Topic: Push Square Game Club Spooktacular: Resident Evil 4

@Th3solution I sort of think I may have enjoyed it more if I'd played it when it came out. I think I said before that I played a little bit of the first one back on 360 but found it too unnerving to psyche myself up to play. Not sure how I'd feel if I'd stuck it out.

I think BioShock is kind of on the same level as Gears of War for me. I missed the zeitgeist and while I think they are both OK games, the fact I wasn't really too invested in either on release means that I don't have a huge nostalgia/preference for them. I can see why both series are popular though

I do like the world building of both series too actually. They both have really fascinating back stories and aesthetics to them. I'm just not too fond of the gameplay of either series

In terms of load-outs, I basically just used the fire plasmid, incinerating everything before switching to the rivet gun, machine gun, shotgun, or speargun (depending on which one has the most ammo). Trap weapons were only used sparingly during the Big Daddy/Big Sister fights and harvestings, and I didn't use the grenade launcher much at all since it seemed too good to waste.

I've had a bit of a break from Bioshock 2, but I'm planning on getting started with Minerva's Den today.

This is either a tip or just me being dense and not noticing until I have nearly finished the game. Inside levels there are sometimes jars labelled "fresh water". If you smash these with a melee attack then they contain an ADAM slug!

@crimsontadpoles haha yeah I get that a lot in games in general. I always tend to use lower powered weapons thinking I'll need to save the really powerful ones for a hard bit. Then I end up finishing the game without using the powerful weapon at all. 😅

I've missed most of the discussion revolving around this but I will say I thought the good ending was surprisingly emotional compared to the 1st's rather boring ending slides. The evil ending was ridiclously ott from what I recall as well.

Also I quite liked Sinclair from what I recall of the game and of course the drill was quite fun to use as Delta too 😄

Just rolled credits on Minerva's Den! Nice little fast paced add on to the main game. Worth playing if you have already gone the distance with BioShock 2.

@HallowMoonshadow oh cool, I might have to check out the evil ending on YouTube then. Sinclair was definitely a cool character I think. I didn't actually end up fighting him at all. For some reason whatever I did before I was supposed to fight him, just ended up killing him off screen. I think I opened a back door and set off a security bot or something. Bit of an anti climax to that whole section, not that I was unhappy to take a break from shooting lol. I didn't actually end up using the drill much tbh, I only used it to break that random junk down in the middle of the game and I tried it out on enemies like I did with the other weapons but I ended up just using my main guns and plasmids.

Ha ha it has been a LONG while since I've played it @ralphdibny so apologies if it isn't as interesting as I remember.

I just recall it exemplifying the extremely basic good or evil moral choice system that was all the rage back then that made it either you were worse then the devil or as holy as Jesus 😄

I quite liked the arc of the guy who's daughter was stolen from the surface too. Forgot the name of him though.

@ralphdibny In answer to your first question, I’ve mostly been spamming the electobolt followed up by headshots with the rivet gun. The headshot radius seems to be quite generous and it takes off a lot of health. I’m not very good at first person shooter (in fact I’m pretty poor at them), but I find that I can do decently with the precision-dependent rivet gun. When I’m being swarmed I switch to the machine gun and just spray wildly. I don’t have access to all the plasmids and weapons through - just have up to incinerate.

As far as your comment about the other games and the timing of missing the boat on the popularity and hype of the series, I do think there is something to that. As much as people like to place BioShock into the GOAT discussion, I do think there was a time when the game and its themes were more compelling. I think there is still interesting political undertones to the series, but gaming has become so much more mature in its storytelling in general and so the themes seem less trailblazing in today’s day and age. Definitely the gameplay part of things has evolved too.

I have told the story but my exposure to the first BioShock was through the demo. I had very little interest in it because I don’t care for FPS and didn’t used to like horror styled games. It just didn’t look like my cup o’ tea, but I played the demo and it just blew me over. I was obsessed with thinking about it and couldn’t wait until I could afford it and see what the full game was all about. It was definitely a situation where the demo sold me on the game.

After playing it I really liked it at the time, but BioShock 2’s middling reception turned me off to ever playing it (until now). But I was an early adopter for BS Infinite because it looked like an evolution on the first game and I ended up loving that game so much. Again, not sure if Infinite would hold up to “current me’s” standards, but I think it would. Maybe I’ll replay it one day.

@HallowMoonshadow haha well I'll check it out anyway when I have a spare ten minutes. I am not really sure what the additional moral choices did to my end game. I saved the little sisters which made Eleanor save the little sisters at the end. As far as the other bits where you decide to kill a character or let them live, I let the first one live because Sinclair told me to and then I killed the other two because that Stanley was a crook and Sinclair told me to kill him and the final guy asked me to kill him. Not sure what effect any of those decisions had.

@Th3solution the way different people play it is quite interesting. I completely ignored the rivet gun unless I had no ammo and didn't realise it was a headshot machine. I also ignored the headshot extra damage tonic because of this. I wonder if there is anyone who used the full range of weapons and didn't just settle on a "loadout". I think if one can be bothered to learn it, the bad guys all have different weaknesses like Armor-Piercing, Anti Personnel, Fire, Electricity etc. It becomes more obvious in Minerva's Den when there are more obviously themed bad guys that are introduced.

