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review :: resident evil 4
Resident Evil 4
Reviewed on: GamecubeAvailable on: Gamecube
If you have a Gamecube and don't have this game you should have a good hard look at yourself. If you DON'T have a Gamecube... ditto. You're missing out on some killer titles, including this one, and the little purple box is cheap lately.
Players: 1
Genre:
Release: TBA
Genre:
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Developer:
Distributor:
Distributor:
One of the greatest tragedies of the semi-failure of the GameCube is that it has some truly amazing titles, many of which some gamers will never play.
The "Nintendos are for kids" attitude that has dogged Nintendo for years (and is mostly their own fault) has never been shown more wrong than this game.
Resident Evil 4 is among the best games you will play. On any console. Ever.
Let me say that again. Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games ever made.
In case you weren't sure, this review, like every other one you'll find, is overwhelmingly positive.
The Resident Evil series has been a roller coaster ride. You know those coasters they have in the USA that splash through water at the bottom of a big drop? Well, Resident Evil has been like that. Only instead of water there was raw sewage. It got that bad for a while. There was always strength in the "Resident Evil" games, Resident Evil, RE2, RE: Code Veronica, RE0, RE3: Outbreak, etc. Unfortunately abysmal "offshoots" such as RE: Survivor and RE: Dead Aim, combined with almost infinite iffy ports, has diluted the brand so much it should be a crime.
RE4 is a return to form for the series, though in many ways it's a departure. The main and most obvious departure is the simple fact that there aren't any Zombies. The zombies are gone. This has been done for several reasons. One is that the zombies were rather slow, and quite avoidable. Though they were improved for Outbreak it was clear that something new was needed. RE4 introduces "Ganados". No longer 'infected with the T-Virus', the baddies of this game are controlled by a kind of living infection, a parasite. While the difference in that case is more or less academic, it becomes much more important once said parasite starts leaping out of people's heads and trying to bite yours off.
Another noticeable and very welcome improvement to Resident Evil 4 is the camera. Gone are the fixed camera angles that were needed for the pre-rendered backgrounds of the Playstation incarnation. They were also inexplicably used for RE:CV, presumably to make it "cinematic". More often, though, they made it annoying, with poor choices of angle blocking your view of bad things trying to kill you. The camera is now behind you (and a little to the right), meaning you pretty much see what you're looking at. It makes a lot more sense, it's more intuitive, and (I like this bit) it's easier to kill stuff.
RE4 increases also increases the action of the series. Your character (Leon, for the most part) is far more nimble and controllable than previous games, and offers a great deal more interaction with the environment, albeit in a rather scripted sense, "leap out of window" etc. But when done fluidly and quickly these actions give a great sense of dynamic movement, and an impressive cinematic quality. The only downside of this increase in action is there has been a slight compromise in terms of suspense. Resident Evil 4 is not as scary as Resident Evil 2 was, for example. I still can't get some of the stains out of my undies from playing that game. The same criticism could be made of most of the more recent games. It's not necessarily that anything is lacking, it's just that RE2 was a high-water mark for scariness in the RE series.
Another possible reason for the reduction in tension is the simple fact that you're far more able to manage to survive in this game. Some of the fantastic features that really add to the game are, for example, the ability to actually AIM.
One of the major flaws with RE2/RE:CV, for example, was the fact that while you could aim your gun you could really only aim it straight, up a lot, and down at the floor. This meant shooting at people's bodies, or waiting till they got close enough that their head got in the way of "up". RE4 eliminates this by switching to a first person view for aiming, letting you target not only heads, but individual limbs, weapons, etc. This sort of aiming allows much more tactical play, including the ability to shoot out someone's legs to drop them and then run in for a "kick". These actions are available on wounded Ganados who are kneeling or reeling from a shot, and as well as looking just plain awesome are a great way to save ammo.
All in all, Resident Evil 4 is a much more "action" oriented game than the previous incarnations, but not to its detriment.
