For Resident Evil

Here we are on November 1, and a good bunch of you are probably disappointed that I failed to provide my Halloween post on actual Halloween; and for that I'm really sorry. But enough about that, lets talk about Resident Evil 4.



As I mentioned two weeks ago, as a franchise Resident Evil has always been more about the scares and Hollywood fantasy fulfillment than any actual survival horror. Some people might find that problematic, but I've never been bothered by the idea that Resident Evil games will never get anything more from me other than a startled jump and quick scream followed by laughter. I love Resident Evil for it's quirky, B-movie take on the horror genre and no game in the series represents this better than 2005's groundbreaking Resident Evil 4.

For those of you not avidly involved with the videogame world, RE4 was so revolutionary back in '05 because it essentially taught videogame developers how to properly execute games with a third person shooting emphasis. Before this game, the few third person shooters that existed were essentially taking their cues from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Grand Theft Auto 3, concepts which made them functional but not really enjoyable. Without Resident Evil 4 establishing the cinematic over the shoulder shooting camera, there would be no Dead Space or Gears of War.

Marcus Fenix might be Ubermanly, but Leon gets all the ladies

But RE4 isn't such a great game simply because it set a standard. This isn't Wolfenstein 3D we're talking about here. No, Resident Evil 4 was great because it had excellent gameplay mechanics and an excellent level design which lead to a very enjoyable pacing set with very memorable set pieces along the way. Here are a few (warning spoilers may follow):

1) The first time you went into the village and found yourself fighting against a seemingly endless barrage of villagers. This moment is especially memorable due to the cabin cutscene which introduces 

the *ahem* chainsaw wielding Dr. Salvador.

2) Somewhat of a variant on the Village set piece, the cabin scene is extremely memorable for putting the player under heavy stress and making him feel pressured due to the cabin's many entrances. It should be noted how expertly this scene is executed, keeping a balance between putting the player into a situation of despair (there are about three windows on the first floor, one for each of the walls and once you go to the second floor you have to be mindful of the staircase as well) while giving the player the necessary tools to feel like they have a chance for success (there is a pretty decent and varied amount of ammo and healing items in the cabin when you start and the enemies don't start using ladders to go in through the second floor until you actually go up the staircase yourself) however slim those chances might seem.

3) The first time you meet the Garrador. I'll let the video speak for itself.

4) The knife fight with Krauser. This one is nothing more than a very cool looking Quick Time Event (another concept RE4 popularized in the action genre) but between the dialog, and the tension of going through it that first time, this scene is hard to forget.

5) The first time you meet the Iron Maiden. These and the Regenerators are the only enemies in the game who come any close to putting the player in an actual survival horror situation. The game provides you with the tools to easily defeat them not much later however.

And those are just a few great moments. There're a lot of these throughout the whole game, which are always surrounded by moments of low tension were the player feels completely in control of the situation, allowing for Resident Evil 4's excellent pacing to arise (a concept severely lacking in RE5, but that's a different story). 

I could keep up ranting like a fanboy about all the other great things in RE4, like the excellent sound design, or the appropriate use of limited control (you can't move while aiming) to create tension, or Leon's character redesign that allows him to both look tough and vulnerable (unlike Chris in RE5) but I think you've all gotten the point by now. Hopefully next week I'll actually manage to post on time. Until then I leave you with my favorite piece of dialog from the game.