Finished on 11/22/2023
Courtesy to Zapken for lending me his copy to play, didn't think I'd get around to it before the end of the year.
I don't wanna get too into the weeds here because there's already been a lot said and done about this game twice-over, however I gotta say they sure made Resident Evil 4. At the very least, they made the Resident Evil 4 that I think should have been made for this current period in gaming- even if that means trimming a lot of the original's fat or creating new problems in the process.
Previously I thought Resident Evil 4 (as played on Wii) was already a near masterpiece when I first finished it last spring, however there were obvious bumps in the road toward the final chapter. Don't think that should discredit it from its reverence, however I did want to keep an open mind whenever I got around to this just for comparison's sake. What I've come to was just about what I expected: Man, Resident Evil 4 is really good!
I think the way I'll set this review up is I'll just list points I was thinking about throughout my playthrough as it compares to the original, rather than my usual structure. I've only really played this and the original, no other REs so I don't have a good idea as to how this feels in the modern RE space but maybe eventually I'll come back to this with a more distinguished idea of where RE4R feels in the overall franchise canon.
-Played on Normal difficulty. Part of me thought to play on professional but figured I'd take the usual path of resistance. Ironically I did still get my ass kicked despite my knowledge of the original (i'm not very good at shooting).
-Dont have any of the final stats from my original run but I kinda felt more secure in my performance in that game than I did in a lot of sections here. Kept running low on ammo, although my accuracy wasn't atrocious.
-Dunno if I really noticed that much Handgun Ammo dropping from the regular case they give you, the other two though were much more generous.
-I think one of my biggest gripes is I thought Leon felt incredibly good to control in the original; here I felt like Leon had weird acceleration/dashing at times which was a pain to juggle or rush over and merc downed enemies.
What I miss:
-The choice after the house between the chainsaw women and the second gigante fight
-The statue chase scene specifically. COWARDICE.
-Better gun ammo drops(??) idk maybe I remember wrong but didnt original drop way more ammo?
-The weird ass lava room detour
-Idk there’s some minor rooms/segments that aren’t really needed for the remake but I kinda miss, like the chairlift area.
-Some of the goofy ass animations for blasting away enemies. I miss the little twirl they did sometimes.
-Regenerators I thought were a bit more creepier to be around in the original. Here, they’re built up a bit more and I think that’s effective but once you actually fight one it's like, alright.
What I didn't miss/what changes I liked:
-That entire underground ancient city segment
-The entire hive area
-Honestly, Incendiary Grenades. I forgot these existed until I looked back at the original RE4.
-Less Luis. While I don't think the mines are that good here I can't help but enjoy having his ass around
-The weird U-3 boss fight
-How the Salazar boss fight felt, the remake's feels way less cramped/don't have to deal with ADDs
-Now you get to control the boat and explore a lot more of the lake area
There’s probably more things I could compare between both games but these were just the main things sticking out by the end.
It is very weird comparing the tone of both games. I think about the throne room scene in both and I think they both work for what they're going for, but it was very distracting going through the remake and thinking "Leon didn't make Salazar throw a tantrum by surviving the fall". At the end of the day while I think the arcady goofiness of the original was a core part of RE4’s charm, I can’t say I don't understand nor do I disapprove necessarily of the tonal shift to something a bit more focused on the actual horror aspect of Los Illuminados and the process/effects of Las Plagas. I think the game leaning ‘single-digit percent’ toward the horror roots of RE4 is a fine decision, and if anything I think validates its distinction from the original, not as a replacement but as a reimagining. I mean RE4 is still playable on every device released after the turn of the millenia so at least anyone can compare and contrast the leaner, more ‘horror’ version to the hoaky charm and genre defining feel of the original pretty easily.
At the end of the day I enjoyed both of them and I kinda don't want to prefer one to the other. Yeah thats right im copping out here, I like both immensely and wont separate them- gaming is weird.
Courtesy to Zapken for lending me his copy to play, didn't think I'd get around to it before the end of the year.
I don't wanna get too into the weeds here because there's already been a lot said and done about this game twice-over, however I gotta say they sure made Resident Evil 4. At the very least, they made the Resident Evil 4 that I think should have been made for this current period in gaming- even if that means trimming a lot of the original's fat or creating new problems in the process.
Previously I thought Resident Evil 4 (as played on Wii) was already a near masterpiece when I first finished it last spring, however there were obvious bumps in the road toward the final chapter. Don't think that should discredit it from its reverence, however I did want to keep an open mind whenever I got around to this just for comparison's sake. What I've come to was just about what I expected: Man, Resident Evil 4 is really good!
I think the way I'll set this review up is I'll just list points I was thinking about throughout my playthrough as it compares to the original, rather than my usual structure. I've only really played this and the original, no other REs so I don't have a good idea as to how this feels in the modern RE space but maybe eventually I'll come back to this with a more distinguished idea of where RE4R feels in the overall franchise canon.
-Played on Normal difficulty. Part of me thought to play on professional but figured I'd take the usual path of resistance. Ironically I did still get my ass kicked despite my knowledge of the original (i'm not very good at shooting).
-Dont have any of the final stats from my original run but I kinda felt more secure in my performance in that game than I did in a lot of sections here. Kept running low on ammo, although my accuracy wasn't atrocious.
-Dunno if I really noticed that much Handgun Ammo dropping from the regular case they give you, the other two though were much more generous.
-I think one of my biggest gripes is I thought Leon felt incredibly good to control in the original; here I felt like Leon had weird acceleration/dashing at times which was a pain to juggle or rush over and merc downed enemies.
What I miss:
-The choice after the house between the chainsaw women and the second gigante fight
-The statue chase scene specifically. COWARDICE.
-Better gun ammo drops(??) idk maybe I remember wrong but didnt original drop way more ammo?
-The weird ass lava room detour
-Idk there’s some minor rooms/segments that aren’t really needed for the remake but I kinda miss, like the chairlift area.
-Some of the goofy ass animations for blasting away enemies. I miss the little twirl they did sometimes.
-Regenerators I thought were a bit more creepier to be around in the original. Here, they’re built up a bit more and I think that’s effective but once you actually fight one it's like, alright.
What I didn't miss/what changes I liked:
-That entire underground ancient city segment
-The entire hive area
-Honestly, Incendiary Grenades. I forgot these existed until I looked back at the original RE4.
-Less Luis. While I don't think the mines are that good here I can't help but enjoy having his ass around
-The weird U-3 boss fight
-How the Salazar boss fight felt, the remake's feels way less cramped/don't have to deal with ADDs
-Now you get to control the boat and explore a lot more of the lake area
There’s probably more things I could compare between both games but these were just the main things sticking out by the end.
It is very weird comparing the tone of both games. I think about the throne room scene in both and I think they both work for what they're going for, but it was very distracting going through the remake and thinking "Leon didn't make Salazar throw a tantrum by surviving the fall". At the end of the day while I think the arcady goofiness of the original was a core part of RE4’s charm, I can’t say I don't understand nor do I disapprove necessarily of the tonal shift to something a bit more focused on the actual horror aspect of Los Illuminados and the process/effects of Las Plagas. I think the game leaning ‘single-digit percent’ toward the horror roots of RE4 is a fine decision, and if anything I think validates its distinction from the original, not as a replacement but as a reimagining. I mean RE4 is still playable on every device released after the turn of the millenia so at least anyone can compare and contrast the leaner, more ‘horror’ version to the hoaky charm and genre defining feel of the original pretty easily.
At the end of the day I enjoyed both of them and I kinda don't want to prefer one to the other. Yeah thats right im copping out here, I like both immensely and wont separate them- gaming is weird.