Resident Evil 4 - 19 Year Late Review

the sacred right that's about to begin at this Tower shall endow the girl with magnificent okay Resident Evil 4 Resident Evil 4 is a survival horror game released in 2005 by Capcom for the GameCube it was eventually ported to every platform known to man and some unknown to man the Zebo games console what the [ __ ] is that sounds like George Lucas's handiwork the game received what can only be described as mind blowing a claim when it came out and it's still iconic today it's even got a remake so why review it nearly 20 years later well Lord knows I have the time and honestly I thought it would be good for Halloween which I've missed I know I've missed because I didn't have access to a console I never played a Resident Evil game until Village and I loved that for a whole pleer of reasons the game was solid enough that I wanted to try more so here we are now there are going to be spoilers ahead for the 2005 game it's two decades old I won't hold back but how that translates to the Remake I don't entirely know you've been warned the game starts with a serious retelling of how the Umbrella Corporation did some evil [ __ ] years ago the tone is heavy Moody we get a real sense of weight upon the narrator's shoulders before it cuts to a dude sitting in the backseat of a car listening to Spanish guitar this is our hero Leon Kennedy dead by daylight Mona and wetter of pants everywhere and he's been dispatched to Europe and sunny Spain to rescue the president's daughter Leon gets a call from his secret service Handler Hunan and instantly attempts some sort of line on her somehow I thought you'd be a little older she says to find the President's Daughter by whatever means necessary after some actually fantastic and cinematic cutcenes of a drive deep into the woods we get dropped off at a spooky house by the police I turn around to talk to the officer of the law huh forget your makeup or something and he chooses death I tried to shoot him but the game won't let me it's here I notice the tank controls which are of course a staple in Resident Evil tank controls mean leyon moves like a tank directional buttons move independently of the direction the camera is facing as in the tracks and hold move one way the turret points another in the game this means that if you point the camera to Leon side and hold backwards you'll move backwards but not in the direction the camera is facing in the direction Leon is facing it takes a little getting used to but it's not a problem I don't mind it I think the camera itself is going to be more of an issue but we press on up ahead we find a man who doesn't speak English so of course Leon murders him in Cold Blood In fairness he does attack with an axe after we invade his home checking the body reveals that he is not in fact a zombie but checking his Pantry reveals he is a [ __ ] psycho so chalk one up for the good guys after some amazing acrobatics I get more opportunity to test the Gunplay and it's good it's a slower type of Gunplay than I'm used to but I clearly need to be a lot more careful with my shots than in Village I'm so embarrassed about my remaining handgun ammo I decide to knife these guys and get a fork in the [ __ ] face when you hold right Mouse you not only take Aim but come to a complete stand still you can only shoot while standing still which instantly creates a refreshing challenge throughout the game it's balanced with the fact that your accuracy is naturally better just because you're standing still however that is then offset by the patented erratic movement patterns that all of the enemies employ to dodge out of your shots it's a nice balance there's also the fact that Leon's hand trembles and your aim isn't always perfect this just adds to the tension Resident Evil 4 succeeds entirely in creating this suspenseful combat where the distance between you and the enemy is a nail-biting countdown a competition between patience accuracy and the speed with which they can close that distance positioning and direction are both always key in a game with Gunplay but Resident Evil 4 takes it up a whole other level the game encourages you to not only be aware of your entire surroundings as enemies can easily come up from behind but also encouraged you to plan your path around away or just to wherever is next I'm about getting to grips with the shooting and then it happens I thought the game wouldn't get me it's 18 years old right this can't scare me a [ __ ] already though the game has built a sense of mood in this Eerie Forest the low sound of the whimpering dog as you approach the first safe typewriter I Wander over to find him caught in the bear trap the simple prompt to help comes up Run free Indiana I don't realize at the time but this is actually a simple yet genius way to warn the player of there it is hunon offers to send me a player's manual to which I effortlessly respond no need I'm already a player it does provide some helpful advice on knifing and kicking however and oh boy how I love to kick things as I progress into this creepy Village we can look at the residents going about their Grim chores it's a great little moment where I try to sneak up on one but she Forks me in the face so I kick her into the [ __ ] Phantom Zone and then the music kicks in the denisons go nuts they're coming they're all coming with axes and pitchforks and mad eyes I do my best to navigate the new environment while giving myself room to shoot it's clear my aim still needs work but it doesn't matter because I'm working through them they're nearly gone more come they swarm me and then it happens one of them frows an Axe and I shoot it out of the air I can't stress the adrenaline this injected into the already incredibly tense scenario Leon is getting battered about because I tried my luck with that [ __ ] knife again and I think I've made a huge error my health is in the red and I know I'm about to [Music] die Lord [Music] suler where's everyone going bingo holy [ __ ] genuinely what a [ __ ] opening the village just leave as soon as they arrived and we're left with the question of why why attack us and why stop back to the combat now there's far more to taking down enemies than just peppering them with bullets a few head shots will do the job but as headshots tend to stagger enemies you can run in and take the opportunity to deliver a truly devastating kick this more often than not Downs or kills an enemy outright conserving your ammunition is relatively important and at first I didn't ever feel like I was down to my last bullet there's enough to learn the game and miss some shots which is good because this ain't first person aiming and as precise as the aiming is the situations can get pretty tight despite the built-in shaky aim Resident Evil 4 has the most important part of any game with guns nailed down the accuracy of the Firearms is absolutely fantastic if you can line up a shot you'll hit no hitbox [ __ ] and no clipping invisible boundaries that I found combat is tense enough with the deliberately slow and realistic aiming but it's is only made more stressful by the sheer amount of enemies you can face in one sitting waves and waves pour out of their creepy houses and descend upon you it's genuinely exciting and I pretty quickly got over my better save it for the boss mentality and started to Have Fun With Grenades and the shotgun speaking of weapons there's a good variety to choose from there's Leon's standard 9mm pistol of which there is an abundance of ammo it's the go-to weapon and I really like how it feels the shotgun is always my favorite and in res before I've nicknamed it the crowd pleaser because that's how I used it very satisfying weapon the bolt action rifle is your powerful long range option I'm not a massive fan of the scoping in animation it's a little jarring but I can't complain about how the weapon handles itself and it fares well even up close bonus Point rifle shots penetrate enemies that's a lot of fun eventually you can buy the Magnum and when you pull this out you know you mean business oh whoops oh I dropped my Magnum in my experience you get fewer rounds for this gun than any other and you're meant to because if your boss has glowing [ __ ] lights this is how you ruin their day there's some other variant weapons and a rocket launcher okay now we're talking yes there's also a fun mix of grenades you have your standard frag grenade which clears out a nice pack of enemies with a very satisfying bang remember me bang and the dirt is gone followed by incendiary grenades which I usually love but I was a bit underwhelmed by these ones you think they'd be good for burning the mutant flailing arm things but no and that just makes these a worse option than frag grenades and finally your flashbangs I underestimated the flashbang because when I first used it I immediately tried to headshot everyone but if you leave enemies alone they stay blinded for so much longer nearly enough to make it to the next scene it's very effective crowd control my biggest gripe about the weapons is I never found a way to cycle through them outside bringing up the inventory and equipping them from there this may be a classic Resident Evil thing but I hate stuff like this just let me map them to number Keys every weapon can be upgraded by spending your Spanish gold at the friendly Merchant got something that might interest you he'll appear every so often and let you tune up your guns you can bump up the Firepower ammo capacity and firing and reload speeds I can't help it I love systems that let you upgrade equipment the master works all you can't go wrong I tend to favor Firepower and capacity which really gel well when you can keep your call and don't need to reload that often of course that's what I hope will happen what actually happens is I lose my [ __ ] and start popping off if you upgrade every category on a single weapon you'll unlock the exclusive upgrade a very expensive boost that gives a special bonus my handgun has five times the crit chance on head shot my shotgun now does more damage at long range Etc very nice very fancy and purchasing this upgrade stopped me being able to afford the tactical vest which was available ailable the very next time I saw the merchant not enough cash saving your game can only be done at typewriters often near the merchant you can usually run back to find the last one so you're seldom locked out of a typewriter but long stretches without them do happen however there is also a checkpoint system as well if you return to the game After exiting you'll of course load your save to the last typewriter not checkpoint there is locational base damage which I always love shoot someone in the leg they'll go down shoot someone in the shoulder they'll stumble either forward or backwards of course the game pushes you to take head shot to make the most of your ammo but having this location damage helps create openings by putting an enemy on his knees first forcing him to stay still you can also knock weapons out of their hands and yes you you can do nut shots and they have a unique animation for them [ __ ] brilliant enemies