Week 22 - Rain Days, Strange Place

I'm posting this post in good time for once! Before I get started with the tasks of the day, even. What's the week been like? Well it's rained away! Days have been refreshingly stained with gray, I used to bathe in sun but now it's A OK, the rain paved the way for a place in shade, where I can write and type without feeling like I need to bathe, afraid of being depraved of braincells, spraying my neck with H20 spray. It's been gray, but it's been great, great food on my tray, some RE4 that I play, and a shitton of movies that'd wait as the days grow late. I stayed awake too late now I contemplate ways to change that fate - woke up today at eight and I feel tired like I haven't slept in days. Tonight I'll get the sleep I crave, maybe in good time, and then wake up early cause nine - is not good enough! Also, I've posted stuff: 17 movie reviews, two Musicalish posts, this great thing, a quote aaand that's it. Here's last week.

As I've recently acquired the Ultimate HD edition of Resident Evil 4, I decided on a Resident Evil 4 marathon this week (I was actually planning on taking on the entire franchise, but time is not enough!), so that's been occupying my time quite a bit. I've played through the Normal campaign, Separate Ways (twice) and Assignment Ada, and I'm currently playing through Professional. Overall it took much longer than I'd expected, and as I run through the levels I realize that the fourth part of this series was a much larger accomplishment than I remember it.

Not only did they have those two side-stories and extras, but the campaign itself features a myriad of different locations, foes, events and minor details that it's easy to miss, along with a vast array of weaponry and potential upgrades, and treasures you can collect. It's a solid mixture of mystery, madness and intrigue, with a great many key characters, a logical and sinister plot, gritty atmosphere, great acting and narration, ambivalently exciting music and clever level design, with occasional puzzles and quick-time events that add further variation. In short - it's just a damn awesome game. Once I'm done with Professional (I'm on Chapter 5) I plan on running through it one final time with one of the (soon to be unlocked) infinite-ammo weapons, and then leave it on the shelf for... well I was going to say forever, but it'll probably be until an unforeseeable future instead. I tend to stick to the games I like, and play them over, and over... and it's never over!

As for the HD edition, it's not quite as polished as I wish it was. Compared to the low key textures of the original games the change is amazing, but some cutscenes have been left uncovered in the minigames, and the contrast really doesn't pass by unnoticed. I don't think all textures have been transformed into HD either, the mouse sensitivity isn't sensitive enough even on the highest setting, savefiles can't be deleted individually (at least you can back up the entire file!) and they still have that slightly misleading 'game reset' option in the menu when you want to quit. But overall, it's way better than the original!

Work? I had none this week! I've barely had any studies either, though the final deadline is closing in quickly and I really need to start working efficiently on my final project. Course I've been writing, reviewing and attempting to stay efficient all the same, though much time has been consumed by game. Not much else going on this week! Till the next one.