Ground Zero – Game Review

Ground Zero – Resident Evil 4 (2005) It can be said to be an excellent and even revolutionary game for the survival horror action genre in general and for the game genre. Resident Evil In particular, when mixing action elements, it was extremely popular, then “redefining” this game genre with the completely impressive 3D rendering power of the new generation game consoles at that time.

Most recently, Malformation Gamesalso released a “retro” style game called Ground Zerowith the “promise” to completely inherit the spirit of the games Resident Evil Firstly.

So how does this game fulfill that “promise”? Let’s take a look at the following review with Vietgame.Asia!

YOU WILL LIKE

IMITATIVE BUT FULL OF CREATIVITY!

First impression that Ground Zero What gives the writer is the “retro” style of this game, bringing a feeling of extreme nostalgia for old games.

Other than one Tempest Rising Bringing “new breeze” to the game series Red Alert with modern graphics and gameplay, Ground Zero coming from a “brand new rookie” who tried to emulate the way that the versions Resident Evil was created to bring the most classic and familiar feeling to fans of the game series.

More specifically, to reduce the load on the early PlayStation, game developers of Capcom used characters with a low polygon count, operating on pre-rendered backgrounds, providing beautiful image quality compared to games that force the console to “work hard” to process three-dimensional images of the surrounding environment.

Ground Zero were also created with similar principles for artistic purposes, even though modern gaming machines have hundreds of thousands of times more graphics power than the first generation PlayStation model.

Of course, the development team did not “play big” to the point of using square models and low-resolution blurry backgrounds on the PlayStation system in a “demake style” that is visually uncomfortable, but instead, the models and scenes were “purposefully” made old to evoke a sense of nostalgia in the player.

If we must compare, Ground Zero somewhat more reminiscent of Resident Evil: Code Veronica on the PlayStation 2 platform.

For example, character models with low polygons, with a waddling gait like gliding across the frame with dotted shadows, explosion effects with large pixels or objects that can be picked up “floating” outside the environment…

In contrast to that, the environment of each area is built with high detail, with carefully crafted interactive 3D models and carefully designed light sources, along with classic “locked” camera angles and groans echoing from afar, creating an uncomfortable, stuffy, restrictive atmosphere and successfully hiding the script’s intentions, especially the old but still effective “scares” that are cleverly hidden to “pops out” right when the player feels most relaxed, exactly the way the previous versions Resident Evil The original has been shown and brought to players Ground Zero an experience that is more “horror” than action.

You must know that this is the most important factor for a survival horror action game, because even the game series Resident Evil original even though “learning” follows the almost stereotypical gameplay of the game series Alone in the Dark appeared more than a decade ago, but Shinji Mikami’s masterful level design and script construction are the key factors that make this game series a big hit in the international market.

…old but still effective “scares” are cleverly hidden to “pop” right when the player feels most relaxed

Saying that doesn’t mean it Ground Zero There are no new elements.

You can still aim, block, dodge, or finish off monsters in an action style, however, the game has many mechanisms that “force” players to “survive” more, such as a “bonus mechanism” when killing monsters that will encourage players to use knives rather than guns, or “heavy” weapons with extremely limited ammo to avoid the scene where players “do Rambo” and reduce the thrill of playing the game.

Puzzles in Ground Zero Designed completely new and quite interesting, it requires players to observe and think with moderate difficulty, not too difficult to make you give up, but becomes an indispensable “spice” for this traditional survival horror action game series.

If you still feel it’s not “done”, higher difficulty levels will not only limit the amount of ammunition, bonus points and healing and healing items, but also increase the difficulty of the puzzles in the game, increasing the “survival” and overall challenges.

Overall, with a method that emulates the success of the game series Resident Evil the first versions with some new creations of their own, Ground Zero easily meets the expectations of die-hard fans of the survival horror action genre in general and veteran fans of Resident Evil in particular.

YOU WILL HATE

“DOWN” AT THE END OF THE GAME!

If playing on normal difficulty, Ground Zero has a playing time of about more than 7 hours, with more than half of the first time being full of fun, causing players to run around and explore every corner of the city in the game, then in the second half, you will begin to feel that the plot becomes gradually “weak”.

If compared with Resident Evil 2the game team solved the problem by letting the main character Leon penetrate deeper into the Umbrella Corporation’s underground base, infected with the T-virus to change the game screen space, create a climax, new twists, and even add new opponents and new puzzles to keep players longer, while gradually decoding open problems in the early stages of the game.

Although the development team Ground Zero allows players to choose different paths to develop the plot, but in reality, these options do not have much difference. You will still have to run around a few areas, solve some similar problems or confront monsters that are not much different…

This makes the feeling of playing become more and more dull as the game progresses.

Finally, although the combat mechanism is developed with many features, including aiming to increase critical hits, dodging, blocking or finishing attacks… but in the end you will realize that for most of the time playing, fighting in the old style with the method of pointing the character towards the monster and then shooting is still… the fastest and simplest way!

Of course, if you are a professional gamer, you can take full advantage of these features to save as much ammunition as possible at difficult levels. However, this will prolong the game experience in a way that is not necessary.

Although the development team Ground Zero allows players to choose different paths, but in reality, these options are not much different