will also slide downstairs when they fall and stumble into each other like dominoes so even if you're using the handgun hitting one enemy will help slow down a whole pack in the best case scenario one tumbling boy will set off a whole chain reaction of Pratt Falls I don't see this very often in video games I remember it in dark massiah and it's worth drawing attention to because it helps make the combat feel weighty and the player's impact feel like far more than just whittling down a health bar it's worth mentioning that the aiming and hit Boxing are good enough that you can do this from any distance so long as you can hit the target a knee shot is still a knee shot also remember the axe I shut out of the air you can shoot crossbow bolts down in mid-flight I realized it just as I started chapter 2 but there are two aiming modes classic and modern as far as I can tell both use Mouse acceleration which isn't great classic uses negative Mouse acceleration and modern uses positive Mouse acceleration so one's happy and one's sad I took a little break between recording so when I came back and found this switching to Modern helped me get back in you can use re4 tweaks to dump Mouse acceleration entirely but more on that later in fact especially listen out for this later if you can't stand tank controls while while we're talking about aiming it's time to bring up the camera you're an animal an animal yes great yes yes yes no no my problem is that it moves independently of Leon except when it doesn't want to see how I'm trying to get a nice cinematic pan of this church as Leon walks up The Path but the camera insists on snapping back the moment I tap a directional key yeah how [ __ ] annoying is that I hate games that do this if a camera is independent then let it be independent add a to reenter it I found it very jering throughout the entire game the level design is perfect perfect you spend as much time in oppressive and claustrophobic corridors as you do large open environments with multiple platforms for you to scale there's very minimal backtracking you're often always pushing forward which in my mind is perfect for the protagonist character however you do revisit old stomping grounds and it's always satisfying it never feels like you'll being made to go back through something there's a genius moment where the game tricks you into running past some men with dynamite straight into bear traps where you just get blown to Kingdom come but it rewards you with the absolute satisfaction of being able to shoot the dynamite while they hold it in their hands and blow them up and the environment can be changed in a genre appropriate way like every good horror movie you can push bookshelves and wardrobes to block doors slowing enemies as you barricade yourself inside you can also knock ladders down to stop them climbing up to reach you and then raise the ladder again so you can get back up there if you need to Leon is too much of a Chad to climb back down a ladder however he just jumps no matter how high damn those are some good shoes enemies will prop ladders back up so this will only slow them down but you can push the ladder down while they're climbing it to topple them to the ground it's so satisfying and I get to reuse this joke I was installing a fire alarm system but I was actually given the wrong type of ladder in this one particular spot they never paf find around meaning you can do this forever look at this you can shoot the glass out of this door and then the enemy behind it the care and attention that went into environmental gameplay is something modern Games should be learning from now I realize this towards the end of the chapter but there are certain Health consumables that will raise Leon's maximum HP I assumed combining herbs together would just result in a bigger heal but no every time you down a multicolor herb combo you'll raise that health bar you can only carry so many items at a time so you'll have to prioritize what you want to bring on your holiday to Europe you will find no end of coins however and as the game progresses you can purchase inventory enlargement pills from the merchant you'll find not only coins but Treasures hidden throughout the levels and some of these increase in value if you find all of the remaining parts for example this beerstein is worth more than the sum of its parts once I've inserted all free gems so it's always worth keeping an eye out for extra pieces before you sell incomplete loot it's a Resident Evil game so of course there are delightful puzzles and obstacles to overcome and I love this [ __ ] I loved it in Village some of them require a bit of problem solving others involve finding items and the best ones are a combination of the two you have environmental obstacles that range from simple to complex and usually result in opening a path forward one of which is literally a waterfall that is too strong for Le on to walk under you serious my dude you rhous kicked a tentacle zombie but you can't walk under a [ __ ] water feature oh yeah but [ __ ] slider puzzles this is true horror right here compare that [ __ ] to the amazing creativity behind this light puzzle that makes use of color p patters and dials wow after I solved this projector problem the bars reced opening up a church door and we jump scare The woman Inside who launches a plank at us this is Ashley the president's daughter who we were sent to rescue and now the game evolves again because you haven't just got to watch Leon's Health you've also got to watch Ashley's health and unlike Leon Ashley doesn't have a shotgun or a rocket launcher she's got a scarf so her health will go down much faster you have to keep an eye on her enemies will try and kill her or carry her away and of course the first time this happens you will inevitably kill her while trying to save her I actually like this concept A lot it subverts the end goal of the game being to rescue Ashley instead you rescue her Midway through and then try to get her to safety before playing this I won't lie I was expecting her to be more of a damsel in distress because that's what I'd heard she does all right under the circumstances and the execution is nice because she doesn't feel like a hindrance more like a companion and a challenging gameplay Edition there are parts of the map that Leon can't access without Ashley further reinforcing that she's not just a tag along she can open doors he can't reach alone there's a really tense bit in the castle where you help her get up to a platform from there she can turn cranks to raise a bridge for you both you have to both keep her from harm and also kill the cultist coming for you first time around this is pretty stressful in a fun way that is a good description for the whole game honestly pretty stressful in a fun way likewise there are areas she can't access without Leon remember how I said Le on is too much of a Chad to climb down ladders well Ashley can't climb down them either but she lacks the Kennedy bone density to withstand any fall so you have to catch her and yeah I know what you're thinking it's the first thing I did and I did it for the video you happy oh you pervert however what is genuinely funny is that I assumed this reaction was tied to the camera as in it's the camera panning over her skirt that triggers it but no later in the game Leon got smashed into the floor by a [ __ ] hammer and Ashley still felt necessary to chastise me for looking up hey what are you looking at they didn't tie this to the camera they check to see where Leon's head is looking I don't know if I'm scared or impressed you can give Ashley a basic stop and follow signal which is very useful because it gives you room to work with when you need it Ashley will actively duck if you're aiming and the AI will do its best not to get in the way she can also hide in some areas so you can do sweeps without having to worry about getting surprised even better you can give Ashley the all clear from anywhere she gets behind Leon to make sure she's out of the line of fire this is the best escort Quest NPC I've ever escorted in my life however there are sections where she's just a [ __ ] nightmare I'm talking about the Catapult section in particular areas where you can't mitigate the Damage Done to her and where asking her to wait will just leave her vulnerable to being carried away these are very few in number however to be fair Ashley's character has received negative response and I'm going to address that in the story and character section but from a gameplay perspective the notion that she's useless is something that just doesn't sit well with me you cannot progress without Ashley and there is an entire section of the game where you play as her and she handles herself well she uses improvised weapons blocking off enemies and dodging more than that playing as Ashley is genuinely unnerving because you can't fight back well besides throwing lanterns the buildup as you walk past the suits of armor waiting because you know it's coming and when it does it's absolutely satisfying it's a completely different experience and I would have liked to have seen her fleshed out a lot more to have more combat interactions with Ashley as the game progresses but it never happens this is the real crime here the gameplay mechanics surrounding Ashley only developed so far that's such a shame but from a gameplay perspective what is there is good I've played World of Warcraft I can't count the amount of NPCs I've wanted to tell wait by the [ __ ] road so I can clear the mobs out and walk at the same speed as me Ashley's AI for 2005 is fan [ __ ] tastic and they needed to be a longer more fleshed out portion of her survival segment because it was proper spooky after saving Ashley we run into the Mastermind behind this whole scheme I'll take the girl who are you my name is Osman Sadler the Visionary behind the experiments and spread of the plaga virus no longer will the United States think they can police the world forever I recognize that voice actor from somewhere hey you you're finally awake for [ __ ] sake the main antagonist of Resident Evil 4 is raof from Skyrim Sadler employs a whole medley of monsters in his Mash so let's chat about enemies your first encounter will be with the infected villagers who are like pseudo zombies they retain their faculties but there's a feral and even Hive likee mentality to them I love how their abilities and attacks are totally mundane throwing knives and using pitchforks if not just attacking with their bare hands there's a horrible realism to that they're people but not quite people they work together they're not just drawn towards you like zombies they're driven towards you it's far more unsettling but the situation quickly escalates is what the [ __ ] is this [ __ ] thing we' slowly shown the reality of what these things are and they can flail about and use their signature moves to ruin Lyon's day then you have the these robed cultists and they go all medieval on your ass with flails crossbows they even got spiked Shields Paladin Ms coming through I think this is [ __ ] awesome honestly there's not many games where