It's good that there are tonics to buff your playstyle though and at least they are very very easy to understand (in comparison to the map!). The security bot related tonics could either buff the destruction of machines or buff befriending the machines. I chose the latter style.

Yeah it's a weird one, I really liked the style, atmosphere and themes of the game when it came out but like you, I wasn't huge in FPSs (apart from the classics). The map thing/confusing level layout is a real put off for me though, that kind of 3D Metroidvania style. That in combination with it being a horror game meant I was both scared to play it (because I knew I'd have to think a lot to navigate) and scared to experience it because it is a bit scary. It's a double whammy that always put me off playing. It was kind of the same for me when we played REmake a few years ago.

I think I am being a bit harsh tbh, I would say there is an extent to which I enjoyed both games. Much like you said in your earlier comment, it would "click" for me and I'd momentarily gain a deeper understanding at the mechanics at play. That is a good feeling for a game to have.

I've made a start on the Minerva's Den expansion. I'm really enjoying the bigger focus on technology, with the old-timey-wimey computers and such. It's got a good pace as well, quickly giving you the decent weapons along with tougher foes.

There is a special gene tonic that can be equipped in Minerva's Den if you've previously beaten The Protector Trials. It doubles the amount of Adam obtained from gatherings, but it also doubles the amount of time gatherings take, so it's debatable whether it's really a benefit or not. I'm trying things with the tonic. It makes gathering much more of a pain, but I'll be a real strong mutant powerhouse by the end.

Ooh, just stumbled on this thread, little late to start Bioshock 2 but I would be interested to join in for the next game that is going to be chosen.

I'm still playing the Minerva's Den expansion, but now seems like a good point to add some thoughts for the main Bioshock 2 game. Overall it's reasonably good, but I don't think it's quite as good as the first game.

First off, it doesn't quite nail the atmospheric horror like the first game. Part of that is due to the level designs, but some of it is also because of who the playable character is. When you're a big daddy, things are a lot less scary than when you're a somebody who's happened to crash land near Rapture. It was a very cool idea to see things from a big daddy perspective, but it caused it to have more of an action feel instead.

And similarly, there's a decent enough story with some twists, but there's nothing that quite matches up to that Would You Kindly moment from the first game.

I enjoyed my time with Bioshock 2, and it's worth playing for those that liked the original, but I also view it as a fairly forgettable sequel that doesn't do anything majorly new.

@crimsontadpoles It’s a weird one. You feel too powerful because you’re a Big Daddy but then they make you way weaker than the ordinary Big Daddies with a whole load less health.

So Resi 4 for this year’s Halloween Game Club then, seeing as we’ve got a remake coming next year?

@nessisonett I wasn’t expecting the remake this soon! I definitely need to play the original RE4 this year. October would be a great time, about 5-6 months before the remake comes! Of course knowing release dates, I can’t think of a major AAA game that’s actually released on their original release date. A delay is almost inevitable.

I liked bioshock 2 maybe not a 9/10 like the original but an 8/10 from me

And that's me done with Minerva's Den, and Bioshock 2 as a whole. The Minerva's Den expansion was a step up from the main game, as the story was much more interesting in the expansion. Plus I enjoyed the higher focus on the computers that are keeping Rapture running, and the faster pacing kept things fresh.

@ralphdibny @RogerRoger @phil_j @crimsontadpoles @Ralizah @Th3solution @Thrillho @mookysam @LieutenantFatman @LobsterJohnson @Tjuz @Kidfried @Octane @Col_McCafferty @DerMeister @Mr_B021 @Fight_Teza_Fight @R1spam @TraCuz- @Diamond_Dog @LtSarge @IAM1982 @SirWoolsley @TuckNorris85 @HallowMoonshadow @nessisonett

I've added some new people who requested to be added to the existing list and a couple more who contributed last month also. If you want to be added or removed, let us know!

OK so I think everyone is done with Bioshock 2 now? If not, you still have a couple of days or so to finish it off. So here are the next months to vote one.

Sonic Mania
The Last Guardian
Slay the Spire
Star Wars Squadrons
Ghostrunner

Guardians of the Galaxy is part of the new PS Plus Extra and Premium tiers, so that will be added for next month. I will probably do a bit of a refresh of games for next month too. Stray is also on the service in July so that seems a purrrfect fit for Game Club the following month.

If anyone has got any ideas for games, please feel free to suggest some, I do keep a note of them all and will try use them.

The Last Guardian for me. I've put this game off far too long.

I would definitely be interested in giving Slay the Spire or Ghostrunner a try.

@JohnnyShoulder Cheers for keeping this going, if all goes according to plan then I should have my dissertation sent off next Tuesday and I can step back in for the July club. Good shout adding Guardians, it’s a great game and also linear with chapters, meaning it’s perfectly suited to this format!