Resident Evil 4 (2005)

I’ve played the original RE 4 many times over the years - GameCube, VR, and now the Ultimate HD edition on PC (which I can’t recommend enough). It was my first Resident Evil, and the only one I had played as a child. It’s a legendary game that undoubtedly changed the gaming landscape forever.

It is a bit bittersweet, as this game effectively killed 90/00’s survival horror. That classic style is luckily having a crazy indie renaissance, but AAA probably will never touch it again. I am a case in point for how timeless those games are- having only played the originals during COVID in my late 20’s. So you can trust me, I have zero nostalgia for classic survival horror, I just think it’s a perfect genre.

But nevertheless, RE 4 has got some classic moments. The village is iconic, the castle is great, the island? Well.. it drags. This is one thing that still doesn’t work for me and I have to give credit to the remake for massively tightening up the Island pacing and actually making it fun.

This is far from my favorite Resident Evil, but it is still a great game and I am sure I will revisit it many times to come. The remake was pretty faithful, and I do ultimately prefer it, but the original just has a ton of charm and is still worth pulling out from time to time.

I do highly recommend the PC version with the Ultimate HD mod though, as well as the VR version which was absolutely terrifying.

I played the Steam version which is not quite the original (from a graphics perspective). The game hooked me from the start, it's quite a different experience from the first 3 Resident Evil games. However, I really enjoyed my time. If anything, I found it just a bit long (maybe I'm biased by the first games which were less than half this game's length).

I would definitely play it again, and I would try the remake as well.

This is the first game in the series so far in which I felt like I was incapable of completion at some points. (Water room, two gigantes, and two blind pig room being the notable ones). I pushed through though because Leon being cheesy was enough motivation.

I adore this game and I'm so glad I got all the way through it even though it challenged me !

At its best, RE4 offers some of the most exciting moments in the series, wrapped in older-style but fun gameplay, gripping atmosphere, and hilarious B-movie one-liners. At its worst, it loses the fun factor as it leaps over the lines of ridiculousness and annoying design. These issues hold it back from being the series’s absolute pinnacle, but despite frustrating moments, it’s clear why this is held in higher regard than the next couple sequels.

One way this game separates itself from its predecessors is the heavy emphasis on action, which is often shown through encounters with large numbers of enemies. Honestly, sometimes they are just not fun, but other times, especially later in the game, they feel exciting as you handle different enemy weaknesses, ammo scarcity, and occasionally the health bar of a weak companion.

A room I’ve now learned is infamous among fans (the “water room”) is a great example of how the game puts a fun kind of pressure on you to handle these varying demands as you fight enemies at varying distances while under a lot of pressure. The game is great at offering visual and auditory cues during these moments of what you need to do.

I generally like how the game just throws you right into the fire with minimal tutorialization, because really, it’s not a super hard game (there’s not even an easy difficulty), it’s just one that always demands you react thoughtfully to what it throws at you. That said, there are some frustrating unexplained sections, particularly some of the scripted action sequences that I ended up having to repeat a couple times, and some puzzles were either too easy or too hard for me. Only a few really felt good, and that was an issue I also had with a couple other RE games.

Bosses in this game generally felt underwhelming, especially when recycled, but a couple stand out. Every boss in Chapter 5 and “The Final Chapter” is a lot of fun in my opinion. The story was occasionally just too stupid for me, with underwhelming characters whose main value was provoking Leon to say more funny lines. Ashley is a pretty grating character, and combined with her fragility in some combat, I can see why she is hated by some fans—but generally she is fine. Ada’s role seems intended as “mysterious” but I continue to just find it weirdly frustrating? She is a cool character though.

My last complaint is that the weapon switching and inventory management just feels tedious and pointless to me, god this game would benefit from the hotkeys and quick swaps of later games, and dropping the inventory tetris in favor of some auto sorting/organization.

Overall it’s a great experience let down by occasional frustrations, but still totally a worthwhile game.

Its pretty stupid (giant drill in the Castle, the hanging Container in the Fight against it, this weird roller you need to cross to get into the Lava Room in the Castle, ...) and full of deus ex machina Moments ( Ada and Luis), the Storytelling is entertaining but bad (those text massages and dialogues that explain literally everything like if its written for a 6 year old) plus Ashley is a horrible Damsel in Distress Character

but

as a whole i enjoyed it, it has most of the time a nice atmosphere, a good gameplay and a nice rhythm in the means of new Enemies, Locations, Puzzles and its as a whole pretty creative and i liked some characters (Leon, Mendez, Salazar)

so its actually a 3,5 out of 5

Yup this game definitely deserves the masterpiece status it has. Shinji Mikami really started a revolution with this one, and the fact that you can see its influences all over modern game design trends is a testament of how important and freaking amazing this game is.