you can fire a shotgun at a medieval Shield they too are infected but have a different type of horrible neck burster a little detail I noted with them is powerful single shots seem to make them Lurch forward but fast pepper shots knock them back I don't know if this is accurate but if it's true it's a nice touch and encourages you to shake up your weapon usage and there's this total badass with a scythe and a bulletproof mask there are cloaking insect monsters which feels like something straight out of the X Files what if such a creature existed that could camouflage Itself by clouding the minds of its victims there are antant for it in nature right in the insect world maned for instance they're said to be able to hypnotize their prey no I wasted more ammo than I care to admit on these guys the game tricks you into using the uzi by dropping loads of ammo for it in here Noah no no no there the shotgun is the safe bet we've got unkillable self-healing super mutants minigun wielding Heavies HTI tickle attack dogs who are legitimately the scariest enemy in the entire game I'm not going to gloss over the regenerat don't worry because these guys are something else you can blow them apart and they just keep coming limbs regrow you can pump their stomach and it still comes back with a vengeance these enemies have a unique mechanic and that unique to destroy the parasites inside them how do you see them using an infrared scope and suddenly I don't feel so [ __ ] clever for cranking out some head shots because I can only attach the scope to my rifle and I have about five shots left you'd think this is where I would complain but no because Resident Evil is just so well paced so well executed that there is always just enough rifle ammo to make it through the Section and if you truly screw up you can still just run past them some of these things have parasites you can't hit from the front so you have to get creative in how you take them out remember how I said you could blow off limbs once they fall to the ground their backs are exposed just so much gameplay emerges from this one enemy type and it's a great example of how Resident Evil staves off repetition with Challenge and creativity also look the infrared scope actually functions as an infrared scope how good is that the most important thing to mention about the enemy variety is it never feels like bug standard opponents even the regular basic [ __ ] have different tools to take you down it starts with throwing weapons then Dynamite then they start dishing out Maes to the front lines and any one of them can get back up as a whirling merry-go round of death every opponent has some sort of gimmick and I don't use the term negatively because that's precisely what you want when a game is designed to throw dozens of people at you at a time the boss fights are just so creative and make use of a lot of horror tropes which I appreciate immensely they have moves that make sense for each boss and while they can catch you off guard the first time they're all well telegraphed so you know what to watch out for next time sometimes you're given chance to make use of verticality in what are usually well-designed boss Arenas open enough to move around but cramped enough to keep the pressure on other times there are Unique Mechanics to slowing down or damaging the boss and the challenge never feels like [ __ ] it's always balanced tense and fun I may have underestimated just how much health this thing had but I got you you son of a [ __ ] hell you even fight a lake monster hurling harpoons at it while it drags your boat through the lake it bashes you off the boat and you have to make a desperate swim to climb back on board and as it Ries for its final death blow tentacle appendages begin to reach out from its Mo coupled with the water the fog The Bleak environments the horror genre is used to its full potential the bosses pay homage to Classic horror but they don't rely on it they are creative in their mechanics and design you're fighting for a maze of shipping containers one moment and then dunking Giants in lava in another sort of like a fatal get your own back look at this [ __ ] knife fight with krower which is basically like fighting Rambo across an ancient ruin he's got a bow and arrow and assault rifle flashbangs so you get a taste of your own medicine it builds up to a finale at to an ancient ruin rigged with explosives where he flexes his bicep into a chitus shield arm this is wholly different to everything else you'll face in the game the funniest [ __ ] thing about krower is every time you see him he's wearing less than he was before which is exactly what anyone with those guns would do there are also mini bosses venturing down into this Castle prison you can see it has Bells hanging on the walls how strange then we see a guy who's chained up down there with his eyes stitched up creepy [ __ ] holy crap you are creepy as [ __ ] he breaks free and starts Swinging with blade arms and wrecks me but then it Dawns on me he's drawn to sound what a bell end For Whom the Bell TOS he's a Dead Ringer and many other Bell fatality jokes Resident Evil 4 is the second game I reviewed with a minig gunning religious fanatic it's around this point in the game we meet sexy super spy aah Wong and from just one expression we all instantly know what Leon's thinking long time no see aah Leon you have to find some way to get inside the reason I'm bringing this up is because at this point in the game I realized how well timed the cutcenes are they never interrupt the flow of gameplay I'll talk more about the quality and impact of them later but right now I Want To Praise how they worked around and in some cases into the game playay there are phenomenal set pieces in Resident Evil 4 perhaps my favorite is the cabin where Lewis and Leon team up to fight off a horde of villagers this is just after the game introduces the flailing virus variety that can pop up at random making the Close Quarters combat far more deadly Lewis will throw bullets and grenades at you making this a perfect opportunity to use some of the more powerful weapons in Your Arsenal you can blockade the windows to buy yourself additional time to search for supplies and prepare such a great experience and Leon even says the thing hate to say it but we're sandwiched all right this amazing fight towards the end where in one of those incredibly rare video game moments the backup arrives and it doesn't suck you fight across a war zone all while getting supporting fire from your aerial buddy taking out Min Gunners and virus soldiers it's so exciting and the music is like something out of a war film you open the final doors and the game crashes yeah so this is an issue basically if you open the doors while the helicopter is still shooting your game crashes you'd never know this because it feels like such an innocent thing to do and progress onwards when the noise stops you can leave still fantastic and completely wonderful escalation because you've been fighting the hordes alone this entire time and then bam Uncle Sam comes through and blows those cultist and new one outstanding Mike you glorious son of a gun but there are some sections which really don't feel quite as fun the Catapult run this choke point right here is is challenging but it feels more like a bit of the level that if you removed it from the game nobody would care it was gone the cage match this last one especially as the camera really begins to make the player suffer in such an enclosed environment it was a really good time to use the flashbang at least but even then when I felt like the game was punishing the player look what happens when you've dealt with the situation remember they can't see so he just goes into patrolling so long as we keep walking the game features some QuickTime events and some of them aren't too bad in fact they're really quite cinematic and worked into the boss fights nicely they're far less punishing than Bayonetta but holy [ __ ] quick time of events that change key bindings on a Reload whoever came up with this one this it's a slider puzzle guy I swear there's even a shooting range and unlike the Remake there is no constant commentary for every time you fire a [ __ ] gun it's impressive for what it is with some reasonable challenge but nothing too unforgiving don't shoot Ashley shoot bad guys and do your best to hit the bonus Target high points will award bottle caps although I think that's a mistranslation as it actually rewards miniature figurines with little spe speakers inside don't worry Ashley I'm coming for you there's a snake in my boots Ashley is still screaming for help even as a 6 cm model Leon help the gameplay of Resident Evil 4 is a groundbreaking blend of survival horror and action adventure it never loses that tension you're always on the edge and expecting the worst it doesn't rely on jump scares it wields suspense revulsion and Dread and it rewards you with something much more than the prospect of escaping alive it delivers that action movie finish every single time it's survival horror but you're not just a Survivor you're the [ __ ] Undertaker and after the game is finished it doesn't end there you unlock new game plus the movie gallery as well as the mercenaries a miname mode where you pick a character and your simple task is to survive and kill as many enemies as possible you get bonus points for kill streaks and killing special enemies it's the bit mindless but fun except the castle stage which has way too many crossbow enemies if you get at least a rank four you unlock a new character with different weapon loadouts I'm going to talk about the experience I had with the side campaigns and the hard difficulty but I want to shout out that my footage for this bit will look a little different and that's because I installed a truly massive fan passion project HD update on a mouthful for my second playthrough it's just until the end of this segment and I'll talk more about the project later besides the main story the biggest attraction is the side campaign separate ways where you play as the elusive agent aah Wong it could have felt just like going through old areas with a new character skin but it doesn't there's a few key differences to playing AA first off you feel the draft a lot more first off the game play is fast-paced from the very beginning as ader you're often pushing through areas quickly with smaller but more frequent packs of enemies it recaptures that early creepy feeling although you feel a little better prepared and it still manages to Pace the encounters out with some moments of eerie silence I must admit after getting cocky in chapter 5 separate ways managed to give me a bit of a [Music] jump I found that in the main game I slowly ran out of ammo towards the end whereas in separate ways I ran out early and then towards the end of the game I was running around with a small munition store aah has access to the amazing sniper rifle that penetrates enemies a sweet ass crossbow that I had no idea fired explosive bolts and the worst handgun I've ever seen you even have access to the merchant welcome who lovingly says