Resident Evil 4 packs a heavy punch in all departments you could want from a horror action game that’s essentially the closest thing to the best horror B-movie you’ve ever seen. While the cheese is ripe and manifested through its characters and hilariously inept dialogue, it’s supplemented with gameplay that is ultra stressful and ultra satisfying.
The only other RE game I had played up to this point was 5, and I honestly feel like revisiting it at this point now that I can see the framework a lot better. Controls in RE4 were a bit hard to wrap myself around, but once I got used to them, I started to understand that it was a core part of the gameplay and how dangerous encounters can feel if you don’t fight for some breathing room. In my still in-progress review notes (and playthrough) of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I said that I loved how “manual” the game felt in how you feel like you have a lot more precise agency over the protagonist’s actions, and the controls of Res4 definitely apply to that as well. There’s a handful of encounters where this tension almost feels suffocating, and they were some of the most memorable parts of the game. Coming back from RE5’s kinda lame inventory system, I quite preferred the briefcase mechanic and how you can only carry what you can fit in there, which helped a lot for prioritizing what you value the most in gameplay. Although I never really organized it until near the end of the game so you could open mine and it was just a mess of guns, ammo and herbs. I also had a sneaking suspicion you can rotate items in your suitcase and I never found out how to. Oh well.
Progression of the game in terms of setting and atmosphere is super cool and never feels sporadic. Starting off in the forest area overrun by dilapidated buildings and crazed villagers is an iconic first act to the game, and the transition to the castle and its lustrous halls filled with murmuring, terrifying cultists and bloodthirsty mutants is both seamless and grand. This leaves the final act on the industrial island, populated by turned American soldiers throughout laboratories and stormy shores. The journey itself feels fantastic and totally works to lay down the scale of the situation with Las Plagas and how far it stretches. Alongside all the enemies, some of which are absolutely terrifying like the Regenerators and the chainsaw ganados. The bosses for the most part are pretty simple and provide unique challenges, and I did enjoy all of them as well. Krauser was definitely my favorite due to its closest resemblance to what I understand as a boss battle after beating Sekiro 4 times.
I simply just was not prepared for this game’s tone. The only experiences I had up to that point with this series was 5, which played it mostly straight despite having a bit of a Jean Claude Van Damme action movie vibe. As well as drippings of 7 and 8 being ultra terrifying. So imagine my shock when I go through the first hour of the game, expecting something that feels grim and terrifying, and I get lines like “Where’s everyone going? Bingo?” and “Sure you boys didn’t tag along just so we could sing Kumbaya together at some boy-scout bonfire.” This atmosphere of the game creates a bit of a rift between the more scary and stressful gameplay and cutscenes where Leon Kennedy is about to say the most hilariously inept one-liner you’ve ever heard or is trying to hit on one of the women in the game. This all felt kind of confining at first, but when I got around to it, I loved it. There’s a pretty well-defined difference between lines where they're trying to be goofy, like "your right hand comes off?" and "hate to say it but we’re sandwiched", but then there's the ones where they're trying to be badass and it only comes off as funny, like "no thanks bro", “Monsters. Guess after this there’ll be one less to worry about” and "insects' life doesn't compare to human lives". I almost always am more entertained by the latter.
There’s not a lot I could say I disliked about the game overall. The QTEs during cutscenes are almost always really annoying, I don’t mind them that much during combat/boss fights, but please chill during the cutscenes. Let me get a second to drink water without having to mash X and C. I also feel like the time at the Castellan castle starts to drag a bit near the end of Chapter 3 and beginning of Chapter 4, and the music was somewhat forgettable, more specifically the battle music. The ambient stuff that played while roaming most areas was usually super cool and gleefully offputting.
I am a little worried about this game’s remake having the darker tone it does. As I said, this is kind of where I was expecting the game to go when I first started it, but I was both taken aback and eventually rehabilitated when I realized the game had a much more cheesy tone. I simply cannot imagine that newer colder version of the game’s atmosphere having that cutscene where Luis finds Ashley and Leon at the castle with something for them only to pat himself down and say “shit, I think I dropped it on the way here”, then leaves and says to Ashley “stay with Leon, he’s good with the ladies”. One of the most hilariously pointless cutscenes I’ve ever witnessed and I never don’t want it to be a part of the game, so we’ll see how that all turns out in March.
