Resident Evil 4 remake review: Capcom reinvents its survival horror classic

2001, four years before the original resident evil 4 was released, Capcom knew there was a problem. The stereotyped Resident Evil series Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi said at the time,“The whole concept is RE4 It was about reinventing the game,” he said. “We wanted to give gamers something new.”

The result is a battlefront reboot of the series that reimagines the pitching roots of survival horror. Resident Evil 2 Leon S. Kennedy co-stars as an international action hero on a mission to save the daughter of the President of the United States from a cult. resident evil Four It was hailed as a masterpiece and breathed new life into the franchise. more Subsequent sequels focused on action — ultimately inspiring yet another reinvention of the series with a back-to-basics horror game Resident Evil 7 Resident Evil.

capcom remake resident evil 4 The series’ most beloved and highly influential entry is reimagined in extravagant detail, modernizing the game from top to bottom. The developer reframed Leon’s adventures through the lens of his other recent Resident Evil remake, bringing a new level of beauty and squeezing his gore. resident evil 4 Also while updating its controls and story. The result is a clear demonstration that the developer understands the source his material and wants it to sing by fleshing out as much detail as possible.

The game is also a strong indication that Resident Evil may be in need of reinvention yet again.

resident evil 4The core elements of are present in the remake. Now a dashing government agent, Leon S. Kennedy is sent on a covert solo mission to Spain, where he searches for a target codenamed “Baby His Eagle”. A group of cultists kidnapped her with a plan to infect her with a parasite and eventually turn her into a puppet.As Leon searches for Ashley, she finds herself in a parasite-infested remote area. encounter a rural village. Its angry inhabitants, and a series of super-powered men and monsters, stand between Leon and his rescuers.

Leon is no longer the rookie cop of previous games, nor does he face danger in the form of one or two shambling zombies at once. Instead, he’s well-armed and combat-ready, facing swarms of armed, infected humans known as Ganados, resource management and a lack of ammunition make Resident Evil the early days of his game. It was the core of the gameplay, Fourplayers are more concerned with controlling crowds and parrying attacks from all sides, especially in the remake. resident evil 4 It presents a new type of challenge with overwhelming odds of survival.

In the remake, dancing to avoid death can be daunting. However, Leon can dodge or parry almost any attack. He can spin kick or suplex bad guys and then finish him off with a knife to his skull. Alternatively, he can approach an encounter with stealth, sneaking up behind unsuspecting enemies and dispatching them with a silent execution.All these options make every combat encounter exciting and flexible. to At times, it can be frustrating, as the game infuses Leon with waves of enemies with set pieces, making it feel more like a trial-and-error exercise than baffling a solution.

Image: Capcom

Like the original, Leon also has to protect Ashley from multiple harms, albeit for a brief segment in which the two team up. The babysitter assignment is much simpler this time around. Her health system has been greatly simplified. Ashley’s presence was famously a divisive element in the original, but it’s less annoying here, commanding her to stay close to Leon (during the chase sequence) or keep her distance (during battle). can. These two of hers work well together and it’s fun to watch the two flirt.

Between RE4‘s action-focused set pieces are a series of puzzles, many of which are puzzling, decorated in classic Resident Evil style, and even include fetch quests. These lock-and-key tricks are still left behind in combat and feel perfunctory in the grand scheme of the game’s design.

Players will probably spend more time thinking about how best to equip Leon. Because the mysterious and ever-present merchant offers a vast array of upgrades, new weapons, armor, repairs, and recipes for Leon to purchase. (Merchant is only occasionally, in a nice rare display of restraint from the designer, as fans demand him, “What are you buying?”) Capcom added a new layer to Leon’s upgrades in the remake. Added.In addition to increasing the size of the attache case that stores items, the case itself can also be made larger, with variations that offer different perks and attachable charms that provide even more buffs. I can. Players can earn these charms in the Firing Range minigame. This is a fun and highly replayable game that appears in several places in the game. RE4based on RNG.

Image: Capcom

resident evil 4 It also differs from past games in its linearity. There’s little backtracking to do here, as the game aggressively pushes Leon into new areas and new scenarios. The same sequence of events is still intact from the original, but the overall flow and momentum have both been shaken and smoothed out. What Capcom has wisely cut is removing or reconfiguring silly components of the original game. A quicktime event from the original that could go wrong in seconds has been recontextualized. Salazar looks less like a bleached Chucky doll and more like a conspicuous but corrupt old man.

For every rough edge to smooth, RE4 pull off the same trick RE2 Taking place in 2019, a groundbreaking but now dated game feels brand new again. But after four Resident Evil games in the making over the years, even the current incarnation of the franchise is starting to feel a little familiar. A remake skillfully and luxuriously produced by Capcom. This latest is not an anomaly.

Resident Evil 7 Resident Evil and village showed as original RE4, what Capcom can adapt and reinvent.After completion Four Again, the most obvious questions the remake left me with are: where do they go from here?

resident evil 4 Available March 24th playstation Four, PlayStation 5, Windows with a computer Xbox Series XThe game was reviewed using the final “retail” PlayStation 5 download code provided by Capcom. Additional information about Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.