he isn't open yet he hasn't got his blue torches on but the customer comes first however you can't upgrade your weapons meaning the sniper rifle is already amazing and the Blacktail handgun will forever be trash separate ways is all about seeing the main game from adah's point of view at times you'll be playing in areas where you can see or hear Leon fighting his way forward you'll reach areas where he hasn't solved a puzzle yet or visit places where he's already been I mean look at this I remember how many enemies there were in this segment as Leon where you had to fight them until one dropped his key card and now ader is there and she is fighting krower above that area in a challenging Close Quarters fight while down below Leon blows [ __ ] up this is genius speaking of heights aah has access to her grappling hook which starts off being mostly used as a gimmick to access items but later on there are a few areas where you can get an elevated advantage over enemies or it's used to Traverse set pieces such as in the Crower fight or when AA single-handedly destroys a battleship yeah [ __ ] badass now that battleship is one of the only new areas I found in separate ways almost all of the levels are places you've already been recycled this might be caused to complaint but genuinely I can't I loved the idea of playing back through certain story points from adah's perspective they worked it into the game playay skillfully and I'll talk about the story ramifications later because right now I have no idea who this guy is she's talking to on the phone so I see you've managed to arrive at the village on time just kidding that's Chris Redfield separate ways is an excellent addition to the main campaign my only gripe bleeds more into the visuals than anything else it makes use of a lot of pre-end cut scenes versus the main games in engine cutcenes these are very low resolution but they're still beautifully animated and filled with character and if you're on PC there's a solution for this there's an additional thing called assignment AER however it's very different it's a miname mode dumping Ada into a level sent to kill enemies and collect plager samples it's not part of the main story there's barely any dialogue and serves as a neat distraction but I won't lie I just wasn't invested in it and stopped playing it's fun and it's included with the game there's no complaints here it just isn't for me finally we're going to talk about the difficulty the first time around I played it on normal and I found it perfectly balanced Thanos would be loving this just enough ammo to run out when I wasn't careful just enough danger to keep me panicking and I was happy with the health pack the damage received ratio but sometimes higher difficulty runs highlight real problems in a game so I did it again on professional and yeah it it's harder you can't New Game Plus into a higher difficulty than the one you finish on either so you start off with your basic gear as it should be it takes away a lot of the safety net you have on normal and I found myself running out of ammo and herbs faster yet still I found the game was paced well enough that I had just enough to keep going it definitely made the adrenaline pump a bit faster as well beforehand Leon could take four or five axes to the face and keep going now that's down to just two he's gone from a redwood to a birch meaning these a-r [ __ ] are even worse you take more damage flat out across the board due to the sheer scope of the game it's hard for me to say whether there are increased spawns or new enemies in Old places but I definitely felt the enemies were more aggressive they spent less time stumbling around and more time just bom rushing you I'm not a fan of harder difficulties that just boil down to enemies dealing more damage but they don't fall into that trap here it's merely one component the aggressive faster enemies will break down doors in just a few hits and gang up quicker it's something I recommend trying after the main game but this obviously isn't for everyone and on the other hand some people find this a [ __ ] Cakewalk me I enjoyed it challenging stressful and fun do I recommend playing this difficulty after drinking a load of coffee in the middle of the night no no because I just fired that [ __ ] pistol like a machine gun what I love most about professional difficulty is I felt pushed to use the environment far more than on normal the ability to make use of it was always there the excellent level design always allowed it I just never had to before wow for example rather than just shotgunning this pack of enemies I lure them onto the same crates I had to jump over because you know what these guys never got their bronze swimming certificate the areas that gave me Paw before now require me to be absolutely perfect as in Non-Stop precognition powered shooting and it's fun I'm loving it I've got so much better at aiming relatively speaking and conserving ammo I always prioritize knife kills which is great until I accidentally knife Ashley and I have to do this entire segment all over again oh dear I also learn I can suplex enemies and that's a lot of fun so I do that whenever I possibly can Resident Evil 4 is a massive ambitious and nail-biting adventure and researching it after playing it's clear that this redefined or even created an entirely new vein of survival horror with gameplay that creates an intense feeling of dread no matter how well equipped you become always managing to bring a new challenge to knock you down Resident Evil 4's gameplay is an achievement I just wish the camera didn't keep panning up so it looks like I'm watching Leon's ass this is definitely a plus for some people anyway enough about the game play we move on to the story and characters now while I will talk about some of the key plot points I'll try to talk more about the overall quality of the storytelling the story starts simple enough your secret service agent Leon Kennedy and you've been dispatched to rescue Ashley the president's daughter but it's clear something else is going on here must be my imagination Ashley's kidnappers are part of a European cult there's a zombes quality to the villagers and cultists they are resilient fixated and tend to move in swarms in fact some seem to keep moving after their heads are blown clean off as someone unfamiliar with the predecessors I I love what they were going for here you can feel that these people are infected with who knows what it's changed them but there's still Humanity within them they're just part of something else now the regular villagers are called gados which is Spanish for livestock giving you some idea of how these infected or regarded to the upper echelons of the cult every now and then that unmistakable Hallmark of Resident Evil dialogue makes its way through yeah but he could have killed me but he let me live no thanks bro but the quality of the writing is solid and the The Cinematic delivery is amazing with great cutcenes and voice acting there's both style and substance to be found here look at this simple scene of Leon and Lewis tied up the camera doesn't make me vomit but still easily finds a way to move around the environment to keep this slow paac cut scene interesting we pan back to the rafters and see a beetle crawling around this little detail elevates the scene so much it gives it that cinematic quality as the two men begin to talk meanwhile from a script perspective we have LS joking around with Leon this brings a little levity as the two can smile at their current situation nah just kidding with you Amigo and without missing a beat the camera cuts to a villager dragging an axe towards the shed to murder them both perfectly blending visual storytelling with verbal exchange all of the cutcenes are [ __ ] gorgeous though no exaggeration they're some of the best animation and spectacle I've seen in a video game and the level of detail they put into elements only on screen for a matter of seconds demonstrates a cinematic level of care love and effort that raises these cutcenes from video game plot devices to nearing scenes in a movie you just don't see that in a lot of today's big releases while trying to rescue Ashley some bad [ __ ] goes down and Leon is knocked unconscious while his honk Shu him and Ashley are impregnated with eggs implanted implanted sorry script error they have eggs injected into them and they're going to turn them into hosts of the plaga virus the parasitic virus transforms its hosts into mind-controlled individuals still retaining some of themselves but wholly serving another purpose on the outside they appear to be part of a cult but in reality they're slowly becoming drones in a hive they didn't just want the gameplay to be tense they wanted there to be some sort of ticking clock hanging over the characters they could turn at any moment and towards the the end of the game it very nearly looks like it's too late for both of them there's a real villains gallery of people working as the echelons of power and the cult of illuminados but the general plan is now that Ashley and Leon are both infected they're going to let the eggs hatch and send them both home to see dear old dad the president of the United States once he or his close Circle are infected Los illuminados can control him and take over the world of course look it's there to propel you through the game it's interesting to a point and Revels in its sillier aspects but the character interactions are what Elevate the game further with the story being told through beautifully animated cutcenes with surprisingly realistic if sometimes cheesy moments of human interaction The Narrative serves to maintain tension provide threats and obstacles and keeps the Intrigue up by getting the take over the world plot point out early it also perfectly matches the game play's progression the Eerie isolation wandering through dirty houses and creepy Foothills fits with the opening chapters Leon is mostly alone so he's focused on Surviving and finding Ashley once he's found her it's about the same time the player has got used to the hordes are infected narratively speaking they're now small potatoes and leyon has rescued Ashley but can he get her to safety enter Castle Salazar filled with religious Fanatics and a whole other type of horror the story reflect FS this no longer are you fighting for survival in an isolated Forest you're fighting for survival inside a medieval death trap this all culminates in the evolution from survival horror to action horror the player has overcome the odds again and again so it's time to just throw an army at them complete with Min guns and this is when we start to get more answers the tone in the story shifts again to taking down the bastard that started this all it's at this point the protagonist and player are at the same milestone in the journey they've both survived the horror now it's time to kill it and escape on a [ __ ] jet ski I love it the narrative pacing in Resident Evil 4 is absolutely Flawless and the story doesn't need to be overly complex because it is constantly moving and entertaining the player it fleshes out