Late to the Party: Resident Evil 4

November 1, 2008 by Panzer Pev

I know this review is about 3 years too late. I know that every self-respecting gamer has already played this game and loved it. But as the number of game releases slows down for the summer (though certainly there are exceptions…I’m looking at you Metal Gear Solid 4), I’m taking the time to revisit some games I’ve always wanted to play but somehow managed to stack up in my pile of shame. I must say the pile is indeed deep and shameful. To start I’ll be visiting several PS2 titles that everyone is certainly familiar with: Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Final Fantasy XII, Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4 and Okami. Just a few little known titles that need some extra attention.

To begin my stroll back through time I began with Resident Evil 4. Lately there has been lots of press and excitement about the next iteration, Resident Evil 5, so I wanted to see why I should perhaps be getting more excited for it later this year. Not only that, the game was clearly good enough to warrant a full port over to the Wii after already being ported from the Gamecube to the PS2. To set the stage, I played the game on my PS3 and turned up all the settings in the options menu. So the question is, does Resident Evil 4 still hold up today? Let’s find out.

Despite the fact that the game doesn’t run in HD I found the visuals to be very impressive. The environments are diverse, the animations for characters are excellent and the cutscenes blend seamlessly into the gameplay mechanics. In fact, the overall visual experience this game creates is so well done that playing at night is a

genuinely scary experience…especially when you are low on ammo and there is a chainsaw wieilding maniac hell-bent on removing your head from your body. However, due to the fact that the textures are not in high res, there are some areas where the game looks grainy, most notably the starting village area. This isn’t a dealbreaker though. Once you settle into the game you will hardly even notice that it isn’t running in HD anymore. Further enhancing the immersion into Resident Evil 4 world is the superb sound design and moody music which goes a long way towards turning the creep factor up to level 10.

Surprisingly, I found the story in Resident Evil 4 to be really good. I expected to find a run of the mill zombie tale ala every George A. Romero flick. However, the story proved to be far deeper than I anticipated, taking Leon and Ashley (the daughter) through tons of interesting plot twists throughout the 26 hours it took me to complete it.

But even a great looking and sounding game is nothing if the gameplay doesn’t hold up. Fortunately, the gameplay in Resident Evil 4 was similarly excellent and only takes about 30 min to get accustomed to. The controls work well in close quarters and for ranged combat while the 3rd person works perfectly in this setting. Fans of Gears of War will feel right at home here…minus any kind of cover system of course. A major part of Resident Evil 4’s gameplay also relies on “quick time” events that are scattered throughout the game and are very reminiscent of the God of War franchise. Overall I thought they were very well integrated into cutscenes and gamplay, forcing me to be on my toes at all times…the game never lets up. True, I died a lot, but it was still fun and it never felt cheap.

On balance I was very impressed by Resident Evil 4. While the visuals certainly don’t match today’s high standards, the gameplay, atmosphere, characters, story and replay value (and believe me there is tons) make Resident Evil 4 a must own. I actually enjoyed playing it more than several “next-gen” games that are currently out there and it has definitely put Resident Evil 5 onto my radar. For anyone out there that balks at the notion of playing “old” games you need to give this one some serious consideration. It puts most “next-gen” PS3 games to shame and I enjoyed every minute of it. At only about $20 now, Resident Evil 4 is simply too good to pass up, even today. For any survival horror fan, this is a must play.

I’ll leave you with a taste of what Resident Evil 4 has to offer. **warning, contains spoilers!**