Resident Evil 4 (2005)

There's no denying how much this game transformed gaming. And it's an extremely fun action game to boot! It's full of cheese and I guess it contradicts "canon" set up in RE 1-3, but that honestly doesn't bother me at all. Especially with how cartoonishly silly the RE plot is anyways. I honestly like that they double down on the nonsense in this game. Napoleon Zombie honestly rules and I loved all the silly and nonsensical traps, robots, bad one liners and overall camp. While I haven't played the RE 4 remake, from what I read I probably won't like it. Mostly because it removes the silliness of RE 4 and instead takes itself way too seriously. Which is the wrong move given how outrageous the RE universe is to begin with. I also heard they expand on the island chapters, which honestly is a bad thing because the island is where the game starts to overstay its welcome and kind of become a slog.

That all said, this feels like what they wanted to do with RE 2, but couldn't due to hardware limitations. Like RE 2, this has an action movie vibe and doubles down hard on that. Combat still has tank controls, but having precision shooting, smarter enemies and hordes of them really ups the ante. Combat is tense, but fair. There's a solid progression system that works for the game. Where you can overtime upgrade your weapons, buy/sell new ones and increase your HP as you find limited resources. There are puzzles in this game, but they take a backseat and are often pretty simplistic. Action is the name of the game and RE 4 is full of set pieces.

The game does have a few big difficulty spikes, which funny enough I loathed before starting my playthough. They were still as hard as I remembered. It's the opening gauntlet in the village and the defense in the house with Luis. These are great set pieces, but big challenges and stressful. Both occur relatively early on in the game, so it serves as a bit of a proving ground that you can beat the game. There are later set pieces that have more enemies and are more complex, but at those points you likely have upgraded weapons and abundant resources. Making them far less stressful and more manageable.

Escort quests can be polarizing, but I find the escort set pieces to actually be pretty good. Your given the option to hide Ashley in dumpsters or hold her position, and I rarely found her to be annoying. There's nothing remotely as complex or engaging as ICO, but it works for its simplicity and serves as a shake up to the combat loop in a good way. The only really silly thing is your forced to catch Ashley every time you climb down a ladder. She knows how to climb up but has no idea how to use a ladder to climb down!

I do like the Wii version of the game. The Wii mote feels good. I do have some gripes with the control schema though. First, it sucks they didn't set the trigger button to be the fire button. Feels like such a missed opportunity. Instead, the trigger button pulls up your gun to aim then you need to press A to fire. I understand why they did this mapping. The action button and the fire button are the same, it just swaps between the two pending on whether you hit the aim button. Swapping these buttons to be trigger and A respectively I think would have improved the controls. The bigger gripe is with aiming the rifle. For some insane reason they decided that you aim the rifle using the analog stick. It makes no sense and makes aiming the rifle feel so clunky. There's no good reason for this decision... overall though it still plays well.

Definitely holds up and is a lot of fun to replay. At some point I'll check out the remake, but no rush in my book. The original still plays great.

RE 4 (2005) in a sentence is a masterclass of action and shooter games that has had significant influence over the gaming industry, even 20 years after its release. Trying out this franchise was a big goal of my general idea of branching out genre wise this year (before this, the most real horror I had ever played was likely Lethal Company or a FNAF game lol) There’s a lot this game had to offer for the culture it was released into in 2005, and that impact remains prevalent and tangible even today due to a multitude of reasons. For one, you know QTEs? Those things every game has now where you quickly have to press a button or key to not die or meet some similar fate in a glorified cutscene basically originate from RE4 from everything I have heard (and even if this isn’t true, it was one of the first to significantly make it mainstream at the very least). And while it may seem obvious and perhaps even boring to button mash X when fighting off some bad guy in today’s day and age, that was SIGNIFICANTLY different then, and is just one example of how RE4 changed the game fundamentally.

Another prime example of this is the “over-the-shoulder” point of view for Leon Kennedy you get the entire game. While like QTEs, not the first usage of this, its presence in RE4 and how groundbreaking for the industry it went on to be pushed many shooters into fitting this category of perspective, with many games still operating this way as a result.

