gamefan007's Full Review: Resident Evil 4 for GameCube
"US Agent Leon Kennedy has been tasked into the abduction of the President's daughter and his investigation has led him to a mysterious location in Europe. As Leon encounters many unimaginable horrors , he must find out whst is behind the horror".
A few things to clarify before the review:
*Even though this is billed as Resident Evil 4 if you actually kept count this is more like Resident Evil 9 but Capcom has elected to ignore the other games. Instead Capcom has chosen to bridge the gap so to speak by focusing on characters from the original two games.
*Despite the claims that this game is all about Umbrella, it's not but there are some similarities between this game and Resident Evil2.
*Resident Evil 2 was not the end of the Umbrella Corporation as Resident Evil 3 Nemesis showed, the end of the game was only the beginning for Umbrella to start another virus with the aid of a former traitor known as Albert Wesker.
Story:
As said on opening paragraph, the game stars Leon Kennedy from RE2.Leon was a rookie cop in Racoon City when the G virus broke out. However he never made it as a cop. This time he has been promoted to a US agent. His mission is to find the President's daughter, Ashley Graham, who has been kidnapped by a cult.
How demented is this cult? Well this is where craziness of Capcom comes into play. Think of the movie "The Village of the Damned" and you get a good hint as to what I mean.
Capcom took the Survival Horror game into a new direction, instead of brain dead zombies who posed no challenge, Capcom elected to have real people in a village as the murderers here. Thus as real people (even though they're crazy), the crazed villagers named the Ganadors are much more smarter (they can use ladders, machetes, even throw axes), , more vicious, can use more means at their disposable to destroy you.
On top of that as the story goes, the Ganados have several cult leaders one named Salazar.
The crazed villagers are in some form of trance at the beckon call of Salazar and the Plagas.
The Plagas are a form of an alien parasite like Alien where they attached themselves to their hosts body and control them. The Plagas come in different mutations but they are not invicible. As you stock up on firepower you will find out that they can be defeated and you can actually win this battle.
I am not going to spoil the game by describing the other enemies in the game but let's just say, this game will scare the hell out of you and provide some of the more exciting sequences ever created in a horror game. In the tradition of games like Silent Hill, Re4 creates a creepy environment and keeps it that away.
Graphics:
****
The graphics for the Cube version are simply the best. I am not being modest , I am saying pure facts. Leon, looks as real as ever. The villagers come in many different forms and Capcom has fleshed out as evil and creepy as possibler. When you meet these guys face to face you almost jump out of their seat since sometimes they hide in the shadows.The main character Salazar looks like a creepy wizard who looks about crazy as they come.
The environments themselves from creepy castles to belltowers, to acid lakes, torture chambers, to dangerous bear traps all look incredibly real. Then comes the movies, just sit back and relax because RE4 comes equipped with plenty of tantalizing movies for you to enjoy. It's pretty awesome to see how these mutations evolve right in front of your eyes, and as you ponder what's ext to come. The graphics though couldn't be anymore perfect.
Music and Sound
****
Not too mention to say that hasn't been said before, if you played the other Resident Evil, you've come to expect the best in sound and music and Resident Evil 4 delivers that and then some.
The villagers all have several sounds, grunts and even talk to you just as they're about to come to do harm to you. Yep, the sound really makes this crazy characters alive and scary. The bosses in the game with the exception of a no speaking giant mutated shark,all have long elaborate and sick dialogue. Then the musical soundtrack is always creepy, extensive, vivacious, loud, soft and always keep you in tune with the game.
When you encounter a room or an areas that seems inhibited with life, seconds later you hear he creepy music come alive and you know your in for a heck of a confrontation. The music and sound is top quality.
Gameplay
***
Ok now we get to real meat of the game or do we? Actually there is not much difference as far as gameplay. Capcom did improve on the controls and actually included some nifty tricks but if you played the other RE games, the controls are almost the game.
There are a couple of tweaks worth mentioning. That is the use of merchants in the game. I almost though I was playing Grand Theft San Andreas for a sec. Merchants, buying and selling of firearms in a Resident Evil game? Am I seeeing things? LOL No. They're real. Capcom elected to change this twist from the other games. Typically what happened in the other versions is that you found weapons as you went along in the game. Sometimes you killed an enemy and found whatever ammo they have. You still do that in this game, but now they added the mandatory interaction with the merchant , making things a bit annoying.
The merchant often sells the "good stuff" your rocket launchers, magnums, mine throwers, rife, special sniper scopes at higher prices. What usually happens then is that as soon as you run out of ammo then is that you immediatelly have to sell these items back and then buy them all over again. Top things , there is no special code like in other games
However, their are certain beneficial tweaks Capcom did do with the controls. The annoying dead end camera views are now for the most part fixed, but perhaps the biggest tweak they did was the tweaking of puzzles.
In the other games, own your own you had to figure out what items or puzzles go where, this time Capcom eliminated that. Now when you have an item in your inventory that you need for a specific puzzle, the game stops , selects it and practically solves it for you.
As in Resident Evil Code Veronica, you can spin your way out of trouble, but you cannot jump from place to place, which kinda sucks. If you're cornered then your goose is cooked and you will be force to blast your way out of an area.
Challenge
****
Well this isn't Grand Theft San Andreas, so RE4 doesn't have the complications that GTASA has. If your a veteran of the Resident Evil series, then the game will be pretty easy to beat.
It is a pretty big game though, it took me a week or two to beat the game, whereas I am still playing GTASA. That's not to take away anything from the game, I would consider myself an expert in this kind of area, however, the bosses in the game are hard.
Many of them will pose a challenge whether your an expert or not. Another area too is the game also comes loaded with many deadly traps. I mentioned the bear traps, but there are also body chopping spheres, falling rocks, and deadly lasers that you will have to pass through. Let me tell you, it sounds easy but anyone who has passed the game knows different.
The villagers aren't stupid either, they're not zombies and just stand there waiting to be shot, they will go after you and throw axes, knives, and run after you like a crazy mob. Sometimes they will hide in dark corners and try to catch you of guard. The best defense then is to shoot as many down as you can, then run. Often times you will be on a top platform with ladders, it's best to knock these ladders down as the Ganadors can climb them and get to you.
The challenge is great though, you will get your money's worth.
Bonuses
****
You thought I was finished right? Haha. Resident Evil 4 comes with many entertaining but rather short minigames.
There is a small side missions called Operation Ada I believe that gives you the game from a different perspective and presents some details about the game that leave it open for Resident Evil5.
As in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, there is an interesting mercenaries game that like the side missions visits familar areas in the game.
Lastly too as you finish the game you can unlock special items like a rocket launcher and get the next time you play this time with unlimited ammo.
Final Thoughts:
Resident Evil 4 lives up to the praise of gamers and deserves all the attention it's getting. Capcom took the survival horror franchise into a new direction and succeeded magnificently.
The job of adding crazed people, who are more quicker, deadlier and smarter than braindead zombies posted a significant challenge and a more intense playing environment.
It was nice to see another well loved character from RE, Leon Kennedy, make another comeback.
Every other character from Claire, Chris Redfield, Jill has had their own sequels so it's about time Leon got his chance to shine. I almost expect that weasel Albert Wesker to star in his own game.
So buy the game, like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, it's definitely one of the better games you can get right now.
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