Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

"Few games are ever a work of art. This is one of them"

Ah, Resident Evil 4. I had been wanting to play this for some time. Years ago a friend had mentioned it and recommended it. Fast forward, and I got a brief glimpse at it on the PS2. I knew I had to have it. Badly. I would often spend time looking for it on the gamecube version but never finding it cheap (bite me), and basically decided to wait for it to go down in price - until I heard about the Wii version coming out. The rest is history. So... was it worth it?

Story. Pretty much an excellent story that is well done. The latest line-up in the saga is that Umbrella is now finished. Leon Kennedy has moved on from the horrendous incident that basically strangled Raccoon city to death and is now a recruited agent for the U.S Government. Shortly afterwards, the President's daughter is kidnapped, and Leon is sent to a rural village in Europe. Of course, as soon as Leon arrives, he'll figure something isn't right...
Story? 10/10

Graphics. You might want to bear in mind that this IS a port from the current gen consoles, so don't expect anything spectacular as far as shading, texturing quality and such go. They were pretty good on the cube and ps2 I imagine, so for the Wii it's not to shabby either. Lighting is real-time, so anything in a shadowy area will be darker accordingly, and coloured lights even reflect off your head. Ok, so if these graphics are just port quality, why am I about to give them a high score? Well I haven't thoroughly examined the other two for starters. But seriously, it's two things: Atmosphere and Design. For one, the atmosphere is perfect. It changes throughout the game according to the area your in (be it a village or castle and such). There's just so much to stop and admire at when you're traversing the desolate village, it's elegant and beautiful castle and it's decorations, and the horrors of the island afterwards. It's just beautiful... it's the ultimate work of art. This work of art is further complimented by the monsters and "humans", if you will. They're just damn creepy, ugly, and can send shivers right through you! Truly, this game not only kicks some serious arse, but the graphics as far as detailing and decorating go, make this one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen - and I don't say that very often about a game.
Graphics? 10/10

Sound. The sounds of the world are equally at home. The ambience provides the sounds given off by things like howling wolves, running waters, humming machinery and other such things. Cultists and villagers speak in a foreign language, with low threatening tones or violent anger. Gunshots also sound wicked, giving you that satisfying feeling when you blow something's head off with a shotgun. Can you hear that bloody mist spraying too? Nice touch, isn't it? Voice acting is decent for the most part. The voices attached to the characters fit and their reactions sound just as they should according to how a character is reacting.

The music is good too. I can't really say much of it is memorable, but it does what it needs to. The music rises in a ominous manner when enemies approach you, and in some areas, it even gets frantic like Leon's feeling scared or apprehensive about a situation. Good stuff.
Sound? 10/10

Gameplay. First, the controls are mildly different to their older brethren. As far as I could see, Capcom just wanted to give RE4 more life on another port, rather than bring it over just to implement cheesy control gimmicks, which is perfect by me. First, wielding a firearm. You hold the B button to aim your weapon, then press button A to fire. While you do this, the control stick can be used to generally move your aim around; while a cursor on the screen further helps you aim at whatever enemy you want. Headshots and crippling leg wounds have never been easier - save for sniping which must be done with the stick. Rats. Outside of that, the joystick on the nun chuck moves you forward and helps you turn, while the A button assists you in opening doors, using ladders jumping across... you get the idea. Wiggling the Wiimote is used for sprinting, climbing ledges and other such life-threatening moments. This time around, the camera site behind Leon's shoulder, so the game is controlled more like a 3rd person shooter, rather than the traditional set camera angles.

New elements are introduced to the fourth installment. As far as I can recall, the previous Resident evils (Being 1 2 and 3, so as to not confuse anyone) never had what is called the Merchant. This kindly fellow is basically your guns and jewels dealer that you'll meet throughout the game. You can buy weapons and their stocks from him, as well as healing sprays, bigger suitcases (more on that soon) and even tune-ups for your currently owned weapons. You think that handgun was good enough to begin with? Try updating it's firepower and clip capacity and come back to me. Logically, you can sell things you don't want or need, including any ornaments and treasures you find throughout the game.

The suitcase here is a new addition and has changed from its previous titles. I don't remember well how they worked as it's been years since I played them, but I have read other reviews to get the general point. In this one, puzzle and treasure items are now kept separate from your guns and herbs, so you don't have to worry about them taking up room. A box for each ammo type can only hold so much so sometimes you'll carry more than one inside it, but that's not so bad. As mentioned, you can buy bigger cases from the merchant, which means all the more health, ammo, and even guns to take with you, so you'll never be caught with your pants down in a firefight - or any fight for that matter.

As you all know Raccoon city is nothing more than a memory now. So gone are all the zombies, lickers, big moths and other such cute and cuddly science experiments. Now we've got new monstrosities with a big appetite for blood, backed by brand new AI. First, instead of dumb old zombies, we have crazed villagers, devoted cultists and such who don't just walk up to you and bite or shake you every time. Some wield knives, bows, chainsaws and other such fearful weapons. Hell, some even wield fire-arms too! And they're not afraid to run right at you and take a swing - or throw them at you. Oh. and let's not forget the new set of monsters, but I'll leave that for you readers to go play and find out. Enjoy. ;)

Like Resident Evil 0, this game also touches upon the cooperative element. When you find Ashley, she'll follow you pretty much wherever you take a step. Using the - button, you can tell her to wait somewhere safe if you need to fight a monster, and press it again afterwards to get her to follow you. But she's not just there to follow you around like a puppy. She can be used to roll levers for bridges, fetch items in locked rooms that are to high for one person to reach, and she even has to make it her own way at times - which is where controlling her comes into play. Now, it's not like being the big, masculine gun toting Leon, but she's not entirely helpless either. With the help of the environment she's in, she can use things accordingly to defend herself. This all might sound more annoying than fun, but Capcom drew a serious line between making it fun and abusing it. The result? It's actually fun. It's touched upon, but never dragged out (Like "Death Row" in Duke3D). Well done CC, well done indeed.

One familiar element that's made another return is the puzzles. But it seems it's not touched upon as heavily as it used to be. If anything, most are so simplistic that the likes of me only had to run to a guide what? Three times? It was mostly the coloured lights puzzles that had me, otherwise the rest felt logical.

Gamplay? 10/10 easily.

Replay. Oh, there'll be plenty of that after you beat the core game. Extras contains two "Expansion packs" by the names "Separate Ways" and "Assignment Ada", along with the movies of the game, and Mercenaries, the time-killing non-stop shooter. You'll be having plenty of fun with the extras, I can guarantee that. On top of that, beating these extras unlocks more thing like costumes, and the sheer awesomeness of the game itself warrents a replay in my eyes.
Replay? 10/10

Final Word? Oh hell yeah. You're not doing yourself any good if you don't have this for the Wii. Even if you already have another version.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/07