Resident Evil 4

Year: 2005
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Console Played: Playstation 2

Being a massive fan of the first 3 Resident Evil games and having grown up with them, I was super excited about all the hype Resi 4 was getting, especially after the incredible leap to PS2 that was Code Veronica. Now I heard it was going to be different, which would make a change from all of those "SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE" endings and such, but little did I know I was about to be absolutely BETRAYED!!! I'm all for things trying to be fresh and change genre and such, but A) This game isn't remotely scary or intense, B) The storyline is dreadful (and story wasn't the Resi Evil strong point to begin with) and C) It's not even a survival horror game. It's something I just couldn't get passed. It's a shame because there were some great elements in the actual gameplay. The over the shoulder cam, the careful picking off of your enemies, the puzzles and locations were intruiging, and the visuals were spectacular for the time. However the story mode is repetitive and gimmicky, there is no Resi Evil atmosphere. I couldn't buy into any of the characters, especially Leon's sudden transformation from inept rookie cop to super acrobatic ass kicking gun toting badass. Ashley is one of the most annoying in game co stars, and the monsters feel more like something out of Lord of the Rings. And the Ganados?! Fuck, infinitely less cool than zombies, lickers and hunters.

At the time of the release and the rave reviews, I just felt everyone was like "ZOMG, they changed genres, therefore it's a masterpiece". But I would have actually preferred it if the developers had stuck to their roots and, you know... ACTUALLY MADE A RESIDENT EVIL GAME!!! This is so removed from Resi Evil that it should have been called something else altogether... Oh wait Capcom already did that with Devil May Cry, Onimusha and Dino Crisis, which you can tell blatently started off as Resi Evil games and just kind of drifted off course... As horrible as the story, characters and atmosphere of this game are, I DO think in terms of gameplay, and strictly gameplay only, this is a pretty good puzzle/platform/3rd person shooter game. Whilst it does get tediously repetitive at times, the game had a good difficulty curve at least. Some of the boss battles were hard as fuck and it does have its frantic "backed into a corner" moments, which is one thing that does carry over from the original games. The whole interactive cutscene thing was a popular fad at the time and it felt needlessly tacked on just for the sake of it. The most depressing thing is that I've only completed the main story mode once in my life. Ever since I have found the bonus mini game, Mercenaries much more playable, as it basically delivers just the platforming and frantic shooting parts that I actually liked, and cuts out all of the horrific story line and tediousness. I really don't even want to play the story mode again. When I think of Resident Evil, I dont think of creepy castles, Lord of the Rings style monsters, pseudo gothic fantasy bullshit, and Leon jumping off buildings and doing acrobatics and shit. How could they fuck up Resident Evil so bad?! All of the previous main games that involve zombies and actual survival horror are practically masterpieces that I still love revisiting even now. I seriously hope Resident Evil go back to their roots and rediscover zombies, otherwise my connection with the series will most likely become cut off.

Resident Evil 4 completly reinvented the series for better or worst. In my opinion, the tank controls had already been explored to their full potential, and were it not for RE4 i feel that the series would no longer be relevant today. Which is not to say that RE5, 6 and Revelations are all great games, because they arent. But this is about RE4, which is truely believe to be one of the most accomplished action adventure games out there. It doesnt quite work as horror game but i will get to that later.

You play as Leon, and its your job to be travel to a remote village in Spain and save the president's daughter. Being a resident evil game, of course that the villagers have been infected and turned into zombie like creatures. Extravagant villains and cheesy voice acting is also aplenty in this title. Leon is the ultimate corny witty line dispenser. Almost everysingle of his interactions with the antagonists or Ashley is memorable, just because of how corny it is. Its definitly one of those cases in which campyness makes the game better. The plot may not be very original, but the dialogue is completly bonkers and makes the game much more entertaining.

The gameplay is what really places RE4 on a class of its own. It features a take on third person shooter that hasnt really been seen in any other series. Instead of focusing on cover, Leon is limited on his movement when he is aiming. This makes the combat really intense because of the fastness of the enemies. The hit detection is brilliant, to the point of being able to shoot individual body parts or weapons the enemies are wieldings to get different effects. There is a huge amount of depth to this combat system, which really comes into its own in the higher difficulty settings and the mercenaries extra mode. Amazing core gameplay mechanics. The adaptable hidden difficulty is just the cherry on top of the cake.

The level design is damn brilliant, taking you in a joyride and offering one of the best pacing in a campaign i have ever played. The game is constantly introducing new enemies, bosses, weapons and challenges at the player. Just when you are getting used to the background, it shifts into a whole new area for the next level. There are a lot of secret items amidst these levels, besides the upgrade system and inventory management. Even the merchant is iconic in his appearances. Its one of those games that is hard to put down after you started because it nails the pacing of combat encounters and exploration so well. There are literally too many memorable moments to mention, but i have to name the intense fight with the regenerators and the invisible enemies.

