Resident Evil 4

Genre: Graphic Adventure / Horror / Third-Person Shooter

Players: 1

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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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 While not anywhere near as outdated as earlier games in the series, Resident Evil 4’s control scheme is frustratingly awkward, retaining the earlier games’ “your character moves and turns like a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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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition

Genre: Graphic Adventure / Horror / Third-Person Shooter

Players: 1

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Review:

Unlike the other Resident Evil games I’ve played on both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, Resident Evil 4 has two different versions for each platform: the original, and the 2023 remake, with the latter following in the footsteps of remakes for Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 (and for those wondering, no, there’s no upgrade path here on Nintendo platforms). However, I would argue that the remake of Resident Evil 4 is far less transformative than those earlier games, because the game it’s remaking is far more recent and far less in need of revision.

That said, this is very much a remake and not just a remaster, with the game redone from the ground-up with reworked visuals, controls, and script. And while this game still has a fair amount of snark and tongue-in-cheek tone, that snarkiness has been dialed back quite a bit for something a bit more grounded here.

Graphically, Resident Evil 4 looks excellent in this remake, with lots of detail in the environments and characters, with some really nice enemy animations too. I don’t think the visuals are quite as jaw-dropping here as they were in Resident Evil 3 and especially in Resident Evil 2, but they still look great, and significantly better than what we saw in the original version of Resident Evil 4.

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game has numerous downgrades from other current-generation versions of the Resident Evil 4 remake, but most are fairly minor, and in line with what you get in the PlayStation 4 version of the game – The game mostly runs at 60FPS framerates but can dip into the 40s at times when things get busy, lighting and shadows aren’t as detailed, textures aren’t as detailed in some spots, and foliage is a little less dense. However, I don’t think you’ll notice these compromises unless you’re comparing the two versions side-by-side.

What’s far more noticeable are the drop in framerates for distant enemies, and the absolute abundance of texture pop-in you’ll encounter as you play through the game, with entire pathways through narrow gorges filling in with textures as you run through them. It doesn’t affect the gameplay, but it’s a glaring ugly spot in an otherwise great-looking game.

While I have mixed thoughts on the visuals, I think the gameplay here is largely all good news. This version of the game modernizes combat, adds parry and stealth mechanics, removes some of the more egregious “Quick-Time Events” that many players didn’t care for, adds a crafting mechanic, adds additional goals and side-quests throughout the campaign, reworks the way Ashley takes damage to make her a bit less of an annoying escort. All of these changes really help me to appreciate this game in a way I honestly never did before.

This release of the game also contains Mercenaries, a combat-focused score-chasing game mode that’s great for giving players an easy way to blast away some enemies for a short bit without having to wade through the game’s campaign.

I should also note that the Nintendo Switch release of the game works in optional gryoscopic motion controls, though… well, don’t get excited. I found these controls to be… strange – turning motion controls on doesn’t change anything when not aiming down the sights, but once you do, it assigns vertical aiming entirely to motion controls with no ability to fine-tune it with the right analog stick. Meanwhile, you can still aim horizontally with the right analog stick, but you also get a little horizontal movement with gyroscopic aiming… but only a little. It’s this weird combination of settings, and it’s frustrating that Capcom doesn’t provide a way to set up the controls the way you want them.

In addition to everything mentioned above, I should note that the version of the game released on Nintendo Switch 2 is the Gold Edition, containing all of the game’s DLC content. Nintendo Switch 2 owners may be late to the party with this one, but they’re getting the full package.

Overall, I have to give the remake of Resident Evil 4 a lot of credit for making me take a second look at a game I previously didn’t see the appeal of. The updates to the controls, quality-of-life improvements, and additional content help to make this a game that I can now agree with series fans that yes, this is one of the best games in the Resident Evil series. That said, this port to Nintendo Switch 2 does have its share of issues, from the graphical issues I detail above to the odd way it chose to implement motion controls. The result is a good version of a great game, but far from an ideal version. However, if you can tolerate its flaws, this is still a magnificent game, and it’s a huge leap over the original version of Resident Evil 4.

tl;dr – Resident Evil 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 is a so-so port of a fantastic remake of a great game. This is absolutely an improvement over the original version of the game available on Nintendo Switch, in numerous ways, but this port to Nintendo Switch 2 has some graphical issues and poorly-implemented motion control (thankfully optional). This is still a must-have for series fans on Nintendo platforms, but it definitely seems like a compromised version of the game.

Grade: A-

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