Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

"Resident Evil 4 review...(I can't come up with a witty tagline)"

Greetings fellow gamer. Thank you for selecting my review of Resident Evil 4 above all others. It makes me happy to know you value my opinion. You may have clicked this randomly, but I still do not care. We now have a connection, you and I. I will do my best to recommend this game to you. That takes care of the introductions....Review ho!


STORY TIME

The President's daughter, Ashley Grahamcracker, has been kidnapped. The logical thing to do is send someone in alone with only a pistol. Did they expect it to be that easy? Of course it is not that easy. Upon entering a local dwelling Leon gets molested by a villager. Guess even they cannot resist his good looks. >_> Yeah. Well, anyway....The story takes off from there. You are stuck unravelling the mystery of what the hell is going on in wherever the hell you are. Along the way you meet some interesting people and blow their heads off. Honestly, who could care less about the story? It is meh, but where the game shines is gameplay! Onto the gameplay!

GAMEPLAY/CONTROLS/

Yes, gameplay! The purpose is to kill parasite ridden villagers dubbed Ganados. I will not use the term zombie...So, these villagers are mindless drones whose sole purpose in life is to kill Leon or be killed by Leon. The game boils down to you entering an area, hordes of enemies come after you, and then you fight them. That's as basic as it gets. One of the most annoying things a video game can have is an escort mission. Sometimes these missions have annoyed me so much I end up just killing the person I'm escorting for the hell of it. Resident Evil 4 manages to make it tolerable. The times you have to escort Ashley are made easy because you can tell her to hide into a dumpster. There are instances where you have to protect her while she tries to solve a puzzle for you, but it is not that bad. Oh, and these are not spoilers because controlling Ashley is mentioned in the instruction manual. Moving on...This is a review for the Wii version last I checked. That means that the controls are made for the Wiimote. Why should you care? Well...because they are drastically different from any other version of the game. This game is on like every system now even though it started out as a GCN exclusive lawl. I digress, the Wii controls end up making this version more unique since the Wiimote has that whole wiggle waggle deal going on with it. It utilizes the wiimote and nunchuck. Make sure you have the nunchuck attachment for this game as well. It comes with your Wii anyway. You move Leon with the Joystick on the nunchuck and use the wiimote to aim the cursor around while Leon fires. It takes some getting used to and they do make the game a tad easier, but they are really well done. Reaction commands are also made easier to the point where you have two options: Shake the controller or press A and B together. I think the GCN version had more button commands, but whatever. Once in awhile you will encounter some puzzles in your travels. Fear not, they are certainly not hard by any means. In fact, you can solve them in minutes. Time to discuss the best part of any shooter, the weapons. There is a nice variety of weapons in this game. You can upgrade them at certain points in the game for a certain price. There are different types to choose from. You have the classic pistols that take all kinds of handgun ammo, the all powerful shotgun(<3 shotgun), magnums(take their own kind of ammo), a machine gun, and some misc stuff. You cannot really go too wrong with weapons. There will be instances where you are not sure what guns to get. You could figure it out for yourself, or just ask around. As for money making, there is a crapload of gold lying around everywhere. I mean a lot. Combine that with treasure scattered around and you can make a pretty peseta. You might not even find all the treasures on your first playthrough, but it is fun to go treasure hunting on your following playthroughs. All in all, the whole unique control setup alone combined with everything else from the original game is more than enough reason to get this version of RE4.

SOUND

I'm going to be honest. I play the game with the sound on and off occasionally. Sometimes I just like blasting Don't Stop Me Now while I mow down some Ganados. When I'm not doing that and actually getting engrossed in the experience, I find the sound great. Nice music, and good ambiance. Some moments can get a little creepy, but not Silent Hill creepy. The sound fits well for certain areas. The Ganados always yell in Spanish or whatever when they spot you instead of going Ungggggggghhhh or something. That is always good. Once you hear one yell you know you are spotted and better start shooting anything that moves. I shot a crow or two once. The rest of the voices are good enough. Best one has to be that of the infamous Merchant. This man is not a mere man. He is something more. He has a badass voice, and an endless supply of weapons. He is your only true friend during this mission and what a friend he is. He speaks only a few phrases, but you will remember them for a lifetime. Rock on Merchant, rock on.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Hope you are still with me comrade. Have no fear. We are reaching the end. When this game first came out, and I mean first came out, it was highly praised amongst many a reviewer. Then it came out on the PS2 with extras that the GCN lacked. The problem was that the PS2 was lacking in the visuals department since the GCN was the more powerful system. Graphics do not mean that much to me, but I still was hesitant to buy the game. I played it first on the GCN and almost bought that version. I was glad I held off the purchase because I found out it was coming to the Wii. What does that mean? It has the looks of the GCN version plus all the extras of the PS2 version PLUS a new control system designed around the wiimote. If you do not enjoy the wiimote for whatever reason, your problem not mine, then you can still use a GCN controller. See that? You can still play this game like the GCN version. If you have a Wii, then I do not see why you would turn this kind of deal down. Your other options are the PC, PS2, and GCN. The PC has terrible controls to it. I even bought this game before I had a Wii just to make sure I had a copy ready and I do not regret my purchase.

FINAL FINAL THOUGHTS

Okay, I lied. These are my final thoughts. So far I have made the game sound flawless. Well, it does have its share of flaws. I found the game a tad easy. There are only two difficulty levels available, and one is unlocked after you beat the game for the first time. I consider the normal difficulty pretty easy. You always have plenty of ammo at your disposal as well as a near limitless cash flow. Combine that with the fact that as long as you keep an eye out for the right herbs you will not encounter any health problems. Going from Ganados battle to Ganados battle can seem a bit redundant to some, and seen as a flaw. I, however, never grew tired of just shooting wave after wave of the same guys over and over. Wish there was an extra fun mode thing that just gave you infinite ammo with any weapon of your choice and an infinite group of Ganados to shoot. I can dream...

By now you should be convinced to buy this game. If you have a Wii it is a must have in my opinion. I find myself playing it time and again just because it is that fun. Even though it maybe easy, it is still a fun game and that is what matters. If your family is open minded enough bring them along for the fun. That is what the Wii is about after all. Thank you for taking the time to read my overly long winded review. I hope it convinced you to buy this game. If it didn't, then I failed and must find another purpose in life.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/07

Game Release: Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (US, 06/19/07)