issue 09 / volume 41

The hypocrisy of Shinji Mikami

» ‘The Evil Within’ review

Adam Tatelman
Senior Columnist

decade after leaving

Capcom and the Resident
Evil series, Shinji Mikami
returns to the genre that put
him on the map: survival
horror. Touting his new title
as a return to form for a genre

jump scares, Quick Time
Events, and overblown combat
sequences, Mikami’s The Evil
Within somehow tumbles into
each of those pitfalls. Whether
you're dealing with plodding,
imprecise combat, hoary
hordes of graphical glitches,
or insultingly easy puzzles
(often all at once), you will find
nothing within that will scare
you.

Detective Sebastian
Castellanos becomes trapped
inside the mind of a lunatic.
After that, I can’t couldn't tell
you a damn thing about the
game’s story or characters
because the setting jumps
around like a grasshopper on
bath salts , phasing characters
in and out of existence about
as frequently as it deigns to
insta-kill you with its horrible
hit detection. I get that this
reality is meant to be fluid,
but after a dozen stage shifts

: it becomes apparent that the

developers couldn’ settle on

: any one location and decided
: to go with the Mind World

00000

: designs. All this leads to a mess

: of random juxtaposition where

nothing gels thematically with

: anything else (except the absent

plot, which gels with nothing

: at all). Why not use the shifting

: mental landscape to explore

: : : Seb’s backstory instead of

now oversaturated with scripted : ling; .
: scrawling it on scattered journal

: entries? I'd be more invested in

: his survival if I knew the first

: thing about his personal stakes

: in doing so.

setup so they wouldn't have
to sacrifice any of their level

Are the scares ham-fisted?

No. A heavyweight boxer who

: moonlights as a butcher is

: ham-fisted. The scares are so

: rote and predictable, reliant

: on disgusting visuals and

: derivative of older, better

: titles (Silent Hill, Mikami’s

: Resident Evil 4), that the game
: seems afraid of doing anything
: different than the hordes of

: action horror titles that fumble
: more than they frighten.

The Evil Within ends with

: a ridiculous scripted set-piece

: involving Seb firing a rocket

: launcher at a skyscraper-sized

: amalgam of flesh and bone.

: If that sounds like a horror

: game to you, by all means

: allow Mikami to profit from his
: reputation alone. Otherwise,

: avoid this game at all costs.

arts // 9

 

 

Steven's Man-Cave: Unravelling
the criminal underworld, again

» ‘Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition’ PS4 review

 

Or" of 2012’s most
underrated surprises was
Sleeping Dogs, a game that
looked like a formulaic, open-
world, GTA-esque, third-person
shooter, but turned out to bea
lot more. Two years later, it has
come out again on the next-gen
consoles with slightly updated
graphics and all DLC, simply
called Sleeping Dogs: Definitive
Edition.

of them were hesitant because,
back in 20n, it got cancelled

§: replaying this game, reliving

: the great story, meeting all of

: the memorable characters,

: and roaming around Hong

: Kong looking for the various

: activities and collectables it has

‘74: to offer. With the interactive

 

under the name True Crime due :
: to money problems and delays.
: Just six months passed before

: Square Enix scooped it up and
: created Sleeping Dogs.

In this game, you play

as Wei Shen, a cop who goes
: undercover to try and take

I was really surprised at how : down the leaders of the Triads
many people decided not to play :
this awesome game in 2012. A lot :
: ramps up immensely.

in Hong Kong. As you progress
through the game, the tension

Right off the bat, I loved

: melee combat, the gunplay

: cover system we know and love,
: and the car chases where you're
: actually able to jump from car

: to car, the gameplay is just as

awesome as it was two years ago

: and even easier now on the PS4
: controller.

The only disappointment

: is that they didn’t add enough

: to the new version to justify

: spending another $70 on it. The
: DLC is just tacked on to give the
: illusion of expansion.

So if you missed this game

: back when it first came out, go
: get it and enjoy the gritty neon
: lights of Hong Kong.

Youdiit) Music Video Classics

Michael Jackson - Thriller

 

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

his week’s YouTube Music Video Classic is a Halloween

favourite that modernized the music video. Almost 14
minutes long including credits, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is
the length of a short film and is directed by John Landis, one of
the first movie directors to direct a music video.

In the video, Jackson and a young woman (played by
Ola Ray) are stuck in a forest when he suddenly turns into a
werewolf. Then we find out the two are just watching a movie,
which they walk out of and head home. Vincent Price does
a voiceover about horror movies as zombies rise out of their
graves. Jackson and his date are surrounded by zombies, then
he turns into one and does the famous zombie dance with his
undead dancers.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOngjkJTMaA