Resident Evil 4 had to justify a remake pretty heavily. Unlike many games which have a simple excuse of the original version being inaccessible to anyone without a 20+ year old console, RE4 is literally one of the most widely distributed games of all time. It's even playable on all platforms this remake came out on with a HD remaster. So of course they do what they had to to justify a remake: They changed 80% of the game.
Almost every section of the game has been changed, remixed, shuffled, expanded, condensed, or straight up removed with something brand new in its place.
I don't know the original game like the back of my hand, but there's so many moments in this game where I was like "oooh it's THIS part" because it's unrecognisable outside of one or two elements.
Areas that are kept more or less the same are still here, but they're pretty rare.
It's essentially like playing 2 games that were built using the same blueprint or something. For old players that's fantastic because it's a brand new experience yet with all the stuff they love welcoming them, making jumping in and settling in a lot easier.
For brand new players who just want to experience the story of Resident Evil, this works just fine. Maybe even better since I assume they updated parts that fit better with newer entries, but I'm no Resident Evil expert.
For new players who want to "experience Resident Evil 4" then it's unfortunately (or fortunately) not the game for them. This is a completely different experience. You can't play this and feel like you can jump in to discussions of the 2005 Resident Evil 4. That doesn't make this bad of course, far from it, I'm simply pointing it out because for those who like to fill up their gaming experience, you'll probably want to play the original to experience THE masterpiece everyone talks about, with this game being supplementary playing material.
Of course the problem with almost reinventing the entire game is that you can't guarantee the same level of quality that came before. I generally liked most of the remixed sections of the game, though that might be just because I liked seeing something fresh rather than because they're better. However so many iconic parts were cut and very few of the brand new additions felt memorable. It definitely felt like a downgrade as far as chapter to chapter experiences went, but don't take that as a big knock on this game - it's still great (see the rating?) it's just competing with an even greater game.
One thing I did like was the inclusion of a lot more puzzles. Resident Evil 4 was very light on puzzles due to the genre shift, so even including the few they had felt almost out of place. The remake added extra ones so it feels more inline with the games preceding this one.
And speaking of things that felt out of place in the original, what was up with that single side quest to shoot the blue medallions that came up at the very start of the game? It was the only side quest in the entire game, unless you count the shooting ranges. Well 4 Remake adds more of those too. Even more medallion ones, but also things like...kill some rats, find and sell specific items. There's not much to them honestly, though you get the odd funny one, like having to deface a portrait of Saddler with an egg. By far the best ones though are the ones that provide fights against mini bosses. There's only 3 in the whole game, but they're the kind of optional content I really like.
Cutscenes probably suffered the most from the changes, a lot of them felt completely neutered. Like the one where Salazar sends Leon through his trap door. Leon no longer saves himself with a grappling hook, and adds a 'F You' in the process by shooting his enemies ear trumpet. Now he just grabs a conveniently placed chain that dangles half way down the trap hole.
When I first started playing this I was actually very frustrated with the controls. Leon felt very sluggish and the guns felt very weak due to the lack of consistent staggers on headshots. I saw one comment that said "Leon moves like he shit himself" which I thought was hilarious. Overtime though I actually started to like the shooting in the game, it feels powerful. I don't know if that's because I just got used to it, or if the upgrades I was buying for the guns made a big impact. I also managed to stop feeling like I was controlling a drunk guy stumbling with every step and control Leon just fine, though his slow speed still kind of bothered me till the end.
Ashley's voice is a lot less shrill and whiny in this game, but she can often sound quite bored, which is unfitting of the situation. This isn't a thing in cutscenes, it's just when you ask her to do random actions, like turn a wheel, she'll just reply "ok" in the most dull voice. It's not a big issue, and you could even justify it by saying it's because she's so tired due to all the shit she's going through.
Ada's voice though... jeez. It feels really unfitting to her character, and the whole performance felt like she was phoning it in.
I'm not too sure how I feel about the knife changes. From great offensive tools that saved ammo, to necessary defensive tools with durability. I do like the extra meat in combat to block and parry things, especially as the enemies are MUCH more aggressive this time around. But the fact it can leave you with literally 0 offensive items feels like an oversight. I think it'd have been better if the knife for offense was the same, and a new consumable defensive tool was brought in.
Also why did they have to give durability to the damn armour too? Sure you can refresh it at the merchant, but it depletes so fast on hardcore.
I will say that while I think the increase in enemy aggressiveness works just fine with the new mechanics, having to fight multiple ranged ones at once is too much of a pain. Considering how long it can take to line up shots with a rifle, it's often hard to find an opening when you've got 5 people firing fire arrows at you every 2 seconds.
Another mechanic I wasn't a fan of was the loss of the ability to tell Ashley to stay something, except in very specific parts with lockers she can hide in. Instead it's replaced with a "stay close" or "fall behind" command. Personally I rarely paid attention to it and never saw a big difference in how things played out.
I do like how they changed the way Ashley had a health bar to instead be that one hit incapacitates her, and 2 kills her. That sounds like a big downgrade, but enemies rarely seem to attack her, preferring to kidnap her instead. Every time she was incapacitated I was able to bring her back no problem. Except for the chapter with the catapults, holy hell she made that part a chore. But the best part is I didn't have to waste any herbs on her!
