It appears humorous to assume again on it now, however in the course of the early days of Resident Evil – when decomposing zombies have been the highest canine and Raccoon Metropolis was everyone’s favorite apocalyptic vacation vacation spot – the concept that the franchise would discover itself within the rural outskirts of Europe during which you combat a child-like evil castellan appeared completely absurd.
That is precisely what Resident Evil 4 was, nonetheless – absurd. Though the collection has at all times loved its personal endearing sense of lunacy amongst the gritty, survival horror tropes, RE4 went above and past with its completely ridiculous storyline and gameplay.
The place as soon as we have been traipsing via the burning streets of Raccoon Metropolis, now we’re virtually skipping via the hallways of a grand fort, capturing down mysterious blue medallions, bartering with a charismatic pirate-like service provider, suplexing cultists, torching large parasites, and knifing conveniently positioned pots and barrels. It was insane and, in some ways, it wasn’t totally Resident Evil. However y’know what? It saved the franchise.
It is not out of the query to state that RE4 is without doubt one of the biggest video games of all time. It was a blast to play again in 2005, and it is a blast to play this very day, 20 years later, even with the remake on the market. It confirmed simply how profitable a sport could be when builders select to take a threat and usher their franchises in new and thrilling instructions. In an age during which bloated budgets make publishers extra risk-averse than ever, it is one thing we frankly do not see sufficient of anymore.
You solely want to check out the ridiculous variety of ports RE4 has obtained since its preliminary launch to grasp simply how important a sport it truly is. The most effective (and maybe extra underappreciated) was the Wii Version which carried out glorious movement controls for the aiming performance, however after all, you may boot it up proper now on the Nintendo Change, if you want. And with the upcoming ‘Change 2’ boasting full backward compatibility with present Change video games, you’ll take pleasure in RE4 comfortably for the perfect a part of the subsequent decade, on the very least.
In case you in some way have not performed RE4 but, I urge you to provide it a go. Sure, you may play the remake should you actually wish to, and that is a superbly wonderful technique to expertise Leon’s lethal jaunt into Europe, however the unique is such a particular sport and is, in my eyes, a required expertise for followers of survival horror, motion video games and, effectively… simply video games on the whole.
What’s your favorite reminiscence of Resident Evil 4? Did you play it on day one on GameCube, or was your first expertise by way of one in every of its many ports? Tell us with a remark.