That being said, it's all action? up to a point. That point is where you start playing as Ashley. Ashley and "her hero" Leon get separated at one point, and it's up to Ashley to keep herself alive long enough for Leon to rescue her. Naturally this is done by solving strange puzzles and walking around in the dark a lot. As you do.
Ashley lacks the ass-kickery of Leon, and makes for a more cerebral, slower paced, and tenser game. The creepy Ganados monks that are trying to get Ashley are pretty slow, and game turns into a game of cat and mouse. With fire! There are oil lamps around that Ashley can use to turn cranky monks into Monk Flambe, but they have to get pretty close, and there's a fair bit of leading into traps that has to be done. There's nothing really wrong with this. It's a welcome change of pace from the previous sections, which get quite shooty.
Resident Evil 4 has a lot of high points. For a start, variety. The pace of RE4 changes fairly consistently, from ammo-poor avoidance of bad men, tense sections of creeping through corridors, cerebral puzzle sections, timed events, pitched battles, sieges? it's all there. There are boss battles with totally different gameplay mechanics, sections requiring timing (and luck), or a range of other gameplay variations and changes. It works, and it works well.
Another thing RE4 does well is detail. A great deal of thought has been put into making things make sense, making things consistent. A button torn off in a cut-scene will be missing on the corpse. There is visible breath in cold sections, footprints in sand, raindrops bouncing. A range of tiny details that add a surprising amount to the feeling of reality in the game.
That's the upside? what about the down? What are Resident Evil's fatal flaws? Well, there really aren't any. The control scheme is still just that little bit clumsy, though vastly improved on earlier games. There's also some minor story quibbles. Like the basic plot that the President's daughter has been kidnapped, and Leon, who just happens to now be working for the President, has been assigned to go all alone to some tragic European poo-hole and investigate. It's all a bit odd and iffy.
These are minor things, though, and don't exactly distract from the game experience. Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube is possibly the best game on the platform. Or any other. It's certainly a worthy contender, not least because it's one of the few games that ISN'T bright and colourful. This is the sort of game that Nintendo needed to get more of on the Gamecube, and sooner. It's dark, adult, polished, and above all, it's very very very good.
The "Nintendos are for kids" attitude that has dogged Nintendo for years (and is mostly their own fault) has never been shown more wrong than this game.
Resident Evil 4 is among the best games you will play. On any console. Ever.
Let me say that again. Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games ever made.
In case you weren't sure, this review, like every other one you'll find, is overwhelmingly positive.
The Resident Evil series has been a roller coaster ride. You know those coasters they have in the USA that splash through water at the bottom of a big drop? Well, Resident Evil has been like that. Only instead of water there was raw sewage. It got that bad for a while. There was always strength in the "Resident Evil" games, Resident Evil, RE2, RE: Code Veronica, RE0, RE3: Outbreak, etc. Unfortunately abysmal "offshoots" such as RE: Survivor and RE: Dead Aim, combined with almost infinite iffy ports, has diluted the brand so much it should be a crime.
RE4 is a return to form for the series, though in many ways it's a departure. The main and most obvious departure is the simple fact that there aren't any Zombies. The zombies are gone. This has been done for several reasons. One is that the zombies were rather slow, and quite avoidable. Though they were improved for Outbreak it was clear that something new was needed. RE4 introduces "Ganados". No longer 'infected with the T-Virus', the baddies of this game are controlled by a kind of living infection, a parasite. While the difference in that case is more or less academic, it becomes much more important once said parasite starts leaping out of people's heads and trying to bite yours off.
Another noticeable and very welcome improvement to Resident Evil 4 is the camera. Gone are the fixed camera angles that were needed for the pre-rendered backgrounds of the Playstation incarnation. They were also inexplicably used for RE:CV, presumably to make it "cinematic". More often, though, they made it annoying, with poor choices of angle blocking your view of bad things trying to kill you. The camera is now behind you (and a little to the right), meaning you pretty much see what you're looking at. It makes a lot more sense, it's more intuitive, and (I like this bit) it's easier to kill stuff.
