Resident Evil: Degeneration

iPod Touch/iPhone

Apple Apps Store

$6.99-Third Person Shooter

The post RE4 shooter approach of Resident Evil games works very well on a multi-touch screen. This game leaves me pleased, but wanting more. That isn't due to any faults in its core game mechanics, its a very stream lined pick up and go version of the bigger console games. The controls work great, its just that the game lacks content. For $6.99 I can imagine being slightly displeased with this game, but I've spent more on horrible sandwhichs in college cafeterias that a $7 download for a good 3-4 hour RE-light game is a solid value. (Sorry bad sandwhich today)

The game is inspired by the animated movie of the same name. It focuses on the adventures of Leon S. Kennedy from RE2, RE4, and the film. Although Claire Redfield is a character in the movie, she appears in the game but is never playable. There honestly isn't much variety to this game other than walk down a hallway, then shoot zombie. These aren't the RE4 infected villagers. There is little to no A.I. No knocking down ladders only to discover the zombies found another way to get up onto the rooftop to overwhelm you. Just straight forward zombies. This shows how much of a clear and important evolution in the RE games was made in RE4.

Point and shooting zombies with the TPS over the shoulder camera of RE4 is not challenging at all. Due to the iPhone's limited hardware power, there are rarely more than 4 zombies on screen. I can't help but think that with a 600Mhz-833Mhz CPU, 100Mhz GPU+, and 256MB RAM that with these zombies being as dumb as they are there could at least be 20-30 of them on screen. I understand that the iPhone's screen is small, and the graphics would take a hit (which the graphics are great, but I'll get into that later) but the game's glaring lack of difficulty stands out as much as a zombie would if the next room you walked into was full of them. If the zombies could at least start running at you when you enter a room, instead of slowly pacing towards you only when you get close enough, then the 3-4 zombies per screen could be more tolerated. Additionally, zombies don't re-appear when you reenter rooms. I know, regenerating enemies is a tired, old, and dated staple of gaming that a lot of gamers are glad is gone. When you clear a room of its zombies, they are gone. So you spend so much time running from X place to Y location, and with some backtracking, its gets lonely and boring to not shoot anything for minutes on end.

The game lacks any real direction to where you should be going. It does enough to tell you where you need to go next, but gives no advice after that. There is no log to check what you're comrades said last, no journal to tell you what your objective was when you get lost navigating between the gray hallways and corridoors of the infected airport where the game takes place. You have a map to check, but often your objective marker will lead you somewhere with no clear goal. No cut scene to prompt you to do a particular thing, you just know you're right on top of what you should be doing even if you have no clue what it is.

The game isn't long. This is no marathon, it is very much a sprint. It is split into chapters, and the chapters will often leave you scratching your head when they end. A few times I was like "really? thats the end of this chapter" when i would play maybe 20 minutes of actual gameplay. Some chapters involve nothing but running, shooting a few zombies, then a cut scene. Also, Hunnigan isn't nearly as helpful. She calls Kennedy to tell you the simplest things, like getting used to the controls but offers little plot advancement and no help solving the problematic navigation of the game world.

The boss battles aren't shining RE boss battles at all. While yes, they do help break up the repetition of this adventure, they also present no real challenge. Much like the rest of the zombies, the bosses go down with little fight. They usually just follow you around a room, allowing you to shoot them as much as you want before running from their attacks. While this is standard RE boss fighting, bosses in RE4/RE5 put up more of a fight. With 1 enemy on screen this clear lack of A.I. is inexcusable. Bosses go down with roughly a dozen shots from varying weapons and grenades make the battles even quicker. The iPhone can do better. This is no hardware problem. The platform is more or as powerful as a PS2/GameCube and both those platforms have shown better A.I., boss battles in their RE games. This makes it all the more clear that this is a movie-tie in game. As sad as it is to see the great RE series get a quick cash in, we should be grateful it is a decent one and that there have been no tie ins on major platforms for the horrid RE movies of late.

As I said at the beginning, this game controls well. You move with a virtual analog stick on screen, you press the gun icon on screen when you want to shoot and then aim using the virtual analog stick. The same goes for the knife. This fits very well into the iPhone's multi-touch controls, as the post RE4-gameplay is a stop and shoot affair. With so few enemies on screen, the controls never have any time to become clunky or unresponsive due to the lack of challenge, but they never hint that they would if you did have a harder time beating the game's enemies. The graphics are some of the best 3D graphics on the Apps Store. Leon's animations are solid, so are the enemies. There is solid lighting, and very good fire effects given the GPU on the iPhone. The graphics reach PS2 level in most areas, but fall short at all times of the RE4 GameCube. The visuals can challenge most of the best looking PS2 games, with exceptions like God of War 2. However, the graphics are far better than anything you will find on the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. Knowing the hardware of this platform that shouldn't come as a shock to many, only to those who've ignored this platform. This game represents why gamers around the world can shift from the Peggle and into more serious games on the iPhone. Games like this, Rise of the Lost Empires, and Hero of Sparta show a good oppurtunity for core gamers to find a solid handheld platform but combined with all the great features of a pocket computer/PDA.

All in all, Resident Evil: Degeneration on the iPhone/iPod Touch is a solid game. Its gameplay may be repetitive, and it may lack difficulty but delivers an experience not found often on the Apps Store. I would stress to most to get the Resident Evil 4: Mobile off the Apps Store for the same price first, as that game has more of the staples of the post-RE4 shooter and is generally more difficult. If you're lucky enough to find the game on sale like I did, grab it. It is a steal for anything lower than its $7 price, but it is still worth its original asking price. Despite its A.I. faults, and lack of navigation help the graphics shine and it delivers everything you'd want in a portable Resident Evil modeled after the newer REs and not the original RE games. Don't expect a scary game, expect a solid shooter with impressive graphics and controls.Gameplay: 7.5

Graphics: 9.0

Depth: 7.0

Entertainment: 8.0

Intangibles: 6.0

Overall: 7.4