The biggest takeaway this game gave to the gaming industry as a whole was itself, and what that meant exactly. This game was coming out of a franchise that excelled at a different genre entirely. If you know anything about the early RE games, you know that they are dreary, gothic, cold horror games with a significant focus on atmosphere, scares, and true terror. These games got this RIGHT (with growing pains of course, but still), and so the franchise really had something going with this concept.

And yet this game comes along and says: “What if I was just an entirely different genre of game entirely?” This game serves as the divider for where this franchise went a decade after, trying to chase the massive success of RE4 afterwards, as compared to the slower, less combat-focused prequels. Some people even today dislike the game for setting the franchise in this direction (which is unfair to RE4 itself, but that’s a different conversation entirely) but when one considers the game independently for what it is and what it set out to be, it is INCREDIBLE how much it got right the first try. SO many significant industry norms were challenged and changed by this merely existing, forever altering the path of the horror industry, the action industry, and all shooters henceforth, which is an insane legacy for one game to have.

Transitioning more specifically to the gameplay specifically, there are a few things I’d like to discuss. For one, the essential loop of this game is unlike the previous RE games (to my knowledge, I have never played them). Rather than being more horror focused, RE 4 is more of a shooter with horror aspects. Not a single thing in this game scared me, but the general atmosphere in most areas inspired a kind of anxious feeling in me nearly the whole time (especially the laboratory at the end with THAT enemy shudders). Rather than run from a “zombie” (not actually zombies, but essentially are one in the same) in RE 4 you are encouraged to shoot your way through things, and while that makes things less scary, it is an effective loop in a different way, especially considering the more classic aspects of the series stay intact, like limited inventory and scarce ammo near constantly, stay intact here all the same despite the new direction.

Another thing gameplay wise I want to discuss is the label RE 4 gets of being a glorified escort mission, and how untrue that generalization is. In a sentence for context, you are tasked with rescuing the president’s daughter, Ashley Graham, from various forces. By some, she is compared to other icons of “annoyance” in gaming history, like Navi from Ocarina of Time or Baby Mario from Yoshi’s Island, to name a few. Given her frankly rather shrill voice acting in the original game and the fact she’s a woman, many hated her in the Year of Our Lord 2005 (because of course they did).

When you genuinely look at how she operated mechanically, I’m inclined to call her the greatest escort mission ever placed in a game. For one, she’s genuinely not really around a lot of the game in gameplay directly, maybe only 30% or so give or take. Second, she GETS OUT OF THE WAY! When you are shooting something, she’ll duck down and avoid getting hit out of stupidity like many other similar NPCs might, and she will try her best to stay out of the way and not be a nuisance. A great way to explain this is that in other escort missions, they can just die because something dumb happened, or something out of your control. Here, however, it is almost 100% YOUR fault if she is taken or hurt in some way, and that makes the game feel refreshingly fair given the (deserved) bad rep escort missions get most of the time.

Brief thing, but WOW is this game campy, my goodness. The cheesiness in almost every line is so thick you almost wonder if the devs are pulling your chain the whole time, but no, it stays this silly the whole time, and I adore it. A personal favorite to highlight this is the (apparently famous in the fandom) joke Leon makes here after the ringing of a church bell draws away the not-zombies from him: “Where’s everyone going? Bingo?” (Do yourself a service and look it up, hearing the delivery makes it so peak and hilarious) The remake apparently changes this aspect of the game and leans into its serious plot more, but the charm this level of cheese offers this game is genuinely so funny to experience blind, and I will not give any more examples of this to leave that spoiler up to you to find out, reader.

As a complete outsider to the series before this game, I was genuinely hooked on this game the entire week and a half I was playing it. I have never really played horror games before, never touched an RE title, and yet this was utterly superb in basically every aspect. HIGHLY recommended, truly, even coming from someone like me with little familiarity with games like this, it’s truly worth it.

