If you’ve never heard of Resident Evil 4 before then you’ve been living
under a rock. There’s simply no need to bother you with the obligatory
introduction, as this is a game that needs no introduction: it simply
rocks. Whether or not you’ve played Resident Evil 4 before doesn’t
matter. The bottom line is this. If you loved the game on either the
GameCube or PlayStation 2, then you’ll love it even more on Wii. And if
you’ve never played it before, then you’ll finally understand why the
rest of the world is so in love with Capcom’s horror-adventure.
Capcom’s re-envisioning of its Resident Evil franchise resulted in
what you could argue is a masterpiece. The adventure features seamless
storytelling, and its plot is unlike previous games in the franchise. A
series of in-game cut-scenes and Metal Gear Solid-style radio
conversations push forth the story, which twists and turns throughout
its life.
The plot here, which opens with Leon S. Kennedy having to rescue
the president of the United State’s blonde daughter from mysterious
kidnappers, captivates, but the underlying gameplay is what almost
instantly hooks you.
Content-wise, this is a port. Let’s get that out of the way, and
let’s make sure you fully understand what it means. The game features
the same single-player mode and extras (like the Ada Wong “Separate
Ways” side-story mode) seen in the PlayStation 2 version. However,
there are some changes here that make this the superior version of
Resident Evil 4, such as the newly added Wii-mote controls. The new
controls, in short, are awesome. With the Wii-mote, you can simply
point and click to eradicate crazed villagers and zombie-like foes. The
new control scheme feels incredibly realistic, and at times you’ll
forget you’re holding a remote, not a real-life weapon. There are few
games that feature control that is fun in itself, but RE4 is one of
them.
Unfortunately, while the pointing controls are perfect, there are
some shortcomings when it comes to other control mechanics. Initially,
it can be difficult to control Capcom’s Wii port. The game requires
pressing and holding down multiple buttons at once, so it takes time
before you’re able to memorize the configuration. For instance, to
simply shoot at oncoming villagers, you have to press and hold the B
trigger, control Leon’s view with the analog stick, use the Wii-mote to
control the on-screen reticule and shoot with the A button. Once you’ve
mastered the setup, it’s no problem, but there is a bit of a learning
curve to manipulating Leon through crowds of crazies.
Some will find Capcom’s choice to separate turning Leon when he has
his gun pointed at enemies with the analog stick from aiming his weapon
with the Wii-mote disappointing. However, the design actually works
better than just about any other control scheme we’ve experienced on
Wii. Popping off shots at stumbling zombie-like baddies has never been
so intuitive or fun. Aiming at specific body parts is completely
feasible. For instance, you can shoot an approaching villager in the
head, and it will explode watermelon style. Or you can shoot him in his
left leg, and he will fall to his knees accordingly, allowing you to
run up to him and roundhouse kick him onto his back.
In both the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions of Resident Evil 4,
Leon’s knife was easily forgotten, but that’s not true this time
around. With the Wii-mote, you can simply shake the remote from left to
right, and Leon will whip out his knife and follow suit. Both a manual
mode, where you can aim where Leon slashes manually, or an auto-aim
mode are available. And there's more waggle -- many of the timed button
action sequences have been replaced with Wii waggle. The new waggle
controls here are appreciated, and they work very well.
If somehow you don't like the new Wii controls, at any time you can
simply plug in either the Wii Classic Controller or GameCube pad and
play with whatever you prefer -- a nice option.
Despite some winning design choices in regards to control, Capcom
has been lazy in other areas. For example, the item selection screen is
a direct port and hasn’t been updated to take advantage of the
Wii-mote’s pointing capabilities. Because of this, changing weapons
remains more complicated than it should be. Scoped weapons, like the
sniper rifle, meanwhile, are controlled with the analog stick and not
the Wii-mote. While this itself isn’t much of a problem, the jerky
sensitivity when aiming with these weapons is troublesome.
Outside of controls, RE4 impresses with memorable and varied level
design. For the most part, this is a travel from point A to point B
adventure. There’s some backtracking, but when you travel through
already-explored areas, there are often changes in place, such as the
time of day or weather, even.
Perhaps Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition’s biggest shortcoming is that
it’s a two-year-old game. The game doesn’t look nearly as impressive as
it did when it released on GameCube. Especially on HDTVs, textures are
blurry and objects are aliased. Occasionally, there is texture work
that manages to surprise with detail and realism, but there are just as
many instances of textures that look aged. Most impressive are the
character models here – both in detail and animation. There are many
re-used character models in place, but they all look great.
it would have been nice had Capcom updated the game’s visuals to take
advantage of the more powerful Wii hardware. But it would have been
nicer had it not cheaped-out on what appears to be a semi-fake
widescreen mode. The GCN version didn’t even run in widescreen on
widescreen TVs. Instead, it always ran in letterboxed 4:3. When playing
RE4 Wii on a widescreen HDTV, the game automatically runs in what
appears to be 16x9, but upon further inspection, we believe the
same-old 4:3 letterbox has been zoomed-in on, cutting off the top and
bottom black bars and thus creating what looks like 16x9. Because of
this, the game looks even blurrier due to a loss of detail. We popped
in the GameCube version of RE4 and used our TV’s zoom-in mode on the
4:3 letterbox and were disappointed to see what looks almost identical
to what Capcom tries to pass off as “true” widescreen in the Wii
iteration.
When it comes to reviewing a game like Resident Evil 4: Wii
Edition, which is at the end of the day just a port of something so
many played two years ago, it can be difficult. Do we even take into
consideration the fact that this is a port, or do we treat it as if it
just released today? The truth is, this is a port, and thus it is not a
new game to many. However, simultaneously, it is an opportunity for
those who missed out on it the first and second time around to
experience what is the definitive version of the adventure. Once all is
said and done, this is a must-buy for Wii owners who have never played
Resident Evil 4 before or simply want to relive Capcom’s magnum opus.
