BoneSnapDeez wrote:Is this the year I beat Kid Icarus finally?
Yes.
I had a couple of people mention F.E.A.R. 2 as something to play, and while I don't know if I would consider the game itself a classic, it's an accurate representation of where the survival horror genre was going in 2009, which is to say it wasn't really horror anymore and was going full tilt into action. While Resident Evil 4 was the tipping point that took us from the old "classic" style to a more action-oriented approach, I don't blame it for the steady slipping away of horror; there's a lot more to it, be it the handing off of major franchises like Silent Hill or the endless delays in releases like Fatal Frame, the continuous drive to action that led us to punching boulders in Resident Evil, the combining of first person view and then greater emphasis on gunplay of F.E.A.R. and so on. Survival horror started strong with its naming in the mid-90s, nearly faded out a decade later, and then has since come back strong thanks to experimentation with aging franchises and an active indie scene that appreciates horror in a variety of styles.
F.E.A.R. 2 still has horror elements, but it mainly consists of jump scares and bloodstains. The best of the original's horror was in the small moments when you wouldn't realize Alma was staring at you through the window, behind a ladder, or behind a door. She doesn't do that in the sequel. Now she's full on naked and standing around, staring at me from far off and telling me which direction to go. Um, thanks.
To add to it, the sequel also has the bizarre level layout of the first, where it feels like endless samey corridors. I'm running around a hospital, I get it, hospitals can be mazelike. But then I hit an elementary school, and who designs a school like this? I feel like it's the same room over and over again. You know what makes me suspicious? An elementary school with six different finance offices on different floors. That's a red flag if ever I saw one.
I'm well into F.E.A.R. 2 at this point, and it's reminding me of how painful evolution can be, not just because of the content of the game but of where it fits into a pantheon of horror games. And first person shooters while we're at it, since this was obviously built with consoles in mind and we were still in the weird shift of getting used to the growing pains.
I intend to beat this and then the expansion, though that won't warrant a separate entry onto anything beyond the Games Beaten list just to say I've done it. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts by the time I'm through, though I have to let it all gel.
