Resident Evil 4 Remake – Review
I, like many others, had high expectations for and some apprehension about the Resident Evil 4 remake. When compared to the other games in the primary series, Resident Evil 4 is in a league of its own. It marked a watershed moment for the Resident Evil series and set the standard for third-person combat games to come. How, then, does one go about bettering a masterpiece? I would be completely lost. However, Capcom does. It also knows when to stop and when to start, shifting the components of the game in such a way that an already flawless game becomes even more of a brilliant picture.
You’re in for a wild ride if you haven’t experienced Resident Evil 4 in any of its iterations since 2005. A few years have passed since the events of Resident Evil 2, and this story begins then. After surviving the worst first day in the annals of police work, former Raccoon City rookie cop Leon Kennedy became a special agent for the United States government. Leon is in charge of finding and rescuing Ashley Graham, the President’s abducted daughter. That leads him to a sleepy Spanish town, where he soon finds himself in the middle of a sect driven by biological weapons while trying to save Ashley.
Despite its scares, the original Resident Evil 4 followed the formula of a bad action movie. Leon’s battles with his foes, his rescue of Ashley, and his dealings with the other major characters, including femme fatale Ada Wong and enigmatic ladies’ man Luis Sera, were all accompanied by witty one-liners and an air of self-assured bravado. The great thing about Resident Evil 4 is that no matter how skilled Leon is, the player will always be faced with formidable enemies.
I’m relieved to report that many of those features are still present and have even been enhanced here. Leon’s wit remains intact, and he has a few new lines that are sure to become audience favourites. Meanwhile, I believe most people would agree that Ashley was a nuisance in the first game, and that she mostly just waited around until she needed saving. She develops in the remake, gaining strength and supporting Leon more strongly as the narrative progresses. She is initially shaken and unsure of what to do, but she eventually accepts the situation, supports Leon, and even joins in on the fun. Like many others, Luis won my heart when he took on a new persona through a combination of blatant and covert adjustments. The antagonists, too, have been given believable backstories. Not much of the initial beats were lost in the process, and what was lost was either essential or negligible compared to what was added.
The Resident Evil 4 reboot consistently surprised me by defying my assumptions. The major plot points and general outcomes are similar, but the journey in between those beats was marked by both subtle and dramatic changes that I found to be, on balance, improvements. Consider Krauser as an example. The initial game’s weak spot was the renegade mercenary, a former soldier, who engages in a knife fight that is both annoying and difficult to complete in a quick time event (QTE). If you’ve seen the Resident Evil 4 reveals, you know that the knife combat has been transformed into a fully playable battle. Capcom makes excellent use of the ongoing conflict to develop the personalities of numerous characters.
All of this is to say that Resident Evil 4 progressed in ways similar to my predictions, but in ways that made more logic. The overwhelming volume of reworked particulars continually surprised and pleased me. It resulted in a more terrifying Resident Evil 4 and a more satisfying package as a whole, packed to the gills with Easter eggs and deeper lore that series devotees will appreciate. Not every scene is vastly better, but nothing is worse than the original. Even the weaker sequences don’t fall below average.
Of course, Resident Evil 4’s narrative wouldn’t mean anything if the gameplay wasn’t also solid. The meat of the game is still there to be played. Leon’s arsenal includes a grid-based attaché bag that can store weapons, medicines, and other devices. You’ll need a lot of it to defend him from the fanatics’ onslaught. I’ll be honest and state that the game’s aim is a major annoyance for me. In the original, laser pointers were included on all of the weapons. New aiming features, including weapon sway and bonus accuracy for standing still, bring every gun into step with the other Resident Evil remakes.
Having foes at your back at all times makes this difficult. In the beginning of Resident Evil 4, you may feel utterly panicked as you try to place accurate shots while evading enemies circling you for a cheap hit. On the other hand, I found that it immediately raised the stakes. It’s more satisfying than ever to land a critical hit on an opponent and then bust their forehead open with a roundhouse kick. As do headshots that pop the target’s cranium.
It’s important to remember that if you find yourself struggling with the aim, you can always locate weapons and attachments to help. Aim Assist is just one of many accessibility features in Resident Evil 4, which boasts a multitude of them. This remake features a vast array of accessibility and gameplay toggles, so you can modify and dial in any element of the game that isn’t working for you, be it visually or mechanically.
The foes are given new abilities in proportion to their greater numbers in the remake. If enough villagers get behind Leon, he’ll be held there for the rest of his enemies to finish him off, which is frightening when you turn around and see a chainsaw-wielding maniac coming at you. If you let him in, he’ll trigger one of the game’s many reworked and brutal death sequences. The later foes have their own unique arsenal of tricks and creepy little nuances that really ramp up the tension.
Leon’s arsenal of new tools and moves is ridiculous, with knives serving as the show’s main attraction. You will find and gather a variety of knives, including his personal blade, which can be serviced and improved at a shop. Leon can now use it to parry strikes and block their effects. With a dagger, he can also escape a grapple. Each knife, however, has its own wear indicator. Breaking grapples requires a lot of stamina while parrying and slicing use very little. Every action taken with a knife, whether in or out of combat, can feel life or death, making the prospect of going without a knife all the more terrifying.
Many familiar firearms have been given new twists in Resident Evil 4’s remake. Almost every one of the original firearms is represented, giving players a plethora of choices in terms of fire rate, magazine size, effective range, and overall firepower. The Bolt Thrower, a newbie, caught my eye. This crossbow is much more entertaining than the Mine Launcher, which it replaces. It’s useful for conserving supplies because you can kill silently (stealth is a viable choice in this game) and reload from a dead enemy or a missed shot. Although I particularly enjoyed this new take on a weapon I didn’t care for in the original, there are plenty of other excellent offensive choices available in Resident Evil 4’s arsenal. Ammo and resources can be crafted using new objects discovered in the game (such as lesser knives) or by completing mini-quests from vendors (expanded beyond shooting blue medallions in the original) to gain access to even better equipment.
Action sequences and major interactions have been revised and are mostly accounted for. The lake battle was the only one that didn’t measure up to the others. Something about the lake’s water in this reimagining looks off. Despite being tossed around, Leon’s boat remains dry throughout the fight, and the waves in the lake don’t look great in comparison to the rest of the game’s visual splendour. Even under those conditions, the meeting is not unpleasant or dull. The ocean is distracting and doesn’t fit the rest of the picture at all.
My only other gripe is that the game’s visuals have a few oddities. The game has very few loading screens, and the visual filters, brightness, and contrast sometimes changed noticeably after I entered a new area, particularly when transitioning from low-contrast to high-contrast environments like a cave to a more open area. Despite its necessity for the story’s smooth progression, this shift was poorly concealed. Despite this, I still find Resident Evil 4’s seamless progression and ability to keep me in the present without loading to be preferable.
Every complaint I had about Resident Evil 4 was either easily fixed or overshadowed by the overwhelming quantity of excellent material. This new version is terrifying and dramatic. It’s not easy, but the difficulty level can be adjusted. The narrative is not only revived, but also enhanced, and the new twists and information will most certainly please readers of this series. We’ll all be replaying this one for sure, what with New Game+ and everything else that can be unlocked after the titles roll.
Capcom’s remaking of Resident Evil 4 was an enormous undertaking. The original release was a game-changer and has become an iconic moment in the series’ 18-year history. Still, without equivocation, the Resident Evil 4 remake is an improvement upon a masterwork that will make it difficult to return to the original. This game is up there with the best horror-action titles I’ve ever experienced.
