Beastly Battle: Binding of Issac: Afterbirth Plus Vs Anti-Birth!

Well, everyone knows that Downloadable Content can be the best thin to add on to a game or just pointless padding or a cash-grab by the gaming industry as their main focus. With the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, it's a remake of the first flash game with all the original DLC built in. Since it was controller enable, and not flash but C++ unlike the original build, it's highly recommended. However, the developers are either growing tired of working on the game and lost the idea what the original Isaac has done, or are only doing it for the pay. When they originally released Afterbirth, it suffered from so many bugs and issues, it burned the fans as they should have waiting for the game. And as I type, Afterbirth plus has committed the same sin but worst as it made changes to the gameplay that no one has asked for. Meanwhile, a fan add-on has grabbed the attention as Anti-Birth changes the game in all the right way.

So how do they compete with one another? That's why they must face-off between one another in this review. The first thing off is how the DLC effects the gameplay. In After-Birth Plus, while there are around sixty items, twenty of the items are just reskins of the other items. What's worst is that the synergies have been heavily nerfed as the items were terrible than the last add-ons and if the play restarts when they feel like the run is bad enough, the game counts that as a death and achievements are disabled on normal, none-cheat mods.

However, Anti-Birth is a Add-on that not only made with balance in mind, but makes changes that The Binding of Isaac Rebirth really needs. While there are some copies within the add-on and some items do cancel out others, items like ice tears, missile in a jar, the bowl of tears, and other of the new 50+ weapons synergies with even the past items from the Isaac game. There's even new holy items that as just as good as the hell items from the vanilla game, adding a certain balance that was needed for some time ago. The game feels much more balanced, making Hard mode true to it's name, as it also adds new unlocks for the players as well. This is how an add-on should be made.

One of the biggest complaints about Isaac: Rebirth has music, while it did work for the atmosphere, it was NOT as memorable as the original as not only was it fitting, but very catchy as themes like the one for the shop was in the back of everyone's mind. There where some songs like the Mega Satan fight that stood out, but the basic level music is the easiest music to forget about. Thankfully, Anti-Birth is not only fitting but very catchy as well to the point that the soundtrack might as well be bought from Soundcloud. Thank you, Mudeth. This great soundtrack and for 2 dollars, it is worth it plus more!

The final point is the bosses within Antibirth Plus, as there's only four new bosses and only one new character within the add-on. The new bosses are basically glorified boss versions of the previous enemies with the exception of having random attacks. While the bosses fit the theme of delirium, which is the final boss of the add-on that shifts itself into other bosses, the design feels entirely lazy as the maps and enemies as if they copied and pasted the coding with little to no heart into the content. It feels like the DLC was not worth the full price.

Anti-birth adds PLUS FIFTEEN bosses and two new characters which are very unique and different, as well as new enemies that will give players a new challenge that fit the stage that they originate from. These bosses were made creatively as their patterns are much more thought out as if the players remembers how the boss attacks, it's bearable and even fair. There was thought put into these bosses and they are challenging yet balanced, making all the new bosses memorable and fun!

Honestly, Anti Birth was made with love! Something that the current developers lost as The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth lost that after they worked on the game for too long. In fact, there is gospel that the company might actually make Anti-Birth might become an official Add-on for Rebirth. It's clear that Third-Parties are what is keeping rebirth alive. While After Birth + does allow mods, they are considered cheats and can ruin the experience for very picky completionist. If anyone wants to get AfetrBirth Plus, wait for it to go on sale. Anti-Birth is for free, and it goes highly recommended!


Anti-Birth wins, hands down.

Beastly Byte: Resident Evil 7; The Soft Reboot or The Binding of Ethan

     After three years of a missing wife, the main protagonist Ethan runs off during work to save Mia from the clutches of redneck America. Ethan travels to Dulvey, Louisiana, to a worn-out manor of the Baker residents and is trapped and must escape the evil lurking within. However, Resident Evil has not been innovated since Resident Evil 4 and many fans feel that the mechanics and gimmicks of the game did not age well. Let's not mention the what happened afterwards because of the lost of focus on Capcom's part! Will this game be able to re-innovate the horror franchise, even though it barrows from past games like Outlast meets Resident Evil HD?

Positives:

• The game actually use elements of horror with only small moments of jump-scares
• Saw the missed potential of the cancellation of Silent Hills and took advantage
•  The 3D options make the horror experience deeper
•  The limited inventory from past Resident Evils helps the horror via item management
• Over four (the quickest normal run) to over six hours of game-play
• A crafting system to help add the feeling of survival 
• High quality SFX audio and an actual realistic flashlight in a horror game
• Has the charm of horror of each of the Bakers
• Classic Safe-Room music magic and horror music
• Cleaver use of shadow puzzles
• Well played scripted events that keeps everyone guessing
• The Bakers stalks the player in Madhouse difficulty, adding to the already added challeng

Negatives

•  The other half of the game drags on for way too long and is boring
• The common enemies of the game , while not zombies, are bland and repetitive
• There's only three bosses that reoccur as rematches within the game
• One boss is coming soon in a free DLC, so players have to wait
• The background looks out of the PlayStation 3 graphics
• Some of the voice-acting are mixed at best, molded cheese at worst
• The Game unlocks can make the hardest difficulty too easy with practice 
• The PlayStation 4 pro is needed for 60fps
• The PSVR option give players the worst motion sickness
• Could have been a game on it's own if Resident Evil didn't need a shot in the arm

Grade: B

     While I do want to give it an A Grade , the minor problems is what decided the final grade of the game. However, this is the focal-point that Capcom really needed to find! This game is the best possible way to go back into survival horror as the franchise. While Inde-devs helped keep the genre alive and Capcom took note from these games and famous horror movies to the point of almost plagiarism or tribute, this is a horror game the fans have been hungering for. Will it be dated as Resident Evil 4 is slowly falling into? Only time can tell. For now, Resident Evil 7 is a great Rent-to-own for the counsel players and an absolute buy for those who are planning to get it for their PC.  Hopefully, Capcom is willing to push ahead and learn from their mistakes. Until then, hope that the industry can learn to not acting like Konami and Actionvision.