SuperHarman’s March Journal

A note on my rating system. If something is bad, I feel there’s not much room to move there so I came up with a simple 5 star rating system where there only “bad” rating is 1 star. Here are how you should take any rating below:

= Bad, * = Okay, *** = Good, **** = Great, ***** = Exceptional

A tale of two Resident Evils: Requiem and Death Island

My main takeaway from consuming two different Resident Evil things in two different mediums during March was that despite the continued success of the franchise, it seems to be one that is continually at war with itself, a tight rope that remains so delicate to walk.

It’s funny to think that up until the release of Resident Evil Village, I hadn’t actually played a game in the series, in fact, the only Resident Evil thing I had taken in was the first film. When I played Village though, it was like an ah-ha moment, it made sense I would love these games, I love adventure games after all, circumstances just had it that prior to that, I just didn’t get that moment. Of course, I don’t do things by halves and after finishing Village I spent the next couple of months both playing through all the games (admittedly, only the remakes of the early games) and watching all the films…yes, even the CG ones.

I’d had Death Island queued up to watch for a while now but was never in the mood, finishing Requiem though put me in that mood and it turned out to be perfect timing because in the film, I saw so many of the franchises flaws, basically everything people generally hate about RE6, there was really no attempt in that film to be horror. The culmination of the film being the Resident Evil Avengers pulling giant weapons seemingly out of nowhere to fight a giant monster played more hilarious than anything else. In a way, this film is a true sequel to Resident Evil 6.

Also a bit of a sequel to Resident Evil 6 but walking that line a bit better is Resident Evil Requiem, at least the second half of it as it is a game that definitely wants to have it all as both a survival horror game and an action game, it works for the most part. The first half of the game is truly great with tense moments as Grace intertwined with moments of relief as Leon. Unfortunately for me, that hits a bit of a snag when we enter the 2nd half of the game and Leon becomes the main character for the majority of what you have left. It’s still great as a game in that it feels great to play and it does remain tense with some particular set piece highlights. Once I finished it though, there was something that was scratching at me a little and it took watching Death Island to clarify, it just all felt a bit samey and bland.

Yes, Village was the first game in the series I played, the second though was Bio-hazard (VII) and that game remains my favourite in the series, hell I rank it as one of my favourite games of all time. I found the spaces in that game just so incredible to work through. While watching Death Island which takes place on Alcatraz, beyond the fact the movie was pretty bad, I kept thinking, hey this is a cool setting for a Resident Evil story and it was there I had my ah-ha moment, the environments in Requiem were all just safe rehashes, the second half in particular largely being a play on nostalgia. The first (non-tutorial) area is a mansion…yeah I know it’s a medical facility, but lets be real, it’s a mansion, you move to the Raccoon City ruins and then end up in an underground lab. This is all fun to work through but it just never left any sort of lasting impression on me and it kind of bums me out that we could be waiting 5 years for a new entry to do something different.

As I said at the start, this is a franchise that despite success does seem to be at war with itself. It’s great that they’ve nailed the gameplay in the games but I really want to see more creativity from the spaces I’m working through. As for the films, well, we’ve got another live action one coming that I’m hoping will break through and be more than just okay (I enjoyed about 2 of the other live action ones) but if there is another CG one, I don’t have a lot of hope there. Looking forward to that rumored Code Veronica remake though because lets face it, I’ve become a total sucker for this franchise despite my hold ups.

Resident Evil Reqiuem: ***

Resident Evil Death Island: *

Other Games Finished:

Discolored: Browsing a store one night I came across a new release call Discolored 2 which looked cool, so I grabbed the first game to see what it was all about. A very short first person puzzle game where you’re in a single roadside diner location and bringing back colour to it by solving puzzles. It’s very short, I finished it in a night but still enjoyed it and it hints to a larger conspiracy that I’m sure will be where the second game picks up. ****

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened: I got this real cheap in a sale and once I started playing I found it such a blast of pulpy fun that I just couldn’t stop myself from playing it. I’ve always been meaning to get into one of these Frogwares games and the shorter length made this a good place to jump in. While the seams do occasionally show and if you’re willing to overlook some of those jankier elements, there is a lot of adventure game fun to be had here, like I said, pulpy fun. ***

Pokemon Legends Z-A: I was probably less than halfway through this game when Pokopia came out and one night when I was about to look at something else, my partner asked when I was going to star Pokopia. I immediately stopped what I was doing and when back to Z-A which I wanted to finish before moving on to another game in the franchise and you know what, I’m glad I did because I thought this game was a genuine blast. I’m not some big franchise fan, I played Red and Gold but never anything beyond that until the games started to come out on the Switch. While the general loop of the game certainly starts to wear thin towards the end and I felt like when the game actually had dungeons, they were a breath of fresh air, overall, building my team and even working through the side quests always felt really chill and fun. They’ve got something pretty good going with these Legends games, I’m hoping to see something just as different as this was form Arceus in the next one. ****

Pointing and Clicking – March

Point and Click count for 2026 is now 9, aim is 26 but we’ll probably go beyond that.

