It is very, very good.
By PaulEMoz

Holy shit.

Last month, we ranted on about Metal Gear Solid 3, and about how it was made entirely for fanboys, with no attempt made to draw in anybody else whatsoever. Now, if there’s any game series comparable in that respect, it’s Resident Evil. Almost without exception, playing a Resident Evil game has felt like steering a Combat tank through a series of corridors using only security cameras to guide your way. That was OK in the first game when nobody knew any better, but since then, everybody but Capcom has known that a change was needed, and Capcom hasn’t listened.

Until now.

Left a bit… right a bit… forward… AAAARGH!! IT’S GOING TO GET ME!!

And boy, have they listened. Resident Evil 4 is not just the best game in the franchise by far, it’s one of the most intense and enjoyable action games you’re likely to find in this, or any other year. And this is almost entirely down to the change in controls and cameras.

This time around, they’ve opted for an over-the-shoulder viewpoint, instead of the fixed, CCTV style. It works much, much better than any previous RE control method, and it really opens the game up in an entirely different way. Aiming at your targets is so much easier now – to the point where, at times, it almost feels like you’re playing a more open-ended version of House of the Dead rather than Resident Evil. And that’s in no way a bad thing.

Capcom’s disastrous staff outing led them to seek vengeance in their latest game.

Another huge change sees the game setting removed from Raccoon City – and not before time. Moving into an entirely new arena injects the game with a much needed shot of freshness. Oh, and they’ve ditched the zombies, too. Curiously, you now spend your time fending off angry Spaniards.

Leon remembered his attaché case didn’t contain a change of underwear.

Capcom have got the balance juuust right, too. The game starts to get harder precisely at the point where you start to get cosy with the control system. Then, just as you think you’re in danger of being overwhelmed, you get some new, more powerful weapons, so you get a bit farther… and then you might get stuck somewhere and you save the game and turn off the console, but then you realise what it is you need to do and so you go back in for just one more quick go and before you know it it’s four in the morning and your eyes are bleeding and your right hand is aching but fused, claw-like, to your Wavebird and you’re STILL playing and getting just that bit farther and you NEED TO KNOW what’s going to happen next. The pacing is sheer genius.

Ouch. Even a couple of Anadin won’t help there.

Whilst Resident Evil 4 is, at heart, a very samey game, it’s so tense, so intense that it never feels samey. It satisfies at every twist and turn - whether it’s the joy at dispatching some grotesque creature with a clean head shot, buying yourself time from an angry mob by dropping them with shots to the legs or the sheer relief of being left standing after battling one of the boss characters.

You’re always involved, you’re always on the edge of your seat, and you’re always wanting more. Don’t saddle this game with the ‘survival horror’ tag. It’s an action game, it’s a genuine system seller, and it’s what your unloved old Cube has been waiting so patiently for. Don’t disappoint it.

March 2005

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