In a season where Wii games are exceptionally rare, not to mention good
games, people tend to notice any sort of release. Instead of a new
Resident Evil adventure, Capcom chose to (yet again) re-release
Resident Evil 4 following the adventure of former cop, now secret
service agent Leon Kennedy and his quest to save the President's
Daughter. Now adapted for Nintendo's revolution, the Wii.
For those not already familiar, this review will be a mere glance back
at Resident Evil 4, and take the most notice of the controls and bonus
missions rather than go back over the game's story yet again. Taking
place in a foreign country Leon Kennedy is tracking the president's
daughter on a rescue mission. Apprehended by terrorists, Leon stumbles
onto a conspiracy to revive the now defunct Umbrella corporation with
the help of a thought-to-be extinct species of parasite called the Las
Plagas. The mission remains the same, but the inclusion of Wii controls
allows for a much more controlled and precise aiming method not
available on any other console. As with Metroid Prime 3, after playing
Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, it's extremely hard to jump to a normal
control pad controlled first-person shooter. Even though on any
controller the initial impression of the control scheme is “clunky” at
best it takes only a short while to become accustomed to the Wii
version and only a bit longer to start appreciating how good the set-up
really is.
When moving using the control stick, to aim all the user has to do is
press and hold “B” to enter the aiming mode. The camera then zooms in
to just barely over Leon's shoulder and the Wiimote then serves as the
aiming medium easily allowing the character to shoot arms, legs, or the
head of an enemy much faster and accurately than a standard joypad. The
inclusion of the Wiimote for aiming also allows Leon the ability to
instantly react to a flying projectile, simply hold “B” and aim for the
axe flying at his head and fire – all can be done in a split second and
virtually impossible to execute in the same amount of time on a
standard controller.
Reloading is even easier and much more intuitive than before. While in
aiming mode, simply wave the Wiimote up and down rapidly once and Leon
will reload his gun. This movement in a side-to-side motion when
walking or running will cause Leon to pull out his knife, which is
excellent for twitch reflexes when a zombie is right around a corner or
there is a box to break and ammo (like all great Resident Evil games)
needs to be conserved as much as possible.
Resident Evil 4 had this great game mechanic in which during a
cinematic input was required by the gamer in order to survive a
situation and then leaked into the game as a scripted dodge maneuver
for boss fights in real-time! That great bit of gaming survives into
the Wii version, and is arguably the most fun since instead of tapping
“A” to dodge, you'll actually be waving the Wiimote to jump out of the
way, shaking it back and forth to climb up from a ledge, or sweeping
down to duck as a sword comes at your head. The Wii version showcases
as many great uses of the Wii remote without over-doing it or feeling
like the controls were tacked on.
With the inclusion of “Separate Ways” the Ada side-missions to those
Leon was on, Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition is the best 30 dollar at
release title ever and certainly on the Wii. If you're looking for
something to do before the next big thing, grab Resident Evil 4 off the
shelf and have another go at those pesky zombies.
