The 5 Sexiest Men in Resident Evil

Gun toting, passionate, ass kicking and downright sexy.. I'm talking about the men of the Resident Evil franchise. Throughout it's history, Resident Evil has never failed to deliver some eye candy for the fan girls to enjoy. This is a personal list of my favorite hunks. 

#5 - Albert Wesker

Some may disagree with my unusual tastes, but there is something appealing about Albert Wesker. I know that the guy is hellbent on world domination, but hear me out. Under that tight leather outfit and beyond those menacingly piercing eyes must be some sort of human emotion and sensitivity.... right? Well, if not, he at least looks sexy while he dodges your bullets at lightning speed. 

#4 - Piers Nivans

Even if Resident Evil 6 hasn't been released yet, I can already tell that this hunk is going to be one of my personal favorites. Although serious and compassionate about his work, I have a feeling that Piers would also do anything for friends, family, or anybody that he cares deeply for (which puts him above Wesker). 

Any man who can use guns effectively with honor (who also looks incredibly sexy doing it) is a definite in my book. Fighting alongside Chris Redfield, you have yourself one drop dead sexy duo. 

#3 - Luis Sera

I cannot think of another character that sums up "cocky but lovable" better then Luis Sera from Resident Evil 4. His attitude and personality was what made me grow fond of Luis, but his striking good looks are just an added bonus. Luis was a classic charmer, but also proved to be incredibly intelligent, cunning and mysterious before his untimely and tragic death. Luis strikes me as a true gentleman, who would treat a beautiful woman to a night filled with passion and romance. But be careful, as he would easily ensnare you with his overflowing charm. 

#2 - Chris Redfield

Even if I don't want to admit it, Chris Redfield is one manly pile of pixels. Although he's not a lumberjack living in the woods killing bears with his bare hands, I still think Chris is one of the manliest men throughout the timeline of Resident Evil. His stubble, hardened expression (don't forget about the rock hard abs) and determined nature make me swoon every time I see him in action. 

I respect an older and more mature man, and there is no one more suitable than Chris. I'd love for him to just scoop me up in his massively over sized arms. Did I mention he also punches boulders? MANLY. 

#1 - Leon Kennedy

Perhaps one of the sexiest video game characters EVER, describing my fantasy crush on Leon Kennedy is damn near possible. He is one of the most iconic and memorable characters throughout the franchise, and for all the right reasons. It's like taking every guy on this list (except for maybe Wesker) and rolling them into one to create a character that is incredibly well rounded, exhibiting high levels of determination, skill, mystique, compassion, manliness, and sexiness (naturally). 

He never fails to come up with some of the most memorable one liners (especially in Resident Evil 4), and also never fails to be one of the only men on this list to get a piece of action from the ladies (several ladies actually). 

Oddities of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

Ever play a game riddled with things that just... didn't seem quite right? Or spend hours doing research on a rumor that you heard, only to find out that it wasn't true? I know I have. What's your favorite rumors, tropes, or underlying themes in games? Is there something in a game that is slid under the radar making it more "E" rated? My favorite game that has examples of both would have to be from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Here are a couple of my favorite 'wtf' moments.

• The rumor that Rock is adopted. Ah man, this gets me every single time. Probably because it's most likely true. The thought of Rock being happily adopted with parents who never bothered to tell him makes me laugh, as Rock is just happy go lucky in his own little world. Rocks bears absolutely no resemblance to either of his parents. His parents are hard working people of Asian descent with black hair. Rock is white, laid back, blond, and 'lazy' doesn't even cover it. His parents don't even seem to like him, and they aren't seen conversing much in the game. Even as a kid I asked myself, "am I crazy or is there something wrong with this picture?"

They totally look related.

• The rumor of being able to get a chihuahua and a lizard.  I remember researching this for myself for hours without coming up with any result. It bothered me that there were these animals out there I thought I could get or my farm! It was a widely spread rumor that a lot of people believed to be true which I think just made things even worse. To this day, people still believe that this fact may be true, but it's not.

• "Cheating Husband" If you've watched all of a girl's three heart events, and continue to maintain your friendship but marry ANOTHER girl, you will witness cut scenes of the jealous girl coming to your house, verbally abusing you night after night. If you try to talk to the girl, she'll explain that she's mad at you, but will soften up after gifts. It's implied that you have a "woman" on the side, as you're trying to maintain a friendship and impress another woman, but you don't really. There's no cheating in Harvest Moon!