the details in these little notes scattered around they're not just the same old sheets of paper either they range from Public Notices journals and letters letters of intrigue and betrayal plans for the Takeover of the western world we learn that not all of the infected are the same and they do in fact retain some of their more rebellious personality traits nothing of the hor survives that's [ __ ] but we also get notes to help us and lead us in the right direction aah even signs her letter to Leon with a kiss this may not seem like much but this little detail helps us know more about this character her relationship with Leon and her casual relationship with danger we continue to see more World building once we venture into the dig site beneath the Salazar Castle this is where the plaga virus was first Unearthed and then sealed away again it was thought to be dead but was merely dormant within fossilized remains outside of the mine however is an underground temple with alien almost insectoid relief work perhaps at one time these hosts were revered or woried even it's stated that the insectoids in the game are experiments a merging of human and plaga virus DNA but maybe it wasn't an original idea maybe the virus was once something very different I mean look at this place this is older than anything else in the game and the visual style fits nowhere else there's an almost Egyptian quality to these carvings and you can make out some sort of hieroglyphs or pictograms around the reliefs in this one it looks like a more primitive humanoid has been made subservient by one of the figures they wearing high heels there are great statues of winged humanoids holding mirrors involved in a mechanism by which reflected sunlight oped your path forward these remind me so much of the statues at carac it's probably unrelated but every single typewriter in the game has Aman hotep slapped on it as the manufacturer's Mark during the reign of Aman hotep III around halfway through 1300 BC hundreds of commemorative scarabs were created to Mark the pharaoh's Deeds scarab beetles an insect the name itself has several meanings it's both literally Amon is pleased as in the god Amon and a combination of Amon on and the word for peace the typewriters are usually all in peaceful and safe places on the island there are cave drawings that are totally different to anything we've seen and yet what do we find in this cave a golden links Idol question why doesn't he like cats cats are the guardians of the underworld okay so that is a very loose Theory and yeah my source for that last one is the [ __ ] mummy but come on Brendan Frasier what a well Des comeback there's no hard proven link between cats and Guardians of the underworld which makes total sense because Anubis was clearly a dog person however there is a hard link between cats and protection mostly because cats helped households by eating snakes and thanks to bastet have you slept anyway where was I oh yes World building the World building in Resident Evil 4 is surprisingly strong and there are things left open to the player's imagination something not many stories have the guts to do bosses have their own intro or buildup further cementing them not just as obstacles to overcome but as part of the world the lake monster is perfectly introduced the giant infected is dragged out of his containment by villagers they're using it as a method to stop you but they lose control and it kills them all it would have been so easy to just have him break through the doors when Leon got there which ultimately would have felt Hollow but they took this opportunity to reinforce the communal High aspect of the infected they're not just Mindless zombies they're coordinated working together to defeat you even at the cost of their own this boss fight also has the coolest [ __ ] character reveal in gaming history hey it's that dog he's a good dog the boss introductions are as inventive as the boss fights themselves and usually help complete our understanding of the world and store story of resi 4 the buildup to each one is almost always an event and the clues to see when one is coming are laid out for you on to the characters and let's start with Leon [ __ ] Scott Kennedy at this point Leon is a hardened zombie veteran previously a rookie cop now a secret service agent that's a career shift he's well trained and been through some [ __ ] and at first I thought he'd be a grizzled serious verging on dead Pang character I won't lie I was a little influenced by what I've seen in trailers of the Remake here Leon does have that serious driven personality but alone that's not enough I think for a likable protagonist in the same way that the game itself Blends survival horror and action they start by gently pushing him into the action hero Camp before throwing him off a cliff into a vat of 80s movie Magic he's a true video game badass and comes equipped with enough cheesy one liners to make Arie blush ASO but never falls into the Trap of becoming some brain dead character forced to make quips every 5 Seconds it depends on the circumstance and I appreciate that what endear the player towards Leon is the fact he's genuinely compassionate he shows concern for the innocent rage for the death of his allies and he's got a dead eye stare you could see from orbit you can tell he cares for those around him even if they've only just walked into his path I've seen so many disillusioned World weary Heroes who can't stand their own team Leon is concerned every time an ally is in danger and [ __ ] pissed when they're killed I'll make sure you're the next to go Sadler he even laments over the burning body of the policeman who dropped him there even though these policemen were laughing at the thought that he's probably going to wind up dead in the Hills but he's still not going to pass up the chance to crack a smile Frozen corpses of innocent people who were experimented on sucks to be them he's playful and legitimately funny a bit of a dork but that's great while the writing does employ lots of humorous dialogue I've sent my right hand to dispose of gra you your right hand comes off there are no shortage of moments that highlight these traits without relying on cheesy lines one such moment is where Leon is so busy checking out adah's F he crashes a [ __ ] boat that's funny and it counterbalances how capable and invulnerable he is I did a little research after and in the remake this doesn't happen Leon keeps control over the boat also in the remake aah isn't waiting for him in the boat she arrives after with the key but it's not as playful and it shows aah as being out of control in the original she is there waiting for Leon to be clear she's not waiting on him she's planned what he's going to do next at this point she's in control of the narrative quite literally steering the course of Leon's story whereas Leon's been in complete control up to this point I want to be clear I'm not [ __ ] on the Remake a game I clearly haven't played what I am saying is they do things differently but for this game having Leon crash the boat is the right move and I don't know maybe it's because some of the best stories I've ever seen have combined sexual tension and humor you hungry I could eat need a ride handsome okay you want him to succeed and you feel like he's more than just your avatar in the world like I said you don't rescue Ashley at the end of the game you rescue her pretty early meaning Leon's actually good at his job he's already better than most protagonists sent to rescue anyone he's also an absolute lad and never finishes a conversation with a villain without putting them in their place can't remember the name huh a senior moment perhaps oh the reality is he's just [ __ ] loving every second no way Leon way and he's making the most of the opportunity to kick ass and chew red herbs despite all this there's a grit to him that makes the character someone you take seriously they earned the silly moments in Resident Evil 4 he's got the hots forer it's never really revealed if it's mutual but you can sense something going on there they're doing that wonderful Catwoman and Batman thing I love it he has real affection for her and for whatever reason they haven't gone to the backat cave yet it's Goring at him she's like a part of me I can't let go let's leave it at death a trait we see in Leon again and again is he's driven the man has has a mission and he's going to accomplish it even his own life is a secondary priority yeah but before that I got to save Ashley he's the hero of the story in every sense and the perfect character for the player to fill the shoes off I also learn he's not big into books but he does think normal people have domestic bathrooms with only a urinal Europe hold on charismatic Ladies Man confident taip a personality but a bit of a dog that's Tom Paris that's Tom Paris from Star Trek you're done for demonica melissia she's demonica whatever you don't get to see this very often because I tend to highlight the girls more than the guys I'm Shameless I know but I do have a hall of fame for dudes and Leon belongs in there he's charismatic Brave and a lovable ass he holds the Throne of not only being a solid protagonist but a genre redefining one as well as Crossing into other games genres and remakes what a [ __ ] poser okay I have only one very important question do you get a smoke got gone Louis SRA is just short of a Rapier and a staircase to slide down through delving into the game's law we learn he had a childhood love for Don Cote which probably fostered his exaggerated personality no cult Horrors will spoil this man's hair while he definitely carries himself with a certain flare is much more to him than being the flamboyant mysterious one he seems almost removed from the whole situation with confident non alance but he's clearly trying to help out and is at least somewhat concerned with what's happening it's hard to talk about Lewis because while I think he was well written he sort of comes and goes through the first half of the story I think my favorite part about Lewis is how he just straight up lies about who he is and never reveals the truth until he's dying what a guy is she well you know don't worry she's cool Ashley is your companion for a large portion of the game I tried to keep my Reviews free of outside influences but I'm not blind to them and I think Ashley gets more flat than she deserves for someone who definitely does start as a damso in distress she grows pretty quickly you know what let's talk about Willie Scott for a moment Willie Scott was finicky prissy always complaining and honestly pretty useless but she was fun to be around and willing to put herself through her worst nightmare to save Indiana Jones in a short round really will bet I get all dirty again get serious she had a hidden bravery that she tapped into when she needed to Willie Scott could be an absolute nightmare but she was no burden not everyone can be Indiana Jones Sarah Conor Bayonetta Rambo or Ripley if they were you wouldn't have Dynamics between characters so when characters who aren't action heroes or Fighters get their moment