Resident Evil 4 remake overview: a contemporary blockbuster with an old-school coronary heart

We may be approaching some extent the place there are, the truth is, too many online game remakes and remasters. Off the highest of my head, there’s The Final of Us Half I, Demon’s Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Metroid Prime, Lifeless House, and shortly, Silent Hill 2. However nobody has gone as onerous into this pattern as Capcom. A part of the resurgence of Resident Evil has concerned bottom-up remakes of video games like Resident Evil 2 and three. These made lots of sense, translating the clunky early PlayStation gameplay for contemporary audiences and leading to a few of the greatest video games in your entire franchise.

With the remake of Resident Evil 4, the advantages of a remake aren’t so apparent. The unique recreation nonetheless holds up effectively, a mixture of high-octane motion and basic survival horror, and it’s not prefer it’s inaccessible in 2023. RE4 launched on the GameCube and, since then, has been ported to an enormous vary of platforms, even digital actuality. So a big-budget remake doesn’t have to exist in any respect — and but, I’m so glad it does. RE4 stays an indicator of motion recreation design, and this new facelift updates it simply sufficient to show it into a contemporary blockbuster — however one which retains its old-school soul.

Earlier than we get into the remake, a bit of historical past lesson is so as. It’s essential to know the way a lot of a turning level RE4 was for the sequence. The unique trio of Resident Evil video games helped pioneer survival horror as we all know it right now, with sluggish methodical gameplay that was accompanied by a management scheme lovingly — and generally decidedly not lovingly — known as “tank controls.” It might be irritating, however it additionally added to the fear, as you struggled to get away from sluggish, shambling hordes of the undead.

The fourth entry takes lots of the franchise’s hallmarks — intricate stage design, creepy environments, puzzles that require ornate keys, restricted sources, bosses that rework with a lot of glowing eyeballs, a totally nonsensical story — and infuses them with the DNA of a full-out motion recreation. As a substitute of standing there in terror whereas firing off a flimsy pistol at shuffling zombies, you possibly can now run, dodge, and wield every kind of weapons with out having to additionally combat in opposition to the controls. It modified the course of Resident Evil for years, shifting the steadiness from scares to capturing. It wasn’t till Resident Evil 7 that it acquired again to basic survival horror (however from a terrifying new perspective).

The villagers are rather a lot scarier within the remake.

This shift in tone and magnificence is obvious from the very starting. Resident Evil 4 places you within the function of federal agent Leon Kennedy, tasked with rescuing the president’s daughter from a distant Spanish village, the place you’ll finally encounter a murderous cult, monsters with too many tentacles, and loads of different issues to shoot at. Very early on within the recreation — like, earlier than you’ve even fired a bullet — you’re thrown into the city sq., which is crammed with residents who wish to homicide you for some motive. One in all them has a chainsaw. You don’t have any selection however to combat.

This daring opening sequence is essential for just a few causes. It exhibits simply how action-oriented the gameplay is; you may’t survive with out working, hiding, and getting off lots of headshots. It additionally makes it clear that the enemies aren’t the sluggish zombies from the earlier video games. They’re quick, and so they can suppose. One in all my strongest recollections of taking part in for the primary time in 2005 was flattening a ladder so the villagers couldn’t climb as much as get me, solely to see them choose it up and put it again in place. I needed to put my controller down for a bit.

Regardless of being practically 20 years outdated, it seems like a principally fashionable expertise

Within the remake, that village sequence is far more terrifying than I keep in mind. At its core — narrative, gameplay, and design — the remake is identical as the unique. But it surely has quite a lot of upgrades, primarily by way of visuals and controls, that elevate the expertise and make issues just like the acquainted opening battle extra intense and dynamic.

