The Evil Within 2

The sequel to Shinji Mikami's third-person survival horror game, The Evil Within, is a surprisingly clunky game - enemy monsters ascend ladders through you while you descend and they gnash impotently at the bottom of stairs unable to reach you and even when they can reach you, they all stagger around all the time across all sixteen or seventeen chapters all doing the same Thriller dance steps all with the same timing, making for very repetitive combat - and all this disappointing clunkiness is compounded by an overwrought 'plot' about parental guilt that makes the nonsensical Silent Hill seem like Shakespeare.

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

The Evil Within

Shinji Mikami, the man behind survival horror series Resident Evil brings us "The Evil Within" which initially gives the impression it will return gamers to Resident Evil's roots - there's a creepy mansion populated with monsters to shoot - but too quickly, nostalgic elements give way to a bloody horror story that doesn't really make sense and while the third-person shooting gameplay a la Resident Evil 4 and 5 is satisfying, it is only enjoyable in fits and starts with the choppy-changey horror story chapters too frequently interrupting the fun.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEW