Resident Evil 4

aka: Biohazard 4
Moby ID: 52872
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Picking up six years after Resident Evil 2, the fourth game in the series follows a former cop (now US agent) Leon S. Kennedy to Europe on a top-secret mission to investigate the disappearance of the president's daughter Ashley. As Leon encounters unimaginable horrors, he must find out who or what is behind everything. Old friends...and enemies...lurk around every corner as Leon attempts to find out who is truly behind the kidnapping of the president's daughter.

Resident Evil 4 is a major change from the previous installments. Instead of a fixed third-person perspective, the game features a new "behind the back" movement camera angle and an "over the shoulder" aiming feature that allows players to control their gun movement for specific body part hits. It features a brand new AI system and more open environments that allow enemies to work together to capture and corner Leon. Enemies are now humans, which allows them to climb up ladders, open doors, and use weapons throughout the game.

The entire item system has also been revamped, so that smaller items no longer require an entire item space to hold. Instead, items take up blocks of space in a briefcase according to their real-life size, to allow for many more items and weapons. Leon can collect treasure from enemies or from the surrounding area, and visit the infamous "merchant" to purchase bigger briefcases, treasure maps, weapons upgrades, and powerful weapons such as the one-shot RPG.

There is also the Mercenaries from Resident Evil 3, which allows the player to play survival scenarios as characters such as Hunk and even Albert Wesker himself.

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Credits (GameCube version)

165 People (149 developers, 16 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 96% (based on 113 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 157 ratings with 9 reviews)

No disrespect to my fellow Mobygamers, but am I the only one who notices the bad things in this game?

The Good
The game looks absolutely gorgeous, I didn't even know the GameCube was capable of producing anything that looks like this, hell I didn't even know the Wii could handle these graphics. Everything just looks insanely awesome and it was during a boss-fight with a giant fish that I was halfway expecting the system to just explode because of all the awesomeness on the screen. Yes, everything is brown and a lot of character models are recycled, but I don't give a damn, it's great.

The best part about this game is its variety, you never solve the same puzzle twice or encounter the same scenario more then once. I was always filled with glee once a certain section was finished, just because it meant I could discover what the game had in store for me next. The earlier mentioned fight with the giant fish is a great example, but there was also a great scene in which you and a support character hide in an abandoned building while dozens of angry peasants try to enter it from all sides.

I also really love the characters, while the story is what you expect from Capcom (it's absolutely retarded, but that's why we all love the company so much). The mysterious Luis felt like a true friend and Ashley was much more enjoyable to have along then I expected. Salazar was also just a barrel of fun, but I won't spoil him because that might rob you off the biggest "rofl" you'll ever have.

The inventory screen is revolutionary; the idea is that you have a suitcase and every item (bullets, weapons, herbs etc.) takes up a certain amount of spaces. A herb is only two spaces, but a pistol already takes up four and if you want a rocket launcher (or some other big weapon) you'll have to cut corners. Items can also be stacked and combined in order to save space and you can also destroy anything in your inventory at any time you wish. It's also interesting to spend a few minutes puzzling around with all the items in an attempt to still fit another gun somewhere.

Because of all the different weapons in the game you are able to decide your own style, you don't have as much choice as in an RPG, but you can still throw away all your weapons in favor of an SMG if you really want. Personally I stuck to the always reliable pistol and shotgun with a sniper and rocket launcher as back-up. Here is a little hint though: Always have a sniper on you, if you don't, you will not make it past the sections in the military base.

I don't get why this game is filed under the horror category, there were maybe two sections that made me feel afraid were that one part where you have no weapons and one moment very early on when a farmer I presumed to be dead placed a pitchfork in my throat while I was looking for secret coins. The crowning moment of this game is in a boss-fight with the village elder that looks like a scary enemy at first, but after a few shots his lower body will drop off and he will swing around the barn like a hyperactive monkey on Red Bull.

This game was a gift from a good friend, so it will always be a cherished part of my collection.

The Bad
Every once in a while this game will pull a dick move extraordinaire and randomly throw a Quick-time event at you. There are the standard ones like spam a button to free yourself from a grip and kicking a stunned enemy, but during some cutscenes you will also have to quickly press a button combination in order to avoid an instant kill. However not all cutscenes do this, even if Leon is in danger, so you never know when to be ready for it. The game also cheeky habit of placing a snake in like six boxes spread across the entire game, so if you are low on health and hoping a box will have herbs in it, you'll get to eat shit.