If someone told me they didn’t like this game and asked if I wanted more of their opinions, I would simply say “No thanks, bro.”
The only other RE game I had played up to this point was 5, and I honestly feel like revisiting it at this point now that I can see the framework a lot better. Controls in RE4 were a bit hard to wrap myself around, but once I got used to them, I started to understand that it was a core part of the gameplay and how dangerous encounters can feel if you don’t fight for some breathing room. In my still in-progress review notes (and playthrough) of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I said that I loved how “manual” the game felt in how you feel like you have a lot more precise agency over the protagonist’s actions, and the controls of Res4 definitely apply to that as well. There’s a handful of encounters where this tension almost feels suffocating, and they were some of the most memorable parts of the game. Coming back from RE5’s kinda lame inventory system, I quite preferred the briefcase mechanic and how you can only carry what you can fit in there, which helped a lot for prioritizing what you value the most in gameplay. Although I never really organized it until near the end of the game so you could open mine and it was just a mess of guns, ammo and herbs. I also had a sneaking suspicion you can rotate items in your suitcase and I never found out how to. Oh well.
Progression of the game in terms of setting and atmosphere is super cool and never feels sporadic. Starting off in the forest area overrun by dilapidated buildings and crazed villagers is an iconic first act to the game, and the transition to the castle and its lustrous halls filled with murmuring, terrifying cultists and bloodthirsty mutants is both seamless and grand. This leaves the final act on the industrial island, populated by turned American soldiers throughout laboratories and stormy shores. The journey itself feels fantastic and totally works to lay down the scale of the situation with Las Plagas and how far it stretches. Alongside all the enemies, some of which are absolutely terrifying like the Regenerators and the chainsaw ganados. The bosses for the most part are pretty simple and provide unique challenges, and I did enjoy all of them as well. Krauser was definitely my favorite due to its closest resemblance to what I understand as a boss battle after beating Sekiro 4 times.
I simply just was not prepared for this game’s tone. The only experiences I had up to that point with this series was 5, which played it mostly straight despite having a bit of a Jean Claude Van Damme action movie vibe. As well as drippings of 7 and 8 being ultra terrifying. So imagine my shock when I go through the first hour of the game, expecting something that feels grim and terrifying, and I get lines like “Where’s everyone going? Bingo?” and “Sure you boys didn’t tag along just so we could sing Kumbaya together at some boy-scout bonfire.” This atmosphere of the game creates a bit of a rift between the more scary and stressful gameplay and cutscenes where Leon Kennedy is about to say the most hilariously inept one-liner you’ve ever heard or is trying to hit on one of the women in the game. This all felt kind of confining at first, but when I got around to it, I loved it. There’s a pretty well-defined difference between lines where they're trying to be goofy, like "your right hand comes off?" and "hate to say it but we’re sandwiched", but then there's the ones where they're trying to be badass and it only comes off as funny, like "no thanks bro", “Monsters. Guess after this there’ll be one less to worry about” and "insects' life doesn't compare to human lives". I almost always am more entertained by the latter.
There’s not a lot I could say I disliked about the game overall. The QTEs during cutscenes are almost always really annoying, I don’t mind them that much during combat/boss fights, but please chill during the cutscenes. Let me get a second to drink water without having to mash X and C. I also feel like the time at the Castellan castle starts to drag a bit near the end of Chapter 3 and beginning of Chapter 4, and the music was somewhat forgettable, more specifically the battle music. The ambient stuff that played while roaming most areas was usually super cool and gleefully offputting.
I am a little worried about this game’s remake having the darker tone it does. As I said, this is kind of where I was expecting the game to go when I first started it, but I was both taken aback and eventually rehabilitated when I realized the game had a much more cheesy tone. I simply cannot imagine that newer colder version of the game’s atmosphere having that cutscene where Luis finds Ashley and Leon at the castle with something for them only to pat himself down and say “shit, I think I dropped it on the way here”, then leaves and says to Ashley “stay with Leon, he’s good with the ladies”. One of the most hilariously pointless cutscenes I’ve ever witnessed and I never don’t want it to be a part of the game, so we’ll see how that all turns out in March.
If someone told me they didn’t like this game and asked if I wanted more of their opinions, I would simply say “No thanks, bro.”