*edit* Final Impressions added*
Though the convienence of Gamefly, I have had Resident Evil 4 in my possession for about a week now and I'm about half way through it so I'd like to discuss thoughts on the game as I'm going along.
The biggest thought on this game is why has it been getting so much praise? I remember (may even still have) an old EGM where their cover story was this game and there were all these features that sounded so interesting, but now I'm wondering where they went wrong. The game has been not bad thus far, but I'm not feeling a whole lot of love emanating from this game. I think many things could have used more polish to make it even better. Now, I'm not a huge Resident Evil fan, but I know some of the general things from reading about the plot of the series every once in a while and I admit that it skews my thoughts on this game a little bit because I will focus more on the things that bring it down from not having a "RE4 ROXORZ MY SOXORZ" feeling. So lets do it, but I will note some positives about this game first.
The Positives:
- The new third person prospective gives this game a fresh new look compared to the older games. While you lose the beauty of the CG backgrounds, it makes the game feel much different than before. It is also a departure from the old 'tank' controls that some people found confusing (though I was fine with them).
- Aiming also feels fresh. Rather than being able to aim just up and down, you can aim everywhere and the game seems to do well in putting things you can shoot all over the place.
-Graphically, it's not a bad game and it's one of the better looking PS2 games out there.
Now that I've gotten some positives out there, let me move on to what I haven't liked about this game.
Negatives:
-Length: Some may argue that a longer game will mean a better game, I disagree in Resident Evil 4's case. I'm playing on the slow side (with not trying to waste ammo on enemies and suplexing them if I'm not outnumbered) and am on chapter 4 with around 10 hours of time clocked in (with deaths, retries, and saving on ammo) and I'm wondering why the damn ride isn't over yet. There are some things that cause me to feel this way and I'll get to them below because it's a couple of things.
-Story: Half way through this game and the story has been crap with nothing explained. Most everything just feels like an excuse to send you through all of these environments mindlessly killing every enemy in your path. I understand that I've only completed half the game, but I think there are some serious flaws in the story if you have a whole cut-scene be with Luis catching up with you to give you something, realizing he dropped it, and then runs away again. I feel that segments could have been cut out and the story improved on because rather than being some kind of scary game, it's become almost pure action with the only scary parts being when a dog jumps out of a bush or you turn around to realize that an enemy is three feet away and about to attack. One huge complaint is with the Merchant, this guy makes no sense at all about why he's there or anything else about him. A few times when I've seen him, he looks like he can supply a small war and he apparently can't sell you any of that nice looking ammo he has lying everywhere.
-Sound: The sound is rather low quality. In-game dialog sounds very poor and it's made more intense when you hear enemies chanting and yelling. I feel the first village you go to at the start of the game was laughable with the same voice yelling every couple of seconds with the same voice slowed down in the pattern.
-Combat - Like I said above, the story of this game has felt like an excuse to pit you against like 20 guys in each room. Whats worse is that it feels like you're fighting morons who can't seem to decide if they want to charge at you, walk at you, or just blow themselves up with their own explosives. Every encounter is more annoying than exciting and they feel like gigantic hiccups in the progression of the game. What makes it worse are the controls and aiming. I'm enjoying the behind the shoulder camera, but still controlling like a tank with very little evasive options makes every time I'm hit a huge frustration. A side step would be nice, but I belive that the right analog stick does NOTHING while you're aiming your gun/knife so why can't the right analog stick at least be a little hop in the direction you've tilted it? Aiming is also a pain because the dot to tell you where you're aiming only appears if it's on something that can be shot at like an enemy or treasure for example. This makes trying to aim at anything that isn't right infront of you a pain in the butt and has resulted in some missed shots.
One of the most annoying things in this game are the enemies who's heads pop off to reveal creatures. Everybody I know who's played the game has warned that you don't want to shoot guys in the head. Fine, I say, I'll just shoot them everywhere else except the head or knock them down and knife them. Apparently it doesn't matter because you can try cutting off an enemy's toe and all of a sudden his head pops off which later in the game will result in a creature popping out. I wouldn't say it's a negative of the game itself, but it is VERY annoying.
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In the end, reviewers recommend that people should play this game and it isn't one you should overlook.
I ask why?
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So I finally had some time and I finished the game last night for a total time of around 14 hours and a nice 83% accuracy to boot (compared to the ~50% my room mate is currently at). My slow time mainly attributes to me wanting to take combat slowly so I don't waste my ammo and I'd either try and go for suplexes or clumping up bad guys for a shotgun blast. I also didn't spend a whole lot of money either, I ended with around 500,000 picas and the weapons I had used weren't really that upgraded apart from a little better damage.
Anyway, I feel that the game did get a little bit better, but my last 4 hours didn't really feel that different from the rest of my time. However, I did realize that the rocket launcher isn't something you leave behind for a boss battle. I had wanted to use money on upgrades instead of the rocket launcher and I held onto the one you find in the castle until I felt I would need it, and it was awesome because it ended the battle with two trolls instantly as I dropped the one in the lava and shot the other one with the rocket launcher. Also, the rest of the boss battles after that were made much easier once I realized that I had no financial troubles to even think about not buying a rocket launcher. As for the rest of the game, I still feel like things were just dragged along and story was still on a minimum. I also still disagree with commentors about the enemies and they're movements. Sure, they are moving slow so it's possible to hit them, but the developers made the enemies look like morons with their movement patterns. Also, I disagree with the mindless slave argument, they are under control, but they still know how to use weapons, communicate, and stuff like that. I consider mindless to be the zombies of the T-virus.
Also, after seeing videos of the Wii version, I would think that Wii-players wouldn't bash me on my thoughts of the combat. The trade off of the Wii version is that everything runs smoother and that means everything looks faster (a falling enemy fell like twice as fast in the Wii version as he would in the PS2 version). Despite that, you guys get a freaken crosshair that's on the screen when you aim and it even turns color when you're aiming at something that can be hit while the PS2/GC get a tiny laser where the dot only appears if you're aiming at something that can be hit.
In conclusion, it's not a bad game, but I haven't cared that much for it and I still dislike the Merchant and his random appearances that don't seem to make any sense at all. Especially those red eyes.