of herror ism they're all the more memorable cork yes take down the force fields course also I wrote down Willie Scott in my notes about 6 hours into the game and then not only do I encounter a spike trap room but a minecart Chase as well this is Temple of Doom this is a great segment as well you get attacked while on a mine cart going into a digsite it's such a change of pace great set piece Ashley is a univers University student in her early 20s Leon is a hardened zombie outbreak Survivor with police and secret service training in his late 20s the criticisms are not unfounded but they are unfair when you take this into account take this moment where for no reason Ashley pushes Leon away and runs into a trap this just felt like a lazy way to separate the two it's not just corny it's dumb I mean look at her running straight to the only spot this elaborate trap setup would work the only thing more ridiculous than this would have been if she tripped and got stuck in the [ __ ] washing machine help me Leon [Music] Leon listen I spent a day learning blender for that 13sec joke I know the shoes go through the floor I need to finish this review for Halloween but after this ridiculous moment Ashley has to survive on her own against cultists using her wits and the environment to escape she comes out changed not massively but enough to show that The Experience molded her you can tell here that Leon is proud of her she's grown and they're both just relieved to be alive Ashley apologizes for freaking out and running not because she feels she has to but because she wants to sorry if I was oh don't worry about it she doesn't even finish the thought because she's now embarrassed by that moment she's already more mature than the frightened woman trapped in the closet a few hours before there's no time to talk about it this is a survival situation the time spent here feels realistic and it's time to press on this is where the great voice acting by Caroline Lawrence comes in because she puts all this into her delivery with so few lines to work with more on voice acting later Ashley's friendship with Leon grows as the game progresses I knew you'd be fine if you landed on on your butt no she's not pleased at being pushed down a waste disposal shoot but she's more ready for what's at the bottom than she ever was before and then look at this leave it to me Leon now she's gone from Leon what do we do to leave it to me so I can take control of this giant bulldozer and [ __ ] wret [ __ ] Ashley gets her moments they're few and far between because the game wants to let Leon let you the player be the hero but that makes Ashley's moments feel all the more real and important for her character development what I like about the relationship between Leon and Ashley is its platonic usually I'm all for a romantic relationship between characters did you hear how long I went on about adah's [ __ ] boat but the Trope of two characters surviving a dangerous situation going on to form a romantic bond has been done again and again it was nice for Ashley and Leon to make it out as friends after you take me back to my place how about we do some um overtime time ah she gives it a go at the very end of the game but she nearly died four times in one day if I'd been through what she'd been through I'd walk straight up to Wong and Say Aah I'm covered in blood guts and plaga viscera but I'd rather be covered in you sake also you know this isn't some thanks for rescuing me offer because she immediately follows up by asking who aah is and we know the reason Leon turned her down is that he has genuine feelings for aah so this isn't making Ashley look weak she sees what she wants and says [ __ ] it somehow I knew you'd say that but it doesn't hurt the ask you know for Leon Ashley isn't just a job by the end of the game and for Ashley Leon is more than just the guy her dad sent to bring her home they're not super best friends but they've shared a struggle unique to them and there's a level of mutual care and respect I I'm rambling about this because these things these interactions these interpersonal relationships add Nuance that deepen the characters and in Resident Evil 4 they elevate the whole narrative aah is the complete other end of the spectrum she's a secret agent fem FTI and badass in every sense and has the slickest character intro a spy could ask for if Leon is a smooth punch to the face aah is a sweet knife in the back professional but playful in a nice mirror to Leon's character orbe it with a very different tone Louise Sarah and I thought I was high maintenance for the most part she drops the corny one Liners in favor of dry wit but I think Leon is a bad influence on her that's a large thing you have there but I don't like it when men play rough there's a wonderful mysteriousness to her with drip fed her intentions and reason for being there throughout the game unlike the antagonists plot we only learn why ader is there right near the end of the game in almost every cut scene she leaves as soon as she arrives never mincing words or wasting breath nearly every other character can't wait to spill their guts but not aah she keeps her plans close to her chest adah's protective of Leon to the point where she attacks her own associate now as the audience we know this is going to happen but krower doesn't he suspects betrayal but clearly he doesn't suspect enough to plan ahead if it wasn't already clear by the grappling hook outmaneuvering others is just part of how adah works works with manipulation Gile and an SMG rounding out her toolbox and to touch on the story of adah's Adventures seeing her side of the events is legitimately ingenious how it all fits together I feel like when they wrote the story of resi 4 there were story points that never really needed an explanation because honestly part of horror is not knowing everything this is part of why Resident Evil 4 is so refreshing because it doesn't desperately attempt to explain everything which is why it could have been a catastrophic failure to try and answer every question in adah's content but rather than Focus too much on Exposition and explanation they instead focused on little things like who rang that Bell finding out just what that sacrificial alar was for the story focuses more on just experiencing how aah moved through the low Cals and I think this is the best decision they could have made nothing needed retelling it's just a fun way to see her perspective and when they do deliver Exposition it's between levels and mostly just a rehash of what we do know except with adah's more reliable information I said before how she attacked Crower to save Leon but we also learn she tries to undersell his presence when on the phone to Wesker Wesker insists she kill him then we see how that worked out aah isn't about to jeopardize her deal with Wesker and we get the sense she needs him but she doesn't want to kill Leon she's trying to have her cake and eat it too no need to tell Wesker though manipulation and G and when Wesker goes over her head sending krower to kill Leon it's the first time we ever see aah phased by what's happening once he gets Ashley back his job will be finished he'll no longer be a factor no I'm leaving Leon to krower her manipulations have fallen through someone else has moved a piece on the board and she has to knock it out of play I love how her monologues at the end of each chapter are written and performed because in those field reports she only ever talks about using Leon to obtain the plaga virus sample she makes him out to be a means to an end but what actually happens is considerably different and as the audience we see her true concern for Leon shown by the simple Act of a break in her stride when it comes to what is going on technically aah is the most reliable source she understands everything whereas Leon is working it out as he goes but when it comes to her own motivations feelings and goals she is the least reliable narrator we could ever get that is brilliant is dead really H well I don't know man you've been seeming sus lately aah is flirty mysterious powerful and you're never really sure what she's up to she's the loose Fred of your story and you couldn't ask for more from a spy the quality of the writing for all the characters not just aah is far better than I imagined it would be I found myself absorbed in the web of personal nuances and interactions we even get to see what happened to Leon's fine leather jacket aah is also into books holy [ __ ] this game is great the interactions are different for each character I love this she's already expressed her distaste for Lewis but she can't resist bringing him up twice saying she would read through all these books but she has to chase after that womanizer [ __ ] great the antagonist are so good at chewing scenery I'm fairly sure they went for a whole Furniture Outlet before they started but you're never sad when they're on screen even if you are rolling your eyes from time to time it's all in good fun and keeps with the tone the game sets they Delight in being evil and they have little personality traits that make them more real they're also perfect for going up against Leon because they too taunt and mock so you have this wonderfully corny back and forth between hero and villain berating each other over the perhaps you are disillusioned with overconfidence just because you killed my small time subordinate Sadler you're small time oh you just don't get that anywhere else Wesker isn't in the main game but the contrast with him being this very serious efficient overseer versus the cultist overlords who are just insane is great but the best character in the game is of course Chopper Mike he's actually good backup wastes no time to talk takes out more [ __ ] bad guys than anyone else besides Leon and dies a hero's death mik the story and characters of Resident Evil 4 are not overly complex nor two-dimensionally simple they are exactly what they need to be for this game but also above and beyond with the attention being put on interaction resulting in Superior dialogue and characters we quickly become invested in nobody is SP in their backstory here they're pushing the story forward and with a narrative Laden with horror suspense and drama as well as equal measures of cheese humor and fun we have to get off this island now it's going to blow any minute it's going to what it's never boring never dull and you never grow tired of hearing its character speak what more could you want from a story well okay I guess maybe an explanation for why they have that plaga parasite removing device right where the plaga parasite headquarters are oh wait Louis explained that in a memo it was because they were testing ways the parasites could be removed so they knew what sort of radiation or chemicals to avoid they really thought of [ __ ] everything didn't they but now we move on to the Sound and Music composed by Ma songi and shaku yuchi the music of Resident Evil 4 perfectly captures the mood of the game and mirrors the gameplay in that so many of the tracks keep up the pressure and tension they never let you feel remotely safe when