“Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” was an absolutely brilliant game. It brought together the best elements of the classic and modern “Resident Evil” games while still adding new ideas into the mix. Then, it was followed up with the DLC pack “Banned Footage, volume 1” which added three creepy and exciting new gameplay modes. So here we are at the release of the second DLC pack, “Banned Footage, volume 2” (or a week before its release still if you aren’t playing the game on PlayStation 4). I’ve got high hopes for this one.
Let’s start off with the comedy option, “Jack’s 55th Birthday.” This is a very odd new mode. In it, the player has to retrieve food for Jack (patriarch of the cannibalistic Baker family), who is still hungry after his big birthday dinner. The player runs through the house trying to find food to satisfy Jack. The player is judged by how quickly they can get this done, while gaining extra time for shooting enemies. If you do well, you can unlock new levels to find food in or bonus skills to make the game easier. In this mode, all of the molded wear silly hats and bleed confetti. Jack is dressed as a clown. Much like with “Ethan Must Die” from the first DLC pack, this seems like something that would have just been a fun little extra in an older game so it feels a little weird having to pay for access to it. The mode itself is kind of fun, but Jack’s dialogue gets really annoying really fast because he just keeps repeating the same few lines. This one’s not a winner.
The next mode, “21” left me at something of a loss for words to describe it. It’s like someone decided to mix blackjack, “Saw,” and some other thing I can’t quite put my finger on. The basics of the game are just like those of blackjack, but with only 11 cards in the deck. Then instead of betting money you bet having fingers cut off or other similar tortures. You also get “trump cards” which are pretty much standard video game power-ups that give you things like “the bet increases by two for your opponent” or “return the last card you drew to the deck.” I have no idea why this mode exists. It isn’t scary, and it isn’t a very good card game… It’s just truly baffling.
The last new feature, “Daughters” isn’t really much of a new mode. Instead it’s just a brief little bit of back story that can be played all the way through in less than fifteen minutes. This one definitely feels like it was content cut out from the base game so that they could sell it as a paid add-on later. Perhaps its worst sin though is that it’s just so unnecessary. The transformation of the Bakers into the monsters we see in the base game was a wonderfully creepy mystery. This mode shows that the whole thing happened in about ten minutes and it was all very over-the-top and kind of cartoony. If this was cut from the base game, it probably would have been better left on the cutting room floor.
Well this one was a huge let down. This DLC pack has all of the problems that I worried the first pack would have. Worse than that, it’s actually more expensive than the previous pack. So you pay more and get a lot less. But I guess if for some reason you wanted a really bloody blackjack video game, boy does Capcom have something for you.