RE4 increases also increases the action of the series. Your character (Leon, for the most part) is far more nimble and controllable than previous games, and offers a great deal more interaction with the environment, albeit in a rather scripted sense, "leap out of window" etc. But when done fluidly and quickly these actions give a great sense of dynamic movement, and an impressive cinematic quality. The only downside of this increase in action is there has been a slight compromise in terms of suspense. Resident Evil 4 is not as scary as Resident Evil 2 was, for example. I still can't get some of the stains out of my undies from playing that game. The same criticism could be made of most of the more recent games. It's not necessarily that anything is lacking, it's just that RE2 was a high-water mark for scariness in the RE series.
Another possible reason for the reduction in tension is the simple fact that you're far more able to manage to survive in this game. Some of the fantastic features that really add to the game are, for example, the ability to actually AIM.
One of the major flaws with RE2/RE:CV, for example, was the fact that while you could aim your gun you could really only aim it straight, up a lot, and down at the floor. This meant shooting at people's bodies, or waiting till they got close enough that their head got in the way of "up". RE4 eliminates this by switching to a first person view for aiming, letting you target not only heads, but individual limbs, weapons, etc. This sort of aiming allows much more tactical play, including the ability to shoot out someone's legs to drop them and then run in for a "kick". These actions are available on wounded Ganados who are kneeling or reeling from a shot, and as well as looking just plain awesome are a great way to save ammo.
All in all, Resident Evil 4 is a much more "action" oriented game than the previous incarnations, but not to its detriment.
That being said, it's all action? up to a point. That point is where you start playing as Ashley. Ashley and "her hero" Leon get separated at one point, and it's up to Ashley to keep herself alive long enough for Leon to rescue her. Naturally this is done by solving strange puzzles and walking around in the dark a lot. As you do.
Ashley lacks the ass-kickery of Leon, and makes for a more cerebral, slower paced, and tenser game. The creepy Ganados monks that are trying to get Ashley are pretty slow, and game turns into a game of cat and mouse. With fire! There are oil lamps around that Ashley can use to turn cranky monks into Monk Flambe, but they have to get pretty close, and there's a fair bit of leading into traps that has to be done. There's nothing really wrong with this. It's a welcome change of pace from the previous sections, which get quite shooty.
Resident Evil 4 has a lot of high points. For a start, variety. The pace of RE4 changes fairly consistently, from ammo-poor avoidance of bad men, tense sections of creeping through corridors, cerebral puzzle sections, timed events, pitched battles, sieges? it's all there. There are boss battles with totally different gameplay mechanics, sections requiring timing (and luck), or a range of other gameplay variations and changes. It works, and it works well.
Another thing RE4 does well is detail. A great deal of thought has been put into making things make sense, making things consistent. A button torn off in a cut-scene will be missing on the corpse. There is visible breath in cold sections, footprints in sand, raindrops bouncing. A range of tiny details that add a surprising amount to the feeling of reality in the game.
That's the upside? what about the down? What are Resident Evil's fatal flaws? Well, there really aren't any. The control scheme is still just that little bit clumsy, though vastly improved on earlier games. There's also some minor story quibbles. Like the basic plot that the President's daughter has been kidnapped, and Leon, who just happens to now be working for the President, has been assigned to go all alone to some tragic European poo-hole and investigate. It's all a bit odd and iffy.
These are minor things, though, and don't exactly distract from the game experience. Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube is possibly the best game on the platform. Or any other. It's certainly a worthy contender, not least because it's one of the few games that ISN'T bright and colourful. This is the sort of game that Nintendo needed to get more of on the Gamecube, and sooner. It's dark, adult, polished, and above all, it's very very very good.
Final Verdict
In every respect a masterpiece, this is possibly the best game on the Gamecube, and one of the top 5 on the current generation. You have to play it.Pros
Lush graphics. Scary. Awesome gameplay in every way. A landmark title.
Cons
Control is still only good, not great, and some of the story is... iffy. Camera problems occasionally (but only occasionally) obscure view. Scary.