Is Resident Evil 4 the perfect marriage of horror and action?

Does it strike the perfect balance?

yes it has lots of guns and shooting but the horror theme runs strong throughout the game

I'm not sure about the horror aspect of things.

I don't play that many horror games, but I expect to be by myself, exploring a place like a huge mansion, and getting caught off guard from something I wasn't expecting.

With RE4, it was pretty much straightforward action and exploration. I wasn't really given a huge horror feel to it, at least in my experience of the game anyway.

so what game does have the perfect marriage of horror and action?

for me the horror was very strong.............actually I think it has no less horror than any of the other resi games, it just had alot more action

I want to say the first two Resident Evils, but in the videogame world, I don't feel there is a perfect marriage of anything. It does have a good balance though, at least the first two.

Resident Evil 4 is just a perfect game, period.

Resident Evil 4 was a pretty great game but it was lacking in the horror aspect IMO.

Nope. Resident Evil 4 was very action heavy, just like Resident Evil 5. The only difference between 4 & 5 was the pacing and the constant set pieces in RE4.

I don't think so. I got scared only once or twice while playing RE4. Not what I would call a horror game.

The game was a bit scary in some parts. I will say just the gameplay was so much fun. That game did almost everything right.

RE 4 is an action game with horror elements. Hardly a "balance."

You want a real horror game? Play Amnesia.

Horror? Really? Just pull out the grenade launcher and you kill everything in front of you anyway. That game was 100% action. The only thing close to horror was that crappy nightmares DLC where all you do is walk through some empty mansion and run from bad guys the whole time because your ammo is gone. And that was tedious as heck. :evil: I mean the "zombies" have rocket launchers!! And apparently they can stuff RPG ammo down their pants pockets but you can't. :roll:

The first level was done well in that those zombies were gonna completely overrun you and it was awesome getting away but after that you're never in that danger for THE REST OF THE GAME!! Even playing the game with just a pistol didn't seem to change anything other than making the game take longer.

Its about 95% action, 5% horror. The only "horror" elements I can remember from the game would be the Regenerators. Had they stuck with that tone throughout, it would have been an amazing Resident Evil game, that didn't sell out to the action junkies. Very much RE 3.5 too.

The best blend of horror and action I've come across is System Shock 2. Its scary as hell throughout, but its also very fast-paced when in a fight, and the guns and powers are quite fantastic.

I love Resident Evil 4. It's a great game. The only time I was scared though, was when I was fighting those tall monsters and the only way to kill them is to shoot all thier leeches in alphabetical order. Grenades seemed to work too.Other than that, it's a shoot em up game.

I barely find RE4 scary.

I guess only wimps get scared of games like RE4 or dead space.

EDIT: Hang on, there was one creepy monster from RE4. those things that walk really slowly, have stretchy arms and laugh at you.

But I didnt really find them scary.

Resident Evil 4 has always struck me as being 80 percent action and 20 percent horror.

RE 4 is an action game with horror elements. Hardly a "balance."

You want a real horror game? Play Amnesia.

XaosII

completed Amnesia it the other day, but im not talking about an out and out horror game (clue is in the title), im talking about striking that balance

how can RE4 have just 'elements' of horror when the entire theme of the game (lighting, environments, characters, story) is horror,

whereas the only horror in RE5 is the enemies, the environments werent scary, dark or foreboding in any way

RE4 may not have been scary but it certainly evoked feelings of dread, claustrophobia and in many cases panic with its enviroments and effects, set pieces

For me its the perfect fusion, although Ravenholm in HL2 is another good shout

RE4 was an action game sprinkled with horror.

You have so much ammo so how can it be scary?

No, I think it consistently undermines the horror.

RE4 was amazing for the time (I bought it twice and played through it at least ten times) but the fact that one can't move and shoot at the same time has dated it badly.CarnageHeart

It's odd, because I never found RE4 to be as spectacular as a lot of critics and gamers thought of it to be. I just thought of it as a third-person shooter with a over-the-shoulder look. Wasn't very scary at all, not like the original games, had some boss fights that were cool, but in the end, it was, as I said before, a straightforward action/exploration game.

I just don't understand why a lot of people thought it revolutionized the genre or made the series better. To me, that's a bit of an exageration on their part, in my opinion.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]RE4 was amazing for the time (I bought it twice and played through it at least ten times) but the fact that one can't move and shoot at the same time has dated it badly.Metamania

It's odd, because I never found RE4 to be as spectacular as a lot of critics and gamers thought of it to be. I just thought of it as a third-person shooter with a over-the-shoulder look. Wasn't very scary at all, not like the original games, had some boss fights that were cool, but in the end, it was, as I said before, a straightforward action/exploration game.

I just don't understand why a lot of people thought it revolutionized the genre or made the series better. To me, that's a bit of an exageration on their part, in my opinion.

I never considered the old RE games scary (the original came closest, but fell short of the mark) due to the fact the stars were more like well armed quip spewing action figuresthan characters. They never effectively conveyed fear, horror or grief the same way the stars of horror games like Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness or Siren did.

I enjoyed the first couple Resident Evils, but the series started feeling stale around 3. The graphics were getting shinier, but the basic gameplay/game design wasn't improving. My biggest gripe with the old games was the cinematic (as opposed to useful) camera. Getting into an encounter and then backing up until one found oneself in an area which afforded one a view of the character which was in plain sight of the main character was just plain irritating (though not as irritating as inadvertently walking into the arms of an enemy).