• Grant and Samantha's awkward marriage. Samantha is.. a crazy, crazy woman.. never could stand her. It is heavily implied in the game that she's an incredibly bossy, demanding and controlling wife and mother. She constantly tries to control the way that her daughter acts and dresses. Grant appears in the game as a "businessman", when really, he purposely gets up early to leave his house before his wife wakes up. He stays out as LONG as he can to avoid his wife, and even when he does come home, he goes directly to the bar. In Harvest Moon DS, Grant and Samantha are divorced. Samantha dumps Kate on Grant, and leaves him for another man. It's implied that she left because Grant worked too much and never paid any attention to her, but I think it's her fault as much as his.

• Murry and "Po-Po Valley". Did anybody else hear as a kid that Murrey would go back to Po-Po Valley if you donated enough money? I sure did! What a mistake that was, handing over all of my hard earned dollars. Instead, that bum steals food out of my fridge when I'm not looking and begs for the other villager's hard earned dollars.

• Daryl's strange mannerisms. I'm sure that one or two of you were afraid of Daryl as a kid playing AWL. He's a weird guy. He's one of those characters that just doesn't quite fit. Not to mention that he has a creepy fascination with your child, and he can be often seen peeping into your windows when you're not looking to "observe" your son. CREEPY. His fixation on your cows was also something that made you back away slowly and run the other direction when you saw this guy pacing around your farm. He then tries to capture Makumuku in winter time. He was definitely the "weird" factor for this game, and maintains this title even to this day throughout the series.

• The rumors surrounding Carter and Flora's relationship. Just like in real life, rumors are started that are... well.. rumors. Although it seems like Carter and Flora are going buck wild in their tent every night, the two are completely oblivious. If you talk to Carter and Flora, the idea about a relationship has never even crossed their minds, and they seem totally unaware that the villagers think differently. Their innocence about their situation is just plain adorable to me. Strangely enough though, when Harvest Moon: DS was released, Carter and Flora were both marriage candidates. They are also paired as a rival couple. So hmm, its up to you decide on that one!

• Patrick's Crush. The subject is nothing to joke about, but Harvest Moon somehow managed to slide pedophilia into the game under the radar. If you talk to Patrick when Lumina is nearby, he makes comments that very heavily imply that he has a crush on her. Now, while Lumina is technically 18 in the game, Patrick is still in his 50's and the reference is odd. You never really pick up on it as a kid, but you go back to play the game, realize it and go, "well that's wrong."

• Daachan the Bear. There's a bear that you're able to purchase from Van for your child. Throughout the course of the game, there's several cut scenes that indicated that this teddy bear is actually real. The bear creeped me out so badly that I wish I had never purchased it for my child. Late at night (on two different occasions), Daachan can be seen seen stealing food out of your fridge. Your child also speaks (or is presumably) speaking to the bear on a couple of occasions. The bear can also be seen walking, if he's laying on the floor out of place. You can also zoom in on the bear and stare it for a couple of in game hours - and the bear 's head will be turning side to side. o_o Not to mention that the bear also breaths... to this day, it's one of those things in a Harvest Moon game that legitimately freaked me out.

• Bad parenting. You may or may not have witnessed an example of bad parenting if you married Nami. Nami is hardly ever at home, even when your child is a toddler. Although the other spouses that you can marry will leave your farm during the day, Nami does this much more then the other candidates. She stays out late (often past 10PM at night), and frequently visits the bar. When your son is a teenager, she tends to have a short temper, and often fights with your son. Nami's son will be one of the most depressed as a teenager, partially because of Nami's behavior, and he mentions this if you try to talk to him. Maybe Nami wasn't cut out for this whole parenting thing.

First Impressions: Silent Hill Downpour

It took me 9 hours, but I finally finished Silent Hill: Downpour a couple of weeks ago.  Being that I am a hardcore fan of the Silent Hill series (if you've read my mile long post of previous Silent Hill games), I thought I'd share my thoughts and opinions on the game after finishing it for my first time.

Being that I played the game blind the first time, I played on easy monster difficulty as well as easy puzzle difficulty. It was somewhat of a casual play through, and I missed a lot of collectibles, easter eggs and side quests. I plan on doing a second (at the very least) play through in the future. I managed to get the "Truth and Justice" ending my first time through, which isn't too bad, all things considered.