It's hard to think of much interesting to say about this game that hasn't already been said. It's the most critically-acclaimed PS2 game and is widely considered one of the most influential titles in video game history. I have to expect it's one of the most ported games ever too. Besides this, it marked a significant direction shift in the Resident Evil series to more of an action-horror than survival horror style. RE4 has dropped in my rankings of series favorites since its initial release and I do sometimes resent it for that shift, but I loved the game when it came out. Despite it being really long for a horror game, I have no idea how many times I've played it all the way through over the years. But perhaps the most impressive thing I can say about RE4 is that every time I revisit it, I still have a blast. Rather than go into depth on every aspect of the game most people are probably plenty aware of, I'll just note a few things that always stand out to me.

If you've played a bunch of the games that took from and improved on the formula RE4 popularized, going back to it might feel a little jank. After all, you can't move and shoot, the reticle likes to auto-aim straight ahead rather than look where you're pointing, and the camera movement feels inconsistent at first. It'll be awkward for a bit and may even feel a bit unplayable for a while. But I invariably find that if I just struggle through the first few chapters, I always get used to it. I find the Professional difficulty is pretty well-balanced to the point that if you do already know the game pretty well, it's a good challenge without feeling unfair or frustrating. I think the controls could be a little smoother and I won't pretend that it's easy to slide seamlessly back into today, but the gameplay loop is fairly intuitive and engaging to the point I'm quickly sucked back in on every revisit. Not to mention, re-familiarization pains aside, most games this old with a good deal of action can take some getting used to if you're more accustomed to modern games.

One thing I do think the game is weaker on is its story, even if I judge it solely for what it's trying to be. Viewing it as a cheesy action movie, I think it mostly has the right beats in play to be compelling throughout. But as a Resident Evil game, it's kind of lacking in the world-building and continuity areas that the series to this point generally did a good job of connecting. There are some ties to previous games like the inclusion of Ada, Wesker, and of course Leon, as well as references to past games. But the game kind of throws a lot of the prior world-building out the window. For one, somewhat notoriously, after the final showdown with Umbrella had been built up and blatantly foreshadowed in several previous games and ending sequences, somewhat hilariously, Umbrella is ultimately dealt with in the opening cutscene of this game with a summary of legal actions that led the company to ruin rather anti-climactically. However, even internally, the character arcs fall a bit flat. The game almost seems opposed to playing out interesting character dynamics. For instance, we get scenes like Leon's and Ada's reunion which could have potentially been very interesting as a character moment for Leon. But he basically just shrugs it off, his shock at discovering she survived Raccoon City having apparently already taken place offscreen. The game's departure from the zombie-filled world of the previous games isn't totally unwelcome, but in-between callbacks to prior games without any real impact often feels like they could've done a bit more to connect and build off of the pre-established world they were already using. Instead, some of the most character relationship arc Leon has is with Krauser, who is also handled poorly with the player feeling the whole time like they're supposed to know who this guy is and how he must be from some spin-off game they haven't played, only to realize that said backstory wouldn't even be explained until a spin-off game that wouldn't come out for another four years. The characters in general leave a bit to be desired, but the story and lore is also surprisingly scarce with far fewer notes than previous games, leaving a few fairly on-the-nose "here are my master plans that I will jot down and leave for anyone to find" to do much of the narrative lifting outside of the cutscenes that are mostly employed for action-movie cheese.

While the game is often lauded for its pacing, I find that it's somewhat hit-or-miss in this regard, if mostly a hit. On the whole, the pacing is indeed pretty strong with exploration bits spacing out the large fights quite well. Most of the game, I don't feel too exhausted by any one side of the gameplay and often find myself playing for hours. However, I do feel this strength is often overstated. The game is indeed quite long and there are parts that are less interesting and do violate that pacing noticeably. Some of the big fights in the castle are iconic for good reason. But others border on the side of being annoying fluff. The island section at the end also has several pretty grueling parts that always make me wish the game were already over. At the end of the day, this is really nit-picking at a few flaws in an otherwise pretty fluid progression. I only note this because in the context of what the game is trying to do, it does a great job, but I have always felt it wasn't quite "perfect" at it either, despite the praise it often gets for being so.

Ultimately, I'm not a huge fan of the action-horror direction the series went with in and following this game, but RE4 is pretty easily the best implementation of it to date. I think I do prefer the remake to some extent, but as I feel with all of the REmakes, I think each version has their charms and despite that preference, every time I replay this one, I am reminded of why it has its place in gaming history.

