‘Crow Country’ Review
Developer: SFB Games | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 5:05 | Platinum: 6:55
If you had told me 15 ish years ago that I would end up a massive fan of games like Resident Evil, I’d have been very happy. I wouldn’t have been able to articulate it but it would have been knowing I was part of an ‘In Crowd’ who enjoyed less mainstream games than the Call of Duty and FIFA’s of teens. Now I know that’s ridiculous obviously but you know, dumb kid. Crow Country isn’t Resident Evil, but it’s the closest thing to it.
The game stars a young agent by the name of Mara who has come to visit Crow Country – the old abandoned theme park in search of Edward Crow, the founder who has since gone missing. The story unfolds as you play through the characters you meet throughout the park. The story and Mara’s connection to the park is fairly obvious pretty early on but is told well enough to carry things along. The final reveals certainly take a turn I wasn’t expecting, so credit where it’s due.
The entire game takes place in the park in each of its themed zones, unlocked through the use of the keys. If you’ve played Resident Evil 2 Remake you’ll understand the pacing here. Provided you’re purely going for completion you’ll still be going back and forth between areas to solve puzzles but it’s not until you go for all 15 of the games ‘Secrets’ that you’ll truly see every nook and cranny of the map. The locales have a good flow to them and there’s one or two aha! Moments where shortcuts wrap around to familiar places.
The games approach to difficulty is my only criticism of the game. Naturally there’s monsters knocking about the park who are all fairly weak. You don’t have to worry about your Crimson Head equivalents here. As you progress through the game, more monsters spawn as do more powerful variants in larger numbers. Again that’s fine, the thing I don’t get is the game employing traps – Landmines, Fake Ammo, Sharp Chandeliers, Bear traps, acid spraying – why are any of these even here? Thematically some of them are bizarre and while they may promote more careful play, they’re just really annoying.
There’s something to be said for the more bitesize experience, and while the Resident Evil games that inspired it aren’t particularly long, Crow Country gets in, does what it needs to do and wraps it up nicely. If you’re wanting something a little more tame than the realistic horrors, something you can mop up in a long afternoon or something to tide you over until Resi 9 then I highly recommend giving Crow Country a visit.