The controls are horrendous, is there any other game out there where you use the right-trigger to aim your weapon and A to fire? If so, then that means that more then one developers needs to start making sense. The now free left-trigger is used to ready your knife instead which is also fired by tapping A, can we leave the A button alone for mercies sake? The A button is for performing actions like jumping and crawling, that's what it's comfortable with! Aside from that there is also the slow movement, the fact that you need to arse Leon to open the door faster even if a mad Spaniard is throwing axes at him and the lack of precision when trying to navigate past traps.

Talking about traps, why the hell can enemies walk over them without hilariously screaming as the sharpened metal chops off their feet? When they walk over them nothing happens, even if you join them it still doesn't work (the metal only hurts you). You can cause some traps to explode and that will hurt enemies, but it still doesn't make much sense.

The game has no autosave, so if you start playing this game at night and get stuck halfway through the chapter, I hope you weren't planning on going to work the next day. There are typewriters which can be used to save progress mid-chapter, just like the radios in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, but they are hidden (oddly enough also like in MoH). You can see them on your map, but I forgot I had the map because finding the right way to go on your own is much more fun than opening your inventory every ten seconds. Also, this is the kind of game where a boss-fight can be around every corner, so don't ever skip on a chance to safe.

The game kind of collapses when you arrive at the military complex, the problem is that from that point onward you won't see any of the peasants and cultists anymore and you'll just end up fighting lots of armed soldiers like every other damned shooter. At this point I was ten hours into the game, but it felt like freaking thirty and then there were the regenarators... oh Christ. Here is the deal, these bastards have parasites in them that regenerate all their damage, so in order to kill them you have to kill the parasites (not the parasites doing the actual healing work, those are somehow unrelated). The only way to see the parasites however is to use a scope that turns the game into a blurry episodes of "My Little Pony", but the damned scope only fucks ON SNIPERS! If you were planning to go through this game without using once, well too bad, you won't. After running into yet another one (I checked his body, no parasites, but he still activated when I opened a nearby door) I officially quit this game.

The Bottom Line
I don't know why everybody is complaining about Ashley, throughout the game she was only captured twice. There was one time when my Viking background got to her and she suddenly attempted to block an incoming boulder fired from a catapult with her face, but it was well comically timed, so I didn't hold it against the game. I am the only one who doesn't seem to love this game, which places me in an awkward position as a reviewer, but I think it is because I have so many games I'd much rather play waiting to be reviewed (Majora's Mask OMG!!!!).

The bad timing aside though: Resident Evil is without a doubt one of the best shooters you can possibly find. There are lots of flaws. but it's also completely unique and the amount of variety will guarantee you a good time. The game also looks spectacular, so if graphics are a big deal to you, you won't have to miss out on this game (as opposed to say... Psychonauts).

A fan of the Resident Evil franchise may dislike the lack of zombies or the distance from the original plot (Wesker is only briefly mentioned and Leon and Ada are the only characters in the game that appeared in other RE games). This is however the perfect game for new people like me who want to give the long-running Horror series a try. Just remember, you will have to pay for the privilege and I didn't :D.

GameCube · by Asinine (957) · 2011

Solid Snake VS Leon S. Kennedy

The Good
What's not to like in this game, it's taken one step forward in all elements, including the story timeline. You're playing Leon S. Kennedy who we all know as an RPD rookie cop from Resident Evil 2. He didn't change much, still not knowing what's happening around him, yet equally skilled at kicking butts. Sent in to recover Ashley (huh, I sound as if talking about an object, but on the contrary, she's a cute little package that will give you nothing but troubles in return), Leon will face the strange looking villagers who alas don't speak english but spanish. That of course doesn't present any problem for Leon since he's familiar with the universal language of a high caliber gun and hence the dark overture was about to start for him... nor dark enough as promised, though.

The graphic is something unspeakable, with even more surprises for being for GameCube. I didn't know it can look that good, definitely on par with fanciest MGS game, and gameplay is great (kinda believe mouse would help me much more at aiming at the parasites, though). Furthermore, cinematic scenes are great, direction was fantastic and I've never seen anything so cool as Leon and Ada facing each other. Heh, believe it or not, I liked Ada a lot for the short time she appeared in RE2, and am kinda glad to see she survived (assuming she's something alive, that is, lol) the big fall.

