Resident Evil 4
As I try and think of a good way to open up this review, for some reason my mind keeps drawing a blank. Perhaps it’s the fact that, back in 1996, the Resident Evil series revolutionized the way people looked at the survival-horror genre. Now, nearly 10 years later, the fourth (well, sixth) installment in the main series is bringing new life to the same genre that it once helped re-create. As Capcom’s tagline for the game promised, evil HAS evolved.

Graphics:

The Resident Evil series has always kept up in the graphics department. However, Resident Evil 4 takes the great graphics of all the previous games and takes it up a notch. While the previous games in the series opted for dark lighting, Resident Evil 4 isn’t really set up that way. It’s the way they decided to light the game that gives it its eerie look. Everything is set in a gray tone, giving the game the look of an old horror/zombie movie. However, don’t think that one minute that just the lighting makes the graphics what they are. All the environments are pre-rendered, which makes the loading times less and leaves little room for the errors that loading in real-time would create. Without a doubt, Resident Evil 4 is one of the best looking games on Nintendo’s cube of gaming. In fact, I could even argue that they ARE the best.

Sound and Music:

Though Resident Evil 0 had some pretty good voice acting, Resident Evil 4 blows its predecessors away in terms of sound quality. The voice acting isn’t just good, it’s superb. All the voices fit their characters, and Capcom surprisingly struck gold this time around. One of the more interesting things to note is that, when the enemies (Ganado) communicate to each other in Spanish, what they’re saying actually translates. I’d give you an example, but the things they tend to say involve too many expletives to post in a Yoshi Stadium review. As for music, the series continues to follow its general path of dark and creepy songs, although during the occasional boss battle you’ll encounter a more intense song. Finally, as usual, the sound effects don’t tend to differ much from previous game in the series. Guns sound like guns…….and so forth.

Storyline:

Part of the charm in the Resident Evil series is that the storylines tend to sound like something you’d see in a B horror movie. Well, Resident Evil 4 keeps with that tradition, but it also adds a few new things to the mix. The evil corporation that created all the problems in the Resident Evil games, known as Umbrella, has finally been destroyed by the United States government. 6 years after surviving the Raccoon City incident in Resident Evil 2, Leon S. Kennedy now works for a secret agency working directly with the president of the United States. As you may have assumed, not all is well. The president’s daughter, Ashley Graham, has been kidnapped. Sources say that she’s been sighted in a small village in Europe. Under direct order from the president himself, Leon is sent there to investigate the whereabouts of Ashley. As he asks a villager questions, the crazed townsfolk quickly attacks Leon. Soon after killing the deranged villager, Leon learns that everyone in the town seems to be after him. The people are not zombies, but something is obviously wrong with them. It is now your job to find the president’s missing daughter and to figure out just what the heck is up with the villagers. While the storyline isn’t the greatest you’ll ever encounter, the plot twists and the lack of Umbrella definitely adds a bit of freshness to the continually growing stagnation of the series.

Gameplay:

This is definitely the category in which the Resident Evil series received a total overhaul. No longer are we plagued by the crappy camera angles and lackluster aiming system of the past. While the controls are generally the same, it’s honestly the camera angle that makes all the difference. The camera angle is now in a set position behind Leon’s shoulder, which makes walking around a crap load easier. The shooting system has been fixed as well, and now you have the ability to shoot specific parts of the enemy’s bodies. A head shot will do maximum damage, shooting the arms will cause the enemy to drop their weapon, and shooting the legs will drop the enemy to the ground. As for the basic gameplay, Resident Evil 4 is a lot more action oriented than the previous games in the series. Where as before the games were mostly puzzles, with shooting thrown in here and there, Resident Evil 4 involves more action sequences and less puzzles. Another thing that separates RE4 from the rest is the inclusion of an “action” button. During certain points of the game, you’ll be required to tap and/or press certain buttons to accomplish something. An example would be pressing L and R at the same time to avoid being hit by something, or pressing A to kick a wounded enemy when they become to close to shoot. The creator of RE4 once said in an interview that they scrapped the game and started re-creating the gameplay multiple times before coming up with a final product. It definitely looks to me like they finally hit the bull’s-eye.

Controls:

If you’ve played any of the other Resident Evil games, you’ll be right at home with the controls. However, the difference in the camera angle and the aiming system is what makes the category succeed. Though the controls ARE technically the same, the advanced setup of the previously mentioned aspects allows the control system to work pretty darn well. As stated in the gameplay section, the addition of the “action” button sequences adds some spice to the game, but the new aiming system is really where the fun is at. There’s nothing more fun than shooting the dynamite out of a guy’s hand and watching it blow up and eliminate all the other enemies near him. Excellent work Capcom.

Replayability:

Capcom may have advertised the game as being nearly 25 hours long, but I can honestly only see it lasting that long if you take the time to play the two mini-games you unlock after completing the initial quest. For me, the main story of the game took around 15 hours to complete, which is in the same range as the previous games in the series. Once you’ve completed the main quest, you’ll unlock two mini-games: Assignment Ada and The Mercenaries. In “Assignment Ada”, you take on the role of the mysterious Ada as she tries collect certain items. I’d tell you these items, but chances are it would ruin the storyline for you. In “The Mercenaries”, you’ll be given a time limit in which you’ll have to try and kill as many enemies as possible without dying. Completing these mini-games unlocks other playable characters in “The Mercenaries”, unlocks alternate costumes for the main quest, and unlocks super-powerful weapons that you can purchase from merchants in the game if you choose to go through it a second time.

For those who were wondering, Resident Evil 4 pretty much takes the whole series into an entirely new realm. The game does have a few flaws, such as graphical slowdown and the fact that the game can be a bit easy if you have the right weapons. However, Resident Evil 4 offers something that I haven’t seen since Eternal Darkness, and that my friend is uniqueness. The game doesn’t rely on cheap scares and bad lighting, but instead presents us with a genuine feeling of solitude only made worse by the fact that evil has finally evolved.
Graphics: 9.8/10
Sound and Music: 9.5/10
Storyline: 9.0/10
Gameplay: 9.7/10
Controls: 9.5/10
Replayability: 9.0/10
9.7
Out of 10