Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (PlayStation 4) Second Opinion Review

By Drew Hurley 29.01.2017

Review for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on PlayStation 4

Over the years, Resident Evil has mutated more than the nightmarish amalgamations that have filled the series. Stepping away from its horror roots and becoming a different beast entirely, with stories focusing less on the horror or even the survival elements, and instead relying on the type of action filled with QTEs, thousands of bullets, and boulder punching. Now Capcom is returning to its roots and trying to scare back the audience, if it can, with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Following on from Cubed3's review of the PC edition, now it is time to check out the PlayStation 4 release.

By the time Capcom released Resident Evil 6 much of the fanbase had given up on series. Survival horror had become the domain of indie titles. Then suddenly in 2014, the promise of a terrifying new AAA experience reinvigorated the horror audience as another much-loved franchise was returning to form with Silent Hill being reborn as P.T. This brief glimpse exhibited a game that brought back the true AAA horror experience, filled with chilling and terrifying moments, not to mention original and complex puzzles. P.T. was one of the most exciting and promising gaming projects in recent years, but, sadly, it will never get to released since Konami trashed the project in 2015. The following E3 in 2016, though, saw a new first-person perspective horror title step up to fill that gap.

Screenshot for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on PlayStation 4

While Masachika Kawata - the producer of Resident Evil 7 - has admitted his love of P.T., he insists the similarities between the games are merely coincidental. This is certainly a derivative game, though, taking inspiration from plenty of other works. The premise, for example, takes a page from Silent Hill 2, setting a young man named Ethan on a search for his estranged wife, Mia. Mia left Ethan two videos before she vanished, the first a love letter saying how much she missed Ethan and how she would be home soon, the second showing her shaking and terrified, begging Ethan to stay away. Now, three years later, Ethan has received a photo of Mia with a note, seemingly from her, asking him to "Come get me."

This search leads Ethan to a ramshackle estate in the sticks, the domain of the Bakers, a family that would fit in well alongside the Hewitts from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects. The Bakers don't appreciate Ethan snooping around their home and very quickly Ethan is fighting for his life against them and the other things that lurk in the dark. Like the original Spencer Mansion, the Bakers' estate is massive and filled with plenty of familiar elements. It looks like the same architect designed both places along with Raccoon City's Police Department. There are special themed keys that encourage backtracking to previously visited areas, plenty of puzzle locks, convenient hidden passages, and there is even a shotgun holding statue with a trap requiring another shotgun to take its place.

Screenshot for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on PlayStation 4

These quintessential Resident Evil architectural designs aren't the only aspects that tie this title into the rest in the series. While the game feels very different to anything seen previously, there are still plenty of familiar elements to establish this as part of the universe. There are herbs to recover health, the limited storage capacity, along with storage chests to manage resources. What it doesn't have, however, are zombies. Something of a spoiler, perhaps, but the common enemies in Resident Evil 7 are not the wailing undead corpses of yesteryear. Instead, there are the "Molded." The truth to just what these creatures are is revealed towards the tail-end of the story, but these humanoid enemies offer much more of a threat than shambling corpses. Able to regenerate and mutate, these nightmare-fuel monstrosities are something between the Leech Zombies from Resident Evil 0 and the classic Licker enemy.


 

While this incarnation has done away with the zombie premise, it has incorporated numerous different horror mainstays from around the world instead. The Bakers are, of course, a throwback to the old hillbilly cannibals of numerous stories, and their estate is stuffed with haunted house aspects, sudden noises, and fleeting shadows to keep the tension at its peak. There's plenty of gore and gross-out, John Carpenter body-horror, and the obligatory Japanese classic, the creepy little girl. The game blends these aspects well, giving the estate a number of individual areas that each feel fresh and stand out against what came before. Each of these areas is centred on a different Baker family member to face off against and each is a unique monster, each with their own mutations and disturbing abilities. It's like the Manson family meets the X-Men!

Screenshot for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on PlayStation 4

The gameplay was originally advertised as being the type of horror that required running and hiding, instead of the QTE-driven gun blazing adventure it had become. This is certainly the case at some points, the beginning especially, where fleeing from Jack and Margueriette delivers some quality scares. Having to peak from behind cover and watch them stalk after you, or being spotted and having to sprint through corridors, frantically closing doors behind to slow them down whilst searching for hiding spot, for instance. Later on, though, there is plenty of combat, utilising pistols, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, and more to tear the enemies to pieces. There are - thankfully - no QTEs in sight, though.

Capcom invested hugely in developing a new Resident Evil engine to craft a world that can deliver visuals beautiful and grotesque. The system is setup with hundreds of cameras to be able to quickly produce full 3D scans. The photogrammetric technology is unbelievable, able to produce extremely high-quality assets with little work required now that the effort in creating the technology has been completed. This really is going to be the future of 3D modelling and has lent itself fantastically to the PSVR aspects of the game. Resident Evil 7 was advertised as fully supporting PSVR from launch and this isn't just a gimmick added on hastily, like some of the PlayStation Move tie-ins of the last generation. This is very much the best VR game produced to date. Capcom has delivered a completely immersive experience that really shows off the potential of VR. The scares are effective enough in the regular adventure, but they are terrifying in VR and something everyone should experience.

Screenshot for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on PlayStation 4

Cubed3 Rating

8/10
Rated 8 out of 10

Great - Silver Award

Rated 8 out of 10

Go tell Aunt Rhody she needs to play Resident Evil 7, as it's an absolutely stunning rebirth and return to form for survival horror. This soft reboot has reinvigorated the franchise and brought AAA survival horror back. The future of Resident Evil looks very promising too, since Capcom established that the Bakers have taken plenty of visitors over the years and have filmed them all. These experiences are already set up to be the part of some upcoming DLC and for future instalments this leaves plenty of story threads hanging and questions left to be answered.

Developer

Capcom

Publisher

Capcom

Genre

Horror

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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