This game is not short as the most of early Biohazard games, and is more on par with Code: Veronica, not just by its length but by the various boss battles and tricks required to dispose of them, by the direction of action sequences, and by the richness of the world to explore. Although, I gotta say that Umbrella Corp. seemed much more menacing, I'm still looking forward to where this story will lead us next. Maybe we'll get a game that will feel the gap one of these days.

Wesker!!! The coolest badguy's here, not that we see it but we hear him alright. I can't wait to see what'll be when he appears next time around. Rumours say he might in the PS2 version of this game, guess time will tell but I'm hoping for the best ;)

Oh yeah, and quick-time events on par with Shenmue games are here, and they're fantastic. This works so well with cutscenes, almost better than just watching them. The game is generally very dynamic, the creatures are smart as suicidal, and the action is something you won't miss a bit.

The Bad
Soundtrack is nowhere near as good as in the rest of Resident Evil games, this one seemed way too atmospheric and oftenly created sounds you couldn't tell if it's the music or sound effects you're hearing. Keeping you on your toes, that's okay, but they could add some cool BGM someplace in the game, God knows they're capable of it, Capcom did plenty of awesome soundtracks (Needless to say I'm more than happy with my Biohazard Sound Chronicle box).

And what's with the smugglers? Looks like they exist only to help Leon, they'd be out of the business otherwise, huh?

Probably the most disappointing thing is that we all knew Leon is going to be infected with the virus from the trailers. Furthermore, we knew he's going to feel something due to being exposed and that something will alter his vision of reality. Well, we thought we knew that because Capcom suckered us big time. What you see on the trailers and making of disc is nowhere in the game's actual story. Yes, Leon does get infected, but it gives very little to influence to actual player. Discarding all this concept of altered vision makes this game that less scary and I'm glad for it, but it sure looked like an interesting and original concept to experience. I felt a bit cheated like when Kojima-san pulled that joke with all of us regarding MGS2 title and surprised us with Raiden as the main character. Like, what the heck!!??? :))

The Bottom Line
What a fine game this one is, ya got tha'?

GameCube · by MAT (240759) · 2012

A Whole New Resident Evil.

The Good
Resident Evil always had this reputation for being terrifying and very bloody. Well I hope you got a strong heart because Resident Evil 4 takes it up to a whole new level in terror and gore.

The thing I noticed immediately when I began to play Resident Evil 4 is that it was no longer 3rd person. It was more over-the-shoulder. The graphics are the same during cut scenes and gameplay which I thought was terrific. Most games use cut scenes with CG and such but Resident Evil 4 doesn't. It proves you don't need CG to make cut scenes.

The story has changed. It doesn't used that same old recycled pattern. Umbrella is history, Raccoon City is history, and zombies are history. It has been 6 years or so and the rookie cop with the funny hairdo is now a special agent working with the government. Yes ladies and gentleman Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 2 is back with a tough look. He must rescue the president's kidnapped daughter Ashley. He stops in a village and is attacked by crazed people. He doesn't know why. Never fear! Leon has weapons. He has a gun with laser targeting. This makes the game more fun as you can shoot of the enemie's head, legs, or arms. The story is something that interested me very much. I just wanted to figure out how the villagers became the way they were.

The gameplay is something that remained the same. However, unlike other games with cut scenes, you need your hands on the controller at all times! During cut scenes you can never relax. You're talking and the next minute you have to hit a button. Beware!

Resident Evil 4 is one of the most scariest and bloodiest games ever. If you shoot somebody (or something), they just bleed. If you shoot a villager in the head, pretty much there goes their head. The bosses in this game are so scary and SOOOOOOOO hard that I actually had to look up how to beat them. (I hardly don't do that at all!) The Village Chief is one of those that scared me. One minute he's human, next minute he looks like a 20 foot centipede sticking out of his bottom half, the next, he's swinging like a monkey. The one that gave me nightmares was the last boss (won't give his name away). He was just terrifying. He looked like a spider except had more legs and was WAAAAYYYY bloodier. Oh yeah, HE HAS EYES ON HIS LEGS!!! Yes people, eyes on his legs. Creeped me out!

This is just one of those games you are so scared of but you can't help but play it until the very end. And believe me, at the end you get a surpirse.