Shadows of the Afterland: A fun journey, while the idea of a conspiratorial bureaucratic afterlife is certainly nothing new, particularly in Adventure games, I though that the hook here was good enough for me to work through and it and the adventure game elements gelled well. I did find the ending a bit cringe and flat, but it was a game that looked great and a world filled with fun characters, that goes a long way to making you’re adventure game great. ***

Beneath a Steel Sky: I decided to dig back into a classic this month which has its ups and downs, ups, I play a cool game I’ve always wanted to, downs, I remember all the old problems Adventure games used to have. The fact I had to largely guide a lot of this game should say a lot about its issues and yet I found the world and characters fun though the tone didn’t really strike a good balance trying to fall somewhere between Brazil and Blade Runner yet crashing somewhere far away from both. It left quite the impression overall though and I’m looking forward to digging into the sequel soon. ***

Neon Hearts City: I know Cosmic Void release a lot of smaller games in the genre that seem to focus on telling more concise stories while keeping the puzzle elements lighter. It made sense to play this after Beneath a Steel Sky given the cross over thematically and for the most part I enjoyed what was here. I feel like the story aims a bit higher but doesn’t quite reach it and the slight nature of the length certainly leaves some ambiguity and don’t get me wrong, I love ambiguity, but here I just don’t think it had the impact I would have liked it to. ***

Other Media:

Going to be a bit more concise with my other media sections with only one or two line reviews for everything and keep it all to the one section.

The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan & The Three Musketeers: Milady (Films – 2023): Having read the novel a few years back, I was pretty jazzed for a big budget French adaptation of the work and while the first film shows a lot of promise, I thought the second film was a total mess, pretty disappointing all up. D’Artagnan: ***, Milady: *

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (Film): The only reason I knew about this film was because a conversation on Giant Bomb a few years back led me to the Update Day video on YouTube and thanks to that, I’ve found one off my favourite comedy films of all time. *****

The Bride (Film): I tried, I really did. I love Frankenstein, the novel and various film adaptations and I think there is a lot of room for plays on the work like this but this is all just a mess. There are some great sequences in here but in stitching it all together, this monster falls apart. *

Pokemon Detective Pikachu (Film): After finishing Z-A, I gave this another watch as it felt thematically appropriate and I remembered enjoying it when I first saw it. Unfortunately, didn’t hold up for me, the Ryan Reynolds shtick is getting old and while I really like how it all looks and didn’t think it was bad by any means, it’s just pretty weak when all brought together. **

The Man in the Iron Mask (Film – 1939): I got a James Whale box set for my birthday (I told you I was a Frankenstein fan!) and given I was watching some other Dumas adaptations this month, decided to give this a spin. While it certainly doesn’t have the craft of some of Whale’s other films, this is a really fun swashbuckling adventure. When I first put it on I was concerned I was going to fall asleep but it kept me engaged for the entire run time. ***

Quick note: There were some anime seasons that finished that I’m not going to talk about because they’re not really done in any way I feel like I can rate.

Genosia (Series): About halfway through the episodes of Genosia, I found out it was based on a video game so that was funny. It makes sense based on the structure too but this one had a lot of issues along with 5 or 6 endings, it was all a little bland for me. **

To Your Eternity Season 3 (Series): There was a quieter episode in the middle of this season that reminded why I actually got into this show in the first place. That seemed like a bad and frustrating sign but gave me clarity on why this one has fallen so far for me. It’s a shame but I liked the tease of what’s to come so if they do a season four, I’ll still watch. **

Kaya-Chan Isn’t Scary (Series): All the other anime I watched for the Winter season was a continuation so I felt like I needed something new and I really nailed it with this one. A simple story about a girl who can see and punch ghosts quickly unravels into something greater. My only knock against this one is the portrayal of Mob Osamu who, even after we’re given a tragic back story for, is still played off like a creep for the most part. It’s a blemish for sure but I was able to let it slide, some may not. *****

The Last Continent (Discworld Book 22) by Terry Pratchett (Novel): There was something here but it just crashed towards the end and I lost most of what I was holding onto when it came to interest. I’m finding the Rincewind books to be largely a struggle which is a bit unfortunate. **

Mantle by Romy Ash (Novel): Quick note on this one, I read a pre-release copy as I work for the publisher that’s putting it out so take that as you will. A focused an literary take on the Mushroom apocalypse you’d see in something like The Last of Us, just without guns. Its an introspective piece about how we exist in the world and how we adapt to isolation and changes and just keep living. ****

April Plans:

On the games front, April is a bit of a nightmare, I’m playing Pokopia, getting close to finishing Planet of Lana II and have started both Super Meat Boy 3D and Silent Hill 3. As for stuff that’s coming, Pragmata, Replaced and Saros are priorities and I’ll check out Aphelion. I’ll wait for reviews on Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss and Tides of Tomorrow.