It seems that Hiroyuki Kobayashi has listened to the complaints levelled at the venerable Resident Evil franchise over the years, and has taken huge steps to see that part 4 is going to be different. For those of you just coming out of your coma, RE is the father of the modern survival horror genre. Where some games came before, none had quite the impact that Capcom's zombie-fest had on players. Trademarks of the series included zombies, laughable dialog, and even worse voice acting; not to mention the worst control system known to man. Even with all those faults the RE franchise is still chugging along, approximately 194 titles later.
RE 4 is going to make people wonder how they ever put up with all those faults of the previous games. Thumbing his nose at tradition, Kobayashi is crafting a game so different that you’d be hard pressed to point out what exactly makes this a Resident Evil game.
The infamy of the awkward control system has been well documented, but I’ll fill in those people a little less knowledgeable than me. In order to turn around, players had to do an 180° on the control pad, and then push forward to make the character walk. It sounds much more simple than it actually was. Shooting enemies that weren’t standing directly in front of you was an annoyance as well. Aiming consisted of shooting at your feet, shooting the ceiling, or shooting directly in your field of vision. God forbid you actually wanted to shoot the rabid zombie dog chewing on your thigh.
All that has changed, along with the way players interact with the game itself. Now your character stands in the bottom left hand of the screen, and the control scheme is best described as a pseudo-FPS. When you aim your gun, you will see a laser dot directing you where to place your shot. It handles life a first person shooter, and looks like a third person game, though with a twist. The game is presented entirely in wide screen, so that Leon takes up very little of the game area. It’s refreshing to see such a unique implementation of such a basic function.
The main staple of the RE franchise has been the zombies that serve as the backdrop for the horribly clichéd plot. An evil corporation unleashed a virus on an unsuspecting town, which turns the townspeople into mindless, brain-eating zombies. That was the old joint, this is the new one. In RE 4, you play as Leon Kennedy (the same Leon from RE 2) who is now a secret service agent, has been charged with protecting the President’s daughter. Leon, apparently, is the worse agent ever as the daughter is kidnapped to a small South American town. With no Umbrella Corporation and no zombies, you might think that this is an easy thing to do, but of course it isn’t.
The villagers have gone a bit insane, and are not going to let you pass through so easily. The trailers show hordes of angry, pitchfork-and-torch wielding villagers, frothing at the mouth to kill Leon. These villagers will attack in numbers, lay traps and circle around behind you. Obviously this makes the game much harder than the previous ones, which were only difficult due to the begirting of healing herbs. Hopefully this last part will be balanced out as well.
That’s not to mean that there are not any monsters in this game. One video shows a behemoth (looking a lot like the cave trolls from Lord of The Rings) smashing through a giant fence to get at Leon. What else is in store I wonder?
Also new to the series is the inclusion of vehicles, which Leon uses at different points in the story. One particular scene shows him hunting a huge crocodile with a spear gun from a motorboat. Nothing says RE like giant mutated animals!
With so much changed about this game, is it truly Resident Evil? Kobayasi would say yes, and I tend to agree. This is one series that needed a fresh beginning and from what we’ve seen so far is that Resident Evil 4 is breaking all the rules. Now if they can only get that voice acting fixed...
Shawn Darnell