The best thing about RE4 is that is fixed the often useless camera (if your character could see it, you could see it). But theclever enemy design (shooting enemies in the head was almost a reflex even back then but it wasn't always the best way to deal with the enemies of the RE4) and great staging of the action bits (the cabin was awesome) were also quite nice. Last but not least, I really enjoyed the Icoesque protection of the 'princess'.

RE4 was an action game sprinkled with horror.

AtlanticRock

Gears of war is an action game sprinkled with horror, as is Resistance

Resident evil 4 entire theme is horror, so its a bit more than sprinkled

Resident evil 4 entire theme is horror, so its a bit more than sprinkledgillri

The only time I really felt "horror" was when you faced the villagers at the very beginning, and those regenerators/Iron maidens.

1. It had no horror

2. The aiming sucked so i hated it.

The only time I really felt "horror" was when you faced the villagers at the very beginning, and those regenerators/Iron maidens.

brain3d

I classified Resident Evil 4 as an Action Thriller game, because it's not horror but it has the suspense factor. It was still way more of an action game in my opinion, still one of my favorite games to date because of how well it flowed for me. I am still hoping that the gods receive my prayers and they put it on the Xbox Games on demand thing so I can download it and play it again since I don't really like the Wii version that much and I don't wanna buy a Wii anyway to get the GameCube version.Creigz

Honestly, I found Dead Space to have a better mix of the two. RE4 definitely had its scary moments, but I thought Dead Space had a better atmosphere. I think being locked away in a ship is more scary since you really feel like there is no where you can escape to. That and a lot of the enemies in RE4, for the most part, looked very human, whereas in Dead Space they were more disfigured. Though Dead Space is more guilty of the "pop out and say boo!" tactics than I feel RE4 was, when I first played Dead Space there was never really a time when I felt safe in that game, which in itself I think is a great example of how they created the world in that game.

I love RE4 for its gameplay. That aspect of RE4 has been a continued influence on the industry as well. RE4 is always going to be remembered for this. But the horror in RE4 is about the level of a B-horror movie. It has a few disparate scary moments, but it's not a truly horrifying game.

Dead Space, IMO, was the game that hit the sweet spot. It managed to marry RE4 style gameplay and genuine sci-fi horror. It won't be remembered as being influential in the same way RE4 was and is, but it was certainly the superior horror experience.

[QUOTE="Creigz"]I classified Resident Evil 4 as an Action Thriller game, because it's not horror but it has the suspense factor. It was still way more of an action game in my opinion, still one of my favorite games to date because of how well it flowed for me. I am still hoping that the gods receive my prayers and they put it on the Xbox Games on demand thing so I can download it and play it again since I don't really like the Wii version that much and I don't wanna buy a Wii anyway to get the GameCube version.spookykid143

I felt the game was rather scary (not terrifying) in the beginning, playing it for the first time. I felt it kinda ran out of steam towards the middle, then picked up a bit at the end with the regenerators. Overall, it was a truly great experience. So much so that I've beaten it at least a dozen times now.

I think for it to have been 'perfect' a word that doesn't really exist in my vocabulary, it would have had to kept up the creepy vibe all the way through...

[QUOTE="spookykid143"]

[QUOTE="Creigz"]I classified Resident Evil 4 as an Action Thriller game, because it's not horror but it has the suspense factor. It was still way more of an action game in my opinion, still one of my favorite games to date because of how well it flowed for me. I am still hoping that the gods receive my prayers and they put it on the Xbox Games on demand thing so I can download it and play it again since I don't really like the Wii version that much and I don't wanna buy a Wii anyway to get the GameCube version.Creigz

Maybe not so strong in the horror aspect although there are elements there. But action definitely. Awesome game

[QUOTE="Creigz"][QUOTE="spookykid143"]It was never on the Xbox

spookykid143

i wouldnt call it perfect, but its a very good game. i loved that the horror elements were worked into the situations themselves rather than all being merely brief scripted events. the scariest part of the game for me was the part with the wolves during the night thunderstorm. you can hear them circling around you in the darkness and every now and then a flash of lightning will give you a momentary glance of their position, but that only makes it more chilling when the flash gives way to darkness again and youre just as helpless as you were before except that you know how much crap youre in. there are all sorts of great moments like that and they are infinitely scarier than the same dog jumping through the same window each and every time.

still i didnt like that you couldnt shoot while moving. its the same type of illogical developer restriction as not being able to see 5 feet infront of you in past RE games not because the lights are out but because the developers put a zombie just outside their preset camera angles (only not quite as bad). a better way would have been to allow the player to move and shoot but make the aiming appropriately jerky while doing so. beyond that, the notion of upgrading weapons was a bit too comforting mostly in the effect of making confrontations with the grunt enemies of each level progressively easier, less stressful, and more empowering. also, being able to stick a grenade launcher in my pack for a rainy day was too much of a safety net.

There was some very good atmosphere in it, particularly near the end of the game, like with the regenerators. But it wasn't that scary.

I will however, say it's one of the best games ever made. I've played throughit more than 10 times and never get bored.

Mostly. At times it was white knuckle and and terrifying. Mostly in the beginning of the game. It progressed from horror/action into just action.

I prefer the older style Resident Evils before RE4.

They weren't as action oriented, and the puzzles were fun to solve.

silent hill