The Evil Within: Halloween Play Day Review

sleeve on box.

I know most reviews here are outdated because I fall behind a lot on keeping up with trending games.  It is because of this I did not get a next generation (now current generation) console.  However, when I saw advertisements for The Evil Within and have been missing a good survival horror game I had to jump on it for the PlayStation 3 this Halloween.

Yes, this is a review for the PS3 version so I know people will comment on the graphics but they're not that bad.  The only issue I saw was some blur in losing the crisp edges in some images during cut scenes. The game play is third-person perspective so if you're a fan of first-person shooters where you just run and gun this game will not interest you.  The game consists of stealth, some small puzzle solving, upgrading yourself and your weapons and your survival horror action.  I was not a fan of the camera angles, I'm not sure if they were bad on purpose so as to add to the scare tactics of the game or just plain bad for me but they made being stealthy difficult.  There is a weapon called The Agony Crossbow int he game you can make different bolts for to do different things, like make proximity mines and freeze your enemies.  I think because of my experience with survival horror games and blasting any zombie-like creature I preferred the shotgun during the early parts of the game until I got used to the crossbow as it has an arc when you shoot it.  You can clean that up during upgrades though if you can afford it with the in game currency.

The enemies are similar to the Ganados in Resident Evil 4 in that they're just lumbering around until they hear or see you then they attack, some with weapons they throw others with lit torches or juts by hand.  You also have your bag headed chainsaw guy or two that is hard to kill and charges at you for some decent scares. The similarities to the Resident Evil games should not be surprising to anyone since this creator of those games and this one are Shinji Mikami.  There some small Easter eggs for fans of those games as well in the game that I appreciated.

All in all the game serves it purpose in delivering some scares and decent game play, especially for those that re fans of the genre.  The edition I got came with the "fighting chance" pack that included a med-kit, some ammo and a double barrel shotgun for the regular price standard edition of the game.  If you liked Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4 you may want to consider this one but if you are not a fan of story driven games or the third person perspective you should pass on it.