Don't Believe the Hype

In retrospect Resident Evil 4 ended up being one of the most empty gaming experiences in my entire time playing video games. Maybe in my case Resident Evil 4 was a victim of mounting expectations, but either way I felt strongly that the series had taken a huge step back in every aspect with the exception of core gameplay and length.

For starters the script in this game is horrible. I will admit that corny lines are acceptable if you have an interesting underlying story or characters that are capable of exposing the viewer to a wide array of emotions. Sadly Resident Evil 4 has none of this instead the game is littered with corny lines that are only eclipsed by the games mindless plot. For example in a scene where Leon encounters one of the games main enemies he is told

Salazar: I've sent my right hand to dispose of you
Leon: You're right hand comes off?

Multiply this by about 50 and you have the games entire script in a nutshell. In RE4 Leon went from a strong willed character with a strong sense of justice to a cocky-overpowered cliche. So if you're like me in that you enjoy playing action games for the story then you'll probably be disappointed, It's just unfortunate as I thought with the script writing and voice acting from ReMake as well as the standard for stories set by games like MGS that this game would at least be able to conjure up an interesting story.

Though Resident Evil 4 isn't totally without merit. The new of gameplay with the third person camera view went a long way towards not only expanding the series but inspiring future games down the line. The graphics themselves were also nothing short of top class. In fact at the time the game came out the graphics were easily one of the most impressive display of visuals ever seen in a video game.

Now here's were I come in to ruin everything. While the game is enjoyable it's not very challenging. Which isn't the worst thing in the world for a gamer like me who's more story driven but without a story the lack of a challenge was especially unappealing on top of that the gameplay can end up feeling a little repetitive. For me it felt like I was playing for nothing, instead I'm just going through the motions to rescue a cliche damsel in distress from a cheeky evil mastermind, fortunately I have enough ammo to supply the troops in Iraq making the unfortunate experience quick and painless.

On top of that one of the core expectations from a Resident Evil game is some element of horror and suspense. Resident Evil 4 is extremely lacking in this department. The enemies for example could be scary but the intelligence takes away the pure irrational and animalistic nature embodied by past Resident Evil enemies. To top it off the one attribute they do posses, in that they can run at you, is nullified by the fact that they slow down and walk once they get within 6 feet of your character. Sure there's a few areas that can provide the gamer with that erie feeling but these events are way to far apart. In looking back there's probably about 3 or 4 areas where the player could conceivably be scared, which isn't a lot considering the sheer volume of the game.

This was another aspect that really rattled my cage. Over the years one of my main complaints from the series was almost any RE game was capable of being beaten in one sitting (save Code Veronica). So what game do they make last 15+ hours, the one with the worst story. I'm also not a fan of the actual setting for the game. Though the graphics were excellent, I still found the settings to be extremely depressing.

In conclusion RE4 is a very good Video Game if you're only looking for a game with solid gameplay. However if you're a fan of Resident Evil or looking for an intriguing story then you'll probably find yourself wondering what all the hype was about.