All my impressions for RE5 Lost in Nightmares are spoiler filled. My sum up is this, overall it was a great nostalgic trip with a few brilliant moments. But it was like a big tease. An awesome, full of fan service tease. I can't wait to go back and try it again on harder difficulty levels and play with the old style camera angles. It is worth $5 for sure, if just to see the locations they created, really great stuff.

Now the wait for Desperate Escape begins, I have a feeling I will like that one more. I really really feel like shooting things after that slow level.

Detailed impressions below:

SPOILER SPOILERS SPOILERS

I went through the first door and the camera simulated the door opening load screen, I had a smile so huge at that point. Looking for items that unlock pieces of the mansion brings back that exploration aspect the old RE games had. I loved the moment in the dog hallway, I didn't expect anything, I was surprised when a bat came through, loved that touch. The mansion part was great, it was definitely missing enemies though, it's not RE without enemies, without weapon management. So it was more of a setting type of gift than gameplay. There was one puzzle that actually made me thing for a second, the fireplace paper thing, very nice, it should have had more like it.

The second part started to ramp up, the prison area was creepy. You see the keepers moving in the distance, everything about how they setup that areas was in perfect classic RE form. Future RE games need to learn from this, this kind of setup, this kind of build up for enemies, don't be afraid of slowing things down. RE4 did this a few times and it was some of the most memorable parts of the game. Once the keeper came out to fight the magic was kind of lost. As I knew it is nothing but a new skin on the executioner, oh and it has acid blood, no big deal. It has a new weak spot on the back. They seemed to have areas where you can kind of run in circles so battling it was nothing more than running to side and shooting it. They didn't really pose much of a threat. This area more interesting because of the build up of fighting the keepers than the actual fighting.

Which brings me to the final part which was BRILLIANT. Now this is what I wanted. Here was a segment that was not afraid to do something completely different. It created a setpiece that was unlike anything in RE5, RE4 and even old RE games. When I landed in that dungeon area with no weapons I felt so disoriented, so naked and vulnerable that I actually felt fear. I felt fear in RE game, I haven't felt that in years. One a zombie popped out of the water to grab me I was actually startled. I could hear the sound of the keepers, I don't see them. I don't know what is going on, I see all these shapes with holes and I don't know what they mean. It brought all those feelings of being lost, of desperation cause I don't know when the next enemy will show up and kill me. I finally found my way to a crank and quickly figured out what must be done. I loved this segment, very unique.

Then came the final battle, kind of sucks that it went right into a cutscene where nothing was said and then the fight was on. What is the first thing you see when the fight starts, the flash of lightning and Wesker's silhouette going dark except for his glasses which shine bright MY GOD that was so awesome. Wesker beat my ass the first two times, the QTE prompts were insane, I couldn't press them in time. The way he attacked looked great, when he knocks you across the room you feel that power he has. In the end he is a pattern boss, and a rather simple one, even more so than the RE5 battles. It was different which is important, in RE5 it was more about hiding where in this episode it was about matching reflexes with reflexes. It ended with no new scene which sucked.

Overall it was a great glimpse into what could be the future of the series but it never really tries that hard, it gives us the minimum. You get the mansion and a few puzzles, but you don't get enemies, you dont get that old RE gameplay feel. Also the mansion was rather linear, only one pathway opened at a time, it gave you the illusion of a mansion but it was a controlled series of unlocked areas to guide you through one set path. It gave you the atmosphere of an old RE game, it actually attempted to scare the player but it didn't give us new enemies or try to create a scenario where ammo management was an issue. It had one gameplay segement where I can truly say the devs gave us something new but even there it kind of got repetitive, maybe a different enemy or two would have helped there. It gives you tiny pieces of new story but doesn't go deep into it. Chris and Jill talk a few times but it leaves you wanting more, in MGS4 Snake and Otacon wouldn't shut up during the Shadow Moses area, thats how I wanted it, acknowledge the past. And when you find Wesker say something!

edgecrusher said:

Crysis Boomblox!!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLoe-_E4q8Q&feature=related

Except the physics aren't as good

What's up with the phantom wood in the second explosion? Like someone pulling at it with a string. Seriously though, looks really cool, especially all the tumbling shacks.

Dvader said:

All my impressions for RE5 Lost in Nightmares are spoiler filled. My sum up is this, overall it was a great nostalgic trip with a few brilliant moments. But it was like a big tease. An awesome, full of fan service tease. I can't wait to go back and try it again on harder difficulty levels and play with the old style camera angles. It is worth $5 for sure, if just to see the locations they created, really great stuff.

I read all that, thanks for the write up. For $5 you cannot complain really. It sounds kinda fun, but QTE needs to die a horrible death. It's only remotely acceptable when you use motion for it like in Disaster DOC.

WOW

Ubisoft has responded to PC Gamer's report that Assassin's Creed II PC requires a constant internet connection to be played.

Explaining how the system works on the event of a disconnection occurs, the publisher told Ars Technica: "As long as you do not quit the game, the game will continue to try to reconnect for an unlimited time. Once the game is able to reconnect, you will immediately be returned to your game.

"Where exactly you are reconnected in the game may differ from title to title." It went on to say, explaining that Settlers 7 slaps you right back where you left off while Assassin's Creed 2 puts you back to the most recent checkpoint - not the last autosave.

It also said that this only occurs when the disconnection is of a notable length. Momentary disconnections that only last for a second or two will simply cause the game to pause and then resume play as normal. "Our online services platform will require a maximum of 50kbps of available bandwidth, so even with the slowest connection, gameplay won't be affected," it added.

Does that make it sound any better for you?

gamingeek said:

WOW

Ubisoft has responded to PC Gamer's report that Assassin's Creed II PC requires a constant internet connection to be played.

Explaining how the system works on the event of a disconnection occurs, the publisher told Ars Technica: "As long as you do not quit the game, the game will continue to try to reconnect for an unlimited time. Once the game is able to reconnect, you will immediately be returned to your game.

"Where exactly you are reconnected in the game may differ from title to title." It went on to say, explaining that Settlers 7 slaps you right back where you left off while Assassin's Creed 2 puts you back to the most recent checkpoint - not the last autosave.

It also said that this only occurs when the disconnection is of a notable length. Momentary disconnections that only last for a second or two will simply cause the game to pause and then resume play as normal. "Our online services platform will require a maximum of 50kbps of available bandwidth, so even with the slowest connection, gameplay won't be affected," it added.

Does that make it sound any better for you?

So you end up stuck in game but unable to play it!?

SteelAttack said:

Yeah, that Ubi DRM move is beyond lame. As usual, the pirates (y'arrr) always get the superior product. All content, no DRM shit, and free.

Sometimes my net connection is spotty, I dont want the game pausing every 5 minutes because of that.

And the freaking ISP bills you if you go over any limit. So if its always on thanks to Ubisoft games are you going to get higher bills?