Is there anyone left in the room who hasn’t played Resident Evil 4? Not only is it one of my favorite games of all time (I still have my copy of gamecube and the intact memory of one that messed up before and after its launch in the mid-2000s), but also one of the titles ported to the most platforms in video game history, courtesy of Doom. And it was the most exclusive of Capcom Five! Since then, it has been available on all generations, on all machines, and even on smartphones and recently in VR.
If Christopher Nolan says there was no talk of reboots before Batman Begins, over the years we’ve seen that Capcom is perhaps the company best at repurposing its classics, either with multiple ports or, like this, with updated remakes featuring modern graphics and mechanics, as it’s been with Resident Evil since… well, since Gamecube.
To finish putting it in context, we must remember that RE4 marked a turning point for the series and for all third-person action games, with the cool movements that Leon S. Kennedy he was able to perform while the camera closely followed him at shoulder height. It transformed survival horror, transformed what Resident Evil could be, and transformed shooters, and for that reason, it’s an undisputed classic today.
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While the main digital series has been steadily moving forward with the recent RE7: Biohazard and the eighth installment of Village, Capcom has gone through the RE engine the most obvious deliveries. As I said, Resident Evil 1 already opened the season in those 2000s, so the ones chosen in recent years were Resident Evil 2 (curiously I played it two weeks ago and as you know the Leon and Ada’s story begins, which connects seamlessly) and Resident Evil 3. Now, the Resident Evil 4 remake aims to update its then rigid graphical pointers and introduce a handful of more mainstream mechanics to become more varied, fun and maybe realistic.
“Resident Evil 4 lacks a bit of care to fill as a remake in both graphics and gameplay”
Well, where I think RE 2 and 3 remakes hit the nail on the head in both aspects (graphics and gameplay), and after going around the Spain deep, face the Scourge and face Salazar, Krauser, Saddler and endless dangers, horrific creatures and very tough enemies, it seems to me that Resident Evil 4 lacks a bit of care to fulfill this double duty. It doesn’t even come to me visually like Resident Evil 2 and 3 Remake, nor in controls is all it can be. Good? That many difficult things can be solved with patches beyond the mandatory launch or “Day 1”.
But let’s start with Best of Resident Evil 4 Remake. First off, it’s still hilarious through and through, and some of the new features really enhance the original experience. The weapons are diverse -although their effects often leave something to be desired- and the upgrading of the arsenal, the management of the space in the briefcase and the customization of the combat style work very well. For example, I enjoyed one of the new weapons for stealth and impact, or with a fully upgraded mythic model of the original.
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On the other hand, most of the new character models are a big step up. I love them above all Ashley, Luis or Mayor Mendez; everyone gained a lot in expression and costume design, and even Ada, although she looks very plastic next to the others. And the same can be said of the enemies, although they repeat as always, or of certain details such as certain light effects or the camouflage of insects.
Capcom has also worked hard to improve the gaming experience. There are sections expanded, modified, or reduced, almost always for the better. Exploration is dynamic and, although there are walks and backtrack sometimes a little heavy, generally the level design has also evolved. How side quests and game rewards are incorporated Buhonero (for example in the lake, free to navigate despite these ugly waters) come to remind God of War, and it always feels good.
But each facet that I have praised has its buts, and then there are many others. It’s worth noting that this remake was mounted on an RE engine primed to modernize Resident Evil 2 and 3, but perhaps not so much an RE4 that stepped out of hallway interiors and increased scale and exploration. The same level of detail isn’t noticeable or achieved the same finesse, and it’s clear that releasing for the older generation PS4 and Xbox One is a heavier sinker for the PS5 and Xbox Series versions than that which dragged the original through the ‘Betrayal’ for PS2.
