Resident Evil 4

"New scenarios, weapons, and secrets make this a must-have even for RE4 vets"

Resident Evil 4, the greatly celebrated survival horror game for the Nintendo GameCube, has finally made it to the PlayStation 2. Since the announcement of this port, there were numerous concerns voiced by fans of the original version. Would the graphics remain as breathtakingly creepy? If the graphics were maintained, would painful loading times be the cost? Would the developers take the time to add enough content to make purchasing the game a second time worth it? Thankfully, most of the answers to these questions are positive, and the PS2 version of RE4 stands up as a port done right.

Fans of the Resident Evil series will remember Leon Kennedy from RE2 as the rookie cop fighting zombies in the doomed locale of Raccoon City. Six years later, he is now a special agent for the United States government and has been assigned to save the President's daughter from an unidentified group. Leon has honed his skills to a high degree and is able to remain calm during the intensely stressful situations that he encounters during his rescue mission. Deep in rural Europe, away from any other developed regions, the group uses their large numbers and “home advantage” well. Unfortunately, the group that kidnapped Ashley Graham (our fictional first-daughter) doesn't consist of normal terrorists, but rather of strange villagers who seem to be inhuman, yet are more cunning than zombies. Leon must escape alive and protect Ashley all while unraveling the mysteries surrounding the forsaken residents.

The village is a chilling and disturbing milieu, but it is only the tip of the iceberg as far as RE4's environments are concerned. With shadow-laden graveyards, eerily lit stone corridors, dusty catacombs sprinkled with bones and the grotesque decay of insidious laboratory experiments, the relentlessly creepy world with burn itself into your mind. It's only fitting that the controls should immerse the player even farther than the graphics can alone. Leon moves perfectly for the conditions of the game; it never feels like you could sweep through and wipe everything out, and yet you will feel a sense of comfort in the flexibility offered by the controls. Some might consider the lack of a sidestep a major detractor, but RE4 avoids becoming another straight-up shooter by putting slight restrictions on player movement. Surprisingly this is not frustrating, and it contributes to the tension initiated by the scenarios. Use of the knife is encouraged implicitly, allowing the player to develop strategies beyond “just shoot.”

The arsenal of Resident Evil 4 is evenly balanced and always fun to use. Leon is only equipped with a standard handgun to begin the game, but new weapons are introduced on a regular basis to allow the player to develop new tactics and provide additional means for eliminating the constantly evolving enemy ranks. Even among different types of weapons, such as shotguns, rifles, and magnums, there are variations. For instance, the standard shotgun is weaker than the Striker, but it is aimed from the shoulder as opposed to the hip. This makes aiming for the head quicker and easier. The Bolt-Action rifle is slow and must be loaded between shots, but it is ultimately much more powerful than the speedy Semi-Auto rifle. The Red9 handgun is powerful and carries a lot of bullets, but the Punisher is faster and can fire through multiple enemies. The diversity and variety available in the weapon selection means that the best choice is not always the strongest gun. Sometimes your life can be saved by a speedy shot that buys you time to heal. This is also offset by the fact that strong weapons save you more ammo. When you take into account the additional aspect of different weapons taking up different amounts of space in your limited inventory, careful weapon management becomes critical.

In addition to managing weapons in your inventory, the rest of your items must be managed as well. Leon carries an attache case (although it seems impractical since you don't actually see him holding it at any point in the game) which can be upgraded in size as you make progress. It is divided into a limited number of square grids in which you must place all of you ammo, healing items, and weapons. Different types of ammo fit differently in the case (such as 50 handgun bullets fitting in a box the same size as one that fits 15 shotgun ammo). Together with the weapons, any accessories (such as stabilizing stocks or scopes for rifles) must also be arranged in the case. Health items can be combined to modify their effects as well as conserves space. Green herbs, which heal a small portion of health, can be combined with red herbs to become a fully healing item or with yellow herbs to increase total health at the same time. A well organized and well stocked case can improve your ability to effectively battle the crafty enemies of RE4.

