Just a little more than a week to wait till Resident Evil 4 Remake drops, and sadly Capcom bumped up the price so much, my regional one kind of killed any reason for me to buy it now.
That really sucks, because I got my hand on the demo and there's so much to process. For one hour, playing in both runs, I was spoonfed in large chunks of such delicacy, I was in cloud 9.
It is several leagues above their prior games, heck, it might easily be a shoo-in for an absolute GOTY. And so I want to talk about it, explore its foundation, so badly.
Bad Feeling
The intro cutscene plays a monologue of Leon's life after Raccoon City, where he joined a military regiment, taking in the best training possible. The comedic tone is gone, replaced with a somber, distressed voice. Leon was no longer the Mikami lead man, him and Chris Redfield now take things more seriously.
As the game started, I was walking through the forest, along the linear path were muds, potholes, and a dead deer. The last one was a serious giveaway that things are about to get real. Something Leon is pretty familiar with, yet did not prepare himself for his first encounter with one of the villagers in the hut. Queue the ensuing chaos as he finds evidence of Ashley's kidnapping in the attic.
The dog I got to save in the original, he's completely dead here after escaping the hut and killed in the worst shape possible. Brutalized entirely after being caught in a bear trap. The villagers were a few of them, and weren't easy to kill, even if I shot them in the head, it would decapitate halfway, and they'd still be coming at me.
The tone is familiar here, much like Resident Evil 2, it's a more grotesque, detailed game. But when it isn't, the forest feels haunting, the areas look desolate, and Leon's hair looks like he still uses shampoo to keep it intact. Maybe too much immersion isn't such a good idea.
Yet, I like what I am really seeing. There are two ways it vibes, it's a survival horror with the body horror pushing real hard for impact and an action game that largely adds up to the tense atmosphere of the other. One doesn't supersede the other, with so much depth both aspects have.
Against All Odds
Right after leaving the forest and witnessing one of the Policia's being burned to death, in my first playthrough, I tried to sneak around, unfortunately I got spotted, and before I knew, the mob was moving onto me.
I've already learned right after the hut that the enemies are pretty aggressive, and one of the ways to dodge is strafing with sprint. I tried doing the crouch dodge, but it didn't work against ones using pitchforks or shovels in the mob rush. Making things more difficult was the chainsaw guy, using the crowd as a rock and hard place.
It felt at first that the pistol was going to be useless considering how tough the enemies are, but shooting on either the head or foot stuns them long enough for a kick in the face. Even 3 or 4 well-placed shots can take them out, unless, well, they come back with their heads hanging on the neck. That's like a tease for their next-form, probably much later in the actual game.
The gameplay felt rewarding, because in the tense moments with every obstacle on the way, when I make best use of the tactics and my guns, it leaves so much breathing room for me to do other things like retreating elsewhere, lure the crowd into a baiting spot, or running past them to where I want to go. Leon can easily vault over fences, or parry attacks using his knife. This isn't Commando with zombies, this is Aliens 2.
These villagers aren't mindless zombies, not only thanks to the audio and music playing adding to the atmosphere, but they employ tactics, finding ways to use the aggressors to corner me while the rest being fodder just surround before the big guys like the chainsaw man comes toward.
One could say this could take on the new Dead Space's A.I. director, because this A.I. design sounds more useful and smarter when it adds to the core of a survival horror game. But this is Resident Evil 4, there's going to serious adrenaline rush mowing down everything on my path.
Ammo scarcity doesn't seem to be really a thing here, either. Most of the villagers I've killed were leaving off gold or ammo packs. Plus, Leon can carry 8 different kinds of weapons at once, like, the man has fully transformed into a killing machine. Just without the sense of humor, though.
I just like using the shotgun here, like, free headshots all the way. While also being used to subdue multiple enemies at the right range. This title also has a lot of visual options, including Ray-Tracing. Sadly, I did face stuttering, so I kind of lowered settings down. But that didn't help. It is an amazing looking game, though. I hope I managed to grab it on sale or a friend lends his steam account.
Recent content: