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)

Leon will own your soul

The Good
I liked the button press sequences, the use of the action feature, the stunning visuals are enough to make you drool. I loved the weapon selection and the really cool unlockables.

The Bad
The game was a bit too short, the story gap between RE4 and past Resident Evil games is frustrating, and the game has some questionable enemy designs.

The Bottom Line
RE4 is a fantastic survival horror ride about a special agent (Leon s Kennedy) on a top secret mission to save the presidents daughter, after a short investigation Leon discovers some very disturbing facts that get darker as the game progresses. Its a fresh start for RE with lots of action, puzzle solving and an arsenal of weapons fit for an army. Be sure to check this game out!

GameCube · by Shaun Clark (2) · 2005

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

Horror, Action and Survival have evolved.

The Good
The first thing you notice about the game is the graphics. The immense detail on everything is astounding, and you'll just simply love the game for it. Voice acting is good, although some moments 'lacking' (that's the only way I can explain it), however, this only seemed to occur on one occasion so it didn't really affect the overall acting. Thank god.

The nest thing (which is hard to miss, considering that it's the main focus of the game) is the horror, action and survival. It takes everything good from the past games, makes them better then adds more. The scare and horror aspects are great, with things that create a lasting effect. For instance, the village. I play the game numerous times just for that segment of the game. It's great how you can go around blasting the locals, or make a stand and line them up like a shooting range, or you can lock yourself in a house and let them all invade from the doors and windows using ladders and various weapons which really will make your heart pound as they all seek your blood. Oh yeah, be sure to stay away from that chainsaw maniac (the main reason your heart starts to speed up).

The story is simplistic, but more than enough for you to still be interested and play right up to the end. For extra replay value, there is a mini-game in which you go around as any character and fight for survival, in an addicting and exciting way. After completion of the game, there's also a side-quest from the view of a different character which will add a few minutes to its game life.

For further in-game extras to keep you interested, you can kill for money and buy, sell and upgrade your items. Also, the shooting range mini-game is quite fun with collectible rewards for your efforts.

The Bad
The only thing I felt lacking was the fact that, whilst the Resident Evil remake released before this had smooth dark graphics, this installment seems to have some things 'rough'. For instance, the ground, the trees and some other things seem to be rough, whereas the previous game had its things more smooth. You tend not to notice though as only a few buildings and items have this 'rough look'.

Whether this 'rough' look was intentional or not, I don't know, but I though I'd state it anyway.

The Bottom Line
This is a huge step forward for horror games, and especially the Resident Evil series. Although there is a distinct lack of the undead foe, the villagers and the mutant creatures make fair replacements. This game is probably the killer app of the Game Cube (killer app = best game of the console / best game of its time / a game that made the console stand out). This game, simply put, deserved all of "the game of the year" awards that it won and was nominated for. If you love horror, or action games, you WILL buy this game.

GameCube · by Reborn_Demon (127) · 2011

[ 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.