It seems unimaginable, for one factor. The environments are full of small particulars that make the world really feel alive, from the nauseating, glistening trails of blood to the brushstroke textures on the oil work. Through the quiet moments, it’s lots of enjoyable to soak within the ambiance and simply go searching. The extra sensible visuals naturally make issues rather a lot scarier, significantly in terms of the enemy designs. Traditional creatures, just like the towering giants or pesky bugs, now look really terrifying. Even the usual villagers and cult members have a way more unsettling edge to them.

These scares are balanced out by the truth that you’re feeling extra highly effective than in virtually some other Resident Evil recreation. Leon is quick and robust, and the controls really feel streamlined to the purpose that, even towards the tip of the sport once I had six completely different firearms to swap between, I by no means had a tough time switching within the midst of a firefight. Once I died, it was often as a result of I did one thing foolish, not as a result of I hit a improper button. It’s onerous to place into phrases, however the Resident Evil 4 remake simply feels good: the motion, the capturing, the spectacular set items. All of it gels right into a recreation that, regardless of being practically 20 years outdated, performs like a principally fashionable expertise.

Mine carts and explosive barrels: now that could be a online game. Picture: Capcom

There are just a few locations the place the remake of Resident Evil 4 exhibits its age — however I imply that in a great way. For one factor, that is such a online game. Fashionable blockbusters love to cover their inherent gaminess beneath the veneer of immersion, however RE4 harbors no such illusions. It is a recreation the place you kick crates slathered in yellow paint to collect ammo and herbs, and explosive pink barrels are in every single place. There’s even a mine cart sequence (with loads of explosive barrels).

Leon makes goofy B-movie quips continuously, and characters seem not when it makes probably the most sense however when the plot calls for it. Maybe the most effective instance of that is the ever-present shopkeeper, who has storefronts all around the deserted, ravaged city, regardless of seemingly solely having a single buyer. These decisions often don’t make lots of sense narratively, however they’re enjoyable. They make the sport extra simple to play, and general, the expertise is healthier off for them. I don’t wish to smash up all the surroundings to get these shotgun shells. Simply inform me the place to go together with some vivid yellow paint.

That is such a online game

Equally, Resident Evil 4 has a stage of focus that has turn out to be more and more uncommon. Whereas the remake expands on some issues, significantly with extra elaborate boss fights, it’s nonetheless a reasonably simple expertise. There aren’t any open-world parts. (There are some non-compulsory quests, principally carried over from the unique, however it’s easy stuff like killing rats and capturing blue targets.) For probably the most half, RE4 pushes you down tight hallways that join bigger areas the place you’ll do all the combating; you’ll know if you attain a combat sequence due to all the cowl and exploding barrels. Its world nonetheless feels massive and complicated, however it’s not the form of place you get misplaced in. I solely ever discovered myself misplaced misplaced as soon as due to a really well-hidden wrench that halted my progress. It additionally adjustments issues up every now and then in order that it doesn’t really feel overly repetitive. You play a lot of the sport solo, however there are numerous factors the place, very like within the authentic, AI companions be a part of you for a time, including a pleasant change of tempo, together with a really scary sequence with the primary daughter.

If you actually give it some thought, the Resident Evil 4 remake is an odd mixture of issues. Full-blown motion merged with survival horror; fashionable controls and graphics with old-school stage design. It’s a contradiction at instances. However all of these parts are balanced in a method that makes them work collectively. The enjoyable moments offset the scares, like if you’re strolling down a creepy, darkish cave solely to see the welcoming purple glow of the shopkeeper’s torch. And the brand new visuals and streamlined motion make the thrilling set items stand out much more. It’s significantly spectacular if you examine this remake to one thing like Resident Evil Village, which tried to mash RE4-style motion with the sequence’ new first-person perspective, and notice simply how a lot better the unique nonetheless is.

When Resident Evil 4 first got here out, it was a recreation not like something Capcom had made earlier than. And it seems that, virtually 20 years later, it’s nonetheless as refreshing as ever — even when it’s one more remake.

Resident Evil 4 launches on March twenty fourth on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X / S, and Steam.