Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must buy, 21 May 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I do not normally enjoy this type of game, but owing to the glittering reviews Resident Evil 4 received, I felt I would give it a go. Resident Evil 4 turns everything about the series on its head and vastly improves every aspect of it - from the graphics and sound to fundamental gameplay mechanics.
Resident Evil 4 is a BIG game. Not particularly in its length, which, at roughly 20 hours clocked time (but much longer when you take into account how often you die and have to re-start an area!) isn't too shabby, but in this scope and ambition. This is near cinematic-quality, and is certainly the most involving and thrilling game I have ever played. The games graphics are perhaps its strongest selling point, and to the untrained eye, mine included, could possibly appear to be even so -called `next-gen' in quality. The amount of detail is astounding, and everything is made up of pixels, with not a pre-rendered background in sight. Atmosphere is everything, from the dark and dingy surroundings, with fog and damp you can almost touch, to the eerie soundtrack and sound effects, including gentle breezes, harsh downpours, and even the firing of the weapon you are using. The animation is fantastic, and everything feels like it could just be real, which makes it all the more unsettling. The three main environments in Resident Evil 4 range from a village, a huge castle, and island fortress, although it is surprisingly well-varied, incorporating laboratories, mines, sewers, lakes and even lava pits.
The story is not particularly complex, but is very neatly executed, and leaves the door to a sequel wide open. Basically, you play as Leon S. Kennedy, an ex-cop and now government agent, and must rescue the President's kidnapped daughter from a church in a creepy Spanish mountain village, where the inhabitants have a murderous, possessed glint in their eye... What unfolds is a conspiracy where an evil cult lord and his insane aristocratic lackey attempt to take over the world.
The everyday enemies in RE4 are amazing, particularly the insane chain-saw wielding villagers (who favour decapitation), but the bosses are out of this world. The first boss you come across is an enormous monster living inside a lake. You must dispose of it by throwing harpoons at it before it devours you. As I said earlier, the animation is second to none. When you shoot a villager in the shins, they fall to the ground and start dragging them selves toward you. If they are carrying a weapon, and you shoot them in the hand, they will drop it. The action is fast and furious, although there are quieter areas where you can save your progress and purchase or upgrade weapons, which range from a handgun to a rocket launcher. Ammo is generally plentiful, and now you can save wherever you see a typewriter, which is a vast improvement over earlier games in the series
RE4 is essentially an action game, combining elements of FPS, stealth and puzzles, with a satisfying difficulty level. The camera is focused behind the playable character, allowing for a good range of vision, and you become rooted to the spot when you aim at an enemy, with a handy laser. This works very well, and allows for effective and accurate aiming.
Resident Evil 4 is an amazing and engrossing game with tons of replayability (I completed it three times in the space of a month!), and four difficulty levels. It is a must buy. That said, it is extremely violent, and some of it is disturbing. Definitely NOT for younger gamers.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An era defining game, 16 May 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I have to admit; being a diehard Resident Evil fan I was a bit sceptical of this game at first due to departure of zombies and a completely different setting. But Capcom delivered the goods in this wonderful creation, which is Resident Evil 4.
After the disappointments of Outbreak and Outbreak: file 2, Capcom really needed to do a lot better in the making of this new game. I can say that they did not fail to deliver.
Resident Evil 4 makes up for the somewhat sketchy storyline in the Outbreak series with a gripping storyline and imaginative characters (the reintroduction of Leon) that leaves the player engrossed. This however is not a problem, as opposed to the Outbreak series, the storyline is long and complex and leaves the player gripped with over 20 hours of game play for the average speed gamer.
Due to the lack of zombies, I imagined this game to be a lot simpler in the sense that there would be little or no gore, which is something that all Resident Evil fans such as myself have learnt to love over the entire Resident Evil series. Yet again however, Capcom delivers with spectacular graphics and some fantastic head bursting action that would make any resident evil fan be proud.
This game left me transfixed right until the end, where yet again I was not disappointed. In my honest opinion I would give this game 100%, as it is a massive step up for Capcom from the outbreak series and it provides the player with everything they should need from a Resident Evil game and much more in terms of complex characters and advanced weaponry.
This game has left me crying out for Resident Evil 5, this style of game play and the apparent reintroduction of zombies would be a tasty prospect for any Resident Evil fan. But for now, Resident Evil 4 has to be one of the best games that I have played in recent years, if not ever. My advice: Buy it now.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five stars is not enough!!!!, 30 Dec 2005
Lets face facts, the Resident Evil series has been a bit ploddy and repetative. Walk slowly here to discover you need to walk slowly over there to get something to wander back, oh and if this is the first time you've entered an area you could kill a zombie or two, otherwise nothing. Lets not even start on Resident Evil Outbreak ahhh.Then along came Resident Evil 4. Take all of the above and ignore it, there is no mindless, slow wandering and plenty of things to blow away. The game is fast and there is no need to revisit areas once everything is dead. The pace of the game also changes regularly so that it never becomes stagnant. Bosses appear regularly and offer different sorts of challenges. It also took me over 24 hours of gaming to complete the main game (and there are then a number of submissions that nicely link into the main story). Put simply this game is very entertaining and long (somewhat of a rare thing with lots of games of this type). It is well worth the investiment (both money and time) and it is definately a game that I shall play over and over, which again is a tribute to its greatness.
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