the enemies are pouring down your throat the music will match the gameplay constant drums fast beats coupled with haunting otherworldly sounds the music gradually grows stranger and more of an assault upon the senses instruments Fred through groans and screaming choirs it evolves through the cultist hord likee sounds of the village through the Fantastical Castle finally gaining an industrial technological sound to it in the final levels but the game also hits those action movie notes and I'm a particular fan of the infiltration Vibe this track gives off as Leon stalks through the island base the combat music although you'll be hearing it very often isn't the highlight of the soundtrack for me it's the haunting droning tracks when you're not fighting anything that fill you with Dread these tracks are absolutely key to taking the environment you see around you and elevating it from a video game landscape to a horrible place to be the music matches the surroundings every single step of your journey then in those moments of quiet building horror the music helps to slowly P the tempo down but still unnerve you the game wants you to stay wary to fear every corner just enough until you get too comfortable the Boss music never loses its creepy Vibe despite instantly setting the mood for a gargantuan confrontation each one grander than the last I know it's not technically music but the excellent soundtrack is what only makes the sections of gameplay with no music even more nail biting it helps lower the game's Ambience to almost silence and gives that perfect Vibe of it's quiet too quiet it takes a great soundtrack to make use of silence and resi 4 accomplishes that to a te lastly when you're safe the music instantly shifts to a more Serene and relaxing tone it's still got that edge of horror a surreal sound so you don't quite forget what you've seen but it lets you know you found a brief respite next to a typewriter you've time to breathe this is my favorite track in the entire game it sounds so unnatural And yet when you hear this it's the safest you'll ever be the music for Resident Evil 4 is outstanding Ambient sound is one of those things that doesn't care about a game's genre but it can absolutely set the tone taking the experience to a new level that's a pretentious way of saying resi Ford's sound design is some of the best I've ever heard don't take my word for it it's [ __ ] creepy the little sounds in the forest the creek of the floorboards and some of the best wind and weather I've ever heard you also have raging Rapids humming machines there's such Variety in the game's Ambience and all of it sounds good different surfaces result in different footstep sounds which is always a nice touch because it's a horror game ambient sounds are also used as set pieces the banging from within the house the whimpering dog the sound of the hive you're drawn towards all of them but you wish you weren't every enemy sounds awful in the best way possible the groaning shouting cultists as The Horde moves towards you there's that human element to them and a zombie like sound to achieve an even more unnatural noise animal sounds were incorporated into their groaning it works perfectly to create this feral inhuman pack the chanting of the cultists the gurgling regener the squirming of the plaga mutants they're all unsettling this bit with Ashley where the suits of armor start moving is one of the best moments of sound design in the entire game every gun sounds great they fire with real punch they all sound distinct and they're never too loud reloading the rifle is just so satisfying to listen to to just showcase some of the brilliant sound design here's me shooting a guy who dives off a cliff and into the ocean the voice acting is absolutely glorious and I mean that some of the dialogue is just ridiculous but the voice actors nail it I have to give mention to Michael gal and Renee muika as Sadler and Salazar respectively with writing so cheesy it would have been easy to go off the rails but they don't they have fun with it while treating the script and setting with respect because of their work you get those wonderful scenery chewing overthe toop villains but never so much that it becomes parody so nice you could join us Mr Scott Kennedy there's so much character in the little reaction sounds they make oh on villains Jesse Cy and Jim Ward played their roles wonderfully as well less screen time and less to say but that only makes you enjoy their lines even more Sally saffiotti as Hunan and Richard wow as Wesker are of course solid Reno Romano is fantastic as Lewis fun extravagant the unfiltered Rogue I wish he'd stuck around longer because he has a criminally short amount of screen time Sally car Hill performs aah wonderfully cool and professional but lets just enough of a playful attitude boil to the surface you can hear just that little bit of emotion put into her dialogue when talking to Leon but she plays it as smooth as aah herself a performance that walks the line between giving away enough and nothing at all carollyn Lawrence is fantastic as Ashley working in that little spark of confid confidence that grows brighter as the game progresses it's a difficult balance to keep and it would have been easy to have Ashley go from scared Mouse to Lion in one conversation but that doesn't happen and Lawrence sells the role with real emotion and helps shape a character we grow to like I'm never turning into one of them never got that right we'll find a cure Paul Mercier steals the show as Leon if you find a voice actor who can sell a line like this insect's life doesn't compare to Human lives you're [ __ ] golden he's capable of giving real weight to the heavier lines as well as bringing levity to the fun ones I cannot stress enough how rich Leon feels because of mercia's work he takes it seriously but has as much fun with it as the character does without ever departing from the spirit of the work so often in games like this I'm more interested in what the supporting characters have to say I was waiting to hear from Zana I was waiting to hear from Alexis this is because the prot agonists had nothing interesting to say the quality of the writing and voice acting means this never even blips on the radar with Leon I couldn't wait to hear what he was going to come out with next and a big part of that is thanks to Paul Mercier I know I already played this but just listen she's like a part of me I can't let go let's leave it at that there's no over-the-top delivery there's a sadness here this feels real you're watching two people escape an exploding Island on a jet ski but it feels real as I've been saying the human interactions keep you invested in Resident Evil 4 and the voice acting helps Elevate the game's narrative even further I think graphics are a really boring thing to judge a game on so I'm doing visuals and spectacle and that's how dazzling and interesting it is to me within the style of the game in Resident Evil 4 there are some graphical shortcomings but these are rare and mostly technical there are some textures that are low resolution now I played on the HD remaster that came out in 2014 most of the textures look amazing and the character Fidelity is superb for what is essentially a texture update so I can't Grumble too much however in a few places you can notice heavily repeated textures and it crosses into being a distraction this isn't the fault of the HD Edition this is on the original release when it came out but we take a look at the time this came out let's see here oh yeah 20 years ago so we just wave that criticism away that's not the Huff of opium you hear it's 2005 this all had to fit onto a [ __ ] GameCube which let's be honest probably can't run modded Minecraft these days outside of these very sparse examples the texture work is gorgeous to look at and the detail in the environments is stunning for the time and filled with variation you'll Traverse a European Forest Village filled with old infrastructure and Rural buildings Gothic castles and Grim dungeons strange dig sites and tomb rooms underground facilities just look at the detail that went into the interior of this helicopter purely to help create a visually stunning cut scene the visual details combined with a cinematography because that is what it is it cinematography makes Resident Evil 4 as much a cinematic experience as a video game it comes as no surprise that the team traveled to Spain and the United Kingdom to photograph stonework and gol statues to serve as reference material and textures because the world looks authentic the atmosphere is thick every step of the way and shifts seamlessly from the foggy cultist Woodlands into the goic castle culminating in the industrial Island base there are little detours into caves ruins houses and they all nail the desired mood make no mistake despite its heavy leaning towards action the look and feel of this game never departs from the horror genre entirely from what I've seen of other Resident Evil games it's an evolution in style not a departure the environments can be moody oppressive and anxiety inducing with such beautiful lighting only intensifying the effect there's detailed shadows and highlights and the reflections are just lovely look at this there's even Reflections in A's explosive spy glasses even when you feel safe the lighting helps to breathe a sense of dread into you it's never quite bright enough and yet you can clearly see everything there's no [ __ ] too dark shadows in Resident Evil for everything is clean crisp and visible the shadows and darkness that are there are tailored for each and every dark corner of the earth also a good game the water effects are just insane for the time this came out look at this drip no no the water the animation work is just gorgeous motion capture was used for the body movements but back then that meant animating every facial animation by hand and they look fantastic this could have come out today the animations of the enemies are nauseatingly good in the sense that the Monstrous things move realistically for their designs they're unreal not fake which is very important the game features impressive hair and cloth physics especially for the time look at this beautiful forboding room the curtains blowing in the wind from the open window it's already an incredibly smooth feet for the era but see how the wind direction is mimicked on Ashley's skirt and hair and you can just about see Leon's hair moving in the breeze as well such an incredible level of attention to detail for one room even the room itself is gorgeous the moonlit approach the desaturated Reds the shadow casting Salazar may be a virus riddled madman but his interior decorating and Landscape gardening are Second To None the design of the enemies and bosses is top here although you will see a lot of the same enemies there is more than enough variety to shake things up to the point you don't really notice if there are two of the same dudes in a pack I'm not saying it doesn't happen there's times Larry brings cousin Frank for sure but for the most part there's enough different appearances to distract