Resident Evil 4 Review

When villagers walk through town, rain pouring everywhere, illuminated by torches, your jaw will hit the floor. You will notice right off the bat that the character models are among the best in any game. They are all extremely expressive and detailed. You will notice that the lighting and particle effects are damn near unparalleled (the lighting here, in many instances, looks superior even to Spinter Cell for the Xbox–an amazing accomplishment in its own right). You will see that the polygon count is enormous, and the textures are very high in detail. You will see the most spectacular weather effects yet seen in a game. Etc., etc., etc.

I could go on. But it’s overkill if you don’t see the game running. This is possibly the best looking console game ever made, by any standard of judgment. Resident Evil 4 easily looks as good as the pre-rendered entries in the series, if not better.

And as for the audio aspect, well, it’s amazing too. The voice acting is much more professional than before, with the best character development/interaction and plot of any series entry. The sound effects are fantastic. Hearing your enemies scream at you and communicate with each other rather than just moan only adds to the scare factor. It all greatly adds to the atmosphere.

And the music in the game is extremely moody and well-composed, too, though (in classic style) relatively infrequent. Beautiful stuff, really.

The only notable flaw in this department is the lack of true widescreen support. But I can’t comment on that since I don’t own a widescreen television, and it isn’t significant enough for a point deduction. It would have been a nice feature, but for me, and probably most of the gamers reading this, it’s frivolous.

Audio/Visual Score: 10 out of 10

INNOVATION/LASTING APPEAL:

Resident Evil 4 is a huge departure from what you’ve come to expect, not just from the series, but from the entire genre. From the extremely fluid controls and fast-paced combat to the epic scope and extremely action-based experience, it redefines gameplay in a survival-horror title. This sets a new standard for what the genre should be like, and developers will aptly imitate its ideas for years to come. The experience does not feel quite like anything you’ve ever played before. It is extremely fresh, from just about all conceivable perspectives.

The aiming system, controls that encourage combat for once, the immense strategy of combat, the level of interaction with the environment and the way you have to use your environment to survive, and the unscripted, nonlinear gameplay situations are like nothing ever done in the genre. And contrary to what was thought before the game shipped, it still retains a pervasive sense of fear. None of this has been acceptably done before in the genre, and especially not in one package. It really does redefine survival horror.

Innovation Score: 10 out of 10

And as for lasting appeal–-this game will most likely take about 20-25 hours to completely finish. And there are extras that will motivate you to play it all over again. It isn’t the longest game out there, but it doesn’t need to be. There is more content here than in most other games. It is filled to the brim with gameplay, and never artificially extends length with unnecessarily long puzzles or dry moments in the action.

Lasting Appeal Score: 9 out of 10

SUMMARY:

If you have read this far, you know that I do little more than sing its praises. This is entirely justified. Resident Evil 4 is literally as close to perfect as you can get. It is the best GameCube game out there. It is possibly the best game of this generation. It is easily the best survival horror game ever made.

It just rocks. I don’t know how much clearer I can say it. Go. Buy this game. You will be floored. It will exceed your expectations.

It’s certainly been a long time coming. But uphill battle though the development was, the game has only come out stronger as a result. Capcom has climbed that mountain. They have fixed this series. They have successfully brought a game that can, and should, make Resident Evil relevant again, and mainstream again. It blew me away, and it will do the same for you. I implore you to purchase this game. It deserves every penny of the $50 admittance fee.

And that, as they say, is that.

Overall Score: 10 out of 10