43 - The Evil Within (PC 2014) - 14 HOURS BEAT - Heard bad things about this game around when it came out and not sure why it gets such a bad wrap. It's certainly not a bad game, but it does have issues and I'm playing the version that allowed for removing the absurd letterboxing the game had. As a survival horror game, it works reasonably well, it's essentially Resident Evil 4 with some general differences meant to weaken your character over being an action hero like Leon. The story and setting is mostly good, but they failed in what I felt was a lot of the in between stuff and Sebastian is terrible as the main guy. He's basically just a long for the ride and rarely seems bothered by what is going on. They try to reveal his backstory throughout the game, but it seems like it was only done to give him character, because otherwise he is just generic grizzled detective. Once in awhile he makes a quip, which seems out of place with the game and how serious it is. This isn't Resident Evil, a series known for being goofy, so in this game, it feels out of place. Sebastian should basically be losing his mind, like Isaac in Dead Space, but he's basically just going with the motions. Really ruins the story I feel, especially towards the end of the game and how it feels like he hasn't actually pieced any of the plot together.
My biggest gripe is the combat. Pretty much all regular enemies have grabs and it can be annoying to disrupt them as their grab has priority over anything you got going on. Worse than that, many enemies and bosses and levels in general have instant deaths. I died through so much trial and error because Sebastian doesn't move great and even when figuring out what to dodge, it can be annoying to actually do so. The game said I died 60 times and almost all of that are from cheap instant deaths. They aren't fun in this game and were driving me nuts. I know Resident Evil 4 had some of that too, but it never bothered nearly as much as this game.
Overall, I thought it was a very reasonable survival horror game with a good number of flaws. It has me interested in the sequel though. If they can make Sebastian better, get him more engaged with the story, and improve the action, that could be a pretty great game.
*EDIT*
Just realized I'm 6 games out from matching last years list and with 3 left to play on the list this year, and 3 more I am guaranteed to play, I should make at least 40 beat this year as I don't count the endless/multiplayer only games to my completion score. Pretty good I'd say. Won't make 52 games beat, but should make 52 games played at least, which I didn't make last year either.
