledge that you did go through these areas but this time you have to traverse it differently. It also worked the other way around, when playing as Claire you saw stuff you couldn't reach or couldn't access but as Chris you have access. A great way to do the character switch.

Chris meets Wesker for the first time since he died, awesome scene. Albanoid boss, again another interesting one, this game has such great boss fights. Chris escapes in a fighter jet, you know they need a flying BOW vs fighter jet boss fight, how cool would that be. In antartica, like the first area you see the effects of what Claire did show through. In this case its the water that gets frozen allowing you to go to a new area. Tell me the giant spider under the ice did not freak you out a bit when you first played it.

If there is one moment of this game that really made me go nuts was when I saw that they recreated a piece of the mansion. I love this part of the game, the RE mansion is iconic to me and back in 2000 I was already dreaming of a remake. The best part of this games recreation of the few rooms in the mansion was that it was the original RE mansion. REmake kind of turned it into something else. This was a perfect replica of the mansion I grew up loving and it always stands out every time I play.

The last hour or so of this game pulls out all the stops. You get the Claire meeting with Steve scene which if you think of it is really ballsy of them to do. How often does a love story like that end with one person turning into a giant green monster that tries to kill you. Best part of Steve's whole story is his transformation and death, it was like the devs knew we hated the character so they were going to kill him in the best way possible. The actual running away from Steve is a bitch, are you supposed to shoot him, cause I just try to run and always need to use a ton of health.

Right after that you get the Alexia fight, first time she grabbed me and burned me alive. Then the end game music starts up, you have to find Claire, activate the self destruct and get the hell out of there. I love the final boss of this game, its a great monster design but mostly I like the new twist at the end. Her first form is pretty easy but its when you get that laser gun thing that it gets really fun. The music of the fight is fantastic, the cutscene right after is fantastic, what a final battle.

Then in CVX (I have no idea how I could have enjoyed the short version in the original) you get the best cutscene in RE history, the competition is not even close. Wesker vs. Chris all out battle to the death (or convenient explosion). Chris tries to fight back but gets beat down, great trick with the beams, but oh snap Wesker got up, at this point its like a Rocky fight with both fighters all messed up. But an explosion ruins the party, you see Wesker holding his face, you know what is underneath is not human, but never get a good look. What an ending, I can't believe its taken this long to get back to that storyline, the Wesker/Chris one. Instead they go in the past for a while then RE4 main story has little to do with anything, so its been like we have been waiting for the conclusion of what started in CV for nearly 10 years now.

So CV in the books. I feel it has one of the best stories in the series. It got the essence or what I feel is the essence of RE down. RE is not exactly this scary, dark slow game. No, RE is about crazy mutated monsters, psycho scientists, heroes with all sorts of bad ass weaponry. Its fun, its got blood and gore, its got explosions, its a series filled with "OMG did you see that" moments. CV does all that, CV is like the ultimate freak show and that is what I love about this series.

Resident Evil Remake:

This is the game where things got weird for me. It was always a dream to see RE1 remade, I thought it wouldn't happen, little did I know it happend far sooner than I expected it would. After the high that was CV news came out that the RE series was going exclusive... to Nintendo. That was one crazy annoucement but to ease the shock we got screens of REmake and it was almost surreal. REmake looked so good, better than any game at the time to me. So I got myself a GC cause where RE goes I go. But this was a bit different cause it was two RE game but neither was advancing the story forward, both took place back in time so even though they were new games it never had that same feeling of being the actual next RE game.

So REmake came out, I was very excited. I played it and enjoyed it a lot but I dont think I ever loved it. I played it a few times and put it down, hardly went into the bonuses or extra modes. I figured I was more excited for Zero since it was a brand new game, but we all know how that turned out. The GC exclusives were letdowns to me, it was the beginning of the end of the formula I loved for so long. After Zero I didn't know if I wanted another RE game just like that, it was time for a change. That feeling of detachment from the series started with this game.

Now that I am replaying it will I find that I was wrong, will playing all these games back to back show me the light, or will it confirm why I feel like I do. Well I just got to the guardhouse and while I do think this game is amazing from an objective stand point, I have often said it maybe the most well made old school RE game, I am not enjoying myself like I did the other games. I am not hating it, I am just not feeling it, its the same feeling I have every time I play it. I should be loving this game, its the mansion remade, my favorite location of the whole series better than ever. Hell this game does almost everything RE1 did and did it better so why don't I like it as much as the original.

Well I think I can see why now, from the start you can tell your character is slower than the past few RE games. I am playing as Chris on normal mode, he is more stiff than RECV, slower. Then I reach the zombies, all of a sudden in this game they are actually dangerous, you can still get around them but its not as easy cause you are slower and they take up more space. Then there is the weird decision to punish you if you kill a zombie, by turning them into a crimson head unless you get a bottle of gas to them in time. I love Crimson Heads, awesome new enemy, I hate the way they use them in the game. Why are you making me do more fetch quests, why are you punishing me for clearing a path. There is so little ammo and why waste it if I just make the zombies stronger. So I just run, run from everything, run that way, run this way, run around that guy, run run run run.

And thats when it hit me that everything in this game is done to slow the game down. I get it, they wanted to make it scarier, they wanted to make it more "survival horror", but they stripped away the fun. I know the original was not as action oriented as the other RE games but it never felt like combat was an afterthought, it welcomed it. Plus the original had the b-movie vibe going for it, the awesome dumb lines, and the mansion felt alive, it was colorful and unique. In REmake everything looks the same, if dark was a color it would be what this game was covered it. Yes I know it makes it more atmospheric, even more realistic, but it lost something there for me, the mansion at least I really like what they did with the other section.

I know its like I hate this game I am just trying to describe why it doesn't do it for me like the others did. There is so much good to talk about so lets do that now. The intro, fantastic, well done, doesn't top the live action but its really good. The added areas are very well implimented, hell the whole design of the game is phenominal. They took a game that many people remembered by heart and made it so different that it felt like a new game but at the same time it felt familiar, if that makes any sense. Its exactly what a remake of any game should do. That is why I respect this game so much. Plus it plays on expectations like the dogs not jumping through the windows or a zombie in the tub. But when you want something to be the same it is, maybe with a new addition. You expect the knight room to be there, and its there with a better puzzle. You expect the plant with chemical puzzle and its there. You know the emblem piano puzzle but its got a few tweaks to make it longer.

Then there are the totally new areas and enemies. Like the outside area next to the 2nd floor dining room. Dog whistle puzzle, which takes you to that new hall with the mirrors and the first crimson head. The new goal of getting four masks rather than crests and fighting a crimson head in a caged area (what a setup!) Oh and the defense items, excellent new addition that was never used again.

Even though things have a lack of color its still great to see the mansion redone with those incredible graphics. The lighting in some of those rooms is almost real. Seeing enemies remade was the biggest joy for me, like take Yawn, WOW, best looking snake ever.

Now I am going to my favorite part of REmake which is the new and improved guardhouse, everything in this section is pure brilliance. I am just happy to be out of that mansion, from this point on things pick up a bit. Again i dont hate this game, I can totally understand why some say this is the best RE game, its so well done.