Cerise Magazine

This is apparently confession time for me. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube edition, to be fair!), like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne before it, was the first game in the long-venerated franchise that I have played. Honestly, I don’t know if I could play the others after playing the fourth Resident Evil game. You get pampered with great controls, a non-broken camera, and incredible (at the time) graphics. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Resident Wii-vil, if you will) is nearly the same game including the Playstation 2 extras, with a much improved control system to boot. Is it worth dropping the budget-conscience $30 to play the same game you played on the ‘Cube and PS2 again? Yes. Yes it is.

A Recap

For those that have yet to play the game a first time, our story follows Leon Kennedy after his rookie cop day in Raccoon City have come to end (if you want to know his background, pick up a copy of the much-praised Resident Evil 2). Since then, Mr. Kennedy has become an expert government agent assigned to bring back the president’s kidnapped daughter, Ashley, from a band of shady Spaniards known as Ganados. Of course, nothing is quite as easy as getting the girl and making a quick get-away, since the Ganados are infested with some kind of supernatural parasite called Los Plagues which makes them killing machines seeking to fork, slash, bite, chainsaw, melt, and possibly tentacle-love Leon–and Ashley too. You cannot forget her, since she’ll be whining her way through most of your adventure–an adventure that includes: encounters with disturbing alien creatures, dastardly villains, a mysterious woman in a red dress, and shadows from Leon’s past. Seriously, it doesn’t get much more Lovecraft-meets-Bruckheimer than that.

Mercenaries

This version of the game includes all of the added features of the PS2 version that were missing in the original Gamecube release. After you beat it, you have the option to play Mercenaries, a mini-game where you can rack up points as some of your favorite Resident Evil characters, such as Leon, Krauser, Ada Wong, Hunk and Wesker. If those names don’t mean anything to you, basically, they’re different faces with different toys and abilities. Mercenaries is incredibly engrossing and always keeps your character moving through four different areas, each of which contains an unending horde of Ganados and includes bosses worth extra points. What you want to do is keep a running total of consecutive kills to get the best score by picking up extra items, extra time, and bonus-time kills (which multiplies your score for a short period of time). This mode of play, honestly, could be its own game. Seriously, Mercenaries is that much fun.

Aside from the main storyline (which is a lot of fun to play through with the added Wii-mote functionality, more on this later) and Mercenaries, there are a couple other play modes to go through. There are two games that include the side character, Ada Wong, where you play as the classy, femme fatale-in-a-red-dress trying to further her goals and understand her role in the (I hesitate to use the word) plot. Both of her games are fairly short, so you can finish them both in a couple of hours. I found them rather dull in comparison to the main game, but with the extras you earn through completion, there are a few perks in completing Ada’s tacked on story elements.

“Ashley, go hide!”

Really though, there is little to say about a game that has already been made and praised time and time again for its brand of style and action. Assuming you haven’t played the two-year-old game, then here’s your chance to play this terrific, survival-horror, third-person shooter in a more intuitive fashion. Resident Evil 4 has a tense and exciting atmosphere that always keeps gamers guessing, riveted, and leaves them wanting more. The game is definitely a shooter, but interesting elements are added in to keep the gameplay feeling fresh and innovative. Through part of the game, you’ll escort Ashley. Thankfully her AI works with you instead of against you. The experience is pretty solid, save for a few annoying Ashley-isms you’ll work around. You can issue her simple commands to wait, move, or hide, depending on the environment. Bosses and enemies throughout the game are tough, but create interesting mechanics and quick-time event situations that provide unique and unexpected gameplay. The gunfights remain excellent and are very taut and satisfying. The game doesn’t just throw wave after wave of mutated creatures in your path, but instead escalates the tension through clever situations and juxtapositions. The endless hordes still exist in some areas, but the pacing in the game is excellent and you never feel bogged down with the action.

A variety of weapons is at your disposal including upgrades so it keeps things interesting. Leon also has a knife that he can use to slice through enemies in close combat. Really, nothing has changed from the Gamecube version except the controller… so how does it feel?

The Port

Resident Evil 4 transfers over to the Wii perfectly. All the graphics look the same as they did on the Gamecube (got that Microsoft?), which you can take with a grain of salt. I know, I know, graphics do not make the game but Resident Evil 5 shows just how amazing this game could look. That being said though, the controls have gotten a great boost in quality and have truly benefited from the Wii’s system that allows for a point, click, and shoot methodology. Using the Wiimote you can now aim intuitively while holding down the B button and hit the A button to shoot. This makes it much simpler to run in, target a part (legs, anyone?), shoot, and quickly switch to Leon’s knife, which now auto-targets when you wiggle the Wiimote. Alternately, you can use the context-sensitive kicking/suplex moves (pressing the A button when the game prompts) to conserve ammo along with the knife. This adds a level of strategy that was present in the ‘Cube version, but less exposed due to the hassle of using dual analog sticks for aiming. If I had to complain about the controls for the Wii version though, it would have to be the reloading. Wiggling the Wiimote, which activates the knife, is also the mechanism for aiming, with the difference being you hold down the B button to perform the latter. You can see the frantic problems this can lead to, can’t you? “RELOAD RELOAD! NO! DON’T KNIFE. You jerk. Argh. Leon. C’mon!” It will happen.

My only real complaint about Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition is the graphics. The Wii just isn’t quite a great graphics powerhouse like the PS3 or Xbox 360, so the game still has the same textures and minor graphical anomalies of the Gamecube version, and the Separate Ways game has the sharp jaggies of Playstation 2 port. You should know you are buying a port for the system, and not one that takes advantage of the Wii’s supposedly better graphics processing, but we should stop settling for this. The problem of Wii ports, though, is best left to a different article and not this review. So to bring it back, another small issue is that there are parts of the story that are ripe with the cheesiest dialog (think 80’s buddy/action films). I suppose it is good to see some semblance of that era alive in today’s entertainment… but maybe not, depending on who you are.

As I have been saying, the game really is the same as it was two years ago, graphics included. The gameplay feels easier and more natural on the Wii though, and if you loved the other versions… you’ll probably love this one more. This game made me believe that the Wii is seriously capable of providing a game that is adult in nature and benefits from the quirky new controller. If you haven’t played it, pick it up… it’s worth it. If you have played it, it’s $30… it’s still worth it.

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Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

October 2007 Issue

Features

Interviews

Articles

Gamer Stories

Reviews

Odds 'n Ends

A Recap

Mercenaries

“Ashley, go hide!”

The Port