Story:

The story can either play a huge role in this game, or none what so ever, depending on if you’re a fan of the franchise. Resident Evil 4 stays true to the past games while still being able to stand upright by itself. The story is as follows:

 

Umbrella, the corporation that’s been behind the Resident Evil incidents from past games is finally no more. Resident Evil 4 takes place six years after the incident in Raccoon City from the original Resident Evil. There was a leakage of a virus that turned its victims into bloodthirsty zombies. All of this is a now a thing of the past since Umbrella Corporation has finally been shut down.

 

You play the role of Leon S. Kennedy, the cop in training from Resident Evil 2. Throughout the years, Leon has managed to become a bodyguard working to protect the family of the President of the United States. One day, mysteriously, the President’s daughter, Ashley Graham, was abducted by an unknown source of people and it’s up to Leon to ride to her rescue. After getting word of Ashley’s whereabouts in Europe, Leon immediately heads out to find her. Leon’s search finally ends up in a small Spanish village somewhere in Spain, where the game truly begins. As Leon starts to explore the village, he becomes bombarded with villagers, one that are out to kill him. Leon has no choice but to neutralize them, although he can’t help but wonder what is causing the villagers to act this way. But one thing is certain, these people aren’t zombies.

 

The story folds out very nicely and should interest any and all that are interested in following a deep, rewarding tale. The story has been one of Resident Evil’s strong points since the very beginning, although following the story certainly isn’t necessary to enjoy the games. Some may ignore it all together in favor of mindless killing. All in all, Resident Evil 4 tells a good tale that will keep everyone anticipating what’s going to happen next, making it a game that’s hard to put down.

 

Sound:

Spoooooooooookay! Never before have you been just as afraid of things that you can’t see then the things that you can. Resident Evil 4 offers some amazing; life-like music and sound that truly pull you into each environment and experience everything right along side your buddy Leon. Whether it’s the sound of ceremonial chants of priests in the background or the lively action-packed music that occurs when in a giant battle scene, this game will both amaze and scare you by the depth of its sound.

 

Along with the music, voice acting is top-notch. Everybody’s mouth moves at the same time as they’re talking with little to no error throughout the entire game, unlike many other games out there. Each character’s voice has the right kind of attitude that truly suits the person who is speaking. The voice acting depths reach from the annoying, yet creepy laugh of a Napoleon wannabe, to the deep, bold voice of the game’s main character Leon. Resident Evil 4’s sound is one of its strongest points. The game wouldn’t be able to function right without it.

 

Control:

Although mostly excellent, the controls in the game are one thing that could’ve been just a little bit better, and what holds it back from perfection. Basic controls are easy to learn: Use the analog stick to move, hold the R button to ready your gun, and press the A button to shoot. Like in every Resident Evil game, you cannot strafe, walk/run while shooting, or quickly turn in any direction that you may need to get to really fast. You must be facing the way you want to go for you to move forward, pressing left and right doesn’t make you go left and right, it just makes you start turning around. When you’re along in the game, this is find and easy to overcome. But when in the heat of battle, stopping to turn around really lowers your guard and leaves you open to any attack from enemies. This is hard to get used to at first and it feels sluggish, but with practice, turning around starts to feel natural and you’ll be blaming yourself for accidents, not the game.

 

Controlling your guns while in combat is very simple. When you ready your gun to attack, a red laser line appears showing where your shot is going to shoot at. You can control where you shoot anything with the analog stick and works perfectly.

 

The controls are very far from being bad, but don’t quite measure up to the near perfection of the other qualities in the game. There is room for improvement here, but I’m indeed very satisfied with what we’ve got.

 

Graphics:

Resident Evil 4 stands among some of the best looking console games ever made. Few games can stand against the fluid animations and explicit details put into every single morsel of the game. Characters and monsters look incredibly life-like. Well detailed facial expressions really help bring out how the character is dealing with a situation. Whether someone is screaming, laughing, or smiling, keen details were made to make them look incredibly realistic.

 

Each environment is stellar looking from the moment you first lay eyes on it. You can just walk up to any wall or even a chair and see that its design is flawless. Even with these amazing graphics and fast-paced gameplay, there is never any slow down whatsoever. Now that just further proves how much work Capcom has put into this game to make it run like a dream. Despite maybe a few texture problems (you can see some enemies’ bodies through doors while they’re walking into them); this game looks like no other and offers eye candy in bushels just for your pleasure. Graphics can’t get much better than this, that’s for sure.