They can still optimize it, yes, and while I don’t expect this game to reach the graphics of The Callisto Protocol or The Last of Us: Part I (something that deserved a classic-sized remake), at least the updates they can and should solve various problems. Namely, there are problems in the passage of night lighting from interiors to exteriors (we note an abrupt change and the blacks are broken), in the model of Leon on pause (why put a Photo Mode if the face of the protagonist is damaged and the light slips through the cracks), in the loading of textures with actions as simple as pausing the game or reading a document, in sections that for some reason remain at low resolution like if they were still there from the original, in the cutscenes without customizing the hardware… With what’s possible here, it’s a bit of a shame that Capcom couldn’t bring their engine and its results at a level worthy of the current generation.
The overall product is also not very polished. In a certain battle against one of the bosses, there are parts of the stage that protect Leon from his attacks… but that the scoundrel did not hesitate to cross to give him a quick and unjust death. On the other hand, Capcom needs to clarify: can the cracks and gaps be used to shoot the rifle or not? This is something logical and the player expects it to work, but in many occasions the game will deny the shot between two boards or bars and in others it will allow it.
In this sense, regarding what the game invites the player to do, it also limits their expressiveness and creativity in certain sequences, blatantly cheating on the appearance of enemies or their immunity. If I planted an explosive to protect Ashley’s back, the first kidnappers who come for her won’t be immune or magically appear beyond the trap. These situations disappoint and realize the opposite: you don’t want to try different things, you don’t think there’s a bit of emergent gameplay. Like when an enemy gently opened a physically locked door or when an inhuman monster opened another that required an ID card. Again, most of these problems can be solved…
Something similar happens with secret. The new mechanics of knifeincluding the ‘parry‘ or blockers, they are very good and especially elevate the confrontation with you-know-who, but the detection of commands too often fails, in particular in ‘finishers’ or silent executions. And the same thing happens: why am I going to be close to finishing him with a knife if he can miss and cut the air, exposing me. There are sections and enemies that can be enjoyed crouched down and quietly (the garrador!), but in the end the game wasn’t so prepared for that either, which added to chess takes away the envy. But hey, these problems can also be fixed.
Then he has his share of bugs and issues. Things that stick, above all, and although most of them are anecdotal insofar as they do not break the game, once again they remove the illusion. Of course, you know what I’m going to say: they should be deleted.
I’m not going to complain about that random enemy that needs an entire magazine on his head just because, or that other one that pulls endless axes or dynamite out of his pocket…not even those who receive the “cholazo” from a sniper” and remain dumbfounded without moving while waiting for the second, because I think it’s part of the joke of what Resident Evil itself is and not a mistake or a lack of polish. There are some encounters that are really exciting and where you can improvise when things don’t go to plan, and that’s where RE4 Remake shines because, on top of that, it’s managed to preserve the great differentiating factor from the original: changing the terror for the tension, the scared for the overwhelm, the fearful march through the frantic race.
By the way, I won’t end without praising the audio work. The soundscape is fantastic, from the sound of weapons to the prayers of the monks, to the music itself, and all in high-end surround sound. Plus, for those of you who can enjoy it, Capcom has once again bet on Dolby Atmos with a height channel, something that had been abandoned in the later installments. Imagine the friend Isidro…
In general, this criticism is not about the typical question of whether a Resident Evil 4 remake was needed or not. Nor are we talking about the great effect Wii version control had back then, or getting into Leon’s shoes like never before in the Quest version. Seeing where Capcom was going, it could have gone well and it was the perfect time considering today’s technology. I actually had a great time with it overall and it certainly updates Resident Evil’s craziest and most defining fun, one that mixed the mansion puzzles of the early games with the combat abilities of the last. But he remains at the gates, ironically, not knowing how to finish the graphics or the gameplay. I recommend all fans to play it, of course, but maybe in a few months when it gets more polished.
If you’re more numbers, look at my rating and think this game will easily earn an extra point as long as they fix most of the issues and errors listed and a few more. It can be done, the classic deserves it, and I promise to update this review and final rating if that happens.