It does everything so right. Hell, it even made fucking QTEs right. Combat is downright incredible and never gets old, story is silly and fun, Leon's one-liners made me cringe in all the right ways and the the linear level design worked a lot better for such an action packed game than the half open/half linear design of Resi 3, in my opinion.

The RE atmosphere is still there, although not as heavily as the other entries in the franchise that I've played (REmake, 2 and 3). That leads me to the only major gripe I have with this game (apart from that weird 007-like track from the OST lol): it missed the chance to be a lot more spooky.

There was a moment at the village where there was a Ganado hiding inside a tiny bathroom and that made me jump out of my seat! What I'm trying to say here is that even without the possibility to hide zombies out of sight due to fixed camera angles, Leon's field of vision is still kinda limited. That made me expect more moments like this, however, they never came. There were also a few very atmospheric creepy moments, like the one with the regenerator in the prison cell. It's a shame they didn't add some more like that. I understand the shift if focus though. The game is still kick-ass.

Feeling a big ole' 9 on fugazi57's personal enjoyment level here.

Resident Evil 4, for Xbox 360

Rating: 8.0/10; Great

Recommended for fans of survival horror and shooting

RE4 is a hybrid third person shooter/survival horror game, though it leans more towards the shooter aspect and is less of a horror game than earlier games in the series. Though the game has a good setting and enemies, it does not create the sense of tension and atmospheric fear found in the earlier games. Part of this is because the music is too intense and upbeat, failing to set an anxious atmosphere, and the other is the lack of jump scares and new enemies spawning in already cleared areas. A large part of the atmosphere in the earlier games was created by the appearance of new enemies when you try to backtrack, which helps create a feeling of never being safe and being on edge. This game does have a few instances of enemies spawning like that, but very few.

Upon starting to play, one of the first things noticeable is the poor controls. The infamous tank controls from the earlier games, that being the character is only able to move forwards and backwards (and turn) while being completely unable to sidestep/strafe; as if you were driving a vehicle instead of being a person. This control scheme was a pain in the ass in the earlier games, and it is even worse now in a fully 3D game. Seriously, this game came out in 2005 and they could not be bothered to set up decent controls as found in countless other shooters? On top of this, the camera is too close to the character, movement and aiming are bound to the same analog stick while the other is used to adjust the camera (which never stays still because it constantly fights you to return to center position and is overall disorienting), you cannot move and aim at the same time, and your view recenters any time you are not actively aiming (so moving up just a little bit to get into knife range of that prone enemy wastes precious time forcing you to look down again). So many simple things that any normal human can do easily, yet cannot be done at all in this game.

Combat is fairly good and does add to the horror of the game. Only the rifle has a proper shooter view (in this case a scope), though it does have significant idle sway. All other weapons have a laser sight and significant idle sway, which makes it difficult to hit small targets (such as heads). This encourages aiming for center mass and not fighting at long range. However, there is something off about the laser aiming which I have a hard time putting my finger on. The laser beam does not seem to always go where it seems to, so it cannot actually be used to aim. Instead, you have to move it around until a red dot appears on the target at which point you will hit. It is not at all like laser sights in other shooters, and takes quite some time to get used to.

In addition to the jittery aiming, some enemies become more powerful if you shoot them in the head, giving more incentive to shoot for center mass. I don’t have a problem with not being able to move and shoot at the same time, though not being able to move with a knife drawn is dumb. Enemies who have their own melee weapons are too dangerous to get into a melee fight with (which makes sense), though it is a pain to run up to a crossbowman and then get shot in the face because you had to take the time to stop moving and bring up your knife. You can also use a context sensitive button prompt to do a kick attack on staggered enemies, though this is not a good system. It would be better to have a designated kick button that you can use whenever you want, but it will only have a good outcome if you time it correctly.

By far the worst part of this game is the multitude of quick time events. Some are simple, such as waggling the stick back and forth when an enemy grabs you or pressing X repeatedly to turn a crank. These simple ones are not too bad, though I would prefer not to have to press buttons in quick succession to progress. Bosses have certain powerful attack that can be dodged by pressing the buttons that show on screen. The game randomly chooses between 2 button sets and only gives you about 1 second to succeed. At least there is no penalty for pressing the wrong buttons. Failing these QTEs will result in taking damage, but healing items can be used as a crutch against it. A more fluid and easily controlled control/combat system would completely eliminate the need of having these QTEs. The worst show up during cutscenes, where you have to press the correct buttons or game over. Quick time events have no place whatsoever in video gaming, and ruin what is otherwise an amazing game.

