Evil Dead: Regeneration Review

Played Evil Dead Fistful of Boomstick prior to this and didn't get very far since it tried to be a combination of a third person shooter and a survival horror game and didn't commit to either. Evil Dead Regeneration on the hand is Devil May Cry meets Ico. This game was borrowing from the latter before it really started to take off later on with games like The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite and so on.

As far as Devil May Cry clones are concerned, Evil Dead Regeneration is easily on of the better ones up there with games like the Van Helsing video game all though the former has ideas that separate from DMC like aforementioned comparison to Ico.

One of the most interesting thing about the game is character of Sam. Where with many games that are escort quests like with Ico or TLOU, you have a case of consantly watching over Yorda and making sure she won't get kidnapped by the shadow monsters. It doesn't help the game has many combat encounters where you are meant to control a character who can't fight. TLOU has a case where the game world won't acknowledge friendly npcs unless if Joel is seen.

Evil Dead Regeneration solves both these issues where Ash controls much like Dante from DMC so the frequent combat encounters are more enjoyable and Sam is immortal so you won't have to worry about getting a game over when dying as him. Sam can also be useful in combat by distracting enemies and you being able to kick him into them as well.

One of the most fun part of Regeneration is when you play as Sam and seeing how many over the top and hilarious death animations Sam has after solving a puzzle as him before controlling Ash again.

There's also a surprising amount of conversations Ash and Sam have during gameplay too which keeps things lively rather than empty.

Combat itself is very similar to DMC. Ash has projectiles with unlimited ammo and one of the most fun things about the game is shotgun juggling with the ragdoll physics the game has. Enemies also can't die from just hitting them so you need to scripted finishing moves to actually kill them and they are a lot of fun to watch. Similar to the melee takedowns from God of War minus the QTEs. An aspect neither in DMC or GOW like being able to hit enemies while they are down.

There's even a rage mode Ash gets which is similar to Rage of the Gods but is obvious riff on Devil Trigger and it's just fun to watch Ash tear things up in this form. Bosses can beaten in short work depending on how efficiently you use this mechanic.

A big critcism is that I didn't even know Ash had a move list until you get to The Woods level. Trying to do the guard break on enemies can feel very awkward to pull off too. You also don't get many of the weapons until good while into the game. It starts to open up more and more when you get the harpoon gun when you are in the Mines level. Unfortunately you don't get all of your weapons until Port Turnham Shipyard level and by that point there's only two major levels in the game left.

Two of the biggest problems are how many times the game reuses the "escort Sam 3 times to open a door to the boss level" objective throughout the whole game. It can be very annoying since while Sam is immortal, but if he "dies" while getting charged up a by spirit, you have to do it again which can be very tedious and the game does become the babysitting escort quest that games like this or feature it can become. Save points are plentiful but most of the challenge comes from these sections. 

The biggest issue however is the story or should I say, it's a pilot episode of a TV show. The entire game is Ash breaking out of the Asylum, trying to rescue Sally and stop Dr. Reinhard. The game is well acted and entertaining enough that it's not completely insufferable but at the same time, barely much of anything happens in this whole story. Almost to the point where it feels like a side story. No big twists, no moments of character development, it's just Ash and Sam getting to Dr. Reinhard, they stop him, save Sally game ends. That's it.

This is where unfortunately where the game gets let down. Outside of being an Evil Dead fan, there isn't much of anything here that you want to come to game to. In 2005, there were your obvious heavy hitters like Devil May Cry 3 and God of War but there was also Prince of Persia the Two Thrones, Hulk Ultimate Destruction and Genji Dawn of the Samurai as well.

Overall, while Evil Dead Regeneration is a solid licensed game, I just wished there was meat to it's bones like a story with more going on and a more evenly paced campaign. Still it's worth checking out if you are mildly curious.