Okay so I took the day off work and plowed through the new Resident Evil game and hot damn is it awesome. Most surprising was the story, which was actually rather fun and engaging, and a helluva lot better than what I’d typically expect from the franchise. The game balances a lot of slow paced, exploration based gameplay not unlike classic RE games, as well as intense set piece moments and demanding boss fights. The campaign took almost 10 hours to finish, and it’s also packed with shit to unlock (guns, costumes, characters for Raid Mode, weapon upgrades, etc), and the game introduces one of the absolute most badass features in a Resident Evil game this side of Mercenaries mode, which is Raid Mode. Raid Mode is basically a wonderful action RPG take on RE, where you play through self-contained stages in solo or co-op, level up your rank, and find all kinds of loot like crazy upgrades for your arsenal of weapons, and all sorts of guns with randomized stats. The enemies even have life bars, and emit damage indicators when they get hit. Capcom’s next step should be to design an entire Resident Evil game like <i>this</i>.