The Bad
The game is great. Action, horror, blood. Sadly, this game had some flaws.

For some reason, whenever Ashley was kidnapped (Believe me it happens more than once) I actually wanted to shoot HER and not her kidnappers. She is kind of weak and she should run. Oh wait, that would take away the extra missions Leon has to do.

Another thing that bugged me was the lack of what Resident Evil made Resident Evil. You don't feel like you're playing Resident Evil. At some points during the game, I just felt like playing a horror game with a guy named Leon Kennedy. It was ONLY Leon who reminded me I was playing Resident Evil. Trust me, if this game was called something different, you'd probably wouldn't even notice the difference except for Leon and the character who makes an appearance at the end.

The Bottom Line
Overall, the ultimate terror game. Scares around every corner and the villagers are downright relentless. They jump out at you and it scares you like I can't even describe. Go out and get Resident Evil 4. But be warned, it is not for the weak at heart.

GameCube · by NightKid32 (39) · 2005

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Trivia

Development

The earliest version of the game was announced for the PS2 under Resident Evil 2 with director Hideki Kamiya. This build was eventually cancelled as a Resident Evil installment and became the title known as Devil May Cry. Eventually, development was moved to the Gamecube console and another build emerged. This was the first version to feature Leon from RE2. The game's main menace was to sport a hook on one of its hands, and the logo for the game reflected this (this can still be seen in the final logo). More versions were created and cancelled before Shinji Mikami took over and transformed the title into what it is today. Of all the builds developed, only one of them was never unveiled to the public (it was the one that was being worked on right before Mikami took over). Early in the development stages the game's setting was Japan, not Europe.

German index

On June 30, 2005, the English version of Resident Evil 4 was put on the infamous German index by the BPjM. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.

References

  • There is a laser room (hallway actually) much like the one in the original Resident Evil movie, where Leon has to dodge laser beams and pull various stunts. He survives the lasers, however, unlike the S.T.A.R.S. team in the movie.
  • The Killer 7 handgun was named after the title of a Shinji Mikami-produced game.
  • Krauser and HUNK's music that plays in The Mercenaries game mode is actually from P.N.03: the music from the 4th and 8th mission, respectively.

Sales

According to publisher Capcom, the GC version of Resident Evil 4 has sold 1.6 million copies worldwide since its initial release (as of June 30, 2016).

Voices

In the typical fashion of depicting Spanish inhabitants, the voiceovers were made by Mexican actors (some of them trying to do Spanish from Spain) rather than by real Spanish actors.

Weapons

All the weapons used by Leon in the game are based on real weapons. The standard handgun looks similar to a Beretta 92 (with nickel plating, which the original gun wouldn't have); the Punisher handgun looks somewhat like the H&K VP70; the shotgun is a Remington M870; the Striker is an actual shotgun developed in South Africa; the rocket launcher is a Russian RPG-7 (which can actually be reloaded and fired again). The "Red 9" 9mm pistol is a "Mauser C-96" from the World War I era. The Red 9 version actually had the number 9 carved on the grip, painted in red. It was heavy and slow to reload, but offered good power and range at the time.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2005 – Best Game of the Year
    • 2005 – Best GameCube Game of the Year
    • 2005 – Best Graphics of the Year
    • 2005 – Best Successor of the Year
  • Game Informer
    • January 2006 (Issue #153) - Game of the Year 2005
  • GamePro (Germany)
      1. February 2006 - Best Console Game in 2005
      1. February 2006 - Best Console Action-Adventure in 2005
  • GameSpy
    • 2005 – #2 Game of the Year
    • 2005 – GameCube Game of the Year
    • 2005 – GameCube Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2005 – GameCube Action Game of the Year
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2005 - GameCube Game of the Year
    • 2005 - Best Film-Based Game of the Year
    • 2005 - Editor's Game of the Year
  • IGN
    • 1 by IGN Reader Reviews

Information also contributed by Big John WV, glidefan, kelmer44, MAT, MegaMegaMan, sealboy6, Tiago Jacques, TonicBH, Xoleras

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Corn Popper.

GameCube added by MegaMegaMan.

Additional contributors: MAT, MegaMegaMan, CalaisianMindthief, Patrick Bregger, piltdown_man, legofan94.

Game added September 14, 2011. Last modified March 11, 2024.