Goodbye puzzles, goodbye labyrinthian level design, goodbye ink ribbons, goodbye limited inventory, goodbye horror. Goodbye... most of what I love about Resident Evil.
It really is wild just how different this is from the classic Resident Evil style; you can barely even recognize it as Resident Evil beyond the title and a couple reoccuring characters. Even wilder, this game is somehow the fan favorite, even today after a series wide tonal redirect and a remake of this exact game.
And yet, RE4 is still so damn good. I don't know when was the last game I played when I was absolutely giddy at the start of each play session. All I wanted to do for weeks was go home and play Resident Evil 4.
Part of it is the campiness is perfect. It's the exact right type of unironic tone fused with ridiculous dialogue to make a perfectly blended horror/action smoothie. As much as I love how terrifying the isolation of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 are (and as undeniably disappointing it is that this isn't that), the cheese is hilarious and delightful, without ruining the potential for good scares. This is a script I want to quote with people forever.
The shift in tone also extends to the action. You could totally call this an action game before a horror game and you wouldn't be wrong, but it somehow fits with the series and feels like a natural evolution of how much more action there was in Resident Evil 2. There's no reason to ever run past anything, just kill everyone. Ammo drops are practically bottomless, and the gunplay is always fun no matter what weapon you choose to use. My kill count at the end of the game was 929; I think combined between RE1 and RE2 there weren't even 929 enemies total. This ends up being the main avenue that the game delivers scares: the shooting is still so fun, so just focus on that, keep the resources limited, and overwhelm the player with sheer numbers to keep the risk of failure. It could easily have become a disaster, but they miraculous strike the perfect balance of scares, difficulty, and fun gunplay to make it fun throughout (mostly, more on that later).
The biggest hurdle with the experience is easily the controls. I got used to it semi-quickly, but not being able to move and shoot at the same time makes it feel extremely archaic compared to every other shooter ever, before or since. This restriction made sense with tank controls and a bird's-eye perspective, but changing to over the shoulder and kinda-sorta tank controls limits both your mobility and visibility, and with this level design and sheer number of enemies, it's a tough pill to swallow early on. That said, I did get used to it fairly quickly, and once I did it was a great time. Plus, it's obvious to see how everything else in this game is weighted in the player's favor to make the controls more tolerable. Enemies more often than not walk super slowly, giving you plenty of time to take aim or just run away. Music only plays when there are enemies nearby, and they yell at you before attacking, so you'll rarely be caught by surprise.
The village is a great intro that really emphasizes the scares, and I like the castle too, it feels like a good setting for your now more intermediate skills. The island however I'm not really a fan of, and I think it leaves a bit of a sour final impression to end the game off. Not only are there a lot more enemies now, the military base aesthetic of both enemies and locales makes the experience feel a lot more Uncharted than Resident Evil, both in the sense of the scares being super toned down, but also in the shooting feeling much more generic. Saddler as a final boss also ends up feeling underwhelming, mostly due to the free rocket launcher you get. Also the final cutscene just feels rushed and sloppily handled with Saddler's unceremonious fight and with Ada's escape at the end. Like, Leon's really just going to water ski into the sunrise after losing the sample like that? Get outta here. I haven't finished Separate Ways yet, maybe that will help.
I guess I can throw in the token comment that Ashley sucks. I'm really glad that more often than not she's kidnapped so you don't have to deal with her, but realistically even when she's with you she's not that much of a pain. There are even a couple good sequences where you're forcefully separated from her that do a good job at making you tense.
Between this, RE1 and RE2, I think this is my least favorite Resident Evil. Partially because of the focus away from horror, but I think more so because of how chapter 5 drops the ball a bit. That said I think I could more easily see myself replaying this than RE1 and RE2, and a second playthrough feels like it'll be completely different. Still, this was a great time; an easy recommend and a must play in the series.
It really is wild just how different this is from the classic Resident Evil style; you can barely even recognize it as Resident Evil beyond the title and a couple reoccuring characters. Even wilder, this game is somehow the fan favorite, even today after a series wide tonal redirect and a remake of this exact game.
And yet, RE4 is still so damn good. I don't know when was the last game I played when I was absolutely giddy at the start of each play session. All I wanted to do for weeks was go home and play Resident Evil 4.
Part of it is the campiness is perfect. It's the exact right type of unironic tone fused with ridiculous dialogue to make a perfectly blended horror/action smoothie. As much as I love how terrifying the isolation of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 are (and as undeniably disappointing it is that this isn't that), the cheese is hilarious and delightful, without ruining the potential for good scares. This is a script I want to quote with people forever.
The shift in tone also extends to the action. You could totally call this an action game before a horror game and you wouldn't be wrong, but it somehow fits with the series and feels like a natural evolution of how much more action there was in Resident Evil 2. There's no reason to ever run past anything, just kill everyone. Ammo drops are practically bottomless, and the gunplay is always fun no matter what weapon you choose to use. My kill count at the end of the game was 929; I think combined between RE1 and RE2 there weren't even 929 enemies total. This ends up being the main avenue that the game delivers scares: the shooting is still so fun, so just focus on that, keep the resources limited, and overwhelm the player with sheer numbers to keep the risk of failure. It could easily have become a disaster, but they miraculous strike the perfect balance of scares, difficulty, and fun gunplay to make it fun throughout (mostly, more on that later).
The biggest hurdle with the experience is easily the controls. I got used to it semi-quickly, but not being able to move and shoot at the same time makes it feel extremely archaic compared to every other shooter ever, before or since. This restriction made sense with tank controls and a bird's-eye perspective, but changing to over the shoulder and kinda-sorta tank controls limits both your mobility and visibility, and with this level design and sheer number of enemies, it's a tough pill to swallow early on. That said, I did get used to it fairly quickly, and once I did it was a great time. Plus, it's obvious to see how everything else in this game is weighted in the player's favor to make the controls more tolerable. Enemies more often than not walk super slowly, giving you plenty of time to take aim or just run away. Music only plays when there are enemies nearby, and they yell at you before attacking, so you'll rarely be caught by surprise.
The village is a great intro that really emphasizes the scares, and I like the castle too, it feels like a good setting for your now more intermediate skills. The island however I'm not really a fan of, and I think it leaves a bit of a sour final impression to end the game off. Not only are there a lot more enemies now, the military base aesthetic of both enemies and locales makes the experience feel a lot more Uncharted than Resident Evil, both in the sense of the scares being super toned down, but also in the shooting feeling much more generic. Saddler as a final boss also ends up feeling underwhelming, mostly due to the free rocket launcher you get. Also the final cutscene just feels rushed and sloppily handled with Saddler's unceremonious fight and with Ada's escape at the end. Like, Leon's really just going to water ski into the sunrise after losing the sample like that? Get outta here. I haven't finished Separate Ways yet, maybe that will help.
I guess I can throw in the token comment that Ashley sucks. I'm really glad that more often than not she's kidnapped so you don't have to deal with her, but realistically even when she's with you she's not that much of a pain. There are even a couple good sequences where you're forcefully separated from her that do a good job at making you tense.
Between this, RE1 and RE2, I think this is my least favorite Resident Evil. Partially because of the focus away from horror, but I think more so because of how chapter 5 drops the ball a bit. That said I think I could more easily see myself replaying this than RE1 and RE2, and a second playthrough feels like it'll be completely different. Still, this was a great time; an easy recommend and a must play in the series.