Despite the lousy PC conversion, this console masterpiece still rocks the hell out of gaming world!
That being said, I can simply assume that everyone else who reads this review is a huge fan as well. I mean, how can you not love Resident Evil in the first place? It's a game that practically created survival horror genre. Silent Hill, Alone In The Dark, Dino Crisis, Obscure and other spooky games owe everything to the very first zombie smasher of all time. The blood-and-guts king of everything that is bloody and gruesome, Resident Evil. All in all, it was one of the most important things that ever happened to the gaming world.
So, after many years, and many sequels, which were not nearly as good as the first two, we finally have a game that is truely worth our time and money. A Resident Evil sequel that lives up to it's name, and once more shakes the gaming world to the ground. Get ready for a ride of your life, people, because Resident Evil 4 has hit the PC!
From the very box cover, it becomes obvious that Capcom finally realised that old-school survival horror games far overstayed their welcome, and decided to change things completely. The result is one of the best games that ever saw the light of day. That's right, dear reader, forget clunky controls, annoying puzzles, run-of-the-mill survival gameplay and boring old spooky mansions. The first thing that you will notice about this game is an entirely different control scheme. No more fixed camera angles, this time you see your character from behind all the time. With a simple press of a button, you can raise your weapon and aim wherever you please, which makes the game a lot more tactical. For example, you can shoot an enemy in the leg and slow him down, or aim for a stack of dynamite he's carrying and blow an entire group of enemies to smithereens. It's all up to you, not the auto aim feature.
It may not sound like much, but this control scheme is actually pretty amazing. The camera always stays right behind your character, so you have a good view of the situation, and at the same time you really have a feeling you're actually there, not in the comfort of your living room, watching a slasher movie. And the controls are pretty responsive and accurate. If you have a good gamepad, that is...
That's actually the first big issue with this game - don't even try it without a gamepad. Unlike Prince Of Persia where, even without a gamepad, you can have great fun with the default keyboard-mouse setup, Resident Evil 4 will make you break your fingers. Even tough you can customize your controls, there's simply no way this game can be played with only a keyboard. This, or any other 3D game, for that matter. Forget mouse support, forget easy aiming, just buy a damn gamepad!
But hey, if you can do that, you're in for a hell of a time!
So anyway, once again you jump into shoes of Leon S. Kennedy, a veteran zombie smasher of Resident Evil 2. This time, our pretty boy is off to Spain, to find the president's missing daughter, Ashlee. And that's where your adventure begins - in a forest near some backwater Spanish village. Your first mission is to reach the village and check out the rumor that says Ashlee's been seen there. But that's just the beginning, on your way to find the little pesky Barbie girl you'll visit a lot of different, creepy locations. I'm not gonna say anything more, because it would be a heck of a spoiler. Let's just say that all the locations are simply spectacular.
Off we go to the weapons section then... well, you start off with a simple handgun. That much is obvious. As you progress, you get your hands on more hardware. Shotguns, SMGs, sniper rifles... plenty of ways to catch a rabbit. Not to spoil all the fun, let's just say you'll see plenty of explosions as well... But oh, we haven't even mentioned the most important thing in this zombie shooter - there are no zombies here at all! That's right, Capcom decided that enough is enough, and abandoned the whole zombie thing. So this time you're actually fighting the local natives gone insane, as well as all other kinds of monsters, animals, etc. Which makes it all the more scary. Believe me, an angry mob with sickles, axes and piercing, glowing eyes is a lot scarier than a few moaning zombies we've already seen for a thousand times. As for the boss fights, well... they get insanely difficult after a while, but those are still some of the best boss fight we've seen in years.
The story, as you already guessed, seems simple enough, but after a while it gets a lot more interesting, and disturbing. I also have to mention some pretty good (altou not great) voice acting that pumps up the atmosphere even further. And so, here we reach the second big issue of this game - crappy, grainy in-game cutsceenes that might've looked great on PS2 or GC consoles, but not on a PC monitor. It's clear that they didn't do a thing to actually adjust the big TV graphics for PC standards. Even tough the game itself looks wonderful, cutsceenes are simply abysmal. Which simply kills the whole creepy, horror movie experience. Sad, really sad...
So let's say a few more details about the gameplay, since that's exactly what makes a great game great. This time you're not exploring a single mansion or castle room by room. You travel from one big location to another. Kind of like Metal Gear Solid series, only more creepy and without any stealth involved. On every location (such as village, a bridge crossing, an outpost) you are faced with a certain number of enemies and a certain situation you have to deal with. For example, you can climb into a church bell tower and snipe the bad guys, or barricade yourself inside a house, and wait for the enemies to attack. Or run around, throwing grenades to take out a whole groups of them. I often found myself running across rooftops and barnyards, knocking down ladders so they can't follow me, barricading doors and windows, using hit-and-run tactics on tougher monsters... you're limited only by your imagination.
Exploring every location as much as you can is also recommended. This way you can find a lot of extra ammo, herbs, and other items. Trust me, you'll need all the help you can get once you face one of the (pants-wetting terrifying) bosses. Another cool thing you can do is save some money (yes, there's also money involved) to upgrade your weapons, or purchase new ones. However, you can't buy extra ammo, so you have to be careful and spend your bullets and shells wisely if you don't want to end up as zombie fodder. This only makes the game more tense and satisfying, and if that's not enough for you, there are plenty other unlockable modes for you to enjoy. If you really want to be trigger-happy. After you beat the game for the first time, you unlock extra chapters you can play as other game characters, such as... No no no no, I'm not gonna spoil it! Well, you'll get your money's worth, don't worry...
Some people argued that this game is not scary enough, but I have to disagree. Sorry...
Very often, when faced with some dark corridor, or a creepy looking house, I'd get that feeling of "Oh man! I just hope I make it out alive!", especially later on in the game. Another tricky feat here is that once you rescue Ashlee, you have to bring her to safety, and you have to keep her close all the time if you don't want monsters to grab her. But don't worry, she's really smart and she'll never get in the way.
Despite some of it's shortcomings, this is one of the best games ever, thanks to it's well-balanced gameplay, story, settings, characters, sounds and overall feeling of "Oh, wow! What a great game!". Because of sloppy PC conversion it cannot score 10, but hey, if you have a good gamepad and you don't mind the occasional crappy cutsceenes, this is a game you will enjoy for years to come.