Resident Evil 4, Review, The Bad, The Good, Video Intro, Video Guía and Posters

Resident Evil 4’s strong gameplay somehow manages to survive, despite a lazy porting job that will leave some PC owners wondering what all the fuss was about.

Resident Evil 4 Game Guide

Leon Kennedy is dead set on rescuing the President’s daughter from the clutches of the evil Saddler, but he’ll need some help! This guide for Resident Evil 4 will provide you with a detailed walkthrough, stats on all of the weapons, and strategies, as well as walkthroughs and tips for the bonus unlockable games.

Resident Evil 4 Review

Resident Evil 4’s strong gameplay somehow manages to survive, despite a lazy porting job that will leave some PC owners wondering what all the fuss was about.

The Good

* Exciting action sequences pit you against awesome enemies and fearsome bosses
* character models and environments look sharp and realistic
* superb sound design keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The Bad

* Controller required, thanks to complete lack of mouse support and mediocre keyboard controls
* blurry cutscenes and other visual issues detract from the spooky ambiance.

In 2005, Resident Evil 4 on the Nintendo GameCube was rightfully lauded as one of the best action adventure games ever released, thanks to stunning visuals and white-knuckle action sequences that ranked amongst the best in gaming. Later that year, PlayStation 2 owners were blessed with their own version of the game, featuring more missions and some other unlockable goodies. And now you can play Resident Evil 4 on your PC for a mere $20. It’s too bad that PC gamers have been inflicted with a lazy port that does as little as possible to cater to the platform. Forget mouse support, forget tailoring the visuals to your own preferences, and don’t even think about any PC-only goodies: this is a direct transfer of the PlayStation 2 version. If you can get past all these problems, RE4 is still an intense, thrilling ride that will keep your heart pounding. But if you still haven’t played Resident Evil 4, this version should be your last resort.

There’s nothing like fresh calamari.

In case you haven’t gotten wind of what the game is all about, you play as Leon S. Kennedy, a secret agent in charge of recovering the president’s kidnapped daughter. His search leads to a creepy Spanish village where the residents are, well, not quite lucid. The story drops the occasional cliché, but for the most part, it avoids the usual horror pratfalls to deliver an interesting and intense narrative with a number of fascinating characters. It’s also genuinely creepy, leading you through abandoned farmhouses, dank churches, and dripping caves, all the while throwing progressively weirder and stronger enemies at you. Like the PS2 version, it also includes a side story called Separate Ways, where you take control of spy Ada Wong and explore some of the same storyline from her perspective.

The success of a survival horror game has a lot to do with its atmosphere, and this version of Resident Evil 4 features plenty of it. But that isn’t to say that it looks superior to the GameCube and PS2 versions. Character models and environments are beautifully designed. They were also obviously created with deliberate care and detail. Of particular note are the boss characters, which get more vulgar and imposing as you progress. But a lot of ambiance has been lost in the translation. Because the grainy fog is gone, everything looks clearer but less sinister than before. It also means that you notice a lot of low-resolution textures that greatly contrast with the more remarkable aspects of the visuals. However, the cutscenes are the biggest graphical drawback. While the GameCube version of the game rendered the cinematics in real time, this one borrows the prerendered scenes from the PS2. They are blurry and badly compressed on the PC, as well as a little unsightly. Additionally, you cannot tailor any visual settings, aside from the display resolution.

Thankfully, the audio doesn’t suffer much, if at all. Resident Evil 4 is a sonic spookfest, from the creepy minimalist soundtrack to the outstanding weapon effects. In fact, the most memorable aspects of the game are accompanied by equally thrilling audio, such as the roar of the gigantic bosses or the disturbing murmurs of villagers as they infiltrate your personal space. For what it’s worth, Pro-Logic II technology is supported while true Dolby 5.1 is not, yet it’s not likely to impact your experience much, particularly if you use a decent set of speakers.

The biggest oversight amongst all these porting issues is that of controls. Resident Evil 4 doesn’t support mouse controls, though it does offer a mildly clumsy keyboard-only scheme. Plenty of console-centric games play better with a gamepad, but there wasn’t even an attempt to implement decent PC controls here. To experience the game the way it’s meant to be played, you need to plug in a gamepad. Whichever method you choose, the controls present an issue during the famous context-sensitive moments that require a few split-second button presses. If you end up using the keyboard controls, make sure to memorize which key is button 1, which key is button 2, and so on. The same issue exists with a controller, though it’s a bit easier to get the button presses right because the in-game diagrams are tailored toward gamepad users.

Once you get past all these issues and plug in your controller, you’ll find this is the same Resident Evil 4 that multitudes of players have grown to appreciate. It’s a carefully paced, often breathtaking action game that keeps you on the edge of your seat with lumbering almost-zombies, chanting cultists, and challenging fights against gargantuan bosses. You view the action from a third-person view, and when you ready a weapon, the camera zooms in close. Once you’ve drawn your weapon, you can’t move, but you can aim. It all feels very deliberate, but it’s perfectly countered by the measured speed at which your enemies approach you. However, you shouldn’t take this to mean that the action is any less exciting than in a traditional shooter. These are dangerous foes, and you’ve got to pump them full of lead before they fall.