My other Resident Evil reviews:

• Resident Evil (1996) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 2 (1998) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 (1999) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor 2 – Code Veronica - ★★
• Resident Evil Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil Gaiden - ★★
• Resident Evil 0 - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Outbreak - ★★★
• Resident Evil Deadly Silence - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil Dead Aim - ★★★
• Resident Evil 2 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 VR - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 Remake - ★★★★★

Resident Evil 4 is pretty much as good as gaming gets. It is the pinnacle of action-horror. It was an absolute revolution for 3rd person shooters, action games and gaming in general.

The gameplay is near perfect. The controls are excellent because the whole game is designed around them. The over the shoulder camera keeps the action at the perfect distance. The weapons using laser sights and having so much punch to them. Fast, accurate aiming with just enough weapon sway, inaccuracy and enemy threat to keep you on your toes and trying to hit your shots. The way enemies consistently react to getting shot and the incredibly satisfying headshots. Following up with a kick or suplex. The game just constantly rewards you for playing well. Taking on enemies with just a knife whether it's for fun or to save ammo or to slash projectiles out the air. Watching enemies fall off edges after being shot. Pushing the ladders while enemies try to climb it. Shooting through doors. kicking doors open to damage enemies on the other side. Getting enemies to group together and throwing an incendiary grenade into them. Leaping out windows. The set pieces and bosses. Crowd control. Repositioning when needed and not knowing exactly what's behind you while doing so. Using the environment to your advantage. Getting your head taken off in one horrific hit. The enemy variety. The weapon variety. They somehow made you not hate escorting another character. The list goes on and on and god damn it's all so good. The pacing is so well done as well with the game constantly throwing cool new things at you but also knowing when to slow things down a bit. The developers didn't even stop after creating a brilliant, lengthy, highly re-playable main story, they went and did more. The Mercenaries mode is really addictive. Then there's Separate Ways and unlockables too.

The story, characters, dialogue and cut scenes are ridiculously entertaining and well directed. It's so goofy and fun. God damn it's all so fun, remember FUN? It's like the only questions asked when making this game were - Is it fun? Is it entertaining? Does it play well? Does it fit in? If yes, then put it in the game. It's like they had no fear of risks and were just totally confident in what they were making, which is surprising if you know the story of this games development. The tone and atmosphere is handled perfectly. Seriously how did they do this? The game can be silly and/or over the top one minute and then have no problem being more serious the next. It also can be genuinely creepy at times, or surreal or bleak. It definitely delivers on the body horror and gore too.

The game looks and sounds top notch as well. It was one of the best looking games available when it came out. The art direction is fantastic. The village is cold, bleak, isolated and hostile with something gruesome around every turn. The castle is surreal, sinister and uncomfortable. It's so opulent and ornate but something is very off about it and there are traps everywhere. It kind of reminds me of the mansion from the RE 1 remake. The Island is grimy, dirty and industrial and does have some great creepy sections but it's visually more generic and forgettable unfortunately. They nailed the character and enemy designs too. The voice acting is exactly what was needed. The enemies sound harsh and scary. The guns hit hard and all the gross noises are spot on. The soundtrack is superb and so are the ambient sounds.

However no game is perfect and Resident Evil 4 is no exception. The worst thing about this game is that it wasn't survival horror and it put an end to Resident Evil being a survival horror franchise as they went down the action-horror path from here on wards. The puzzles are also not the best but I guess really good puzzles would have bogged down this games action focus and pace. The Island is also not as good as the first two locations. I think this is mostly due to the first two areas setting such a high bar, the industrial setting feeling more generic and maybe being a little too action heavy at times. Looking back at the game now I think it did overuse the quick time events as well. As cool and well done as they are it gets a bit much, especially when your on like the 20th play through.

If you have never played it before do yourself a favour and play it now. I highly, highly recommend Resident Evil 4. I still remember buying my collector's edition just after launch, which is still on my shelf, and playing it all day. Then I bought the Wii version and played it to death again. Then the PS3 and then the PS4. I think I am going to be playing this once every five years or so until I die. Some people try to dismiss this game's high praise with statements like "It's just nostalgia" or "You just think old good, new bad." But they are wrong, Resident Evil 4 really is just that good. This is what lightning in a bottle looks like.

