It appears humorous to assume again on it now, however throughout 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 totally absurd.
That is precisely what Resident Evil 4 was, nevertheless – absurd. Though the collection has all the time loved its personal endearing sense of lunacy amongst the gritty, survival horror tropes, RE4 went above and past with its totally ridiculous storyline and gameplay.
The place as soon as we have been traipsing by the burning streets of Raccoon Metropolis, now we’re virtually skipping by the hallways of a grand fortress, capturing down mysterious blue medallions, bartering with a charismatic pirate-like service provider, suplexing cultists, torching big parasites, and knifing conveniently positioned pots and barrels. It was insane and, in some ways, it wasn’t solely Resident Evil. However y’know what? It saved the franchise.
It isn’t out of the query to state that RE4 is without doubt one of the best 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 may be when builders select to take a danger 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 try the ridiculous variety of ports RE4 has acquired since its preliminary launch to know simply how important a sport it truly is. Probably the greatest (and maybe extra underappreciated) was the Wii Version which carried out glorious movement controls for the aiming performance, however in fact, you may boot it up proper now on the Nintendo Swap, if you want. And with the upcoming ‘Swap 2’ boasting full backward compatibility with present Swap video games, you’ll take pleasure in RE4 comfortably for the most effective a part of the subsequent decade, on the very least.
If you happen to in some way have not performed RE4 but, I urge you to provide it a go. Sure, you may play the remake if you happen to actually wish to, and that is a superbly superb option 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, nicely… simply video games generally.
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 among its many ports? Tell us with a remark.
