Resident Evil 4

[hankwangford]

but why they did't implement a sidestep function is beyond me! a button for weapon switching would have been nice too!

Sidestep: If they had the game would be far too easy. It's easy enough without it.

Weapon switching: Hell yes, this is the biggest flaw (and even its really minor) of the game.

[VR46]

last game of this type I played was SH3 (3 years ago I guess) and I find RE4 very "edge of your seat" that probably is a better way to describe it, even early on in the village when your cornered with half a dozen enemies coming towards you (one with a chainsaw) it does make your heart beat faster gripping stuff.

[marcus]

Although I wonder if you are really feeling RE4, Marcus, if you haven't found an encounter with Chainsaw Man/Woman tense and pressurising.

Put me in a confined environment with puny weapons and a quarter of health and a risk of losing an hours play since my last save point left and I might do! As it is the guys a walkover. Actually, the one time RE did make me jump was strangely enough at ECTS in bright lights playing the demo for the first time, the meeting with Chainsaw man in the house managed to surprise me, in front of about 6 other people embarressingly enough. Perhaps knowing already of the games main scare point didnt help me for the full game, as that suprise was taken away.

[007]

I think the reason this game isn't as tense as it could be, is for this example of what happened last night.

When you decide to go left or right, I went left, at the end you walk round the corner and about 20 villagers run straight towards me, they're about to attack me, and 5 of them are about a meter away from me.

*presses Y*

Tension over.

I've got time to think about what to do, I can change weapons to one that has more ammo if I wish.

You see, if you could only change weapons by a quick tap of Z, that'd be so much more tense. You'd have to think on your toes and act accordingly.

[VR46]

your right, but if you couldn't press "Y" you could just pause it and think about what to do next.

[pace]

your right, but if you couldn't press "Y" you could just pause it and think about what to do next.

True but if you had to manually change wepens by cycling through them then when you ran out of ammo in one gun you'd be under more pressure.

[Chadruharazzeb]

The atrocious clipping doesn't help either. If you're in the middle of an animation you can just pass straight through people, and vice versa. It spoils the suspension of disbelief.

Actually I'm suprised nobody else has ever mentioned it, it sticks out a mile.

[mattSix]

this is now the biggest first play thread EVAR! and i don't even have my JPN copy yet...

[Scythe]

The atrocious clipping doesn't help either. If you're in the middle of an animation you can just pass straight through people, and vice versa. It spoils the suspension of disbelief.

Actually I'm suprised nobody else has ever mentioned it, it sticks out a mile.

Hadn't noticed that but i did have one of the pitch fork dudes swinging his pitchfork outside a house and almost hitting me whilst i was in the house!

[Tom Salter]

I just fought the

->Open Spoiler<-

Regenerators

. Not too bad, when you have the right weapons, but they're ingenious

[PeteJ]

I only find the clipping a problem when fighting the bosses, you can practically run right through them (in particular the bigger ones). I think this may have been a design thing though, as it does make the game less frustrating.

[Mephistopheles]

Finished it at last. Play-time 33 hours (I did spend up to 15 mins exploring new areas and soaking in those lovely textures). Hit-ratio 72%, no. of times died 60.

I've already praised this game earlier and it holds up till the end of the game and beyond (with those brilliant extras RE games always have). However, I do think that the game begins to overpower you towards the end making the final encounters slightly anti-climatic. In particular, there end up being far too many herbs lying about. They should really be more scarce. A better system would be to automatically generate herbs in those wooden crates if you really need them (e.g. have little health and no herbs/first aid spray in your inventory). There was one point where I had around 4 green/red herb mixes and two first aid sprays. The static rather than dynamic allocation of health (which would be based on the player's ability and condition) has been a bad design decision since the first game.

Nevertheless, a solid 9/10, and possibly even 10/10. As far as GameCube games go, I still think Metroid Prime is better. Not by a lot, mind you.

Looking forward to Capcom's other games this year. What a great year this could be for them: Killer7, Demento, DMC3, Shadow of Rome etc. Wow.

