Initial Thoughts - Resident Evil Village DEMO (Playstation 4)

Earlier this week I finally got the Resident Evil Village DEMO downloaded to my PS4. My internet connections speeds in my game room aren't the best so it took a good chunk of the day to download the 9 GB file. Once it was finally done I eagerly launched the game.

I didn't notice at first that the demo gave you two different options. You could explore the Village or you could jump right into the Castle area. I started with the Village since it seemed more "appropriate" to begin at the beginning. For the most part I had steered clear of watching any videos on YouTube or reading other's reactions to the demo. I knew that the story takes place a few years after part 7 and you again take control of the hero, Ethan Winters. It's been a few years since I played through the 7th chapter of the Resident Evil franchise, but the similarities to the previous game in terms of game play existed. I also felt like I was playing part 4 at times, what with the breakable boxes and the return of money and a merchant. I loved the 4th game in the series so I was OK with these additions.

The graphics are top notch, and I don't even have a PS4 Pro. The village was very eerie looking, even under a blanket of fresh snow. The buildings old, some falling apart, but what made the village so creepy was knowing something was going on and just not having all the info. No longer was I fighting villagers like in part 4, but now werewolves? The demo gave you just enough of a taste without spoiling too much as I believe I only had two encounters where I had to fight. The gunplay was more of the same, which I was OK with, but the enemies seemed a lot tougher than before. I can already tell the challenge will be there, even on normal or easy difficulty.

The demo only allows you to play for one hour, then it's essentially useless. It took me about 38 minutes to complete the Village part of the demo so when I was ready to enter the castle, I didn't have as much time to play and to explore. I was amazed at how eerily gothic and beautiful the castle was. The level of detail is simply amazing. Just going through a few rooms on the first and second floor I can already tell there will be a lot of backtracking and puzzle solving, let along running from the Lady Dimitrescu. From what I know, she will stalk you like the Tyrant from RE2 (which I recently just completed on the PS4)...I'm still unsure of what to think of this aspect.

The demo was just enough to wet my appetite and leave me wanting more. I'm sure plenty of people that played the game and enjoyed it quickly preordered the game afterwards (if they didn't already have a copy secured), but I'm going to wait. I'm not the biggest fan of the Resident Evil franchise, but RE4 & RE7 left me wanting more so I decided to go back and check out some of the PS4 remakes of earlier games. I recently played through RE2 three times to secure the best ending. I picked up RE3 to try next, though I still want to get Origins. I figure there is enough previous RE content to keep me busy for awhile.

Resident Evil Village launches in the US today, 05/07/21 so I'm not sure if the demo will remain available for download, but if you're like me and just curious it's worth a play through if nothing else. I'm sure the game is worth full retail and I'm sure I'd play the game through on multiple occasions, but this is one new release that I'll be waiting for the inevitable price drop / Greatest Hits.

Final Thoughts - Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

I'm not a fan of double dipping and buying the same game more than once. Even though me and my family loved Super Mario 3D World on the Nintendo Wii U, I had planned on skipping the Switch release initially. Then I saw the trailer for Bowser's Fury and I knew I needed this game in my life.

I had planned to do a "Initial Thoughts" type post once I had a little bit of the game underneath my belt, but I was having so much fun that it was hard to put down the controller to write a post. Yes, the game is that good.

Bowser's Fury is the first open world type Mario game. I've heard other gamers speculate that this may have been Nintendo testing the water to see how an open world exploration Mario game would perform and if this was the direction the Mario franchise would go. Now that I've beaten Bowser's Fury I can only hope Nintendo has more Mario games in this vein in our future.

This add on game is short. I'm still working on completing the game 100%, but had I not been so obsessed in finding and collecting all 100 Cat Shines in the game I could have probably finished the game in 5-6 hours. Don't let this figure however deter you from the game as the gameplay is so good.

Mario is approached by Bowser Jr. and asked for his help to essentially calm down his dad. Bowser has someone become so enraged that his size has increased and he's covered in some sort of black goop. The game can be played with a second player controlling Bowser Jr., otherwise the computer will take care of controlling him for you if you're playing solo. There is a setting of how much you want Bowser Jr. to help - you can have him collect coins and fight nearby enemies, or you can have him mind his own business. Bowser Jr. floats around in his hover clown vehicle, wielding a paint brush. Throughout the game there are hidden areas that you can command Jr. to paint. Painting these areas will yield some soft of power up for Mario.

The main world in the game comprised of different islands, each with their own lighthouse. Initially you are somewhat limited in your exploration of these islands by the same black goo that covers Bowser. Each island has 5 hidden Cat Shines to collect. As you collect these they'll add more and more light to the lighthouse, eventually clearing some of the surrounding black goop. You can however tackle most of the islands in any order that you wish.

While playing the game I couldn't help but think of previous Mario games like Mario 64, Sunshine Mario. You don't have Cappy from Mario Odyssey or even FLUDD from Mario Sunshine, but Bowser Jr. can surprisingly be helpful. I initially started my playthorugh on my own, but eventually turned Jr. over to my daughter to control. She seemed to love playing along and she ended up being a huge help in some of the later levels.

As you navigate this new watery world, Bowser will rear his ugly head from time to time and wreck havoc. The sky will turn dark, the music changes, rain starts to fall and the wind picks up. From the center of the map Bowser will spin up into the air and out of his shell. Large blocks will appear from the ground, some of which you can you to reach new coin blocks or just higher ground. Bowser will rain fire balls from the sky and even unleash his fiery breath at you from time to time. Be prepared to dodge his fire any way you can as it can easily cause you damage.

To aid you in your quest to defeat Bowser you can collect and store several different power ups to use at your will. This reminded me of the inventory management first shown in Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES.

The object of the game is to grab a Giga Cat Bell to fight Bowser, but before you can do that you have to collect pre-determined amount of Cat Shines. Once you have enough and Bowser appears, the bell will activate. This Giga Cat Bell will turn Mario in a large "Leo Mario" (that's what I call him), allowing you to go toe to toe against the titan Bowser. You'll essentially need to fight Bowser three times before he's done for good. You can aid yourself in these fights be grabbing a Cat Shine and activating one of the island's lighthouses. This light will prematurely end Bowser's attack sequence and run him off, taking a small sliver of his health in the process. Towards the end I was able to whittle away all of his health bar so by the time I grabbed the final Giga Cat Bell all I needed to was to land one single hit on Bowser to defeat him.

The game is so seamless and not having to worry about loading screens is so refreshing. I haven't enjoyed a Mario game this much in some time. Mario Odyssey was a blast, but Bowser's Fury was a nice change of pace. To be honest I was surprised at just how good this game was since it's essentially an add-on. I know a lot of fans may not have experienced Super Mario 3D World before on the Wii U so it's a no brainer for Nintendo to port the game over to the Switch. I'm sure they were hoping by including Bowser's Fury that it would entice people like myself to buy the game for a second time. Well, I'm proof that it worked! Both games in this package are excellent and well worth the $60 asking price. I hope the game sells well because I'd love to see a full length, open world exploration type Mario game in the near future.