Resident Evil 4 "review" thoughts

[Matt Young 0]

Over at the awesome 1up.com (all real gamers MUST sign up), GMR staff member and EGM contributor James Meilke, who is working on reviewing Resident Evil 4, has posted some thoughts.

 

James's Journal

 

Resident Evil 4 teh greatness

Ok, it's not exactly a secret at this point (Mark Macdonald I love you!), but GMR has the exclusive Resident Evil 4 review coming up in our February issue. I've been reviewing the game in slow delicious bites over the past week now, and I have to say, this game redefines the notion of "bloodpumping." I don't want to give too much away (I'm legally obligated to not discuss most things about the plot, but I can chat about the actual gameplay), but I would like to throw out a few tidbits about how great this game turned out.

For starters, your character (in this case Leon Kennedy) doesn't control like a tank any more. While the game is still a 3rd-person action game, Leon is viewed from a sort of Sam Fisher-y, Splinter Cell type perspective, that's halfway between a full body shot and Sam's zoomed-in over-the-shoulder shooting mode. I can't tell you how well this works. The controls are tuned to near perfection too, with survival knife attacks activated by holding down the left trigger, and gun attacks performed by holding down the right. A quick 180 degree reversal is done by tapping the red B-button while pulling down on the analog stick. Your view is limited by approximately how much you see in real life, so there's always a tangible sense of fear creeping up your spine as there's always some freaky zombie-esque villager lurking just out of eyeshot.

 

Of course, these aren't actually zombies this time around. I don't even know what they are, but they're not zombies. They move with a pack mentality, and there's almost always more than one of them. They bob and weave and duck your gunshots, and basically make life hard for you. They're not quite as insane as those fireheads from the remake of Resident Evil for GameCube, but they're so realistic looking they'll freak you out nevertheless.

 

I'm also glad they made the save system a lot more considerate to the player. If you should die, you have the option of continuing, which might affect what you unlock towards the end of the game, but for less concerned players, retracing all your steps from the last typewriter isn't a necessity any more. In fact, ribbons are a thing of the past.

 

There's a lot more to the game than I'm letting on, and I'll post more about it tomorrow, cuz I have to get back to the game. I just got myself a sweet new weapon from one of the in-game vendors (Hurray, vendors!) and I wanna go try it out.

 

12/02/2004 09:18 PM EST

 

 

Sounds awesome so far. I have loved the Resident Evil series ever since I got RE2 on the N64 about 5 years ago. This new game looks to offer lots of new stuff while still maintaining the great gameplay of the series. I can't wait for more updates.

 

For those wanting to just read the blog, go to http://milkman.1up.com.

 

Also, I will be working on a blog of my own at 1up.com once I get all the stuff on my account set up. That should be fun.

[Guest hhheld_down]

Over at the awesome 1up.com (all real gamers MUST sign up), GMR staff member and EGM contributor James Meilke, who is working on reviewing Resident Evil 4, has posted some thoughts.

 

James's Journal

 

Resident Evil 4 teh greatness

Ok, it's not exactly a secret at this point (Mark Macdonald I love you!), but GMR has the exclusive Resident Evil 4 review coming up in our February issue. I've been reviewing the game in slow delicious bites over the past week now, and I have to say, this game redefines the notion of "bloodpumping." I don't want to give too much away (I'm legally obligated to not discuss most things about the plot, but I can chat about the actual gameplay), but I would like to throw out a few tidbits about how great this game turned out.

For starters, your character (in this case Leon Kennedy) doesn't control like a tank any more. While the game is still a 3rd-person action game, Leon is viewed from a sort of Sam Fisher-y, Splinter Cell type perspective, that's halfway between a full body shot and Sam's zoomed-in over-the-shoulder shooting mode. I can't tell you how well this works. The controls are tuned to near perfection too, with survival knife attacks activated by holding down the left trigger, and gun attacks performed by holding down the right. A quick 180 degree reversal is done by tapping the red B-button while pulling down on the analog stick. Your view is limited by approximately how much you see in real life, so there's always a tangible sense of fear creeping up your spine as there's always some freaky zombie-esque villager lurking just out of eyeshot.

 

Of course, these aren't actually zombies this time around. I don't even know what they are, but they're not zombies. They move with a pack mentality, and there's almost always more than one of them. They bob and weave and duck your gunshots, and basically make life hard for you. They're not quite as insane as those fireheads from the remake of Resident Evil for GameCube, but they're so realistic looking they'll freak you out nevertheless.

 

I'm also glad they made the save system a lot more considerate to the player. If you should die, you have the option of continuing, which might affect what you unlock towards the end of the game, but for less concerned players, retracing all your steps from the last typewriter isn't a necessity any more. In fact, ribbons are a thing of the past.

 

There's a lot more to the game than I'm letting on, and I'll post more about it tomorrow, cuz I have to get back to the game. I just got myself a sweet new weapon from one of the in-game vendors (Hurray, vendors!) and I wanna go try it out.

 

12/02/2004 09:18 PM EST

 

 

Sounds awesome so far. I have loved the Resident Evil series ever since I got RE2 on the N64 about 5 years ago. This new game looks to offer lots of new stuff while still maintaining the great gameplay of the series. I can't wait for more updates.

 

For those wanting to just read the blog, go to http://milkman.1up.com.

 

Also, I will be working on a blog of my own at 1up.com once I get all the stuff on my account set up. That should be fun.

glad to hear they worked the controls out as thats the only thing i hated about the previous games. i cant wait

[Guest wildpegasus]

I must say I LOOOOVED the controls for all the Resident Evils. I'm sorry to see it go if it is indeed going.

 

 

Just hope it's scary. That's what I ask for most of all.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I still say its ashame they couldn't have gotten this game out a month sooner.

It would have had pretty good legs vs Halo/GTA:SA and would have probably helped move some Gamecubes.