Reviewed: February 1, 2005
Reviewed by: Robby Riley

Publisher
Capcom

Developer
Capcom Production Studio 4

Released: January 11, 2005
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB: Mature

10
9
10
10
9.8

Supported Features:

By early 1999 Silent Hill and later Fatal Frame (in 2002) were starting to make their names know as more mature franchises. The Resident Evil series was beginning to lose its grip on this market until their release of Resident Evil 4 for the Nintendo Gamecube on January 11, 2005. It is on this date that Capcom redefined the survival horror genre they started.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story behind Resident Evil 4 it takes place six years since the destruction of Raccoon City. During that time the U.S. government was able to destroy the evil Umbrella Corporation. You play the roll of Leon S. Kennedy (Raccoon City’s rookie cop in Resident Evil 2) who is now a U.S. agent on a top-secret mission. He’s been assigned to investigate the abduction of the President's daughter and his search has led him to an eerie town somewhere in Europe.

After the first few minutes of exploration you’ll soon recognize that this game is nothing like the others in the series. While old Resident Evil games trained you to run the heck away from anything that moved to conserve ammo this game encourages you to be brave and strategic. The best way to get additional ammunition is to continue killing your way through enemies and looting their bodies. Ammo isn’t unlimited and people that are sloppy or a bad shot will quickly find themselves out of ammo. That being said, this game requires you to improve your shooting skills and you’ll have a huge arsenal of weaponry to practice with including rifles, shotguns, pistols, automatics, and grenades.

Each weapon has an exceptionally powerful feel to them and all can be upgraded (minus the grenades) when you meet the arms dealer. This gives Resident Evil 4 an RPG aspect to this otherwise action intensive game. You must make some tough decisions about whether to upgrade your weapons or buy new ones. If you choose to upgrade them, you must decide how? Should you improve the weapons: power, ammo capacity, or fire speed? As you continue through the game you’ll be rewarded with new optional guns to purchase so that you can continue to massacre enemies with a variety of guns.

Enemies are amazing well crafted, unique, and equally as terrifying. The further you venture through this creepy game the more powerful enemies seem to become and many will require you to use tactical options when fighting them. For example, letting an enemy get in close range to kick or slice them with your knife. Another is to throw a flash grenade to stun a group of quickly approaching enemies, and blow them all to hell by throwing a real grenade in the crowd. One more would be to shoot one in the knee and then pop a bullet in its head while it staggers toward you. Those are just a few examples of the multitude of different ways you can eliminate them.

In addition to the strategic combat, this game is filled with tiny details that add to your overall immersion and experiences. For example, you can dismantle an enemy who has lit dynamite in his hands by crippling them long enough for it to explode or you could shoot thrown items in midair (like axes, and knifes). If you choose to kill fish and chickens you’re rewarded with health and money. It’s the little details like being able to quietly open a door or kicking it open that really adds to the games overall experience.

On top of everything else, Resident Evil 4 sports some of the most incredible boss battles I have ever experienced. They are way better than the pervious games. One of the bosses will have you running up its back while another will have you holding on for dear life in tiny paddle boat. Each boss battle or mini boss battle is unique, fun, and original.

Amazingly enough there’s rarely any doubt where you’re supposed to go or what you should do next. It’s remarkable when you consider how large some of these areas can be, but the game never requires a strategy guide. However, if you do get lost you can always check your handy map which will guide you in the right direction. Fans of the series wouldn’t be satisfied without the occasional, simple to solve puzzle which seem kind of forced. It’s alright because taking a break from all the action every once in a while is nice.

The most problematic thing about this game has to be switching weapons. To do this you must open your inventory screen (briefcase) and select which weapon/item you want to equip or use. This process goes along with every item in the game except your trusty knife which you can easily switch to at the touch of a button. It’s true that they could have designed this process better and it would have been nice, but thankfully it never interrupts this games superb pacing. It maintains the same great pace the whole time and the story is given in small doses throughout the game to keep you on the edge of your seat guessing what’s around the next corner.

The next things you’ll notice are the amazing graphics and lifelike enemies. These enemies range from simple (human) villagers to knights in amour to massive guys with claws like Wolverine. They are all creepy and disturbing not only in the unexpected ways that they act, but also how lifelike their movements are. You almost wonder if Capcom implemented any motion capture elements into the character design.

Not only are the enemies creepy, but so are the cut scenes. Don’t think for one second the action stops during one of these because they don’t. There are times when you’ll see “Press Square Rapidly” to use your knife or dodge something by pressing “L1 + R1.” Failing to perform these actions generally results in you dieing in a variety of cool ways. One of the best death animations is when Leon gets decapitated with a chainsaw (you’ll have to see all the other cool ones for yourself). I personally tried to avoid these animations, but you’re sure to die a few times in this game.

The level design is also brilliant and I found myself looking around levels just so I didn’t miss anything. Watching the clouds/fog roll by and the birds flying around really brings the world to life. After the first few minuets into the game I stopped and watched the most realistic fire I’ve ever seen (besides the real thing of course).

There are some technical issues in regards to clipping. Sometimes you’ll see enemy’s arms and legs sticking through doors, but that’s the only problem this game has (besides switching weapons).

This is one of the game’s strongest points and the one that complements the graphics perfectly in creating the game’s eerie feel. From the insanely creepy noises you’ll hear in the distance to the loud echoing effects of your machine gun, this game has it all. There are even times when you’ll hear a perfectly placed musical tune that will evoke a sense of dread or suspense.

All in all there’s no denying how good the audio is. In fact it’s hard to decide which is better, the graphics or the sound. Either way they both work hand-in-hand to delivery an amazingly frightening atmosphere that’s presented in Dolby Pro Logic II.

If you already have the Gamecube version and you’re a big fan of this series like I am then this is a must own. I played through it twice on the PS2 to get all the outfits, weapons, and everything else this game has to offer because you can’t get them until you beat the game once. After beating it you obtain 3 mini-games: Assignment Ada, Separate Ways, and Mercenaries. Separate Ways is the main extra and will have you playing the roll as spy Ada Wong who finds herself in the same time period as Leon. It features some new cut scenes and helps you better understand the storyline.

Doing these can take a substantial amount of time. It took me around 9 hours to beat all of them, but doing so unlocked Wesker and Hunk from Resident Evil 2. Furthermore, if you play through the story mode a second time you unlock the weapons and costumes.

If you total that up, taking into effect that the story takes about 20 hours to complete, you’re talking about 50+ hours of gameplay. That’s a substantially long action/adventure game and it’s well worth a purchase.