Resident Evil 4
review by Billion$Baby

"Forget everything you know about Resident Evil" seems like such an especially apt tagline for this game. This is a landmark action horror release that even serious haters of the older titles will love to the maximum - yep, honestly!!

When Capcom announced that they were scrapping all work from their initial version of Resident Evil 4, fans of the series really had to sit up and took big notice. The firm had only ever done this once before - for their mighty landmark Resident Evil 2 on Playstation 1. Apparently they felt that they could just do better. And boy, did they sure deliver here! The Resident Evil franchise was beginning to feel very tired indeed. The horribly lacklustre Resident Evil 0 felt like it might sound the final death toll on the series; what with the return to pre-rendered backgrounds and a shit array of critters to fight (those infected chimps might have been cool but large grasshoppers and a giant bat??). The REmake of their first legendary title still rocked but hey, something just felt wrong and rather dated, as if the franchise had become stagnant and had been overtaken by the likes of Silent Hill.

Luckily Capcom have had the courage to completely revamp their much loved homage to horror films and take it in a different, far more impressive direction. The radio-controlled car system of movement has gone - now the character moves in the pointed controller directions at all times and the additional analogue stick aims your gun sights. Rez Evil is now presented in gloriously detailed 3D polygons, with the camera reverting to an over the shoulder point of view whenever Leon Kennedy aims his weapon of choice, reminding you more of a first person shooter than the usual shot from above angled game. This title also makes extremely fun use of the sniper rifle prospects. The graphics and gameplay are stunning throughout so it seems kinda ironic that this title has appeared on the Nintendo Gamecube; a console which has pretty much failed in the UK (and America?). Nintendo finally now have a truly essential title available and yet many non-specific gaming stores no longer stock Gamecube titles or consoles!

I only bought a Gamecube to play the new Resident Evil titles and chapter 4 was the one that all Gamecubers have been salivating for. With good reason; this is one of the best video games ever released - its attention to detail and the sheer enjoyment factor is as impressive as it gets. Resident Evil 4 plays far more like an arcade title than previous entries, with a huge amount of enemies to kill, numerous bosses and very few (and never particularly challenging) puzzles making an appearance. Downed enemies often drop ammo, first aid or cash. That cash is used to buy and upgrade weapons, RPG style, which means that whilst your initial game requires a lot of saves or continues, it all becomes a heck of a lot easier on further playthroughs (you'll carry all upgraded weaponry over to your next game). Even your character's maximum health is upgraded whilst you progress.

There's a lot of pleasing details here. For example, you can shoot crows that’ll then drop either ammunition or treasure to exchange for cash, you can harass hens for eggs or even shoot fish which can then both be used to recover health. The use of the thermal scope on your sniper rifle is a lot of fun, not only in its necessary usage on the parasite-infected, walking cadavers but when generally mucking about elsewhere in the game. Story-wise, Capcom have dropped the Umbrella Corporation and zombies don't even make an appearance. This title is set 6 yrs after Umbrella has finally been thwarted and the world alerted to their nefarious activities. But we do see a couple of familiar characters, namely Leon S. Kennedy (now a US government agent) and Ada Wong from Rez 2. And the still active Albert Wesker does get a name check and an appearance in a sub-game!

The game is set somewhere in Europe - those local police might be Spanish but the locals speak a highly entertaining amount of seemingly complete gibberish! This time around, your basic but more intelligent foes are infected (by parasites) villagers who arm themselves with weaponry ranging from the common gardening tool, to crossbows or even chainsaws. Leon's guns feature a laser sight to help your aim and this time around, the knife is instantly accessible at any point (and it's actually very useful at finishing enemies). Button combinations are sometimes flashed on screen to prompt Leon in close escapes or in a particularly enjoyable moment, a very cool knife fight with a mercenary for hire. Your character can interact with the locations far more - jumping over walls or out of windows and climbing up or knocking down ladders. And boy oh boy, is it sure fun to use that sniper rifle!

Rez 4 features some excellent fire and rain effects which are worth making special note of, along with highly detailed polygon characters and areas. And the sound effects and music adds brilliantly to the ambience of the game. Make no mistake about it; this is a huge game with massive environments. It took me over 20 hours of gameplay to finish it (although it's much quicker the second time around, once you're carrying those upgraded guns). Helpingly, Capcom have created a title which even gives the gamer the opportunity to spend their hard earned cash on one-use rocket launchers just in case anyone is feeling a bit fed up with trying to beat a particularly tough boss critter by conventional means. This is a title which people have worked long and hard on, developing a finely toned game designed to test the player without ever making it too difficult or just plain frustrating.

There's varied set-piece moments a plenty here - I especially enjoyed the mine cart riding and shooting dogs in the maze levels. And I'm sure that horror fans will be pleased to note that this is the most violent RE yet. Because this entry is far more challenging on your initial playthrough, there are no final grades relating to saves or gaming time taken in order to unlock the available infinite ammo weaponry. Most of those are unlocked by the very enjoyable sub-games. The shooting ranges, unlockable sub-games and the new harder "pro" gaming level of difficulty, together with the opportunity to replay the game with far greater firepower, all add up to a highly replayable Resident Evil game. My only criticisms, or areas where I feel that Capcom could now improve even further, is to also introduce strafe buttons or ragdoll physics to the foes being destroyed.

This Gamecube title will also be appearing on PS2 a few months after this (exclusive for a time) Nintendo release, but I would also dearly love for it to make similar appearances on both X-Box and PC - it's just too damn impressive not to be seen and experienced by all. Hats off to Capcom on not only the killer game of the year, but the very best game in years. Resident Evil 4 is the fun, violent game that all horror fans have been waiting for. It simply has to be played to be believed. Excellent stuff. This is the currently definitive horror video gaming title for all other developers to try to beat - I wish 'em luck. Full marks all around - this is surely the greatest game of 2005....

P.S. But I still don't understand why this wasn't called Resident Evil 5! What the hell was Code Veronica, if not Rez 4??