Shoddy porting can't stop the sheer magic seeping through
It's only the middle of the month and I've purchased more games in September than I have in the last 8 months put together. It would be nice if I had ample time to play them all, but at the moment my existence is dedicated solely to the pursuit of painting conservatory walls, playing Scrabble alone and crying myself to sleep. Uhh, let's get on with it.
Resident Evil 4 is, as I already mentioned, the best game of all time. There hasn't been a game this generation which even nears RE4's levels of perfection. The difficulty levels are just right, enemies tough to kill but not numerous enough that it becomes absurd (yes, I'm looking at you,Dead Island). Puzzles engage your mind, but don't keep you stuck in place for ages looking for some abstract solution impossible to find without a guide (yes, you, Eternal Sonata). All modern gaming hallmarks are absent - aiming with the right stick and shooting with the trigger buttons, aim-assist, autosave. None of these feature in Resi 4, and make it one of the purest, consistently brilliant gaming experiences you will ever play.
Of course, this is a six-year old game, and the Xbox 360 version unfortunately suffers from a heavy bout of Capcom Fever, a virus symptomised by a rushed release date and a desire to cash-in. The touted "HD", tellingly absent from the title despite being a talking point of advertising, is barely there at all. Not that graphics should make-or-break a game, but there is barely any upscaling at all, and you would think that Capcom would have made more of an effort with one of it's most critically acclaimed titles. Anyone hoping for a real HD experience will be disappointed.
Don't let this put you off, though. If you haven't played Resident Evil 4 before (why not you idiot?) BUY IT. BUT IT NOW. Go, stop reading this review. I said stop. I know you're still there. Don't come back until you've bought it. Done? Good. As for anyone that played it on Gamecube, PS2, Wii, iPad or PC, whether you should buy it depends on whether you fancy experiencing it all over again. It's certainly worth 15 quid, with the dozen hours you can put into a story playthrough, plus a couple of hours for Separate Ways, is enough already. However if you are like me, you will probably spend double that time playing the Mercenaries minigame. Way ahead of it's time, being a precursor to the "Horde Mode" of Gears Of War and every game since that has copied it, Mercenaries is better than any of it's derivatives, and so radically different that one wonders whether it was concieved as a separate game entirely and blended into Resi 4. The release ofResident Evil: Mercenaries on 3DS shows it's potential as a standalone title.
Seemingly resistant to the aging process that affects many of it's contemporaries, Resident Evil 4 remains the powerhouse it was half a decade ago. It's influence on the shooter and horror genre's is even more evident now we have all played and beaten it's successors. If you've played any of the games that took heavy influence from RE4 (and you definitely will have), you owe it to yourself to see where it all started.
Written by Ashley Chittock. Read more http://ashleychittock.blogspot.co.uk
