Resident Evil 4 has been a long time coming. First said to be released
on the Playstation 2 back in 2000, then later being made 4 different
times. The first attempt at Resident evil 4 was Devil may cry. Devil
may cry was originally planned to be Resident Evil 4, but according to
the creator the game strayed to far from the past Resident Evil games,
so it was turned into a new project. The other notable version seen by
public eyes would have to be what Capcom dubbed as “Resident evil 3.5”.
This was the game that was shown at E3 that we all saw, and many loved.
The game took place in a mansion, with Leon as the main character. The
trailer’s footage consisted of Leon being attacked by a ghostly figure
with a razor sharp hook. The game showed promise, yet ultimately it was
decided that Resident Evil was in need of a reinvention.
The gameplay in past Resident Evil games was not their strong points.
The past games had you controlling your character as if he/she were a
tank, with blind and akward camera angles. There needed to be change,
but could such drastic change completely change the feel of the game?
As I diehard Resident Evil fan since it’s original release in 1996, I
can definetly this is a Resident evil game. The story of Resident Evil
is going to be new from now on. Umbrella is said to be gone, but there
are mentions of them in the game. Without spoiling any part of the
story, all I can say is that it does retain the feel of the past games.
There are many surprising twists, so get ready for an entertaining,
while also fresh story.
The story of Resident Evil 4 follows Resident Evil 2's protagonist,
Leon S. Kennedy on his quest to save the presidents daughter from a
group of maniacs in a rural part of Europe. Old foes and friends will
be seen in the game again, along with some new faces. The games story,
while totally original, does fit in with the past games quite well, and
will please any old fan of the series.
The gameplay mechanics have been completely reworked. The old style has
been ditched and a new one implemented. The camera will take a slightly
to the left position behind your character, allowing you to see
everything around you whilst you witness the horrors around you. This
camera angle is really effective and really adds to the games feel. The
aiming system has also been completely reworked. In past Resident Evil
games, you had 3 options for shooting. High, medium or low. This is not
the case in Resident evil 4. The aiming system is an over the shoulder
view allowing you to shoot the enemy in key hit zones, and overall
really just looks great, and is very realistic. Leon’s hand will shake
when aiming, as any humans would. Not only does it add to realism, it
adds to the challenge. There are endless interaction possibilities in
Resident Evil 4. After shooting the enemy in the head, the enemy will
be dazed. That is your change to perform a melee attack. Depending on
where you shoot the enemy, a different melee attack will be available.
If you shoot the enemy on his knees, you can perform a suplex. This
basically has Leon grabbing the enemy and smashing his head into the
ground. The most common attack you will be able to do is a frontal kick
to the face. Another melee attack is a super kick from behind. Again,
when the enemy is on his knees, get behind him and kick him in the
back. All of these gameplay additions are truly wonderful.
Another gameplay addition that separates Resident evil 4 from it's
predecessors is the need of quick reflexes. During cut scenes, you
will, at random unexpected times, have to press a button combination to
dodge an attack, run from a boulder and many other actions. This
addition means that you cannot just set your controller down for a cut
scene, but actually interact with it. The button combination will
always be either R + L or A+B. You will never find a combination of R
+B or any combo that has a shoulder button or A,B buttons. Sometimes
you will also have to rapidly tap A or B, for running and other
actions. Also, if you die during one of these moments, you cannot just
go over to redo that same part and be ready knowing the combo they
asked last time. They, on almost every part, will be changed.
There are some things that I need to address however. There is no way
of quickly switching weapons. You need to bring up the inventory screen
during the action to switch weapons and heal your character. This is a
very minor problem however. The other thing I need to mention is that
while aiming, you cannot strafe left to right, or move at all for that
matter. That not only adds to realism as it would be very difficult for
a person to accurately fire a weapon while running, but it also adds to
the tension knowing you could be attacked at any angle. Another thing
is, most of the time you aim for the head and repeat. This can get
repetitive at times, but there is so much variety in weaponry and
actions that this can be almost completely over-looked. Another
disappointing aspect of the game is some truly lackluster and
simplistic puzzles. I've been with the Resident Evil series since its
beginnings, and I've come to expect challenging puzzles, and a wide
variety of them, all which were not present in this game.
Another of the most notable differences between Resident evil 4 and its
predecessors is that there is no more zombies, instead infected
villagers by the name of Ganados. The Ganados were ordinary villagers,
infected with a deadly virus that turned them into bloodthirsty
killers. The villagers will attack with an array of weapons. Most of
the weapons are however close range weapons. Axes are most common. You
will also encounter some other interesting weapons such as the ever
famous chainsaw, kamikaze villagers holding dynamite who will attempt
to grab you from behind, butcher knives and later in on the game you
will encounter other foes with different weapons, such as crossbows and
maces.