9.8/10

I really am glad I finally got to playing this game. I started it a long while ago, before I had started playing through all the Resi games, and I got stuck in the village (just after when you're knocked out after meeting Luis, waking up in the area with lots of Ganados, where you also first meet the merchant) never going back. Now, having played through all the previous Resident Evil (mainline) games up to this point, and giving this game the time it deserves, it's definitely one of my favourites.

Most of the atmosphere and settings were brilliant, immersing me into the game maybe better than any other Resident Evil games have so far. Moments like when you started seeing the detail of the experiments they'd been doing with the Plagas and the innocent people made me more than once stop to look around at it all.

I also love Leon, I think he's a great character and looking super hot in this installment!! The characters and bosses were super memorable, my favourite probably being either the fight against Krauser, due to it not just being combat-based, and when you got to fight Salazar in his parasitic form.

There were definitely bits I wasn't as keen on, such as the QTE (I'm not a hater of QTE I just wasn't ready for this game to have them!) and certain areas on the island not being as interesting as say the village or castle, but most of all I loved this experience.

I can definitely see myself going back in future, and with the Remake recently having been released maybe I'll go back in that form sometime soon too.

I now have 5 and 6 ahead of me, games which I've definitely heard disappointed reviews of. But I'm excited to play with a blank slate and see what my takes are :).

Resident Evil 4 revolutionised 3rd person survival horror when it released on the GameCube back in 2005, and went on to influence titles such as Dead Space whilst revitalising its own stuttering series.

It did this by moving from a fixed camera to one that floats behind the player's shoulder. This made the combat much more exciting and dynamic, increasing the scope of the arena and improving player mobility. Enemy ai that could dodge and behave unpredictability as well as the ability to shoot enemy projectiles out of the air made the combat a joy to play, with this new perspective putting you right in the action. The action is also really well paced with peaks of intensity bookended by calmer sections and boss fights.

The gameplay has held up really well although the inability to fully rotate the camera does restrict visibility somewhat and the quick time events during cut scenes are something I didn't particularly like when I first played RE4 in 2005. I don't mind the QTEs that occur during gameplay as much because they tend to be used to avoid enemy attacks as there is no dedicated dodge button. The ledge climb button mashing QTEs can piss off though. Even the parts of the game that involve escorting Ashley are rarely frustrating as you can order her to hold back or to hide in a bin. In fact, many parts of the game where you have to watch out for Ashley just add to the chaotic, exhilarating nature of the combat.

A lot of the tension and fear in this horror game comes from the peaks in the action, as you barely hold off hordes of villagers with your rapidly depleting supplies of health and ammo. Highlights for me are the opening village assault, the defense in the cabin with NPC Luis and the horde of cultists that attack you and Ashley in a large castle room. Then there are the relentless and seemingly indestructible Regenerador's who embody the feelings of panicky fucked-ness I felt while playing the game.

RE4 also comes across as fairly self aware when it comes to the games story and characters, embracing the camp and silliness inherent in a series that usually takes itself so seriously. Resident Evil is a series known for its bad dialogue and RE4 embraces this, with ladder hating Leon in particular -in this game a 12 year old boy's idea of a 'bad ass'- delivering his daft lines earnestly, with a mostly straight face and just the right amount of sarcasm. Squeaky voiced midget Salazar is another highlight and the moments when the villains take over your walky-talky are wonderfully camp with over the top villainy. Not to mention the cockney pirate merchant.

The plot itself is your usual RE fair; there's an evil group bent on world domination by way of a deadly virus. But RE4 shakes things to here too by moving away from Umbrella, the T-virus, zombies and the USA, to a religious cult, parasites, crazed villagers and "Europe". The exact setting is unclear but the parasite hosting villagers speak in some sort of Spanish, so chances are its Spain. A very rural, backwards Spain by all accounts but it's certainly a nice change of setting and vibe. There's also the presidents daughter to rescue, so just another day for our glossy haired, roundhouse kicking hero.