 

Gameplay:

The true holy grail of the game. Good enough to make you start foaming at the mouth while anticipating your next time playing the game.

 

Resident Evil 4 combines survival horror, action/adventure, and RPG elements to achieve a mind blowing experience that truly is like no other. You start the game with only a handgun and your trusty knife but start to expand to other bigger and more powerful weapons such as shotguns and rifles. You can later have a choice of up to at least 15 weapons, all which are fully customizable. Yes, you can actually customize your weapons in this game to however you see fit. You can increase the gun’s fire power, firing speed, reloading speed, and its capacity. All which require quite a lot of money, but are well worth it in the end.

 

Which brings me to my next point; there is a new element in the game that helps to add more strategy to the game. You can find and collect money in the game to buy and sell things from a mysterious merchant that you meet at certain places throughout the game. Money can be acquired in various ways ranging from selling rare items found throughout the locations in the game or by just picking it up from dead enemies. Money, like ammo, is something that you will debate whether to conserve or use up a lot in the game. Buying certain things with money can be just as crucial as having enough ammo before running into a gun fight. One slightly disappointing aspect is that although you can buy things such as weapons and health items from the merchant, you cannot buy ammo for your guns. This does add to the scare factor and the overall conservation of items that has been a big part in the Resident Evil games since day 1, but like in past games, it’s possible to totally run out of ammo and have no choice but to start your game all over again. Although this is a possible outcome, thanks to some changes that have been added to the game’s formula, starting over a game due to lack of ammo is hardly an issue. Enemies now drop items most of the time when killed. Item’s are randomly chosen from money, ammo, and healing items. This makes gathering useful items a lot less tedious.

 

Thrown away is the clunky old inventory system. Leon can easily carry over the pitiful 6-8 amount of items that limited players in the previous games. Your inventory box starts of somewhat small, but can later be upgraded, via the merchant, and can later hold a lot of items. What’s also improved is that required items such as keys and insignias aren’t stuffed into the same inventory box as the rest of your items like before. They’re put in a separate section in your inventory where there is no limit to the amount of items you can hold, but only specific items can go there. But if you ask me, not having my inventory cluttered up with keys and lock picks is a godsend.

 

Enough of the small extra elements of the game, it’s time to talk about the real gameplay. Like stated earlier, once equipping a weapon and confronting an enemy, you can pull out your gun and blast away. But there is also strategy added to this part of the game too. Instead of random shooting at oncoming enemies, you have a choice of where you want to shoot them. Shooting enemies at their legs make them fall on the ground, shooting their arms either disarms them of any weapons or leaves them temporarily paralyzed while holding their arm, and of course shooting their head (their most vulnerable spot) will eventually make it completely blow up or just paralyzing them giving you the chance to kick them while they’re vulnerable. Obviously, most players will be aiming for the head during battles, but that’s not always the best way to win at times.

 

Lasting Appeal:

The main quest will keep the average player occupied for at least 15 hours their first time through, but everyone’s more than likely to be playing this game more than once. After beating the game, a handful of unlockables are at your disposal. With unlockable minigames, extra guns, and two difficulty settings, you won’t be completing this game 100% anytime soon. Plus, the pure gameplay is just so fun that you may find yourself going through the game a couple more times just to try out different guns at different parts of the game. Choosing whether to go into a room with a shotgun or a machinegun can have a drastic change on your games progression and you may want to experience them both again and again.

 

Overall:

With breathtaking graphics, a very interesting story, some spooky music, solid controls, and an extreme amount of replay value, this is a game that you will treasure for years to come. Every aspect of the game has been tweaked to its full potential, despite a few problems with the controls. And with all of this action happening on screen, it’s made even better by offering what seems like no load times whatsoever. A brief pause between rooms is all that will slow down this gameplay, if only for a few seconds, which is easily to be expected. There’s not much more to say about this game. It’s simply the best Survival Horror game ever made and one of the finest games of this generation. I don’t care if you’re a die hard fan of the Resident Evil franchise, or are scared to death to even play an M-rated game, you must buy this game. You’d be missing out on one of the greatest experiences in video games to date if you passed this game by. I highly recommend this game to anybody and everybody.

 

9.8/10

 

-Ryan Bond (Wariobetheman)