Resident Evil 4 - Wii Edition - 9/10
Get ready for one of the most engaging experiences on Wii
Gameplay: Challenging without being overly tough. An intense atmosphere allows for great immersion. Players are rewarded for their resourcefulness
Controls: Tight! IR pointing not only allows great accuracy but also makes aiming fast!
Visuals: A huge and detailed world can be (intentionally) dark at times. Characters are wonderfully designed and animated. For anyone who played the original on GameCube, the Wii version is much the same but supports full 16:9 widescreen as opposed to the 'letter box' black bars.
Sound: Outstanding! Great atmospheric music and sound effects will creep you out and make you jump on occasion.
Things you may DIG: Top production values all round, Great control, Value for money, Clever/mean AI, Serious content (not a mushroom in sight! has herbs though...)
Things you may WHINE about: "I already own this on GameCube" No major visual upgrade from the GameCube version (aside from 16:9).
A closer look:
Resident evil is a series that has been around for over a decade now. Making it's début on the Playstation, it has made it's way on to almost every gaming system since. There's even been comics (sorry - graphic novels) action figures and even a few movies (yuk!) starring Milla Jovovich (yum!)
The basic premise to the games story line is that the 'evil' Umbrella Corporation has 'accidentally on purpose' developed a virus that turns people into zombies. As one of several different protagonists you must blast zombies (and hell hounds and lickers etc.) and save the world.
Anyways... In 2005 Capcom released an (at the time) exclusive GameCube instalment called Resident Evil 4. The story line was the first departure in that you weren't immediately up against 'Umbrella' or traditional 'zombies' for that matter.
The hero here is Leon Scott Kennedy (who was the Racoon City police department officer from Resident Evil 2) He's a man on a mission to save the Presidents daughter who has been kidnapped by a religious cult of some kind.
***spoilers ahead***
This is a game filled to the brim with not only Resident Evil fan service but also copious amounts pop culture and movie references. In fact it borrows heavily from a number of my favourite films.
Remember in Indiana Jones and The Raiders Of The Lost Arc where Indy was running away from the giant rolling boulder? That's here, as is The Temple of Doom's crazy occult shenanigans and mine cart rides. Fans of John Carpenter's 'The Thing' will immediately recognise the 'alien parasite controlled' type zombies as opposed 'undead' zombies of the previous games. Along the way you'll also encounter bad guys that have been plucked from [edit inspired by] other great horror flicks such as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
All in all the story/plot is rather convoluted and occasionally 'schlocky' but in a very good horror movie kind of way.
For RE purists out there that don't own this game (maybe you've been hiding under a rock somewhere?) 'Umbrella' is still to be found here, lurking and being evil.
The Wii edition of the game is exactly the same as the game that appeared on the GameCube two years ago with the added bonus content that made it on to the PS2 and PC ports. The control scheme has also been optimised for Wii.
You are tasked with guiding our hero Leon, Ada (for the Assignment Ada missions) and Ashley (very breifly) around the country side, through mansions and mines towards an inevitable showdown with the kidnapping cult leader (who incidentally wants to take over the world).
RE4 is solo experience. You use the nunchuck to move your character while you aim, shoot and manage your inventory with the wiimote. You can also waggle to use a knife attack and to reload, both are optional but work very well. All controls are responsive, work well never detract from the overall experience.
You begin your journey in with limited health and your standard pistol. As you progress you will be able extend your life bar/meter with herb combinations (RE staples) while upgrading your arsenal via 'merchants' that lurk around the place. Upgrading your weapons and purchasing new ones will cost you plenty of money but luckily for you; the 'zombies' seem to leave plenty of cash when you put them down. The upgrade system adds considerable depth to proceedings and requires you to make tough decisions from time to time.
At first the game feels quite open but it doesn't take long to realise that RE4 is actually very linear in it's layout. This is never a problem though due to the fact that there isn't much time to smell the roses; with hordes of zombies and all that.
There's a reasonable number of enemies types that are recycled throughout the game. Different types of enemies are introduced progressively during the campaign and different combinations of enemies will require varying strategies to overcome them... as will the
boss fights!
Bosses in RE4 kick serious @ss! Many are huge nearly all are spectacular. Thankfully (for some and lamentably for others) all are easy enough to figure out and can be dealt with fairly quickly.
On top of the main campaign you can play the challenging and fun mercenaries game. These are basically closed off game areas with re spawning enemies that you must knock off (in rapid succession to gain combos) to get high scores. Doing well in the mercenaries mini game will unlock the
hand-cannon
The bonus content from the PS2 and PC versions is also included here. You now get the Separate Ways campaign where you get to play as Ada, an additional costume set, a movie (cut scene) browser and a new weapon or two.
The visuals were mind blowing by GameCube standards and still hold up well today. The game is very dark at times which really only serves to add to the tension. There are great lighting and water effects throughout, although you might not appreciate some of the subtleties until your later play-through's. The game runs in 480p & widescreen for those with component cables and big screens.
The great audio compliments the visuals with spooky cues to let you know when the poop is about to hit the fan. Weapons sound sensational and about the only annoying sonic aspect is the clanking of Ashley's suit of armour, should you choose to equip that costume set (don't).
As an experienced player I found the Wii version easier than the previous versions largely due to the ease of the IR aiming. If you own either of the other two versions there's nothing here that screams for double dipping but I would strongly recommend a trade'n'upgrade!
Oh, and if you loved the laser aiming module (the red dot), you're in trouble because it's gone**! You get a colour changing aiming reticule that is greyish when inactive, green when active and red when on target.
**Unless you choose to use a GameCube or a classic controller, in which case you'll get the GameCube experience, red dot and all. Although after playing with the Wii-mote even purists may find it hard to go back.
The only other downside that I can think of would be that as great as the control scheme is, some people (Metroid Prime 3 owners, I'm looking at you) may have a hard time going back from such a superlative control set up. No matter how often you move the aiming reticule to the side of the screen,
it will not make you turn. This is something that may crop up when trying to play RE4 after extended Metroid play sessions.
This game comes highly recommended to horror survival fans, shooter fans as well Resident Evil enthusiasts. This really is the best in the series.
Less 1/2 a star for making me buy this game twice.
Submitted by dossaer
21/12/2007
115
3
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