Despite all the the tongue in cheek elements the game still has loads of atmosphere with its grainy graphical style and rustic visual design. There are creepy forests, ramshackle villages, a misty lake, crumbling ruins, gloomy castles, grim concrete fortresses and clinical, claustrophobic labs. Lots of grim visual touches too; the villagers 19th century clothing is blood spattered and filthy as are their homes. There's general decay and mess in the villages which is contrasted nicely by the cleaner, more ordered areas in the castle. It appears that classicism has finally come to Resident Evil but it also shows how the leaders of the cult are more in control of their parasite than the mindless villagers. There's also some great body horror as hosts become infested with parasitic appendages, heads and limbs explode and mangled flesh glistens.

The sound design is also fantastic, from the kaw of crows to the moans and chatter of enemies, their screeches and screams when they spot, and the slow chanting of the priests. All this helps you locate enemies when the camera isn't helping, allowing you to swivel and face incoming foes when you hear running footsteps, or groans and squelches fading in. The guns are also suitably loud and meaty sounding as bullets thud into body parts. Ashley yelling "Leon!" constantly whilst often helpful can get annoying, but kudos to the audio of the oozing, twitchy Regenerador's, making them all the more frightening.

So if all that hasn't made it clear, I love Resident Evil 4 and think it's well worth playing, even with a PC port that's far from perfect. It's constantly surprising you and while there are a few sections of the game that haven't held up as well, or are frustrating (I'm not a huge fan of the truck section or the U3 mini boss), it's mostly great, a true survival horror that's creative, tense, horrifying, entertaining, silly and utterly charming*.

9/10 GC 7/10 PC

• While I haven't played the remake I'm a little worried that some of this charm and campy fun might be missing from it. It looks to be back to that dark and serious Resident Evil which to me isn't the RE4 I love. I did thoroughly enjoy the RE2Make though so will still be checking it out.

It’s hard to talk about this game in any kind of objective capacity. This game is so famous at this point, so discussed, and so lauded. Can I look at this game in a way where I’m not blinded by nostalgia? Probably not, but here’s my take on it.

Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest games ever made. This is a game that was so good that I ruined this pretty lauded franchise until 7 revitalized it.

This game is one of the least boring video games I’ve ever played. Every time you get to a new area, there is a new mechanic, or insane set piece which will arrive to blow your mind.

I need to get a bit more specific as to why this game is so special to me.

Leon S. Kennedy My first Resident Evil protagonist. Leon is a huge part of why I love this game. I even went as him for Halloween while I was in college. Leon kinda looked like a much more badass version of how I looked in middle school. It’s weird that just a simple thing like giving our badass secret agent a boyband haircut makes him stand out so much compared to other super soldier guys. His bravado and confidence is also so inspiring to me. Leon never gives up, and is able to destroy these horrors of science. He never shows fear, and protects Ashley always. Which brings me to my next point.

Ashley Graham Leon’s charge, the president’s daughter, Ashley is Leon’s main partner, and the person he has to protect for the majority of the game. Ashley has a reputation for being especially annoying. It makes more sense to me that people don’t like Ashely because they’re bad at the game. They’re doing a bad job of protecting her, apparently.

Here’s my take: Ashley is the best escort mission character ever made. She basically does not have her own AI, she just sticks closely to Leon’s back, and hides behind him when he enters aim mode. Ashley even does simple things like ducking if Leon happens to aim at her.

But she’s more than just something to protect. Ashley helps solve puzzles, and does some pretty crazy things that one would not expect of the president’s daughter. Unlike some newer game which have a companion following our protagonist, God of War (2018), or The Last of Us, Ashley as a companion has weight. You need to wait for her to catch up to you. You must protect her. It is your job, and the game will not make it easy.

The Merchant The best NPC in any game ever. Every line of dialogue this guy says is quotable. If you don’t know, the game is worth it just to see the Merchant.

Ada Wong A 14 year old boy had some thoughts about this lady. The Separate Ways campaign where you play as Ada is also pretty fun and gives a lot of context to some other things that happen in the game.