[SUMIRE]

I think the reason this game isn't as tense as it could be, is for this example of what happened last night.

When you decide to go left or right, I went left, at the end you walk round the corner and about 20 villagers run straight towards me, they're about to attack me, and 5 of them are about a meter away from me.

*presses Y*

Tension over.

I've got time to think about what to do, I can change weapons to one that has more ammo if I wish.

You see, if you could only change weapons by a quick tap of Z, that'd be so much more tense. You'd have to think on your toes and act accordingly.

I agree to some extent, although the tension would still be there depending on your current stock of ammo or health items.

As for saying you could just press pause anyway. Yeah you could, but the point is that when you press Y you are in effect still playing the game as you can select a better weapon or eat a health item at your leisure.

[Jebus]

Without trying to sound rude, but the people who are saying this game has scared them, are you experienced with other survival horror games like the Silent Hills, early Biohazards, Fatal Frames or Alien Resurrection? The one thing that has most surprised me in this thread is the constant mentioning of the game being scary - its not! At no time in this game have I felt under any sort of pressure, there is no tenseness, no shocks, nothing. Its just an action game with zombies. A remarkably good one at that, but certianly nothing scary whatsoever. It missed the key ingredients of a good SH game, the ammo is in abundance, its simple to dodge the majority of enemies, the camera angle means that well constructed, disturbing angles like those used extensively in Silent Hills are nullified, perhaps only one enemy in the game which I feel puts up any real serious challenge to my standard maxed-out Striker/Red9 combo. It has the 'wow' factor in abundance, but to me scary and tense are not two words Id use to describe RE4.

Again, pushing my luck here, but Id wager that the majority of people who are saying things like this is the best game ever and so on are more likely new to the series or genre and I can then appreciate why you might find this scary if thats the case. Seasoned SH gamers are not quite so in love with it from the people I have spoken to, many wishing that it had remained the dark and atmospheric game that those old movies from way back indicated it would be. Its a kind game for gamers to play, it helps you along, has non-taxing puzzles and very convenient save points. That isnt classic survival horror, and whilst its very welcome in this case, it does eliminate a lot of the threat and uncertainty found by any number of SH games I could mention.

I think the game panics you a little, makes you rush, but I too never found it scary, the regenerators are a bit freaky and make you nervous, but I never felt "scared" once. Its a ****ing brilliant action game. I feel its a perfect example of a survival horror action/adventure. Because its just that, a survival game. And the best I've ever played to be honest.

That said, it hasn't got the scares from resi 1 (not remake, original). But it doesn't need them either... It seems to have too much ammo in the game, too much health when you don't need it as well.

Oh and for the record, I imported Resi 1 for playstation before it even came out in the UK, i've followed the series from day 1. Just for the record. Also, I thought silent hill lost its way after the first game and became ****. Imported that one too actually, loved it, completed it. I think they went too far with the freaky **** and it became unenjoyable. Didn't like SH2, 3 or 4, although 4 is better.

I still say its the best game I've played in a few years, it got me hooked, I couldn't stop...

I'd disagree with your final statement, for me its a game that is for people who grew up playing resi/silent hill, and nowadays just want a game EXACTLY like resident evil 4, I know I did. I don't have patience for a 2004 version of resident evil. I actually got my mate to finish my first playthrough of remake because it did nothing for me.

[hankwangford]

Anyone gotten into the Mercenaries minigame yet? I'm ploughing through it at the moment and in some places its even more fun than the main game! There's loads of strategies for each character's weapon set that becomes a game in itself. With a few tweaks, the engine would be great for some kind of behind-enemy-lines covert war game. It does a great job of making you feel like Rambo; you Vs. everyone with the clock as referee.

->Open Spoiler<-

Krauser is a ****ing DON with his bow and arrow Feel like Robin Hood shooting arrows into people's heads. Nice idea to have his mutation thing as a move. Just unlocked Hunk and got ****ing caned by the GIANT Chainsaw Man swinging that blade everywhere before I had to go to work. Can't wait to slap it on tonight and get Wesker unlocked...