Games Mentioned:
- Terminator: Resistance Enhanced Edition - PS5
- Terminator: Resistance - Annihilation Line DLC - PS5
- Them and Us - PC (GOG)
- The Suffering - PC (GOG)
- Resident Evil Village Gold Edition - PS5
- Gordi: Cuddly Carnage - PS5
- Terminator: Resistance Enhanced Edition - PS5
- Terminator: Resistance - Annihilation Line DLC - PS5
- Them and Us - PC (GOG)
- The Suffering - PC (GOG)
- Resident Evil Village Gold Edition - PS5
- Gordi: Cuddly Carnage - PS5
1. Terminator: Resistance Enhanced - PS5
Completed 1st March
I heard good things about Terminator Resistance through various YouTube game channels, even though a number of critic reviews were less than friendly towards the game.
After playing the game for some time I just wanted to know what was going through the critics heads when they were negatively reviewing the game. Terminator Resistance is a really incredible game and I am surprised at how much I enjoyed my time battling Skynet.
The game does definitely have a slow start, but by giving it a little time and patience Terminator Resistance is a very rewarding title. I have played a few Terminator games in the past, but they were never really great to me. Resistance is the first that really gave me the feeling I was actually battling the near indestructible machines of Skynet.
When you face the humanoid Terminators normal weaponry will not have ANY affect on the enemy (the only way to defeat them is with Skynet's own plasma equipment), and I very much appreciated this fact as many other developers would not have implemented this feature in the title worrying that players may find it too difficult. I very much appreciated the fact that humanoid Terminators were not so easy to destroy - it felt very true to the movies and added to the feeling that I was genuinely in a world full of very threatening machines.
The game is set in the future sequences that are glimpsed in Terminator and Terminator 2 (so post Judgement Day of August 1997) In many ways Terminator Resistance is what I wished Terminator Salvation would have been. It really feels like you are in the future setting that is shown at the start of the first two Terminator movies, whereas Salvation, to me, felt rather disappointing and just seemed like another generic post apocalyptic setting.
Terminator Resistance has achieved what Hollywood could not do after the release of Terminator 2: they made a compelling Terminator fictional piece that fits well into the Terminator lore.
The music in Terminator Resistance also really adds to the setting to convincingly feel like you are in a battle against Skynet. The music in the game uses some themes from the the first two movies and the composer for Resistance excellently adds their own spin to the soundtrack without feeling like it is out of place.
I remember being quite disappointed by the soundtrack of Terminator 3 after being treated to Brad Fidel's amazing compositions for the first and second Terminator films. Terminator Resistance feels, musically, like it is actually truer to the Terminator universe than any of the actual films that were released after the second Terminator film.
Terminator Resistance Theme (Extended)
Added a great guitar rift to the Terminator theme.
Escape from T-1000 V3
A variant of the Escape from hospital T -1000 theme from Terminator 2 (Played for a whole hour)
The Enhanced Edition also comes with the first DLC that was released called Infiltrator Mode. In the Infiltrator DLC you can play as one of the Terminators - it is rather short, but is a fun new way to play the game. It is obvious that the developers have a passion for the original Terminator movies as it does feel like you are in control of the Terminator from first film.
Score 9.5/10
Terminator Resistance Infiltrator Music
2. Annihilation Line (Terminator Resistance DLC) - PS5
Completed 5th March
Seems to be more of the same as the main game (which is not a bad thing), but this time the Kyle Reese character is involved in the story.
The DLC actually takes place during a segment of the main story mode, but sadly there is not an option to integrate it into the main campaign so you can not carry your equipment and skill level over from that point of the game. The DLC does give you around 12 skill points at the start so your character is not at zero like the beginning of the main game.
Another brilliant addition to the lore of the early Terminator films - both Terminator Resistance, Infiltrator mode and the Annihilation Line DLC are tremendous additions and are littered with many Easter eggs.
Score 8/10
3. Them and Us - PC (GOG)
Completed 16th March
From early impressions Them and Us is inspired by classic survival horror games. In the first few hours of the game the inspiration of the very first Resident Evil is clear to see and maybe it shows too much inspiration. Them and Us early on is set in a mansion (just like the first Resident Evil) where there is a nicely sized Dining Room with a Grandfather clock, you have to push a statue off a higher level and smash it to retrieve an item and many other things that are just straight up Resident Evil 1.
