REVIEW - Resident Evil 4 [BIOHAZARD 4] (2005)

Stagnation is prominent in the gaming industry. When you invent a new gameplay genre or series, yeah it's innovative for a while but eventually it becomes stale and people are sick of it. The Resident Evil series suffered from this (and is ironically doing it now again) in the early 2000's, and despite the REmake from 2002 being a fantastic game, the series had become stale.

Enter Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 takes place in a vastly different location than the original games. RE4 takes place in some remote part of Spain, Europe. You assume the role of one Leon Scott Kennedy, one of the two protagonists in Resident Evil 2. The President of the USA's daughter has been kidnapped and Leon has been dispatched to rescue her. The plot then progresses as you'd expect, with some weird twists in the middle that twist the Resident Evil timeline in strange ways that convelout the timeline. The plot works, but it's nothing special and could do with work I guess.

The gameplay of Resident Evil 4 is the games biggest attraction and by damn God the gameplay in RE4 is fantastic. Gone are stiff Tank Controls and strange inventory management. In is a new over the shoulder aiming system which revolutionized not only Resident Evil but gaming in general because of how precise it was at the time. The inventory is assigned to Leon's case, which can hold whatever you want as long as it fits. You can arrange things whatever way you want in the case, which you can spend hours on (OCD sufferers stay away). The intensity of the gameplay is intense and it's absolutely amazing, nothing short of it.

ON A SIDE NOTE FUCK ASHLEY.

 Graphically, Resident Evil 4 looks spectacular for a GameCube game. The detail that went into the environments looks spectacular for a game that is almost 10 years old. Character models still hold up (Leon's hair game is still on point <3 ) and the guns looks really nice (minus the TMP which has aged quite badly). Textures nowadays look a bit muddy on the original version of the game, but there have been plenty of Remakes and remasters of RE 4 to go around.

Soundtrack isn't really great, I can remember 2 songs that I liked and that's it. Kinda lacking to be honest, very dull and dreary. Voice acting is stellar though, as is the rest of the sound design.

This game is not perfect, but damn, apart from maybe Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 4 has the highest replay value of any game I have ever played due to it's addicting gameplay and insane unlockables which keep you wanting more. It's fun to look at but not to great to hear. It's a modern classic, what else can I say.

Story: 7

Gameplay: 10

Graphics: 9

Sound: 7

Personal Enjoyment: 10

FINAL SCORE FOR RESIDENT EVIL 4: 8.6/10