Alright, enough rambling.. on to the review/thoughts/opinions thing!

Pros

1. Murphy was a great protagonist.

Although Murphy seems to have received a lot of criticism, something about his character made me love the guy. He has a very unique demeanor, and his story and attitude seem to differ from other protagonists in the series. It was a refreshing change from Travis Grady and Alex Shepard, both of whom I'm not too big a fan of.

Murphy, in a lot of ways reminds me of Harry Mason (<3). While Murphy does technically commit a major sin (in all endings except for the A ending), his actions may seem justifiable by some. Murphy is somewhat of a small time criminal, only getting imprisoned after stealing a car and evading police. Besides that, he has a clean record, and seems to be somewhat of an upstanding guy. Murphy's time in Silent Hill (like Harry Mason) seems somewhat unfair, as he can be seen more or less as "innocent" (in comparison to some of the previous protagonists in the series). Murphy feels "real", and he displays such emotion in game that I really do believe that he does feel immense amounts of guilt, and that he is truly confused and afraid.

The symbolism of Murphy being a prisoner "trapped" in his own mind works perfectly, and this reflects on his character even before the events of Silent Hill. Some may find it strange that Murphy is one of the only protagonists who shows true fear, but I absolutely love it. It shows terror in a horror situation, adds a touch of realism, and gives the player a sense of panic. It creates a tense atmosphere, and shows that Murphy isn't an "invisible hero" and that he's just a regular joe. 'Nuff said. Love him. Moving on.

2. References to past Silent Hill games.

Yes, yes, yes! I love references! There were some some very well executed references from past Silent Hill games. Here are some examples:

• An EXACT replica of Henry Townshend's apartment that you're even able to visit, located right in the town of Silent Hill. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to Room 302 during my play through, phooey. :(
• There were a couple of references to Alessa Gillespie, including the presence of wheelchairs throughout Silent Hill, as well as having to chase a young girl as the main character. There is also a portrait of her in the Centennial Building.
• Murphy can examine a photograph and will mention that this "must be somebody's special place." This is a reference to Silent Hill 2.
• There's a large truck that's stopped on the side of the road near the bridge area. This may or may not be a reference to Travis Grady, the main protagonist in Silent Hill: Origins. He was a truck driver who made the mistake of taking a shortcut through Silent Hill.  
• There are many pictures of areas around the town of Shepard's Glen from Silent Hill: Homecoming. There is also a side quest that becomes available on your second play through called "Digging Up The Past." This may also reference Homecoming, as one of the children were buried alive, and his watch can later be found in a casket.  

There's more great examples found throughout the game, so go have a look around. :)

3. They executed the sidequests well, there was a ton of collectibles, and Murphy's diary was interesting. 

When I first heard that there were sidequests in a Silent Hill game I was a little bit iffy on the idea. Silent Hill has always had collecting, but never really doing a lot of mundane quests for the "residents" of Silent Hill. As I played, I really grew to love this feature, as it adds to the "completion" nature of gaming, and it allows you to fully explore the town. You also get some stories, artifacts, and diary entries from it. If you played the game blind your first time like me and are clueless on what it is to do, don't worry! The game allows a "free roam" period before the game's final area, and you're able to back track to several areas of Silent Hill. There's also shortcuts through the town's underground subway to make the back tracking easier and quicker. If the game puts in the feature for side questing, I'm glad that the game catered to the idea of back tracking.

I have no idea how Murphy managed to get a diary (video game logic), but I enjoyed this feature as well. I loved getting the entries scattered through out Silent Hill, and putting the pieces together. I l enjoy back story, as well as character development and information on the town of Silent Hill. I felt that sub character development was severly lacking in the game, and diary entries were one way of making up for it. That is, assuming that you can find the diary entries. It was also convenient that objectives and the map were all kept in the same place. 

Cons

1. The so called "monsters"

Konami, I am disappoint. Please give the original Team Silent a call, because they need to give the developers of Downpour a lesson in scare tactics. The enemy designs were awful for this game. The lack of thought and design, as well as lack of variety was extremely disappointing. Not to mention that there are next to no boss battles, and the regular enemies can be easily skipped, or incapacitated. The final boss was 'meh', and was, in my opinion, very boring. 