Apart from the shooting gallery mini game in the main campaign, there are 4 additional things to do after beating the game. Assignment Ada is a short and simplified campaign which seems like it is not canon and just for fun. There are no save points (though you can checkpoint save). It is fun, though flaws include quest items taking up inventory space and a boss fight that is a repeat from the main campaign and Separate Ways. Separate Ways is a full campaign (though not as long as Leon’s) where you play as Ada. It follows in parallel to Leon, though there are times when Leon is around at the same time you are. I know I did not waste as much time and ammo as AI Leon! She goes to most of the same areas, solving some of the same puzzles, looting some of the same loot, and fighting some of the same enemies. It is fun, though conceptually does not make a whole lot of sense. The campaign is harder than Leon’s because it is more combat heavy, but it also has fewer quick time events. Ada dies more easily, but can move a little faster. She can reach new areas using a hookshot, and is not able to upgrade weapons, while also only using a limited subset of available weapons (including 1 unique to her). Mercenary mode is a timed score arena battle mode. Lastly, there is newgame+ with new weapons unlocked.

Resident Evil 4 is a very well made game and would be deserving of a masterpiece rating if not for its flaws. The few things about this game which are bad are exceptionally bad (quick time events and controls).

Pro

• Immersive environments
• Good characters, dialogue and story
• Accurate aiming is rewarded; bonus damage, stuns, weapon disarm and deflecting projectiles
• Often able to lure enemies into creative environmental kills (such as traps and explosive barrels)
• Plenty of treasures (some hidden and/or requiring special action) that reward thorough exploration
• Good variety of enemies, with different weapons, and new types are continually introduced throughout the game at a good pace
• There are incentives not to shoot human enemies in the head
• Can rotate items in inventory
• Quest and treasure items do not take up inventory space
• Environmental challenges and puzzles
• Newgame+ with all items and upgrades carried over (unless you change difficulty)
• Lots of replayability with modes, newgame+ and special weapons
• Buying new weapons and upgrades is a tactical decision and encourages thorough exploration for money

Con

• Left stick controls movement and aiming
• Right stick controls a camera, which is restrictive and auto corrects to be nearly useless
• Camera recenters when switching between the look camera and aiming
• Camera too close to character
• Not able to move sideways
• It is hard to tell where the laser sight is pointing, as you have to move it around until a red dot shows up on the enemy
• Weapon is far too shaky, and does not steady with time
• Turn speed is a bit too slow
• No freeform dodge button
• Quick time events
• Many quick time events are game over if you fail
• Button mashing/stick waggling
• Enemy loot despawns (fairly quickly too)
• Items are destroyed if dropped
• No aiming indicator for grenades
• Time limits at some points, including 1 boss fight
• Ashley cannot carry stuff
• Ashley is annoying to control and easy to kill or have enemies take her. She is a liability
• “Are you sure you want to load this save?” Default is no
• Area maps are fully revealed, and show merchants and save points. There are no map items to find, and it hurts immersion and tension to know that there is a save point up ahead, or know what doors are locked before trying them
• If your inventory is full and you find bullets that could fit into one of your guns, there is no way to keep both those bullets and your entire inventory
• Not able to move and aim at the same time
• Save points (though there are frequent checkpoint saves and going through an area transition makes a checkpoint save; checkpoints saves are not kept if you exit the game). There is no in game indication when a checkpoint save occurs
• Random loot drops from enemies and containers are determined upon enemy death/area entry rather than fixed at start of game. Allows save scumming
• Enemies with throwing weapons (mostly axes) generate new weapons to throw. I could see having 2; one in hand and one holstered but not more
• Despite some enemies using crossbows and miniguns, there are no enemies armed with pistols, shotguns, rifles etc.
• The in game merchant hurts immersion a bit and is not explained well. He seems to be there purely for gameplay. How and why does he move to so many locations, seemingly following you around and even beating you to places? Is he infected? Why is he not working against you? Why do the other enemies not kill him? I think he makes less sense than the dimensional storage boxes of the earlier games
• Pressing up in some menus does not move to the bottom of the list, and vice versa

I got my first console in 2007, while I was in college. It was a used Gamecube a friend sold me after he got a Wii. He sent a bunch of games with it (god bless his soul) and one of them was Resident Evil 4. My fondest memories of the game are of me huddled in my bedroom, lights on, a laptop on my bed so I could consult a walkthrough every few minutes.

Yeah, I've never been good at video games, but now I can usually muddle my way through without being hand-held the entire time. But you know what, I don't regret one second of RE4. It wasn't quite a survival horror (as the series was before), nor quite an action/shooter (as the series became after), but just this neat middle ground. Ammo was scarce without being impossible to find (something I feel later releases of RE4 tweaked--I don't feel like I had to scramble for ammo while playing through the 360 rerelease, for example). Bosses required aiming and timing and a bit of puzzle solving, without feeling impossible. And the spikey guys! I still shudder with horror when I think about them.

It's a high I've chased with every other RE title, but none do for me what RE4 did.