What about the gore?
Do you want gore? Resident Evil 4 could very well be the goriest Resident Evil game to date. I know, it is hard to imagine but it is true. Things that I love most about horror movies appear in this game. There are exploding heads that would make the exploding head in Scanners look like child’s play. I have never see a more beautifully exploding head on a video game screen before in my life. The cool thing is that once the head is gone, the body will still walk for a few seconds. And if you are close to that headless body it will grab you and try to attack you. The game also has other things to see like decaying skulls covered in maggots, hanging bodies dripping blood, tons of bloodied dead bodies, and burning flesh. The game leaves no stone unturned when it comes to gore.
Lets talk a bit about Leon now. Gone are the old style Resident Evil controls. You can now look over Leon’s shoulder while he is aiming and shooting. Your weapons also now have red laser pointers. This works wonders when you are trying to blow somebody’s head off. Your weapons box is made up like a grid. You can place your items and weapons in a different spot to condense your items that you are carrying. After the grid is full you might not be able to carry anything else.
You can however buy a larger box that has more space. You can do this now because Resident Evil now has this undead fellow who sets up shop in various sections of the village. He sells guns and health as well as upgrades for your weapons. You can also sell stuff that you collect along the way. You can pay for these things by collecting gold coins and gold bars. Guns range from a regular 9mm to a rocket launcher. There are also many hidden items in the game. One example is there are pendants hanging in hard to find places. You have to shoot them to be rewarded. Once you have collected these pendants the shop dealer will reward you with free stuff.
All of the GameCube controls are now replaced with the Wii controls. So basically it is so much easier... You aim with the controller and shoot. When your running or in a jam you simple shake the Wii controller back and forth to get out trouble.
This is not the only thing new to the Resident Evil series. You can also shoot doors and break them. There were enemies behind a closed door and I was shooting the door. And bit-by-bit the door started to come apart. It’s pretty awesome! You can also barricade doors and windows by pushing bookshelves and dressed over them. There is just so much new stuff to do. There are even new things, like bear traps and trip wires. Another new thing is that you have a radio that you communicate with others back home. It is set up just like Metal Gear Solid 3. Resident Evil 4 also has over 20+ hours of gameplay. Thankfully the Wii version is on 1 DVD disc (compared to the old GameCube game, which was on 2 smnall discs. So there is plenty to look for and explore. You will not be completing the game in just one sitting. Also with all of the hidden goodies you might even try and go back for more. It is split up into chapters, and one thing that I really like is the fact that you no longer need those damned ribbons to save a game. Typewriters are spread all around, so saving is not a problem.
The Graphics:
Ok, this is a game thats about 2+ years old. So it does not compare to games like Gears of War, Bioshock, etc... you get my point... Capcom did NOT do anything new in terms of the graphics, which is kind of disappointing. Only Metroid 3 has shown what the Wii can do so far. But this game looked great on the GameCube and it still looks pretty good today as well. The whole game is set in wide-screen. It took me about 1 second to get used to since I love wide-screen formatted films. The game also runs at a smooth 30 fps with no drop at all. There could be as well as 10-12 enemies on screen at once with no frame rate drop at all. The game just looks amazing. I played this game for 4 hours straight and my mouth was still dropping at how gorgeous the game looks. You name it and Capcom has thrown it in.
The forest looks amazing, with a slight touch of haze. The insides of the houses look old and decrepit.The water in the lake and the streams looks amazing, filled with fish and floating seaweed. The nighttime looks amazing, especially when you have a group of villagers holding torches. When you walk into a dusty old room, you can actually see the dust particles flying around. You can see the glare from a closed window, with just a hint of light shining in. The rain spits down on Leon, bouncing off of his body and you can see a slight wet look on his clothes. The thunder crashing and the night sky lighting up from the crack of the lightning. If Leon shoots their arm, they will hold their arm. You can shoot their weapons out of their hand, shoot their hat off, and as I said earlier, shoot their heads off.
Overall, dated but hell, at $29.99 its a treat for the Wii.
The Sound and Music:
I remember when the first Resident Evil game was released on the original Sony Playstation long ago. The game rocked but the voices sucked. It was pure B-movie cheese. Resident Evil 4 has some of the best voice-overs I have ever heard. The game has cursing as well, which is always cool. But the enemies speak in a different language (Spanish, Italian,?) and they sound really pissed off. You will also hear the ambient sounds of the village, woods and everywhere else Leon goes. There is music in some portions of the game. When you have the villagers all pissed off and running after you, the music is this very deep, brooding evil sound. It really does send a chill up your spine. You will also hear villagers talking in the distance, birds flying up above. Guns sound amazing as well. This is not your normal boom and bang from other games. Seems they took great care in having the guns sound as realistic as possible. Capcom has really done an amazing job with the sound and music. It is by far the best quality I have heard not only from the Resident Evil series, but also from Capcom in general. So not only does Resident Evil look chilling, yet beautiful it also sounds that way.
The Bottom Line:
I gave the GameCube version of Resident Evil a perfect 10, but that was many years ago. How can it compare to games like Bioshock and Gears of War for the Xbox 360? It can’t... But if you own the GameCube or the Playstation 2 version of Resident Evil 4, trade it in for this one. The Wii controls are tight and the new price-tag is not that bad at all in terms of a new Wii game. All of the added PS2 features are in this version as well. My only gripe is that they did not up the graphics a bit for the Wii. Either way, you can’t really complain because there is a RE game on the Wii. And its a pretty damn good one as well. It may be a bit old and a bit dates, but Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition is a must-buy for anyone... er... except kids. This is NOT a kids game. :) Pick it up today!
[Review by NLGSean (Sean Foster)]