Jack Krauser Not a super well developed villain (he comes in pretty late in the game), but the boss fight with him is so awesome. The idea of having more encounters with him in the remake is enough to justify the remake in my mind.

Lord Saddler The main villain of the game. I was never a super big fan of him when I was younger, this time around as a 32 year old, Saddler is a delightful villain. He’s so campy. He could use a bit more development, which seems the remake may offer that.

Gameplay-wise, I don’t know if this game will knock the socks off someone who is used to more modern design of games. I do think this game is one that everyone should play. It’s like getting your own crazy B Movie that you get to be involved in. Every kind of horror scenario shows up in this game, and you get to blow up, stab, and shoot all of ‘em. It’s been a while since beating a game that I was excited to jump back into. Resident Evil 4 is such a special game. A timeless classic.

“Come back any time.”

The classic survival horror game Resident Evil 4. It's going to be remade soon, but the original is still considered one of the best gaming experiences ever

You play as Leon who is right out of an action movie as he spin kicks enemies. The over the shoulder perspective was something very new at the time and other games have copied it. Leon could make melee attacks such as performing a suplex on an enemy and it allowed for very accurate shooting. Shoot an enemy in the leg and they will fall down or stumble. Shoot them in the arm and they are likely to drop their weapon

It's a very tense experience as the atmosphere is very foreboding

The gameplay and graphics are tops. The voice acting is very good, but unfortunately hampered by some goofy dialogue, but that's ok. The characters aren't very "deep", but again, not a problem in this type of game

Even the escort mission isn't all that painful

There are a few quicktime events in which you must button smash as indicated on the screen

The enemies are fairly slow moving, but exceptional in their tactics. The first time one dodged one of my attacks, I almost fell out of my chair. They are pretty good at working collectively, so you don't want to get boxed in and they have a wide assortment of weapons

You have an inventory which you must manage carefully. You have to make the most of your space and an essential weapon for one part of the game might be all but useless later.

It's all so stylishly done and is such an influential game

It would be fair to call it a masterpiece

Resident Evil 4 is not only lauded as one of the most influential games across multiple genres that make up our modern gaming landscape, it's also considered a cornerstone of one of gaming's eminent franchises. Having missed this game after its release, I felt it was time to see if I agreed with this game's classic status.

I'll admit, I gave up on my first attempt after hitting the initial difficulty spike due to controls. However, with a mindset shift and a bit of determination, I gave it another go. And I'm sure glad I did.

While Leon needing to plant his feet like a statue prior to every shot was the source of my initial frustration, I now consider the mechanic a stroke of genius and the true highlight of the gameplay. It allows for some tense moments where well-placed shots are your only defense against a slowly creeping horde of parasitic husks. Weapons have decent variety and all feel unique with their own strengths and weaknesses for any given situation.

For most of the game, enemy variety keeps things interesting. Difficulty scales pretty nicely as the player becomes more adept at controlling Leon in combat situations. A handful of bosses are sprinkled throughout the game, each with their own unique mechanics and learning curves. The pacing of gameplay feels really good, buoyed by a steady loop of standard hordes, introductions of novel (and often quite terrifying) enemies, and a crescendo to a capstone boss to give finality to a particular section.

The first act of the game creates this incredible atmosphere as you make your way through this eerie rural village filled with seemingly possessed rubes hellbent on unfettered violence. No doubt the horrific splendor of this act alone is the direct inspiration for the latest installment in the franchise as of this writing. The second act has you plodding through a muttering-cultist-inhabited gothic castle. It doesn't achieve the same heights as the first act, but it's still well-crafted and drives the story forward. The final act takes place on an island, complete with military defenses and a secret laboratory.

It's in the third act that the game starts to suffer from its length. By this point, the creativity of the gameplay has been exhausted. For example, the first time the game becomes a rail shooter as you fend off chainsaw wielding not-zombies while you ride a cart through a mineshaft is fresh and exciting. The second time when you do the same but on the back of a bulldozer, it feels stale. I will say that the sequence where you quickly move through falling containers as It tries to kill you only to have to face the creature in an arena is much better executed than the second act's encounter with Verdugo. However, the main enemies in the final act are mostly the same but wearing armor or wielding mini-guns and cattle prodders. At that point it felt like the game moved away from a creepy survival horror game to your run-of-the-mill shooter with some bland, soldier-type fodder.

