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Digital Playground

Noob’s History with Resident Evil

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Introduction

We got a late start on Spooktober this year. I already explained that I think I contracted Covid a couple of weeks ago. Then, I helped with Lip Sync, the parade, and the dance for homecoming at school. So, earlier this week I finally updated with an article about my history with the Silent Hill franchise. Now, I present Noob’s history with Resident Evil.

Unlike Silent Hill, I have much more experience with Resident Evil. I liked the combination of zombie horror with a good story and puzzles that actually required some thought. My love for zombies goes deep. I watched “Night of the Living Dead” as a youngster of about 11 or 12. My parents finally allowed me to stay up late and that’s how I spent the night. Well, I actually spent much of the night rushing to the back door to see if the zombie attack started.

And, honestly, I never stopped looking

Resident Evil

I fell like even with my zombie obsession, it still took me until the Director’s Cut to play the game. I know I owned a Sony Playstation. I bought it for full price only to see the first price drop a few weeks later. It remains, to this day, the last console I paid full price for. In spite of that, I distinctly remember the cover for the Director’s Cut up above. I probably rented it from the video store or Gamefly, got hooked, and then bought it to finish.

It took until the remake on the Gamecube for me to actually beat it. After doing a quick search to verify that game actually existed, it makes sense that I waited until then to finish the game. According to the Wikipedia article I read, they more than remade the game. They completely redesigned it to make it closer to the original vision of the director of the game. Man, this makes me want to play it again. Is it on Steam?

Resident Evil 0

I include this one next because it rekindled my interest in the games. Nintendo always served as my odd ball console. Mario, Metroid, and Zelda every generation. I never considered that the company might “grow up” in such a drastic way. Well, I played the game and I think it is probably my favorite of the entire series. Well, both this and the remake of the first one are on Steam, but they cost 20 dollars each. Time to hope for a sale coming up soon.

Resident Evil 2 and 3

I played both of these as soon as they released. I think I beat 3 first because I liked the story of that one better than the other two. To this day, I don’t think I beat Resident Evil 2. So, now I need to purchase that one as well. Looks like when Steam runs a Black Friday sale and offers a Resident Evil bundle, I’m buying.

The Verdict

That ends Noob’s history with Resident Evil. I never played any of the games after 3. Okay, that’s not true. It seems to be a pattern with me that with Capcom series, I lose interest after three. What’s funny is that with Valve series, I always hope that they finally figure out how to count to three. In any case, I played Resident Evil 4 and absolutely hated it. My favorite scary game, Fatal Frame comes this weekend.

Digital Playground

Noob’s History With Silent Hill

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Introduction

This year left me scrambling a bit. I kept current through the beginning of the year, but then a bout with (maybe) Covid plus homecoming threw me off my schedule. I finished the comics reviews for this month last week and then hastily crafted a plan for the rest of Spooktober, which may go into the first week of November. Oh well, time is relative. In any case, let’s start this trip with Noob’s history with Silent Hill.

As you know, Chris and I recorded last month. The recording came out less than ideal, but we enjoyed it so much that we planned for the rest of the year. Because I came up with the idea for Spooktober last year and more or less kept the page running for an entire year, I made the suggestion that we talk about horror themes in pop culture this month; video games, books, movies, and TV shows. We meant to record today, but that slipped my mind. Thursday, it is.

What’s the Deal with This Game?

Unlike Resident Evil, which dealt with my favorite horror sub genre of Zombies, or Fatal Frame, which brought my wife and I together as she watched while I played, I discovered Silent hill through other means. Way back in the ancient history of the internet, before social media algorithms threatened the very fabric of reality, you needed to search for things. As a result, many search engines populated the landscape. No Bing, but Google popped up pretty early. My engine of choice was Yahoo! until Google became the behemoth that we all know. There’s something to be said for algorithms.

I go to my grave arguing that Ask Jeeves is the best name and logo for a search engine.

Even with all those search engines, I still learned about gaming news from my favorite gaming page of the time. IGN. Now a meme, at the time, well it was a meme then, too. But, in addition, it was the go to page for entertainment for almost a decade. During one of my visits to the page, I saw an article about Silent Hill. A horror game based more in psychological scares? Sounds like my type of game.

Journey into Silent Hill

I Yahoo’d (doesn’t sound as natural as Googling) the game to get more information. Everything I found only solidified my desire to play the game. I rented it via Gamefly, and fired it up. At the time, I hooked my game systems to my surround sound and this game paid huge dividends. I have a core memory of hearing a sound go from the front speakers to the rear and it scared the daylights out of me.

I also remember my first encounter with Pyramid Head. He is the sword wielding boss of the game with a Pyramid as a head or covering his head. I’m not entirely sure which. Perhaps I should ask Jeeves. Then, just as abruptly, I have no additional memories of the game. I either played it just that once or only one or two more times and then never again.

The Verdict

Noob’s history with Silent Hill is shockingly short. Sometimes that happens. I don’t dislike the game, mind you. I simply never got into the game like I did Resident Evil or Fatal Frame. Sometimes the idea of something is better than the actual thing, if that makes sense. I still keep track of the new games. I consider picking one up every now and again. If that happens, keep an eye on the page for my thoughts.