Resident Evil 4 Remake Review
“Fear and Loathing for Las Plagas” Written by: Hunter (ReaperHunter23)
It would not be unreasonable to say that a remake for Resident Evil 4 has been eagerly anticipated by the fans of the series ever since the success of the Resident Evil 2 remake a few years ago. Although some did argue that Resident Evil 4 was still quite playable as it is and not in need of a remake in the same way that 2 and 3 were. I found myself to be more on the excited side of the fence. Resident Evil 4 was my favorite in the series at one point and I was eager to see some modern touches applied to an already great game. So let’s take a look and see if the Resident Evil 4 remake could live up to the hype and legacy of its predecessor.
Image Credit: Capcom
The events of Resident Evil 4 take place six years after the fall of Racoon City. Leon Kenedy, now a special forces agent, is sent to a remote part of Spain to search for the president’s missing daughter. The broad strokes of the Resident Evil 4 story stay largely the same in this version. Where this remake shines however, is in the adjustments they made to some of the finer details.
The game’s story does a great job at keeping a healthy amount of the campy charm of the original version while still being able to bring the story overall into something more tonally consistent with the previous two remakes. One way they accomplish this is by leaning further into the cult elements of the Los Illuminados that were more told than shown in the original version.
Almost every character in the story has been adjusted for the better. Leon is still a wise cracking dork in this version, but he also given a few really nice humanizing touches. Such as his knife being the one Marvin gave him back in Racoon city. These touches go a long way in making his motivation easier to get behind. Ashley is the character that arguably benefits the most from these tweaks. She is shown to be more capable than she used to be aid and in general acts in a much more subdued and human way than her more exaggerated original counterpart. The context of many of her actions is changed and it made what were some of her worst moments in the original version much easier to stomach.
Luis is another major benefactor of the changes to the story. His backstory is adjusted to make him feel like a more involved part of the world and his more consistent screen time lets his arc play out in a more natural manner.
Many of the more notable antagonists were more fleshed out as well. More so in the files that you could read rather than the cutscenes but it was still a cool bit of characterization to come across. Chieftain Mendez seemed like he could have been a decent village leader if he didn’t have Saddler and Salazar for neighbors. The man that would eventually become the Verdugo also got a cool bit of fleshing out as well. There are more examples but I feel like these bits are better discovered on your own.
Image Credit: Capcom
Control wise, Leon feels much like how he did in Resident Evil 2 but with a few added tricks. Now he can parry incoming enemy attacks with his knife and perform context sensitive melee attacks. Making use of these new tricks is crucial to surviving the finely tuned chaos of the game’s combat.
The combat walks a wonderful tightrope of being immensely gratifying when you are in control, to being tense and potentially overwhelming when you are on the back foot. I never felt like I was out of the fight when things were going poorly, but I also never felt untouchable when I was in control either. There were plenty of times where I would be in the driver’s seat for most of the encounter, only to get rammed by a pitchfork villager and then subsequently blown up by one of the villagers throwing dynamite and then barely manage to parry the attack that would have killed me moments later. Healing items seemed to come at the perfect pace. I was able to keep myself sustained but rarely at one hundred percent.
The level design of Resident Evil 4 does an excellent job at providing arenas with enough open space for the broadened combat while also maintaining some of the claustrophobic elements of the previous entries. Many areas are open enough for you to run around freely and dodge around the hordes of Ganados on your heels. Most areas also have a few tighter passages off to the side or other more narrow spots to weave through. These choke points could easily end up turning into dead ends for players who are less spatially aware. On the flip side they can also be used to funnel several Ganados into a single spot for a shotgun blast or a well placed grenade. Each arena also comes with a myriad of environmental hazards to take advantage of as well such as exploding barrels or falling chandeliers.
Leon has a plethora of weapons to make use of in this game. The series standards are all present: Handgun, shotgun, magnum and so on. One of the key differences from other entries in the franchise is that there is more than one version of each weapon type. There are about half a dozen handguns, three shotguns, and two magnums. As well as a few other extra goodies like a submachine gun, or a rifle. This iteration of the game even tosses in a couple of brand new weapons. All of these can be upgraded throughout the game whenever you stop by the Merchant.
The cool thing about the weapon variety is that it let’s the player tune their experience to what they want it to be. If you value faster rate of fire and reload speed your handgun of choice might be the Blacktail. If you would prefer something that is pure damage your handgun of choice might be the Red9. My personal loadout for most of the game was: The Red9, the Riot Gun, the TMP, and no rifle because using one before the last third of the game is for cowards.
The way Resident Evil 4 handles enemy variety is commendable. The standard Gandados will come at you with a variety of weapons that change throughout the game. Later on all of the standard enemies have a chance to sprout a parasite out of their heads, which makes them deal more damage and live a little bit longer. The more unique enemies include the Chainsaw wielding Ganados, the sledgehammer brutes, and the massive claw wielding Garradors. None of these mini bosses are unmanageable on their own, but they do become a bigger thorn in the side when you have to juggle eliminating the chainsaw wielder with keeping the villagers trying to rush you with pitchforks at bay.
All of these elements come together to make for an incredible gameplay experience. One of my favorite things to do in the Resident Evil 2 remake was just dodge around the zombies by manipulating their movement patterns to save on ammo. In this game it was really fun to take that notion to a further extreme and try to round up as many Ganados as I could to line them up for a shotgun blast or environmental kill. Making each bullet count and trying to dodge around until I could find the ammo I needed or the healing item I was looking for was a kind of thrill that no other entry in the series has given me.
Image Credit: Capcom
Resident Evil 4 looks fantastic in the RE engine. The game always looked cool from a design standpoint but the original version did release towards the start of the “Everything must be grey and brown” phase that video game visuals went through for a few years. So it was really cool to see the game’s stellar environments and cool enemy designs brought to life with visuals that were less washed out. The modern facelift also allows the body horror elements of the game to ring a bit more true. There are so many details that clue you into the Plaga infection in the villagers’ bodies. It gives a much better sense of how the parasite is puppeting them around even after death in some cases.
Despite Resident Evil 4’s more linear nature, I think the game did a stellar job at making its major areas feel like legitimate locations. The village was always the most cohesive, but it received a little bit of fine tuning. The Castle feels like it was what got retooled the most. And oh man I feel like it benefited from that immensely. And while I still believe the island is the weakest of the three environments it was much more cohesive this time and far more interesting to explore.
The sound design in this game is top notch. When you are approaching an area that has enemies present, you can hear their agitated murmurs. The way the tone of the Ganados’ voices would shift during this murmuring oftentimes made me think I had been spotted, despite not knowing where they could have seen me from. On top of this there are plenty of other ambient noises to add to the tension in the more relaxed moments of gameplay.
The voice performances in this game are pretty solid. Nick Apostolides returns as Leon and does a wonderful job at portraying him as being more than done with all of the craziness happening around him. Genevive Buechner does a good job at portraying this more subdued and believable take on Ashley. I think the stand out performance in this game though, goes to Christopher Jane as Saddler. His take on the character is much more sinister and leaves much more of an impression on me than Saddler did originally.
Image Credit: Capcom
Summary
Resident Evil 4 Remake is a must play. It gave me everything I wanted from it and then some.The tense and chaotic action is immensely gratifying when you are able to prevail over the hordes of Gandos. The exploration is much more intriguing with the game’s newfound eerie atmosphere and more expansive locations. The characters and story were reworked in a manner that made a lot more sense than they did previously. All of these elements come together to make what I believe is the definitive way to experience a game that was already an all time classic.