you from this however the cultists all look very similar and I believe this to be by Design they're largely in robes and I think meant to be even less human than the gados there is still variation some cultists have bigger hats Senor robes Etc but it's worth mentioning the Monstrous enemies look appropriately horrible gross appendages and a total departure from the human element you see in the game but the game doesn't just rely on insane biology to get its scares it backs it up with insectoid forms possessed suits of armor and rabid dogs they're all horrific and you'd never want to come face to face with one of these things or or maybe maybe you do but you keep that to yourself okay we're moving on the visuals of Resident Evil 4 are spectacular and totally immerse you in this horrible World okay finally a little segment about an incredible undertaking to remaster the original version of Resident Evil 4 in high definition the Resident Evil HD project which is a little confusing because it's for the official steam release titled the ultimate HD Edition this is a passion project by two developers Chris and Albert both working to beautifully restore the game with high defition textures textures they followed in the footsteps of the original developers to obtain by traveling to Spain and the UK to take photographs not only are these textures faithful to the game they're up to at least 16 times the detail only this time it's true given some of that excitement impressed you're still here you can't keep getting away these aren't just better textures though most flat models have been transformed into 3D objects the lighting and visual effects have been improved plus going through and correcting other issues like model seams this project is a 7-year undertaking with them spending a combined total of over 12,000 hours of work and costed at a little under $155,000 taking into account unfortunate Hardware failures and you can just see from their hard work without hyperbole it's amazing if you're going to try this game or revisit it I would seriously consider installing this project but have no fear about losing the original feel of the game it is truly a remaster of Resident Evil 4 not a remake just a wonderful and passionate update of a classic and it looks [ __ ] great A True Love Letter by fans for fans of this amazing game just look at the wrinkles on that packing tape I mean they replaced every texture in the game but look how crisp that is look at that tape you can download it through their website I'd use a download manager or something though as it split into parts Albert one of the devs behind this incredible project is now working at night dive Studios which makes me smile so much because night dive specialize in resurrecting and remastering old games some great work being done there as a disclaimer the HD project does add one new area complete off the Beaten Track from the main game and going here simply gets you the handgun silencer which was removed from the beta version of the game the HD project installer also comes bundled with re tweaks which fixes more technical problems and allows extra fiddling with the game settings and honestly it's a phenomenal addition for one thing it straight up fixes the issues I had with the camera my complaints are now gone likewise I can't help but feel they preserve the shaky aim while cleaning up issues I had with the mouse further more it took me a while to notice it because I was in such a tank controls mind frame but re tweaks has an option to disable tank controls and replace it with a modern camera driven style of movement if you're put off of this game because of the tank controls first of all it's a shame because it's a real experience playing through this and a lot of fun secondly you have a solution with re tweaks you don't have to play with tank controls anymore however I will say this came turned on by default but I turned it off because I'm reviewing Resident Evil 4 tank controls and all there are additional features I'll leave that for you to discover but I will say the first thing I did was disable cinematic blur it's there to replicate the original effect on the GameCube but I didn't like it it hid all the great texture work the HD project put in and I just I don't enjoy blurs very much okay it's summary time and I'm starting with the negatives because I want to end on a positive note I encountered one instant crash to desktop that's if you open the doors in chapter 5 while the helicopter is still firing it's possible the 4 GB large address aware patch included with the HD project fixes this at points the game would hang just for seemingly no reason at all but I could literally count on one hand the times this happened okay bad over on to the good the game play is solid and although the loop remains similar throughout it's never boring it remains addictive from start to finish enough mechanics are introduced and Scattered throughout the game to keep things fresh and the set pieces keep things interesting beautiful to look at wonderful on the ears grotesque and unabashedly corny Resident Evil 4 is everything you could want from a survival horror game I went to Wikipedia after I played the game and I was surprised to learn the game went through several different iterations after first being announced by Shinji Mami back in 1999 this first version was spearheaded by Hideki Kamia of Bayonetta one of my favorite games he wanted to create a cool and stylish action game kamya's Vision ultimately resulted in a far too action orientated game that strayed too far from survival horror but the concept wasn't disliked in fact it's from this first concept of Resident Evil 4 that Devil May Cry would be born work resumed a couple of years later on the next idea and was based around Leon surviving on his own within an Umbrella Corporation Castle there was no Ashley but he still had a nasty virus E3 2003 the hookman was showcased and in this version it was more of a haunted castle Vibe they were going for Leon was still infected the guy can't catch a [ __ ] break but the enemies were heavily paranormal in nature animated suits of armor living dolls and a ghostly hookman as seen here there were even dialogue choices planned Mami said that development was proceeding smoothly this actually looks great there was even talk of Leon teaming up with a young woman and a bioweapon dog you can't make this up to escape a haunted mansion while the ghostly hookman prows the estate that was a real concept for Resident Evil 4 Leon and a dog hunt a ghost in a haunted mansion that's Scooby [ __ ] do okay so I actually misread that initially but I love that joke too much to cut out the dog teamed up with the young woman not Leon you lied I exaggerate and this was actually for an earlier version that would then become the hook version and if that wasn't confusing enough this concept would in a roundabout way go on to become yet another game Haunting Ground then the final version came about and Mami revealed he'd essentially had enough of the constraints the series had imposed upon itself Umbrella Corporation fixed camera placement zombies producer hiroyuki kobashi only instilled this in them further by saying team members were becoming tired of making the same game and some were just moving to other projects I've worked on a number of Resident Evil titles in the past and honestly I think the series had been recycling the same patterns the same gameplay each time the creators were starting to get bored with it and many moved to other projects they wanted to do something different and so Mami blasted out the game script in three weeks now Leon's more experienced so I made him a little tougher than before to reflect that I also wanted to maintain that coolness about him so I didn't want to make him too this may seem like a very generic design brief but if we rewind to that original concept you start to wonder how much of hii kamya's influence worked here he's known for incredibly stylish and exaggerated games his concept was literally deemed too cool for school but maybe Mami and the rest of the team saw that there was something to what he was saying something fresh that could help distance Resident Evil 4 from its predecessors while staying faithful to the genre and to f f a true survival horror with an action hero now I'm not saying hii Kamya had any influence after his departure he probably didn't and I don't know for sure but it's nice to imagine he helped set off the spark of inspiration for what changes would follow in Resident Evil 4's development a spark that created Devil May Cry and that stoked the fires of change within the Resident Evil 4 development team and the story that the developers these talented skilled and passionate people were tired of churning out the same game so they decided to revolutionize the genre rather than be a production line for sequels I mean that's just a heartwarming tale hell it's even topical we're in an age now where developers take pot shots at other developers instead of learning from them you can speak to animals I know oh sh Jesus Christ developers were so afraid of borders gate free they said wo don't expect games like this guys this is rockar level nonsense to deliver complete games and not live services I don't know I think customers don't mind waiting for Rockstar level nonsense cuz it looks pretty [ __ ] good if Rockstar level nonsense means finishing a game something went very wrong somewhere oh [ __ ] developers were so intimidated by Elder ring they said oh well actually they just [ __ ] on the Elden ring devs saying the game was so poorly designed they must have been smoking over CRT monitors well that's professional oh a Ubisoft developer said that I'm shocked I can't even believe that this is true but they make such great games and the award for best actor goes to really late reviews thank you thank you yes I'm amateur theaters best kept secret when Resident Evil 4 came out the reaction from other developers was wow this changes every we can do stuff like that and they did they upped their game with passion born out of sheer love for what they were doing and the belief that if you make a great product people will buy it these days are coming back I'm sure of it and even without all this Resident Evil 4 is still one of the best games I've ever played I've reviewed a few games and I've Loved all of them and a good few of them I would consider masterpieces but if you throw that word about two much it becomes meaningless you have to be very careful when you deploy that because there's personal bias my enjoyment of the game how much I suffered versus how much I had fun it's not something I want to say too often even if I genuinely think a game is a masterpiece so can I recommend Resident Evil 4 absolutely it's a masterpiece let's go home sounds like a great idea mission accomplished right Leon not quite I still have to get you home [Music] safe

Channel: Really Late Reviews

Views: 4,563

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Id: iJVaPih8dR0

Length: 92min 18sec (5538 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 18 2024