Platform:  PlayStation 4

Developer: Capcom

Publisher:  Capcom

Release Date: August 30th, 2016

Genre:  Survival Horror

Nerd Rating: 6 out of 10

As I prepare myself to watch as much E3 coverage as I can, register for 2017 Fall classes, and maintain my mental stability at work, I’m challenging myself to play more games to balance out everything. While on a recent trip to GameStop I picked up the target of this review: Resident Evil 4. However, I’m not referring to the original game for the GameCube, it’s a remaster in HD for the PS4!

For those who haven’t played it, Resident Evil 4 follows federal agent Leon S. Kennedy in his pursuit of Ashley Graham. Ashley is the president’s daughter who was kidnapped by a cult, known only as Los Illuminados, and taken to a remote village in Spain. Leon must avoid traps, crazed villagers (Los Ganados), and colossal monsters to rescue Ashley, and defeat the insane cultists.

When I was a kid this game terrified me to no end. I would pass the controller to my dad to play so I could just watch in horror! Nowadays, I’m the one playing the parts that my lovely girlfriend is too scared to play. Currently, we take turns playing by switching off each time one of us dies. And believe it or not, she’s actually better than me at this one… Therefore, I’ve been able to experience this remake as both a player and a spectator which has made it easier to spot things I would usually miss such as the occasional fps drop. But we’ll talk about the problems with this remaster in a minute.

These little dudes just want to play….a really deadly game of tear the people..

Anyways, this edition of RE4 is just as amazing as the original. Although, the graphics have been updated to a stunning 1080p and the frame rate is set at a steady 60fps. Environments are still spooky, yet gorgeous, bad guys have their horrifically mutated expressions, and the visual effects are all timed perfectly. Cutscenes are more crisp than their predecessors and the action moves much more quickly. One thing that has always fascinated me about Resident Evil 4 is the variety of enemies players must face. The grotesque, bloody inhabitants of the village are more defined; especially when the parasitic creatures residing inside the villagers Los Plagas) rear their ugly heads.

Though the graphics have been dramatically upgraded, they’re not without their flaws.

My only gripes are these: the frame rate suffers a drop to around 30fps during reload animations, and it shows. The other complaint is that some textures were left in their original… glory(?). You’d think that if a developer were to release a remaster, they’d update everything and not simply the characters and environments. Either way, the ground looks like it did on the original game, there’s shimmer issues with some textures, and there’s not much anti-aliasing this time around, but what can ya do?

Let me make this clear: the game still looks gorgeous, just not as gorgeous as it could have.

That being said, the game is still near perfection. Compared to the old GameCube version, which NerdBacon author InfiniteKnife reviewed here, this version is not incredibly different from a gameplay standpoint. As I mentioned before, things seem to move a little faster than previous versions. The over the shoulder camera angle (which Resident Evil 4 pioneered) makes for an interesting perspective when fending off hordes of zombies. It’s easy to get used to the controls, although they’re as clunky as they were originally. To me, this adds a layer of challenge to the final product. After all, it’s a survival horror game!

At this moment, the player realized he should have made Ashley wait outside..

One of the most challenging aspects of this game is the combat. Making sure Leon shoots the bad guys in the correct places (i.e. the face) to conserve ammo is key to keeping Leon and Ashley alive. Initially the game starts off slow, only throwing one or two enemies at Leon at a time. But as he gets closer and closer to saving Ashley, hordes of enemies come rushing at the duo. Ashley adds another level of difficulty to gameplay as she’s completely defenseless and is easy to shoot on accident. Despite this, it adds to the survival horror aspect of Resident Evil 4. Luckily, Capcom was nice enough to drop Merchants (obligatory Merchant shout out) and save points and regular intervals, so save early and save often!

So there you have it. My take on Resident Evil 4 is this: it’s like running into an old friend who you expect to be doing well, but when you see them face to face you realize not much has changed. Let me shout it from the rooftops that it does not mean this is at all a bad game. In fact, I would recommend this game to anyone who wanted a great game to play, no matter their game preference. It’s amazing, simply put. I just feel like Capcom should have taken just a little more time to polish the game all around. So the low score of 6 out of 10 isn’t from a lack of content, it’s from a lack of effort to be a truly awesome remaster. Nevertheless, please play this game if you never have. It’s under $20 at GameStop right now and it’s worth every penny!