The “next-gen remake” is the most recent and most secure money cow in video gaming. Take successful title that got here out a decade or extra in the past on a previous console, spiff it up with up to date graphics, controls, and perhaps even some new content material, and promote it at full worth to a nostalgic viewers. Since its 2005 debut on the Nintendo GameCube, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 has been frivolously reconfigured for a dozen totally different units. However the newest version is a soup-to-nuts revamp, meant to herald a brand new technology whereas nonetheless satisfying longtime gamers like me who’re simply seeking to relive the glory days.
I used to be launched to Resident Evil 4 in faculty, and I’ve replayed it numerous occasions over time because it’s been “ported” to new consoles. When it was first launched, the sport marked a departure from the remainder of the Resident Evil sequence, during which the participant navigates the fictional Raccoon Metropolis throughout a viral zombie outbreak. The primary Resident Evil pioneered the “survival horror” style, asking gamers to preserve ammunition, resolve puzzles, and stand up to soar scares as enemies swarmed from each darkish nook. One of the best-selling horror franchise spawned rival sequence similar to Silent Hill and Left 4 Useless, however by 2005, the Resident Evil formulation had grown creaky, having gained sequels and prequels for nearly a decade to diminishing returns.
Resident Evil 4 aimed to loosen issues up. Capcom added extra dynamic motion, simplified the disorienting, maze-like panorama of the sooner video games, and adjusted the setting from Raccoon Metropolis to rural Spain. (Sure, you learn that proper: rural Spain.) The protagonist is Leon Kennedy, a rookie cop in Resident Evil 2 and now a steely authorities agent assigned to a particular mission: rescue the president’s daughter, Ashley, who has been kidnapped and locked in a dungeon by mad cultists. And this, expensive reader, is why I like Resident Evil 4 probably the most, and why I fortunately slapped my cash down for this newest remake on the day it was launched.
To place it merely: The sport may be very, very foolish. Sure, it’s full of gory violence, superior weaponry, and a distressing ambiance, nevertheless it’s principally a couple of zealous do-gooder hero rescuing a princess in a fort. Its depiction of up to date Spain is laughable, rendering it as a neighborhood full of medieval, dull-witted farmers; hooded cult members; and preening villains who appeared to have stumbled out of the Napoleonic Wars. The plot is a Tremendous Mario journey crossed with straight-to-video thriller nonsense, to immensely satisfying impact. Leon Kennedy brings a lot of the magic; he seems to be like he was transplanted from the set of a mid-2000s boy-band video, his blond, hairspray-slicked locks falling completely over his brow as he takes goal at hordes of enemies. Halfway via the sport, Ashley turns into Leon’s chirpy companion, carrying impractical boots and continually needing help.
My deep concern with the Resident Evil 4 remake was that quite a lot of this cartoonish nonsense could be scrubbed away. The development, lately, is for video video games to be severe, and lavish, “triple A” video games that goal for the best gross sales are probably the most severe of all. The Final of Us, lately tailored with fawning faithfulness by HBO, is a main instance of that class, that includes a dense script, motion-capture performances by nice actors, and a few meta ruminations on gaming’s violent themes and the bleakness of the horror style. The unique Resident Evil 4 arrived earlier than any of that pressured navel-gazing; I questioned if this newest remake must indulge it, as a way to justify the excessive retail worth and expansive finances.
Fortunately, all the updates are as a substitute targeted on the technical facet of issues. The sport properly displays the large strides the trade has made in physics and synthetic intelligence. Villains now not stagger towards you brainlessly, however dodge and swarm with shocking grace. The sport calls for accuracy and rewards lateral pondering, encouraging you to not simply mow down villains along with your weapons however lure them into traps and even pit them in opposition to one another. The surroundings stays hilariously frozen in time, with Leon in his Kevlar vest navigating a world of wood huts and stone citadels, nevertheless it’s illustrated fantastically, be it a fortress dimly lit by torches or a farm strewn with zombie corpses.
The dizzy heights of recent gaming don’t trouble me. I’m an enormous fan of extravagant works similar to The Final of Us, Purple Useless Redemption, and The Witcher, and I’m endlessly impressed with how video games preserve advancing their story traces to match their glitzy tech. However Resident Evil 4 does one thing that the high-concept blockbusters can’t at all times obtain: It lets me unplug my mind. I can simply have enjoyable for an hour. Not all the things must be elevated; narrative foolishness blended with pitch-perfect gunplay and heaps of gore will at all times be a straightforward solution to get me to select up a controller. I look ahead to the subsequent remake, more likely to arrive a decade-plus from now, so long as it retains Leon as airheaded as ever.
