I like to think that I have a fairly positive attitude towards games, maybe too positive at times. But games are a form of entertainment, and most of the time, we’re addicted to games with a fun element that makes them fun, and that’s what I want to stress. But “most” is the key term to remember here because sometimes a game falls on my plate and I really struggle despite trying to stay positive. Resident Evil Re: Verse is one of those games.
Before getting into what this game is and what its problems are, let me say that one aspect of Resident Evil games (on the controller) that I’ve always hated is the gunplay. It always feels awful, as if the gun weighs 30kg and the protagonist just struggles to keep it at eye level, but in a survival horror game, it’s at least acceptable. It’s this horrific shootout that makes me wonder why we need a Resident Evil multiplayer shooter in the first place, but here we are.
The game sees players competing against other players as a collection of Resident Evil characters from across the series. The main gameplay is just to play as one of six survivors, including Claire and Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy, Ada Wong, and even the masked Umbrella Company soldier known as Hunk , then enter an iconic Resident Evil location (the Raccoon City Police Department or Baker’s House, for example) to fill each other with bullets. The thing is, when you die, you turn into a virus monster until you’re defeated in that role, which is when you respawn as your survivor again. That’s it, there’s a lot more to know.
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It might seem a bit ruthless to say there’s nothing else to add, but there really isn’t much else that defines gameplay. Of course, you can pick up virus containers scattered around the map, so that if you die while holding two, you’ll turn into a more powerful monster like Nemesis or Super Tyrant. Likewise, as a survivor, you can grab green herbs to restore health, dodge rolls to escape damage, and even find special weapons throughout the map that deal massive amounts of damage to enemies. But that’s all. In terms of game modes, there’s nothing to add, as you’re only free to play (or deathmatch as it’s known), and you don’t have significant control over your character’s gear, as this is predetermined by the survivors – even if you can use the game In-currency purchases skills to increase weapon health, damage or reload speed, be it monsters or survivors.
The really frustrating part is that you can’t choose to turn into a monster on death because that happens automatically, which means a lot of your time as a survivor will be spent escaping Jack Baker or some other monster that will kill you, without flinching. Aside from that, the only free mode means no teamwork and you’ll find yourself dying or being attacked frequently because the map is so small that there’s little to no time until someone or something breathes from your neck Time gets your bearings. Oh, did I mention that the only win condition for each game is when the clock runs out? Yes, each game lasts five minutes and that’s it. There’s no match to a specific score to end the game, nothing like that, you just rack up as many points as you can from the kills in five minutes, and bang, game over. It’s like playing air hockey on an arcade, like the game gets fun, the airflow is off and you just stay there and it’s a pain.
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But while I don’t care about a lot of gameplay elements, the game’s real loser is the lack of content. Resident Evil: Verse feels like it’s been in development for years, and still at launch due to numerous delays, we don’t have any game mode choices, just a very accurate character selection, with a dull and uninspired customization kit, There are only a few maps to play with. It’s a bad start for a game designed to keep fans interested.
Still Re:Verse deserves a little credit because the shootout isn’t terrible. It plays nice. I don’t have much to say. It doesn’t come close to the smooth and fluid systems we find in top shooters, your Call of Duty, your Halo, your Counter-Strike, but at the same time, it surpasses shooter systems in single-player horror games. While it’s a shame that the game has a weird, almost loose, cel-shaded art style that doesn’t fit the tone of the Resident Evil series at all, it’s combined with the thumping electric bass soundtrack that plays on the gameplay, which is more Good for some underground nightclubs rather than a multiplayer shooter experience.
Between the shocking barebones product (I managed to get 10 out of 12 trophies in 40 minutes of the game…) and the weird design choices at the top, I don’t see any reason for you Play this game instead of other shooting games currently on the market. Even just looking at the free-to-play scene, there are countless better options than this, and it’s clear why Capcom kicked the game out of the house after such a turbulent development, only to hand it over to Resident Evil Village owners. Re:Verse really isn’t a fun gaming experience.