Just like the early Resident Evil games Them and Us allows saving only with special items. In Resident Evil Ink Ribbons are used for saving and can only be used in rooms that contain typewriters. Them and Us has a similar saving mechanism, but instead of typewriters and ink ribbons, vinyl records and gramophones are used to save the game.
It is quite interesting as the vinyl records are actually real classical tracks that can be listened to in full when you save your game progress - Moonlight Sonata is one of the vinyl records that is available in Them and Us and it is a nice nod to those that have played 'that' puzzle in the first Resident Evil game and its remake.
Them and Us seems also that it wants to please both fans of classic fixed camera horror games and fans that prefer the more modern third person perspective. It is neat that the title offers both camera angles and adds replay value to those that want to play the whole game from both perspectives. I choose to play the game in the classic fixed camera angles as it just felt more natural to me. I attempted the third person angle, and while interesting, I just preferred the fixed camera angles.
Another interesting mechanic in Them and Us is similar to Resident Evil Zero. In Resident Evil Zero the usual item storage boxes were not included. In the Resident Evil games you could store your extra items in a storage box and access them any of your items from any storage box in the game.
Resident Evil Zero did not have any storage boxes and instead you could drop any items if you were running out of inventory space, but if you wanted to retrieve a specific item you would have to go back to the room that you left it in. Them and Us is similar in that you can drop items anywhere and can retrieve them later if go back to the area where dropped you them off.
Later in the game storage boxes can be accessed, but there are not that many compared to Resident Evil games.
The game has a fantastic amount of replay-ability with multiple endings and epilogues to collect. Intriguingly, the game can be played in three different ways - with classic fixed camera angles, as a third person horror (ala RE 2 Remake) or even from a first person perspective (which can be unlocked after completing the game) and each mode has their own advantages and disadvantages. See below for a few examples:
Fixed Camera Perspective
Advantage: has a good perspective to survey a room before moving.
Disadvantage: Sometimes enemies can only be heard and not seen in bigger areas (but that is part of the fun of classic horror games)
Third Person Perspective
Advantage: Can see where enemies are positioned in large rooms.
Disadvantage: Aiming at fast moving creatures can be a pain.
First Person Perspective
Advantage: You can look closer at the details surrounding you (e.g. paintings and notices on the wall)
Disadvantage: Peripheral vision tends to be obscured.
There was only one point in the game where I felt that it was a little unfair - it is near the end of the game and it resembled the starting area of Resident Evil 4, maybe it would have been less frustrating in had I chosen the third person perspective, but I played it through the fixed camera perspective.
One other slight disappointment is that I wish that there had been more classical music vinyl records variants to collect - because I just found it so nice that you could play famous classical music when you saved your game!
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Them and Us. It felt like it was very much a tribute to classic horror games as you can see the inspiration taken from many classic horror titles.
Score 8/10
Some Classical Music That Can Be Used in Save Rooms:
Toccata & Fugue - Johann Sebastian Bach
Rondo Alla Turca - Mozart
Fantaisie Impromptu - Frederic Chopin
4. The Suffering - PC (GOG)
Retired 17th March
I remember when the game was first released during the PlayStation 2 era and I think it received mostly 7 out of 10 reviews and I was never that interested in the game when I saw it advertised on the television.
More recently GOG had the game and its sequel on its final sale as after the sale both games were going to be delisted, so I thought would just add the games to my PC digital collection before they could no longer be bought. Sure, I could still buy the physical versions for the PlayStation 2, but both tend to be more expensive and just in case I did not like the games I would rather pay them for cheap on GOG.
I did play a little of the game, and while, it has an interesting premise I did feel that it was too much of a mindless shooter. I do like survival horror games, but I felt like this game way too much on the action side, which I found a little fatigue inducing.
As a result I decided to retire the game.