Does this look even slightly menacing to any of you?

I miss the scare factor of enemies flying at you, looking incredibly menacing, making you run for your life. These enemies were scattered haphazardly, and were not menacing in the least bit! Murphy wasn't exactly on a field trip, but the Void was the most menacing thing in this game. The enemies also feel out of place, as most have no real symbolism to Murphy's past life in Silent Hill. The ones that do, well.. they used the SAME character design for two enemies. Dafuq?

I played on an easy difficulty, but I do know that on a higher difficulty enemy health is increased. Enemy encounters are not increased, and you would just have to deal with these stupid enemies with the even stupider combat system. Rage. The enemies in this game are a slight annoyance and a nuisance at most, but nothing scary. I'm an incredibly jumpy person, and even I was wondering when it was that I'd be jumping out of my chair. The moment never came. -gonk-

2. The crapfest ending of the game. 

I felt that Downpour was pretty fluid all the way through, and I was really looking forward to the ending of the game. Downpour was a little more "quiet" with lack of great supporting characters, few "Otherworld" sections, and pathetic monsters, but it was still enjoyable to play. I was hoping that the mediocre aspects of the game would be made up with a great ending. A great boss battle, SOMETHING. Throw me a bone here Silent Hill. There's a huge lead up to the final part of the game....

and then there's nothing. 

Although I enjoyed the final "Otherworld" section, the winding down of the game into it's final moments was nearly enough to make me shut the game off in frustration. First of, the game hands out first aid kits, guns, and ammo like it's candy. Secondly, they give you a fucking gauntlet of enemies near the end. What the hell? What's more fun then defeating hoards of the weakest enemies in the game (yes, they put the weakest enemy in the final area of the game -_-) with a shotgun that the game practically begs you to take? Anything. Really.

The ending felt incredibly rushed, and that the developers just got plain lazy. It was developed with next to no thought, no difficulty, and nothing new from the rest of the game. I realize that I don't have much of a right to criticize, as making a game is no easy feat. But in comparison to other games in the series, this ending makes me shed angry fan girl tears. The ending had so much potential, and it was wasted. I wish it at least felt that there was some effort put in, but it feels as if no fucks could be given on the day that they developed the game's ending. I was left feeling almost robbed at the end of the game and was asking myself, "I solved all of those puzzles and went through Silent Hill for this?"

3. The supporting characters. 

I mentioned before that I loved Murphy, and it's incredibly disappointing that no other character in this game reaches a level of being likable like Murphy was.I feel that the character design was sloppy. There was no real focus on supporting roles, and the scarce amount of characters is also a shame. 

*sigh*

Characters that Murphy does run into only make an appearance once or twice, and offer little to no help. They speak in riddles, and all seem to know what's going on.. which is odd. The game has a lazy way of "killing" off characters, and some mysteriously disappear with no real explanation at all. The positive side to this is that it puts more focus on Murphy, and it gives a more "helpless" sort of feeling to the atmosphere. Every Silent Hill game has at least one memorable supporting character or antagonist.. but this game stands out from that, which is a shame, as characters are a large part of what makes Silent Hill so great. Just like the ending, there was potential, and it was flat out wasted. 

Even the main antagonists of the game weren't focused on all that much. While you get the general idea behind the antagonists and the role that they played in Murphy's life, they are not elaborated on much. No awesome boss battles, not a lot of confrontation, next to no focus, and most don't even get much screen time in the game. Silent Hill antagonists are famous for being evil, complex, sick, twisted human beings. They're even characters that you love to hate, and a part of you looks forward to their role in the story. Unfortunately, Downpour fails to meet this standard. 

Overall...

If the original Team Silent had been working on Downpour, I think that this would have turned great. It ranks nowhere in the tier of SH1, 2, or 3, but I still preferred it over Origins and Homecoming.

Although my criticisms seemed rather harsh, I feel that the game is still worth playing (at least once), and it does still include many of the "Silent Hill" aspects. If this is your first Silent Hill game, you may find it more enjoyable then I did, as I compared it to the rest of the games in the series as a whole. 

There is a LOT of room for improvement with this game, which is my main problem. The parts that they did well, they did really well. However, the same can be said about the game's negative parts. 

Feel free to let me in on your thoughts and opinions on the game, and I hope you all enjoyed this rather lengthy post.