The villagers, as stated earlier, are stronger than one would expect humans to be and they lumber around with only slightly more than that distinctive zombie lurch. However, they do display moderate amounts of intelligence. They communicate and attack in groups, and they even flank and charge you from time to time. Even the most cautious player can be caught off guard when being flanked and charged by multiple enemies. Some carry weapons as well, and these weapons become increasingly troublesome. At first you might see the occasional knife, which increases their range of attack by a slight amount. But soon you are confronted with hatchets, which can be thrown from a distance, and pitch forks, which are used to lunge from up to approximately 6 feet away, even past other enemies. Later on, enemies begin to equip scythes, spiked shields, and even explosive weaponry such as dynamite and rocket launchers. The human enemies are not the only class of foes in RE4 though. Novistadors (giant, invisible insects that spit acid) and Regenerators (lumbering science experiments with huge teeth and stretching arms) appear later in the game to break up the stream of villagers. Each enemy requires a slightly different strategy to defeat, and is creepy in its own unique way.

By keeping the pace of the action flowing, the developers were able to create an experience that never wears out its welcome. As soon as fighting hordes of enemies might become tiresome, the player is treated to a puzzle or environmental obstacle. Bosses and mini-bosses are evenly dispersed throughout the game, but one might notice how they usually appear fairly close to each other. This clustering of the bosses makes each successive boss fight more intense. Helping to keep the pace brisk and to prevent the feeling of repeating the same fights again, the bosses are all unique and require different strategies. For some, you can't use conventional weapons, while others might present you with timed button mashing sequences. Guarding Ashley could have been a sizable misstep in the pace of the game, but I can say for certain, without spoiling too much, that there are never any sections of the game that go on longer than necessary.

It's important to note that some minor changes were made to the game, in line with some of the changes made to the GameCube PAL version. For example, some small glitches were fixed, like how you can no longer walk through the first El Gigante that you fight when it's lying dead on the ground. More relevant to the play experience are the modifications to weapons, such as the Red 9 handgun's exclusive power upgrade now being 6.5, rather than 5.0 in the GC version, and also the fact that you can no longer buy the Tactical Vest in Professional mode (you could in the GC version, but it didn't work in Pro mode, so many people probably wasted money on it). I haven't compiled a complete list of these kinds of small changes, but if you really paid attention to the GC version, you're likely to be pleased with any changes you find.

I was greatly relieved to see that the game still looks fantastic. Sure, it's possible that you might notice some differences in the crispness of the textures if you were playing both versions next to each other on identical TVs (something I have not tried), but nothing will look obviously worse. There are loading screens that take place after the zoom-in when entering a new area. This might irk those used to the brisk transitions of the GC version, but all of the loading is generally minimal. I did experience one problem late in the game in an area with about 5 enemies on the screen in which the game was taking noticeable pauses to load the images of any items I picked up. It only happened once and I haven't experienced it again. The only time that loading will have an impact on actual gameplay is likely to be in situations where multiple QTEs (Quick Time Events: timed button presses) must be executed in succession. The GC version handled these nearly seamlessly, making the action fluid. The PS2 version chugs to load the result of your button inputs, which might throw off your timing for the next QTE. Thankfully, scenes like this are limited in number.

You might wonder what makes the PS2 version worth your money if you already played the GC version, considering the fact that you won't experience any such problems on GC. The key to the PS2 version's merit is the addition of a mouthwatering amount of extra content. There are two entirely new weapons, one of which is a reward for completing Professional mode (a mode where you take more damage and enemies have more health). Professional mode had no reward in the GC version, so it's nice to have a goal to work toward. Assignment Ada and The Mercenaries are still present, but now you'll have the option of completing Separate Ways. In SW, you'll control Ada in a scenario that coincides with Leon's actions as the story progresses. It ties in a lot of plot points to round out the story. In addition, controlling Ada doesn't feel exactly like controlling Leon since she's a bit quicker. There's also a movie collection, so you don't have to save in a particular spot just to see your favorite cutscene again and again. Fans of the special costumes in the original get an extra treat with more costumes (I won't spoil the costumes, but Ashley's actually has a practical use in the game!).

Resident Evil 4 for the PS2 successfully captures the excitement and horror present in the original, by keeping the controls as comfortable as ever and by maintaining the beauty and detail of the graphics. Any of the issues that resulted from the game being ported are minimal and don't ultimately detract from the actual experience of playing the game. It consistently provides an action experience that few games can match, and provides considerable incentives to replay. With the challenges offered by Professional Mode and obtaining the secret weapons, the game will continue to remain fresh and entertaining long after the first playthrough.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/06, Updated 02/02/06