5. Resident Evil Village (Gold Edition) - PS5
Completed 23rd March
I have been wanting to play Resident Evil Village (or RE VIII) since it was first announced. Resident Evil 7 (released in 2017) was a reinvention for the series and it was the first Resident Evil I really enjoyed since the tank control days - sure I enjoyed RE 4, but it did feel that it was a little too much on the action side for my preference compared to the earlier games. I also liked though there were aspects of RE 5 and RE 6 I did like, but they were definitely not my favourite games in the franchise to play.
It has taken me a long to time to play RE Village, despite being very excited to try the game I just never got around to it. It took me so long to play RE Village that the game saw a Gold edition released which saw additional DLC included alongside the vanilla version of the 8th main entry in the series.
Resident Evil Village was first released in 2021 and the Gold Edition with the DLC was released in 2022. March 2025 is when I finally attempted RE Village - four years after the game was first released and three years after the Gold Edition reached stores, so it has taken me a while, at last, to play the game. Rumours of RE 9 have been circulating RE YouTube channels and websites, so I thought it was about time that I experienced Village.
Village surprised me, as I have to admit, originally I did not think I would enjoy RE Village that much as it seemed to be more action orientated when RE 7, at least the first half, felt like it was going back to its survival horror roots and RE 8 in some ways from the trailers looked like it was betraying what RE 7 was trying to be.
Village does feel like in many ways it was trying to be Resident Evil 4 in many ways. The inventory is like RE 4 where you can play a little Tetris like game to fit your items, you can collect valuables to trade for upgrades and it even has a merchant similar to RE 4, he even makes a reference to what the RE4 merchant says every time you try to buy something from him. RE 4 remake was released after RE 8, and it was like some things in RE 8 were a little bit of a teaser to those that wanted Capcom to release a remake of the fourth mainline RE game.
I had a great time with RE 8, and was pleasantly surprised by the balance of survival horror elements and action horror elements.
Completed base game on 22nd March.
The Gold Edition also offers the third person DLC - Village was originally, like RE 7, in first person mode, but a few months after the game's release a DLC allowing the game to be played in the third person was made available. If you have the Gold Edition you can play first or third person from the start without having to pay extra for the DLC. I thought this was a nice inclusion, but I decided to play the game in first person to stay through to the developers original vision, but it is nice to have third person as an option.
The DLC 'The Shadow of Rose' is also included in the game Gold Edition. I am not going to go into too much detail as it acts as somewhat of a sequel or epilogue to the main game. Compared to the main game it seems to be more on the survival horror side than the whole of Village. Whereas Village, originally, was presented in first person mode the DLC is only in third person mode.
It only took around 3 hours to complete the DLC, but it was a very memorable DLC story. There were actually a couple of points that felt like the end point, but the game kept going (in a good way).
Score 8.5/10
6. Gordi: Cuddly Carnage - PS5
Completed 26th March
If Kratos from the original God of War trilogy was a cat then he would be Gori from Gori: Cuddly Carnage. The game plays like the classic God of War games, but instead of a Greek warrior, you control a cat on a hoverboard and his hoverboard also acts as a sword-like weapon.
So, a mix of the hack en slash games and extreme sports skating games such as Tony Hawk where you control a cat - a unique concept.
It is quite an odd game, but it is definitely creative with its premise. It has the attitude of a children's cartoon but has some rather crude and juvenile humour to contrast, reminds me of a game that was released back on the Nintendo 64 called Conker's Bad Fur Day - a game that I have only played a little (on the Rare Replay compilation) but I have seen video clips of certain 'interesting' moments of the game.
Gordi, is one of the few games I have played on the PS5 that really utilised the features of the controller speakers and the haptic feedback.
The combat is fun, but at times it feels like the battles go on a little too long and the boss battles can vary in the fun factor - I was not the biggest fan of the third area boss, but I enjoyed the fourth level boss battle a lot.
It took me about 10 hours to play through the game and play some side missions. It is a short game, but there is so much action - it is quite exhausting to be honest, some later boss battles felt like they were never going to end (not complaining).
Oh, and if you leave your game idle for a few seconds Gori will lay down on his hoverboard and the PlayStation will start vibrating and purring sounds will come out of the controller speaker! I am sure that Stray had a similar mechanic.