Resident Evil 4 Review

I remember when I played the first Resident Evil. I was only in fourth grade at the time (Jesus Christ, I'm old. - 2Lions), and I sat behind the controller of my friend's PlayStation. We weren't very good, and the highlight was when we shot a zombie until it fell down, then kicked its head off and watched it bounce around the room. That summarizes my experience with the series. I saw the first movie, and thought that it was at least entertaining, and I had noticed that the series was very available for my GameCube. It wasn't until recently that I picked up Resident Evil 4. I must say, I'm embarrassed that I've stayed away from the series this long.

Sorry, mate, but you look completely loco. Step away.

Terribly sorry about this, senor.

Resident Evil 4 plays out like the typical horror movie, just with a lot more class and style than most horror movies offer. You play the young Leon Kennedy, a survivor of the Raccoon City incident, who has taken up a job with the secret service, particularly to protect the president's daughter. She gets kidnapped, and tracked down to a Spanish Village. You go in to save her, and learn that Spanish Villagers have a crazed thirst for your blood. These aren't zombies; they're just insane Spaniards intent on killing you. They don't really like anyone apart from other crazed Spaniards, so you'll get to see the fruits of their labors on quite a few occasions. Of course, there's a bigger conspiracy at work here, and you're caught in the middle, so it isn't as simple as saving the princess in the castle.

The game looks beautiful; it has wonderful, detailed worlds with lots of atmosphere. The sound design in the game is nice too, the music that cues in for a fight works wonderfully, the sounds of the insane Spanish half-zombies add atmosphere and make you look all around you in wonderment as to who is calling you a 'cabron'. The tremendous roar of a shotgun blast and how completely awesome it looks when a lunatic old man on the receiving end's head explodes into a miniature supernova of gore really add to the immersion of the game, and add that horror movie style we all love.

The game is linear, but rarely feels that way. Resident Evil 4 steers you along on the path that it wants you to take, but it offers a certain amount of freedom on the way. One of the first battles takes place inside a small village, with the opportunity to seek cover in the nearby houses; however, in doing so, different consequences may arise. You will get from point A to point B all the same, but it will be different depending on how you do it.

Gameplay is simply intense and at times downright frightening. Firing your weapons takes some time to get used to, as you use a laser sight and not a traditional crosshair, and as a result, you can only see the red laser dot when it is actually on something. This makes aiming difficult, and on top of that, you can't move and shoot at the same time. You have to stop to have your gun capable of firing. When a mob comes crashing down upon you, you can't just fire wildly while running for your life, you have to stand still, and carefully take aim at them. Most of the people I've told about this little gameplay mechanic have been outraged, and you're probably wondering why on earth such a thing is in the game at all. It makes every shootout hardcore to the max. It also balances out the fact that you have guns and many times your enemies do not. Also considering how hard it is to aim in the game, which also adds to the intensity, you wouldn't want to have to worry about movement at the same time. As bad as it sounds, it is a very, very worthwhile feature. It looks terrible on paper, but trust me here, in practice it works out beautifully.

Throughout the game you'll be interacting with the environment via the A button. This interaction is completely situational, meaning that when you want to climb a ladder, you'll press A at the bottom, and if you press A at the top, you'll kick the ladder over. If you press A once you'll gently open a door, and if you tap it twice you'll kick it open (this is required multiple times to bash locks off), and pressing A by a window will cause Leon to dive out of it. All of this adds to the horror flick feel, and makes the game feel even more rushed and hurried.

The people you'll be killing are scary in that they search for the quickest way to kill you, not caring much about their own wellbeing. They'll climb in through windows, rush at you with axes, and generally go insane. They aren't very smart, but you get the feeling that they really don't need to be, they just have to have a bloodlust and an urge to kill you. When you're backed into a corner blowing holes through a wooden door because a chainsaw-totting maniac is trying to hack you away, and more enemies start sneaking in the house via the windows, you freak out a little.

There are boss battles, and they are crazy. One of which involves getting dragged around a lake in a little wooden boat by a sea monster while you're trying to kill it with harpoons and it's trying to ram your boat into shit and then eat you. This game is friggin' insane, and moments like this will stay in my memory for a long time.

The cut-scenes are also interactive. Don't put down the controller, and don't think that it's a rest break. There will be times when you'll have to sprint, dodge axes, and do other things; the buttons that do this can be set at random, so you won't really know what you need to do until the game tells you to do it. The tension never ends in this game; you'll be riding on rails the whole way through.