As an aside, this game works great with the dual sense controller. I was beginning to forget it even had a bunch of the features it does since so few games seem to implement them. But in this game you can feel every single step Leon takes, and guns feel powerful, and the engine of a motorboat is just fantastic.
Almost every section of the game has been changed, remixed, shuffled, expanded, condensed, or straight up removed with something brand new in its place.
I don't know the original game like the back of my hand, but there's so many moments in this game where I was like "oooh it's THIS part" because it's unrecognisable outside of one or two elements.
Areas that are kept more or less the same are still here, but they're pretty rare.
It's essentially like playing 2 games that were built using the same blueprint or something. For old players that's fantastic because it's a brand new experience yet with all the stuff they love welcoming them, making jumping in and settling in a lot easier.
For brand new players who just want to experience the story of Resident Evil, this works just fine. Maybe even better since I assume they updated parts that fit better with newer entries, but I'm no Resident Evil expert.
For new players who want to "experience Resident Evil 4" then it's unfortunately (or fortunately) not the game for them. This is a completely different experience. You can't play this and feel like you can jump in to discussions of the 2005 Resident Evil 4. That doesn't make this bad of course, far from it, I'm simply pointing it out because for those who like to fill up their gaming experience, you'll probably want to play the original to experience THE masterpiece everyone talks about, with this game being supplementary playing material.
Of course the problem with almost reinventing the entire game is that you can't guarantee the same level of quality that came before. I generally liked most of the remixed sections of the game, though that might be just because I liked seeing something fresh rather than because they're better. However so many iconic parts were cut and very few of the brand new additions felt memorable. It definitely felt like a downgrade as far as chapter to chapter experiences went, but don't take that as a big knock on this game - it's still great (see the rating?) it's just competing with an even greater game.
One thing I did like was the inclusion of a lot more puzzles. Resident Evil 4 was very light on puzzles due to the genre shift, so even including the few they had felt almost out of place. The remake added extra ones so it feels more inline with the games preceding this one.
And speaking of things that felt out of place in the original, what was up with that single side quest to shoot the blue medallions that came up at the very start of the game? It was the only side quest in the entire game, unless you count the shooting ranges. Well 4 Remake adds more of those too. Even more medallion ones, but also things like...kill some rats, find and sell specific items. There's not much to them honestly, though you get the odd funny one, like having to deface a portrait of Saddler with an egg. By far the best ones though are the ones that provide fights against mini bosses. There's only 3 in the whole game, but they're the kind of optional content I really like.
Cutscenes probably suffered the most from the changes, a lot of them felt completely neutered. Like the one where Salazar sends Leon through his trap door. Leon no longer saves himself with a grappling hook, and adds a 'F You' in the process by shooting his enemies ear trumpet. Now he just grabs a conveniently placed chain that dangles half way down the trap hole.
When I first started playing this I was actually very frustrated with the controls. Leon felt very sluggish and the guns felt very weak due to the lack of consistent staggers on headshots. I saw one comment that said "Leon moves like he shit himself" which I thought was hilarious. Overtime though I actually started to like the shooting in the game, it feels powerful. I don't know if that's because I just got used to it, or if the upgrades I was buying for the guns made a big impact. I also managed to stop feeling like I was controlling a drunk guy stumbling with every step and control Leon just fine, though his slow speed still kind of bothered me till the end.
Ashley's voice is a lot less shrill and whiny in this game, but she can often sound quite bored, which is unfitting of the situation. This isn't a thing in cutscenes, it's just when you ask her to do random actions, like turn a wheel, she'll just reply "ok" in the most dull voice. It's not a big issue, and you could even justify it by saying it's because she's so tired due to all the shit she's going through.
Ada's voice though... jeez. It feels really unfitting to her character, and the whole performance felt like she was phoning it in.
I'm not too sure how I feel about the knife changes. From great offensive tools that saved ammo, to necessary defensive tools with durability. I do like the extra meat in combat to block and parry things, especially as the enemies are MUCH more aggressive this time around. But the fact it can leave you with literally 0 offensive items feels like an oversight. I think it'd have been better if the knife for offense was the same, and a new consumable defensive tool was brought in.
Also why did they have to give durability to the damn armour too? Sure you can refresh it at the merchant, but it depletes so fast on hardcore.
I will say that while I think the increase in enemy aggressiveness works just fine with the new mechanics, having to fight multiple ranged ones at once is too much of a pain. Considering how long it can take to line up shots with a rifle, it's often hard to find an opening when you've got 5 people firing fire arrows at you every 2 seconds.
Another mechanic I wasn't a fan of was the loss of the ability to tell Ashley to stay something, except in very specific parts with lockers she can hide in. Instead it's replaced with a "stay close" or "fall behind" command. Personally I rarely paid attention to it and never saw a big difference in how things played out.
I do like how they changed the way Ashley had a health bar to instead be that one hit incapacitates her, and 2 kills her. That sounds like a big downgrade, but enemies rarely seem to attack her, preferring to kidnap her instead. Every time she was incapacitated I was able to bring her back no problem. Except for the chapter with the catapults, holy hell she made that part a chore. But the best part is I didn't have to waste any herbs on her!
As an aside, this game works great with the dual sense controller. I was beginning to forget it even had a bunch of the features it does since so few games seem to implement them. But in this game you can feel every single step Leon takes, and guns feel powerful, and the engine of a motorboat is just fantastic.
2 Comments
@GrantKeegan Thank you!!
GrantKeegan
1 year ago