Another of the new additions Resident Evil 4 has made to the series is
the merchant based buying and selling of items and weaponry. Throughout
the game, enemies will drop money, as well as ammo. The currency (PTAS)
can be used when you locate a merchant to buy a wide variety of
specialty items such as first aid sprays and weapons. You can also
increase the power of your weapons by tuning them up at the merchants
counter.(all of which, of course cost money) Any special weapon you
unlock through mini games and other secrets in the game, are available
through the merchant.
Upon starting up the game you will notice amazing Graphical quality
with 480p support and a mandatory 16:9 Wide screen format. Those with
16:9 televisions will be able to have a full screen image, those
without will have two cinematic bars on top and bottom. The bars add to
the cinematic feel of the game and really look great. The graphics,
simply put, are some of the best, and probably the most realistic
graphics ever produced in full 3D. The game has some great texturing
and the characters use an insane amount of polygons. There are never
slowdowns, even when the screen has 20 some enemies all moving. The
water and fire in resident evil 4 are the best ever produced to date,
even surpassing that of a high end PC. The fire most notably looks so
realistic that it is breathtaking. All of these amazing features along
with a great atmosphere make resident evil 4 one of the most best, most
realistic looking games to date.
Another thing I would like to mention is some truly impressive enemy
AI. The enemies will duck while your aiming at them, side step, and
even shout out their plans at their comrades. They will surround you,
they will outnumber you, but a good strategy and a powerful weapon will
come in handy, of course.
The audio in the game is amazing as well. You have three options:
Stereo, Mono, and Dolby Digital. The sound effects are great. Each gun
sounds unique, the sound of enemies moving, floors creaking, running
water fire in the wind, terrain dependant footsteps, all of it just
sounds great. The music climatically rises when enemies are near, and
even the save rooms where you save your progress have an very soothing
sound to them. The voice actors are great and really fit the characters
appearance. The overall package is astounding. The only problem is
though that enemies speak in Spanish, which does many things for the
experience: It adds to it, yet it may confuse. You might really want to
know what they're saying, but with out knowing the tongue or looking up
the translations, you'll be clueless. However this is nitpicking at its
finest, I don't think will be a problem for most people.
The game spans 2 discs, in 3 different and unique settings. The game
will last about 20 hours for your first time through, but there are
plenty reasons to come back to it. Your weapons from your past
playthrough carry over, and the great enemy AI ensures for a challenge
each time. There are two difficulties in the North American version;
Normal and professional. Another great addition in the game is the
shooting range. You can go practice on targets, and each time you do
well enough you will receive a bottle cap statue of one of the
characters in the game. There are 20+ statues to collect, and each one
replays a certain phrase from that character. While all those things
are great, the real replay value comes from the mini games you get
after beating the game. Assignment Ada is a sidestory where you play as
Ada Wong, one of the characters from the game. Assignment Ada will last
anywhere to an hour and really ties up some of the loose ends from the
main story. Another minigame called mercenaries also ads to replay
value. Mercenaries is a game where you play as 5 different characters
(I won’t spoil them) in various settings seeing how long you can last
against an onslaught of enemies. If you set high scores you will unlock
a special weapon you can purchase in the main game. This adds to replay
value making Resident Evil a game you won’t be putting down any time
soon.
Even though it may stray from its roots, Resident evil 4 brings in more
good than bad, and is definitely going to inspire many imitations. This
new gameplay mechanic will probably be the norm for survival horror
games. The engine is great, making the gameplay a lot more intense, and
even if you're an old-school Resident Evil fan, you'll love this game.
Flaws aside, Resident Evil 4 is great. The action and the unbelievably
high production values of Resident Evil 4 make it an experience that
should not be missed by anyone, and make it like nothing we've
experienced before.
To call it the best game in years would be an understatement. Resident
Evil 4 has got to be the best game I’ve played to date. Resident Evil 4
will take it’s rightful place with such greats as Resident Evil(1996),
Resident Evil 2, final fantasy 7, Ocarina of Time, half life and other
timeless classics. There is few words to describe this game other than
masterpiece. Shinji Mikami, the brains behind RE4 has done one hell of
a job and deserves a lot of praise for his work, as does the whole
development team behind Resident Evil 4.There is no denying the quality
of this game. Resident Evil 4 is sheer brilliance, and anyone who has
labeled themselves a “Gamer” needs to play this game, period.
