Title Resident Evil 4 Date 10.12.2007 Genre Action, Horror Platform PC Developer Capcom Publisher Ubisoft

Resident Evil 4 is an Action\Adventure developed by Capcom and released by Ubisoft. Capcom has a habit of creating endless amounts of games based on a specific franchise. Usually each game is very good but is just another Resident Evil-Street Fighter-Mega Man without any major differences. I am happy to announce that Resident Evil 4 lets aside the golden formula and tries something new that fortunately is very good!

Story
The story starts after the end of the secret organization Umbrella. You are using one of Resident Evil 2's heroes, Leon S. Kennedy. He is now a government agent whose mission is to rescue the kidnapped daughter of the president of the USA. You'll soon discover that your mission isn't just an ordinary rescue mission. A strange religion, some characters from the previous game involved along with some new ones and a new menace much different from the virus-mutated monsters of the past games. The plot revolves in a very good way making you want to play more in order to find out what is going on and after the end you want more. All characters are great, especially those that add some mystery to the whole thing. Like all RE games you'll find simple documents that'll give you info about your quest. Also after completing the game you can play 2 different missions with another character, (guess who?), that will give you even more information about Resident Evil 4's storyline and leave hopes for a new Resident Evil game, (not that a new one wouldn't be made whatsoever).

Graphics
Not bad but not what you would expect from a PC port of the newest Resident Evil game. All models move and look good and have very good textures, especially the bosses will leave you with your mouth open. All locations look good and creepy but lack good textures and lighting\shader effects. The problem is that is that when the game showed up in the consoles it looked great and it still does, but being a PC port with no improvements at all is bit bad for such a great game.

Sound
In the game you'll hear ambient music when nothing happens and an action theme when fighting with enemies. Both fit quite good to the game and give the right mood. Excellent sound effects quality. Enemies scream and shout, guns make you feel good just by hearing them and in general everything sounds very good.

Gameplay
Forget everything you no about Resident Evil, (well not everything). No overhead camera. The new over-the-shoulder perspective is great and brings you closer to the action thus making you more attached to your character. Now in order to shoot you aim with a laser beam that comes out of your gun and shoot. Your hand is never steady, something that isn't bad because it adds more realism and makes you be more careful with your shooting. In general the whole game is based in shooting so don't expect many riddles. You can shoot your enemies in different parts of their body in order to make them react different, you can stun them and then kick them, blow barrels near them, make them loose their weapons and many more. There aren't many guns, just different variations of the simpler ones, (a stronger shotgun, a faster rifle etc.), but all weapons are great and force you to play more strategically by choosing the right weapon in the right occasion. Finally the usual knife is now of good use. You don't have too selected from the inventory, you just draw it while fighting and slice your enemies.

Next forget about zombies! Now even simple enemies are faster smarter and can interact with their environment. You close the door they open it, you put furniture in front of a door and they soon break it, you knock down a ladder they raise it and many more. Also there are many variations of the simple grunt, like simple villagers with axes and knives and chainsaws, soldiers with guns and dynamites, monks with shields and maces and many more. Apart from the simpler ones there are many more enemies that all look good and dangerous and require good shooting and smart playing. Excellent adrenaline pumping boss fights that require even better shooting, evading and I general more strategic play.

One thing that even this Resident Evil still doesn't have is good evading techniques while fighting but now there is a new great feature that I personally loved. When a monster grabs you, when you trigger a trap or when a boss tries to hit you, a button or a combination of buttons appear in your screen and you must press those buttons as fast as you can in order to escape from the grip of your enemy, the death from a trap or a very strong hit from a boss. Also you can even use this in cut-scenes! Yeah, that's right when a big guy tries to kill you in a cut-scene you can evade his deadly hit by pressing a combination of buttons, there is even a whole fight scene that requires pressing buttons while watching a cut-scene!

Another great thing is the Merchant who is usually near a save point. Along your quest you'll find money or treasure that can be exchanged for money, (and by combining a treasure item with another one that fits into it its value increases), and all of this money can be used in Merchant spots in order to buy new weapons, treasure maps, a larger inventory, medicine and most of all upgrades for all your weapons that improve their firing and reloading speed, their capacity and their strength. Other that nothing new, the usual healing herbs that can be combined, (along with a new herb that increases your maximum health), grenades, searching for ammo and everything you would expect from a Resident Evil game.

The game will surely keep you company for at least 15 hours and after that you can unlock many things that extremely increase its replay value. 2 different missions with another character, different costumes and new weapons and a great new arcade style mode that can be played with 5 characters and 4 stages that require from you to kill as many enemies you can before the timer stops, believe me it is very addictive. Even if you've played every mission you will still want to play in order to finish the game faster without strong weapons and in general in every possible way you can thing of.

Positives:
-Many unlockables like extra missions, costumes, weapons and special modes
-Great plot different from the previous games
-More strategic play
-A new great evading technique that can be used even in cut-scenes

Negatives:
-No graphic improvements for the PC port
-Not many riddles and those that do exist are extremely easy.
-Only played with a gamepad, (without Mods)

Overall
Great game that isn't just another Resident Evil title. It has a very good and different plot than the previous games, it requires more brain work while fighting and above all it has excellent replay value. Invest!

Game Score

B+

Reviewed By: Contributed