Evil Logic

The logic of a puzzle can be problematic in a video game. In particular, I want to bitch about the Resident Evil series. I recently finished a playthrough of the original Resident Evil and then started up its sequel. Now in the original, insane puzzles line the mansion- involving various crests and armor-related keys. Considering the house was purpose built by a highly secretive company, I guess I can buy that. Now let's look at its sequel, which features a police station, a municipal building(!) with the same kind of puzzles. Now- don't get me wrong, Resident Evil 2 is one of my favorite PS1 games. But even in the context of a game where you have giant alligators, could a civil service building really run when statues have to be pushed and crests put in place just to get a damn door open? If the back door of the building was locked, the officers would have to plan a half hour ahead of time to find the pair of crests it would need to unlock the safe where the key to open the back door was. To say nothing of the outright bizarre architecture of the station, which features a squadroom that's separated by a courtyard from the detectives' offices, holding cells that are outside and in the basement, and no. Bloody. Bathrooms.

(I feel the need to point out just in case that my father was a career deputy and I visited a working police station many times in my youth. It looks like your typical office building with cubicles, just with a few more radios and gunlockers.)

The main problem I have is that in the Resident Evil series there is no justification for these puzzles. In a game like Silent Hill there's at least the excuses that the town is both built on chaos architecture and formed of people's thoughts and nightmares. Most graphic adventure games would cover the absurdity of the puzzles with humor or whimsy. But in Resident Evil? It's presumably taking place in what seems to be something like our own world. And come to think of it...half the characters you play in Resident Evil are military or police veterans. Shouldn't Leon and Chris be able to kick in doors? Or is that too difficult?

Well, at least that one is rectified in the more recent games.

And then...there's the inventory system. I'm very interested to know how three herbs on zigzag papers weigh/take up the same amount of space as a shotgun. Or why keys take up an inventory slot...really? Can't just stick 'em in a pocket?

Again, in recent games this problem has been better addressed, but it can make otherwise great games exercises in frustration. There is absolutely no reason I should be spending more time juggling inventory items than exploring a zombie-infested mansion!