"Very dissapointed with this game..."

I've been a Resident Evil fan since RE1. I've played all games on the PS1 (and still have all of them). I also have RE remake and Zero on the Gamecube, plus RE Outbreak 1 and 2 and Veronica X on PS2.

Since I play PS2 more often than GC, I picked the PS2 Collectors edition. Resident Evil Outbreak got a lot of bad reviews, but I still loved those games. Even playing offline with that horrible AI.

Based on how much I love RE games, there should be no way that I would dislike RE4, especially when all reviewers were giving 9 - 10/10 right? How wrong I was... Let's get into detail, shall we?

Graphics (8/10)
I've no major complains about the graphics. The pre-rendered backgrounds are gone, but I'm not sure if that was a good move. While this game looks nice, if you put this side by side with the likes of RE1 for the Gamecube, it does not look the same good. Not even close. But oh well, since everything is being rendered in real time, we give this game a discount.

Some of the textures looks very blurry too. In some rooms, you can see that the same texture is used on different walls. Just look into "holes" that some walls have and you will see it being repeated on all the sides inside that room... All in all, it looks good.

You will also see some glitches from time to time such as clipping. It is very common to see enemies limbs from another room through a locked door. If you've played Goldeneye on N64, you know what to expect. For a PS2 or Gamecube and the tech we have today, I consider this kind of glitch unacceptable.

Gets an 8/10.

Sound (7/10)
The sound in RE4 is good. There is nothing special though. The voice acting is fine for the most part. The guns sound fine. The shotgun sounds powerful enough, unlike the shotgun in Doom 3 :D. The problem here is, as soon as something is up ahead, the song will change. This gives away too much.

Gameplay (3/10)
Here is where everything falls apart. The game is no longer a survival game, but ratter a action game. Since it is an action game, with lots of weapons and fast paced, one would believe Leon to also be agile.

Unfortunately, the game still plays just like old Resident Evil games. Analog support is finally here, but pretty broken, in my honest opinion. For example, if you want to "Run", you still have to hold a button. Since most of the time you will be running, you will be holding Square button all day long. This was acceptable for the old Resident Evil games. But by this time and age, it simply does not fit. It gives me the same pain in my hands that I had when playing Mario and holding the Run button :D.

Aiming is both a bless and a curse. We can finally aim at the enemy as we wish. However, the implementation is pretty bad. Again, you use the left analog to aim, but it does not feel responsive. In fact, it feels just like aiming with the D-pad. There's no sensitivity at all (nor you can adjust it). I'm pretty sure it uses digital signs for the left analog.

Another common thing that peoples complain about is the way Leon moves while aiming. You can't, for example, aim and move at the same time. In fact, even to reload your weapon, Leon has to stop. Personally, I don't think that a strafe would fit this game very well, but at least one side step should be possible. There are many places in this game where the enemy will attack you with bows or other ranged weapons. Until you can make Leon stop, aim and zoom at the enemy, you will be hit at least once.

The game is also very long for Resident Evil standards. But that does not necessarily means it is good. The plot is OK, but not great. It's just like the plot of porn films: There is a story, but it is the least important and could be just left without a story and jump into action.

Now, one thing that I can't forgive in this game is the amount of enemies. It is just too many enemies all the time. Because of that, RE has lost all that feeling of enemies suddenly jumping on you. If there is a room, expect a lot of enemies (most of the time). Also, there is plenty of ammo in this game, which is ratter boring and destroy the challenge completely. If you can save ammo at the beginning, the last chapter will be a really easy ride for you.

Many players are very happy with the new camera system in this game. I don't really have anything pro or against the camera. Even though the camera follows you all the time, I found the way the camera is pointed a little bit, awkward. You won't see Leon's legs most of the time, so it is hard to spot traps on the floor or fallen enemies. The camera really does not work well. But then again, it never worked well in RE games.

Fun factor (1/10)
The game falls plain fat and boring. The controls are horrible, the plot is bad and the gameplay is either repetitive or frustrating. You will die a lot because of silly traps. If you don't know what is coming ahead, most likely you will die. But don't worry, when you die, now you can choose to "continue" the game from a previous checkpoint, which are as frequent as changing from one room to another. I hate games like this where you die for not knowing what is ahead. When you die too often, it takes you away from the game. IMHO, in survival games, the player should be able to scape with some effort, almost always. When you die because you did not press R1 + L1 fast enough in a cutscene is just not fun...

Total: 4.75 (rounded to 5).

Final thoughts:

I still don't understand why this game got such good reviews. I'm not counting Gamespot reviews because I found most of them to be bad anyway. But this game got good reviews even from most players and it is claimed by many as the best RE ever made. The way I see it, Capcom took away everything good from the old games (such as the Atmosphere, the true Survival feeling) and created a nice looking game. The only thing they kept was the controls, which were perhaps one of the worst things about RE games. So my question is: Why to keep the tank controls.

If you are a real RE fun, there is nothing from the old RE games here, except maybe, that Leon is here. You may still want to rent it just to check it out, but it really is not worthy the investment. If you are after a good action game, you may also be dissapointed, because Leon moves (still) like a truck and the camera is (still) not good enough nor the analogs (still) work as they should. No side step, no walking and aiming/reloading and no crouch either. Any chance of the player to "feel" as Leon in the game is gone. Unless you would stay still reloading a gun when dozen of peoples are moving towards you with forks and axes willing to cut you into peaces.

This is a rental only game, unless you collect RE games.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/06