The game does have some flaws though. The escort missions with Ashley tend to be rather annoying because she is an imbecile human being with no sense of auto preservation. You really have to treat her like a dumb cow. Some levels are definitly not as enjoyable as others, but again thankfully the game keeps changing the setting. Finally there is also the issue that the game doesnt really work as a horror game. Sure there is a lot of tension in the gameplay and scarcity of resources, but the same could also be said about a Devil May Cry game. The regenerators were truely the only enemy to frighten me, but it feels overal that the game treats itself way too jokingly to ever get the atmosphere of a great horror game.

There is a reason why this game is in greatest of all time series. Taken as a action game, things dont really get much better than this. It has a huge amount of challenge, an obscene amount of puns and dad jokes and one of the most polished third person combat system. It has aged excellently, only feeling a bit behind graphically due to the browns and greys textures. Dont play it expecting a horror game and you will have a blast.

The following review is an excerpt from my piece on both Resident Evil 4s. This excerpt covers my full thoughts on the original game.

When I started Resident Evil 4 (2005), I noticed the controls were weird. Tilting the joystick forward moves Leon forward, and tilting it left and right turns him from side to side. The player can make him do a quick turn by pushing the joystick back while pressing X. (on a PS5 controller). The player has to hold down the left bumper to pull out Leon’s knife and then use the right trigger to swing it. It is not possible to move while aiming a weapon. The controls are clunky. But this control scheme works remarkably well for an action game with roots in survival horror. Enemy encounters are always tense because it is not easy to get away from them. This puts pressure on the player to make decisions and make them quickly. “How much ammo do I have left for each gun? What kind of weapon do I want to use? Should I try to kill this enemy or run past it to conserve ammo? Do I want to heal now and get some health back or wait until I find a red herb and heal fully?” These are all questions I have to ask myself while trying to land shots on enemies, and it keeps the gameplay constantly engaging. Even though Resident Evil 4 (2005) is the game that took the series away from its survival horror roots, the clunky controls help maintain the previous games’ tension in an action context.

The level design is varied and supports the controls' playstyle. The game has three main areas, the village, the castle, and the island. They all have their own unique set pieces, puzzles, and enemies. The village eases the player into the game as they learn the controls. The enemies are relatively simple. Most of them are plagas-infected villagers. Eventually, Leon will encounter chainsaw-wielding enemies that can kill him with a single attack. Some enemies carry throwing axes or dynamite sticks, but it is nothing the player cannot handle with a bit of planning and perseverance. The castle adds cultists with new weapons, plagas-infected dogs, suits of armor, and wolverine-like beasts that can slice the player in half if they aren’t killed using the weak points on their back. This area is filled with puzzles that use both Leon and Ashley, encouraging experimentation and exploration.

The game’s final area, the island, houses the game’s most action-packed moments. It feels like a warzone. The enemies are much more challenging now, and some have guns. The player has to duel Jack Krauser, another highly trained soldier, to the death. It also is home to an underground lab filled with Regeneradores, the only enemy in the game that legitimately scares me. The whole level builds to one final interaction with Lord Saddler, the game’s main antagonist, and the final test of the player’s skill. The game remains fresh and exciting to play throughout all three of these areas. There are no dull moments in Resident Evil 4 (2005). It’s filled with meticulously crafted level design and has a campaign that could only be rivaled by Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, another masterpiece from that era.

Resident Evil 4's gameplay is at its best when fighting bosses. The tension felt when fighting regular enemies is not even comparable to the bosses. The bosses test the player’s mastery of the game’s combat. Leon is just one guy with a few guns, and the bosses are giant monsters of bioterrorism. The bosses require the player to get aggressive even though they seem outmatched. Players must land shots on the bosses, often at specific weak points, while dodging melee and projectile attacks, manipulating the environment to their advantage, and managing resources. Every boss is well-tuned to the game’s combat, and they are all thrillingly fun to fight (except for U-3, that boss sucks).

While Resident Evil 4's gameplay is just about perfect, the story is a little dated. Most of the characters are paper-thin. They have a pretty standard representation of their archetypes. Ashley is a scared and sometimes irrational young woman who acts like a spoiled teenager, fitting for the President’s daughter. Luis is a side-kick Leon can never truly trust, and he’s “great with the ladies” (In 2005, this just meant he would make uncalled-for comments about women’s bodies, apparently) Ada is a femme-fatale foil to Leon. She’s intelligent and charming and can easily manipulate Leon despite her betrayal of him in Resident Evil 2. The game’s villains are also one-note. Lord Sadler is the mastermind behind the organization, a zealot cult leader who controls just about everything. Ramón Salazar is the clear standout; he’s short, has a silly hat, and antagonizes “Mr. Kennedy” throughout the castle. Bitores Méndez is just… sort of there?

The plot itself is relatively simple. Leon Kennedy, a survivor of the Raccoon City outbreak from Resident Evil 2, now works for the feds and needs to save President Graham’s daughter, Ashley, from a cult in Spain. There is a bit more to it that ties the game into Resident Evil’s greater lore, but most of it is not explored in the game’s original release. What Resident Evil 4's plot lacks in complexity, it more than makes up for in charm. The game is full of B-movie humor, witty one-liners, and over-the-top scenes. So while I would not nominate the game for “best writing.” It more than gets the job done; the story presentation fits the game perfectly.

