Resident Evil 4

Genre: Graphic Adventure / Horror / Third-Person Shooter

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Resident Evil Triple Pack, along with Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6.)

Resident Evil 4 was a landmark title in the Resident Evil franchise, being the first game to truly take the series away from its pre-rendered roots and into a new fully 3D direction, complete with a new location (a rural village in Europe), and a plot that at least initially seems to have nothing to do with the earlier games apart from its protagonist, Leon Kennedy. Originally released on the GameCube in 2005 before being ported to other platforms and getting an HD re-release with all of the extra content added to other versions of the game, this HD release of the game came to the Nintendo Switch in 2019.

The good news here is that this version of the game looks as good as Resident Evil 4 ever did on consoles, matching the Xbox One and PS4 release’s 1080p resolution in docked mode and 720p in handheld mode with a fairly steady 60FPS framerate. The game’s visuals have definitely aged a bit, with much of the environment being somewhat low-poly by today’s standards, but the overall look and presentation here is still solid, doing an excellent job making for some extremely memorable moments.

Perhaps the most memorable moment for many players (okay, second-most memorable, after getting your head chainsawed off) is the realization extremely early in the game that Resident Evil 4 isn’t about fighting zombies at all, with players instead pitted against Los Illuminados, a cult that has… let’s say “indoctrinated” the people of this village, resulting in an enemy with an intelligence the zombies of earlier games rarely had. These cult members have in turn kidnapped the president’s daughter for some evil scheme, and Leon Kennedy has been enlisted to rescue her. It’s a plot that’s silly in a very videogamey way, but nevertheless does a great job of interspersing those moments of silliness with some truly gruesome horror in a way that’s true to the Resident Evil series’ standard. Kennedy in particular spouts cheesy lines with a bravado of a wannabe action film star.

Unfortunately, while much of the game has aged well, the gameplay is a bit of a different story. While not anywhere near as outdated as earlier games in the series, Resident Evil 4’s control scheme is frustratingly awkward, retaining the earlier games’ “your character moves and turns like a truck” standard, but also keeping both movement and turning controls on the left stick. And while this game does let players have much finer control over aiming than earlier games, that’s mitigated by having Leon’s aiming being disturbingly shaky for a man enlisted by the president to protect his daughter. Also, while we’re on the topic of controls, it should be noted that this version of the game ditches the celebrated motion controls added to the Wii version of the game.

It’s a shame the controls here are so frustrating, because the gameplay of this game really is a delightful breath of fresh air for the series, taking it a bit away from its “survival horror” roots and turning it a bit more towards action (although it does this in part with its notorious “Quick Time Event” sequences, a term it helped popularize, and a mechanic that many have since grown sick of). I suppose the long and short of it is, you’ll either get used to it, or you won’t. However, I think just about everyone can agree that ditching the old “typewriter ink” saving system and allowing players more inventory space to work with is an improvement no matter which way you slice it.

One other thing that should be mentioned here – this game was originally released on the Nintendo Switch at $30, which is absurdly steep for an upscaled port of a 14-15 year-old game. In the time since then, it has dropped down to the price of $20, which is a bit more reasonable and on par with other versions of the game.

To sum it all up, Resident Evil 4 is one of the highlights of a classic horror franchise that’s mostly in fine form here, although it’s hampered somewhat by an extremely akward control scheme and the lack of motion control options that were present in the Wii version of the game. Fans of the series who somehow missed out on the many releases of one of its most celebrated games should find this version to be worth looking into, and those looking for a more action-focused Horror title should find this game worth trying out, as long as they understand what they’re dealing with when it comes to the game’s cumbersome controls.

tl;dr – Resident Evil 4 is an HD remaster of the GameCube Horror game that does a good job bringing the classic to the Nintendo Switch, albeit without the Wii version’s motion controls. And as it happens, the controls are the worst thing about this otherwise solid game. If you’re looking for one of the highlights of the Resident Evil series, you should definitely give this game a look, but be aware that the controls will make this a love it or hate it experience.

Grade: B

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