Resident Evil: Good

I recently started playing Resident Evil 4.

I didn’t really play video games that much growing up. I never owned an Atari or Nintendo, so my opportunities for playing were always limited to friends’ systems. And since I wasn’t practiced at the games, the kids who had the games mastered them before I even had a chance to play. I played a bit of Spyhunter as a kid. Some Mortal Kombat in college. Some Fifa Gold on Sega Genesis. Some Goldeneye at a friend’s house.

It seemed like an appropriate time to start playing a game. Lots of folks around here spend time (both recreational and professional time) on games. I figured I would learn a bunch of stuff related to my work but not too related to my work. Which makes gaming pretty much the perfect procrastination.

I am loving Resident Evil 4. I had no idea that graphics had progressed so much. Also, this game is very playable, meaning that controlling Leon (my character) is very intuitive.

So, Resident Evil 4 is very good. One of things that makes it good is that the game forgives mistakes. Certainly, some mistakes result in being beheaded or other types of gruesome demise. But I can retry without having to go very far back in the game. Also, there are no penalties for failing certain tasks, such as a number of logic puzzles in the flow of the game. The game simply won’t proceed until I figure them out.

The game’s forgiving nature makes it hard to stop playing. Even when I fail, I can instantly try again, with an improved perspective on how succeed the next time. That’s a pretty useful balance. The possibility of succeeding has to be in sight. The game can’t seem impossible.