Resident Evil 4 Review

Resident Evil 4’s development cycle has been an uphill battle. It was originally planned for the PS2. Then development was scrapped when Nintendo grabbed exclusivity rights for the series and that game turned into Devil May Cry.

A new GameCube version was then unveiled for the Japanese press in late 2002. It got cancelled, and work began on a new version for the Electronic Entertainment Expo the following year.

It was cancelled again.

Again, Capcom got going on a new version, but it was not shown to the public. Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami took over as director and cancelled that version, and work began all over again. Mikami had something new in mind. A complete overhaul of the series.

And now, years later, the long-awaited fourth entry in Capcom’s survival horror series is here, exclusively on the GameCube. And, yes, a lot has changed. While the Resident Evil remake revamped the level design, cutscenes and voice acting of the series, and added some new content, it was careful to retain the controversial controls, plodding enemies, pre-rendered backgrounds, limited save system and abstract puzzles that divided gamer opinions of the series.

Resident Evil 4, then, is far more than a remake. Because here, absolutely nothing is sacred. This game turns the series on its head, rather than giving it an aesthetic update. The pre-rendered backgrounds are gone, and are instead replaced by a damn amazing 3D engine. The controls are infinitely more precise. The enemies are faster and more intelligent. Ink ribbons are no longer needed to save. The story is much more cinematic, and the voice acting is easily the best of all Resident Evil games. And you will rarely worry about ammo.

But that’s just scratching the surface of what makes Resident Evil 4 such an astounding survival horror title. There’s a lot more. And, with few exceptions, it’s all mind-blowing. Let it be known right now that you need to own this game.

Read on for the nitty-gritty of what may very well be one of the best games ever conceived. Don’t worry–we won’t spoil anything significant for you.

GAMEPLAY/ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:

To put it simply, Resident Evil 4 elevates the survival horror genre. On the basis of gameplay alone, there is no other survival-horror game on the market today that is deeper, more intense, more polished, or generally more fun to play.

The improvements start with the controls. While this game does stick to the exact same control scheme used by its predecessors, it works far better than before. Instead of having to get your bearings to determine how to run in a certain direction when moving from screen to screen due to a clunky control scheme, pressing forward on the analog stick always makes you move forward. Pressing left always makes you turn left, and so on. The difference in precision and freedom of movement is astounding. No longer is getting from point A to point B a chore because of a befuddling control setup.

The same goes for combat. You will no longer try to avoid fighting enemies because of an imprecise and slow combat model. Shooting, kicking and knifing enemies is extremely intuitive because of an aiming system that is much easier to use, much faster, and much more accurate than ever. Pulling off a head shot on an enemy is just as (if not more) intuitive and accurate as jumping in Super Mario World, with an accurate aiming system that works much like that in Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell.