Review: Resident Evil 4 (PS2)

Platform: Playstation 2 (also on: GC, PC, Wii)
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Release: October 2005

Action packed and suspenseful, Resident Evil 4 is one title you will remember for a long, long time.

Ah, Resident Evil 4. With its staggering amount of Game of the Year nominations from various game media sources, high sales and even a very successful port to the Wii, you undoubtedly have heard a thing or two about Capcom’s latest entry in the Resident Evil series. But perhaps you haven’t given it a try yet; maybe you haven’t found the time to do so, or are just skeptical because you didn’t enjoy previous games in the series. Don’t wait any longer: play this excellent title now. While I found previous entries in the series to be woefully flawed and completely uninteresting, Resident Evil 4 remains one of the best games I have played all year.

I can’t ever say that I’ve really enjoyed any survival horror title. I’ve given the old-school Resident Evil games a chance (I even own the first title), and even tried a release in the Silent Hill series. However, the much-criticized tank controls and bad pacing killed those titles for me.

Resident Evil 4 fixes these problems with a whole new control scheme and well-placed save points. Not to mention, the characters, settings, and story as are much more interesting as a whole this time around.

You play as Leon and must go in a mysterious location in Europe to save the president’s kidnapped daughter. What you find, however, are things beyond your worst imagination. Spanish-speaking zombies, hideous creatures, and tons of unusual places await you.

Resident Evil 4 is very action-packed compared to the conventionally slow survival-horror game. Every time you think you’ve seen all this game has to offer, it always unveils something new and fresh, whether is be a new weapon, new enemy type, or a startling boss fight. The best part of all of this is that the game never seems exceptionally hard. Sure, much of it is very challenging, but it’s excellent pacing and natural-feeling progression means you won’t ever be stuck on a boss or a particular part of Resident Evil 4 for an exceptionally long amount of time.

Visually, the game gets the job done. I’ve certainly seen better looking games in my time, but the environments and enemy-types are very well done. The character models are the best aspect of the graphics by far. The sound effects compliment the release well.

Many games drag on too long, others end way too soon; Resident Evil 4, on the other hand, feels just right. I clocked in about 18 hours on my initial play-through. The best part is, once you finish the game, there are oodles of fun extras to play with. Many of them are new to the Playstation 2 edition (though they also appear in the Wii release, too). I won’t spoil any, but just be prepared to play with Resident Evil 4 for several more hours after completing it.

Resident Evil 4 is one of those titles that’ll captivate you the whole way through. This is easily one of the best titles released in the past few years, and even though I’m not traditionally a fan of the genre, I still couldn’t get enough of it.. Action packed and suspenseful, Resident Evil 4 is one title you will remember for a long, long time.

Rating: 8.8 (out of 10)