Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Review | Remembering the BEST Resident Evil Game
Resident Evil 4 review! Given enough time has now gone past to get a fair picture, Resident Evil 7 was actually pretty good. So what better time to take a look at… RESIDENT EVIL 4 .. The first time Capcom reinvented a flagging series for the better. Give us 12 years, and we’ll take a look at RE7.
2005: Resident Evil 4 – the appropriately titled 14th game in the Resident Evil series – is released exclusively on the under-performing GameCube.
As can been seen today in a number of franchises that have got into double digit releases, straying away the norm can be your downfall; endless Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed games get pushed out with a new lick of paint, new characters and new settings but ultimately little to distinguish them from previous iterations, so with Resident Evil 4 what the public expected was another solidly-built and well-marketed product but ultimately a wholly uninspiring release.
Resident Evil 4 did not do this. What was released was a whole new play style, an exquisite blend of action and survival; a huge amount of content, all gorgeously wrapped with the best looking PS2 graphics and Gamecube Graphics.
Talking of characters, in a bold leap made by Capcom, the zombies are gone; in come Las Plagas – forget the comedy walkers from before, this time the enemies can shoot back!
We re-join Resident Evil 2’s protagonist Leon Kennedy on his mission, ripped from an 80’s action b-movie, to obviously rescue the president’s. On his journey we have terrible dialogue and silly monsters, and the story may be a bit inane, but this 100% doesn’t matter as the ludicrous situations offer a shoehorn to jam in so many different locations and enemies, and jet skis. However, this isn't a case of so bad it’s good; the tongue was rammed firmly in Capcom's cheek the whole time.
At your starting point in a Spanish Peasant village, you’re fighting the local pitchfork-wielding bumpkins, and you’d have got long odds betting you’d end up taking down attack helicopters and the minigun-wielding JJ.
Unlike what came before, this game is 90% action, 10% survival. That 10% though really tries to drive home the horror with some genuinely terrifying enemies. You’re first play through was going to be full of instakills, no questions.
However, from completion, you earn the Mercenaries arcade game, which spawned it’s own spin offs, and was straight up hours of shooter fun allowing you to play as other members of the Resident Evil canon. You also got another hour long game, playing as Ada Wong, and the numerous shooting galleries and new difficulties, just to give you even more to do.
Future Resident Evil 4 releases would add even more content and an additional full side game involving Ada. Even without the entire extra story and add-ons included in the myriad of re-releases, until the many HD remakes the Gamecube version of Resident Evil 4 was my favourite.
The majority of gamers will have at least a base recollection of this game; Nintendo, Sony, Xbox, PC and mobile markets have all had an adaptation. To get the bias out of the way, the GameCube Resident Evil 4 is my favourite game ever made. I have completed it and re-completed it over and over and will continue to do so with every new release. Finishing the pain in the arse process to unlock the Hand Cannon will remain, unfortunately, one of the proudest moments of my life. I still have the GameCube memory card with that save and I know where it is.
The PC Resident Evil 4 HD remake has been included in a couple of humble bundles, and in case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, controls remain almost identical to the solid and responsive original – save for a bit of button placement redesign. I stupidly buy and play it on each new release, and after a few missed knife strikes and kicking a ladder over instead of descending it, everything always clicks and I’m back in the saddle.
The static, over-the-shoulder aiming does now feel a bit dated compared to the modern, FPS cover-based evolution, but the game would not be the same without it. Desperate, ammo-conserving combat is the point. With the last graphical updates, I cannot see how it can be justifiably ported any further. But you know it will be when the PS5 comes out.
Resident Evil 4 is much better than Resident Evil 5 in almost every way, and Resident Evil 6 went browntown generic. Imitation is the finest form of flattery and tons of releases since 2005 had thinly-veiled Resi 4 qualities. None pulled it off though; Resident Evil 4 is the closest to a perfect game I have ever played, so it was about time to put its format to bed. It’s great to see Resident Evil 7 going a mega different path. Lets just hope that we don't have history repeating itself, and have Resi 8 and Resi 9 being clones.