After rolling the credits on Resident Evil 4, I was thoroughly impressed. Despite being an eighteen-year-old Nintendo GameCube game, the gameplay had me just as engaged as the modern third-person shooters it inspired, like The Last of Us. I could easily see why it’s regarded as one of the best games of all time, and I think it is easily one of, if not the best, game on the GameCube.

Resident Evil 4 is an ok video game, I wouldn't go much further than that. Nonetheless, it's influence on gaming was immense, and the game deserves recognition in that respect. The experience itself however, leaves a lot to be desired.

This game's controls put off a lot of people and that's not necessarily surprising, there are very few other games that control like this. Though like a lot of games with odd control schemes, it's pretty easy to get used to after a while. I won't go as far as some people to say that the controls being this odd somehow adds "tension" to the game, but I will say that they are more than tolerable after you get used to them.

My biggest gripe with this game is just how exploitable it is, even on professional difficulty, combat is mind numbingly easy once you learn the cheese: shoot the head, kick, knife and repeat. It is objectively optimal to approach almost every single Ganado encounter in this manner and after about 4 hours of this, the game just gets boring. There were really only a handful of challenging rooms in the whole game and practically all of them are in the infamous "5-4" section, or they involve the dreaded Novistadors.

It also doesn't help that this game just feels way too long, especially as a game that is designed to be replayed. I understand that speedrunners can whip through the game in less than two hours, but a casual play through where you attempt to see all you can in the game is likely going to last more than 12 hours. This to me is just too long for a game that stresses "replay-ability."

The story of this game also gets a lot of love from the game's diehard fans and while I definitely see the appeal, it is very cheesy and often times comically poorly written. Lines like "You may be able to prolong your life, but it's not like you can escape your inevitable death, is it?" really stick out like a sore thumb. The only really likeable characters in the game are Leon and Luis, the latter getting killed off pretty early. The rest of the characters are either completely devoid of personality or just irritating. Except for Mike though, he knew a good bah.

Another thing in this game that is just completely botched in my opinion are the boss fights. Every single one of them save for Saddler and Krauser (the latter ONLY on professional difficulty) are complete pushovers. Del Lago is just Del Lago, Mendez dies to a few incendiary grenades, they literally give you a rocket launcher in the castle to deal with Verdugo, and Salazar can be dealt with in less than two minutes with a few magnum bullets. It's a real shame because all of these bosses have incredibly striking designs (with the exception of Del Lago) but they just don't present enough of a challenge in my opinion. Also the Rocket Launcher is so ridiculously cheap in this game if you make any effort to find all the treasures, so buying a Rocket Launcher to instant kill a boss isn't the tough decision that it should be.

Resident Evil 4 is not a bad game by any means, and I would even go as far as to recommend it to folks who haven't played it before, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I find this game to be overrated.

Played this on the Wii. It was the first Resident Evil game I've played and I am seriously impressed!

This game has a very large ambitious scope, constantly mixing things up with new enemies, weapons, areas, sidekicks and boss fights. It even has a small section where you play as the unarmed Ashley . As a result things never get tiresome and it felt like a huge game despite taking only 20 hours to beat.

The characters are all great, with brilliant voice acting and cutscene animations. The story has a cheesy feeling to it, which it pulled off effectively. Leon is great, he's a total badass and has a constant supply of funny one liners. I'd honestly say this game was better than most horror movies I've seen.

The scariest part for me was probably the water room fight as I was constantly being attacked by hordes of enemies while also having to worry about keeping Ashley alive. I ran out of pistol ammo during the Ashley lever part so died a ton trying to use the rifle instead (which doesn't use the wii motion controls for some reason).

Towards the end, the game changes from being scary and instead shifts the mood to being badass. You are no longer fighting scary villagers and cultists but soldiers, and a big Helicopter comes to fight alongside you as you rip through tons of enemies that no longer pose much of a threat.

The only thing that really showed its age was the clunky tank controls, which definitely took a while to get used to. If you want to run backwards or dodge an attack, you'll have a hard time. However, strangely this downside did make the game scarier for me as the less control I had, the more frightened I was to face hordes of enemies.
Towards the end I constantly was low on ammo, and every barrel gave me either herbs or gold which I already had tons of. It would've been better if you could buy ammo from the Merchant.

I played this game to death as a child and still continues to play today.

this game has everything i wish from a video-game:
fun gameplay, atmospheric and immersive level design, great soundtrack and cool characters.
the iconic moments of this game are insane! there are countless of funny, over the top cutscenes and dialogues.
I think the replay value is so strong for a number of reasons: the combat is so good and responsive and the level design is so fluid with so many layers of madness.

turns out the remake is fantastic too, did all the justice of this masterpiece of a game.

11/10