The story, while endearing, is definitely campy. I was certainly intrigued and wanted to continue to see how it unfolded. Leon's cheesy one-liners and comebacks kept the story embarrassingly fun and prevented it from becoming dreadful. Some of the main antagonists felt a bit out of place and I never really understood why one was around in the first place. The supporting cast was pretty entertaining and I always looked forward to their cameos. And honestly, I didn't hate Ashley, who you escort through a good portion of the game. I mean, she's not a well-written character by any means and is pretty unremarkable. But at least she manages to get herself captured regularly to give you a break. She also does a great job of staying out of your way during combat, almost always glued to your back or ducking out of the way during the rare times she's in the line of fire. The ending was decent, if a bit cliche. And a whole subplot revolving around Leon being infected with the very parasite that turned the once peaceful denizens of a quaint lakeside village into bloodthirsty monsters is completely underutilized and nearly forgotten until it's unceremoniously deus ex machina-ed to resolution.

Overall, I think the game could have been a bit shorter with a much tighter story that would allow for primary emphasis on the creepy village and mystery surrounding the murderous, mindless villagers. However, there's no doubt that this game was ahead of its time and its influence is immediately apparent upon playing it 17 years after its initial release. Gameplay, while superseded by more focus upon fast-paced action in contemporary titles, has aged extremely well and keeps this game a standout amongst its peers so many years later. Even though it has flaws (like unexpected quicktime events forcing you to rewatch a cutscene or deviation from the enemies that defined the game's mood), I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Leon throughout his logistically questionable attempt to rescue the American president's daughter and uncover the truth about a plot to destroy the world. Resident Evil 4 lives up to the hype, and I consider it a must-play for any video game enthusiast.

I'm going to be brief here because what more can be said that hasn't been said? Resident Evil 4 is one of the most important games of all time. It spawned a new series called Devil May Cry, it made the franchise fresh again after countless games with focused camera angles, it popularized or maybe even introduced the over the shoulder third-person perspective, it redefined the survival horror genre. There are so many things that Resident Evil 4 has done that I could consider it as the greatest video game of all time. I adored the cheesy B-grade action movie like story. I adored the setpieces. I adored the characters. I adored the WTF enemy designs. I was never bored throughout everything. No moment is too sudden nor too slow. Enemies, puzzles, and bosses just have the right amount of screentime, they're introduced at just the right time. No weapon is ridiculously overpowered. Everything about this game is so well designed.

It may not be my favorite game of all time, but it is in my top 5 list and I do think that it is better than even my favorite game (Persona 5). I have no guilt calling Resident Evil 4 the greatest game of all time. If you have never played this game before after 15 years, you are missing out on the oldest fine wine ever. Please play this game. It's on almost every modern console now. I'm so ecstatic that I have started the decade off with a bang.

FINAL RATING: 10/10

I wasn’t sure what to expect diving into the HD remaster of Resident Evil 4 as my first foray into the series. I’d heard nothing but good things; yet I was weary, as older games can often age badly (even when they are of an excellent quality at the time). I’m pleased to say this didn’t disappoint!

I understand this fourth entry is famous as a departure from the classic survival horror gameplay of the former titles. What I think makes this so effective as a reinvention, however, is that it makes the switch into deft, fast-paced action combat, without sacrificing the tension and genuine creepiness of the franchise. This appears to be something the next few games struggle with.

The sound design is excellent! The hum of the uneasy soundtrack is so effective, especially with the sudden creepy noises of the enemies lurching nearer to you on the map. The game ratchets up the tension and the pace extremely naturally, as such the gamer starts out taking everything slow, desperate to survive and, by the end, has effortlessly progressed to nearly running and gunning enemies (all while still feeling at least a tinge of nervousness about the genuine threat of the enemies).

There are some really creative puzzles and enemy variations. All-in-all this is just a really fun and well designed action game. Would heartily recommend, even in 2020!