Guía Resident Evil 4 Video

The fundamental combat is where the game shines most. Your arsenal consists of pistols, shotguns, rifles and more, with every weapon producing credible results. Popping pitchfork-wielding villagers will cause them to drop their weapons. Or you can shoot them in the knees to make them momentarily fall to the ground. Because ammunition is not terribly plentiful, being able to handle a crowd of shambling psychopaths with as few shots as possible is a main priority. You’ve always got a knife as a last resort, but unless you want to take a chunk of damage, it’s better to keep your distance.

The cutscenes are blurrier than a Barbara Walters special.

Contextual actions also contribute to the general sense of urgency. Don’t expect to sit back and snooze during the cutscenes because many of them require interaction in the form of a couple of button presses. If you’re sleeping at the wheel, Leon will be crushed by a boulder or strangled by a hulking foe, and you’ll be treated to a game-over screen. Other context-sensitive actions allow you to jump from a window, catch a companion from above, use a grappling hook, and more, depending on the onscreen action.

There’s a lot of gameplay to be had here, with close to 30 hours of high-quality action and a few good reasons to head back once you’re done. It’s a shame that the PC got shafted with such a lazy port. It’s also hard not to wonder why Capcom and Ubisoft even bothered with it. The PS2 version is unchanged in the sloppy transition to PC, so if you have no other way of experiencing Resident Evil 4 and own a gamepad, the core gameplay and budget price are enough reason to pick it up. Otherwise, pick up a different version and hope that the developers show a little more respect for the platform next time around.

Resident Evil 4 Intro

Resident Evil 4 Tech Info

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Capcom
Genre: Horror Action Adventure
Release Date: May 15, 2007 (more)
ESRB: MATURE
ESRB Descriptors: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence

Game Information

Resolution: 480p, Widescreen
Sound: Dolby Pro Logic II
Number of Players: 1 Player
DirectX Version: v9.0c
Operating System: Windows 2000/XP

Minimum System Requirements

System: Pentium IV 1.4GHz or equivalent
RAM: 256 MB
Video Memory: 128 MB
Hard Drive Space: 7000 MB

Recommended System Requirements

System: Intel Pentium IV 2.4GHz or equivalent
RAM: 512 MB
Video Memory: 256 MB
Hard Drive Space: 7000 MB

Review By: Matthew Rorie

Most game franchises coast along for years after the spark of passion has gone out of them. Too many well-known game series are simply the same game, repeated in different environments, with small changes to gameplay. When Resident Evil 4 hit the scene in 2005, however, Capcom made it clear that they were intent on avoiding the same trap. A radical reimagining of the Resident Evil gameplay, RE4 eliminated almost all of the off-putting aspects of the previous games in the series and delivered one of the most polished gaming experiences of the last generation of consoles. The game was an easy choice for GameSpot’s Game of the Year for 2005.

In Resident Evil 4, you take on the role of Leon S. Kennedy, a government agent who previously appeared in Resident Evil 2. Tasked to rescue the President’s daughter, who’s been kidnapped by mysterious villains, you find yourself chasing leads in the backcountry of Spain, where a sinister threat arises, not just against a single kidnapped girl, but against the entire world. Although the Umbrella Corporation is a thing of the past, as are the zombies that infested the previous games, you’ll still have plenty of people in your way here.

In GameSpot’s guide to Resident Evil 4, you’ll find some general strategies to help you out, as well as a complete walkthrough for the game, complete with video coverage of all of the major boss fights. In addition, the unlockable features here are all covered, including the secret weapons and the two major additional gameplay modes: Assignment Ada and the incredibly fun Mercenaries.

Since this guide was originally written for the GameCube version of the game, the Separate Ways content is not covered. Note that most of the mentions of the controls are also based on the GameCube version, so you may need to adapt a bit if you’re playing on the Playstation 2 or the Wii. For the most part, though, the content should still be applicable. Enjoy!

Game Guide
Listen up shock-trooper, Master Chief is out running some errands, forcing us to rely on the likes of you to save New Mombasa city from certain destruction. We realize it’s a large burden to place on you lowly soldiers, but it’s all we’ve got. Thankfully, we’ve worked with the experts at GameSpot Guides–who unbeknownst to many, are experts in modern warfare–to prepare a field guide that should walk you through any combat situation. Move it out soldier, you’re all we have left.

Here’s what you’ll find in GameSpot’s Halo 3: ODST game guide:
Halo 3: ODST

* Bungie Software
* Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter
* Release: Sep 22, 2009
* ESRB: Mature

* Combat Training: Even elite soldiers can use a refresher.
* Enemies: Gain insight into the enemies you’ll be facing with our dossier.
* Vehicles: Attend our driver’s ed class to enhance your skills in each vehicle.
* Walkthrough: Check out our point-to-point walkthrough for the entire campaign, optimized for Heroic difficulty.
* Xbox 360 Achievements: Learn how to obtain this game’s every achievement.