Yesterday, I finally spent the chance to play more of Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, which came out about a month ago. Some regard Resident Evil 4 as the best game of the last generation and I definitely agree that it's quite amazing. With the Wii controls, better graphics than previous versions, and all the Extra bonus content, the Wii Edition proves itself as the definitive copy of the game.
Man, I remember it like yesterday.. I had just moved into the new place, I made frequent posts on my blog.. That Tuesday, I stopped by Shopko looking for Resident Evil, but it was no where to be seen. I got to my car and called a few places, all which indicated they would receive the game the next day.
After work the next day, I wasn't really in any rush. I went out to Token Creek and played a round before stopped off at East Towne's Best Buy where I came into quite a shock. "Hey my friend, do you guys get in Resident Evil 4 on the Wii?" "We certainly did, consumer. We had this entire rack over here filled up," the blue shirted employee explained as he gestured over to the now empty rack in the Wii section. "guh!? You guys are sold out?" "undoubtedly"..
Crap.. I didn't take into account the popularity of this game. It must've been advertised well. "ummm... well, does your West Towne store have any copies?" A few brief moments of checking the computer revealed 3 copies remaining at the Best Buy near my house. "Hot damn! Thanks for the tip," as i rushed out of the store and into my car.
I guess this is what passes for adrenaline pumping, emotion driven task completion in my somewhat mundane boring life.
Thanks to the excruciating slow and dumb driving by the good people of Madison, WI, I did eventually reach the West Best Buy. I frantically searched on the game shelves but found nothing until I checked one of the end-caps. Huzzah.. It would seem that I have acquired the last copy at this location. Ahhh.. that's a good feeling.
Anywho.. I spent the rest of the night playing it. And also a good chunk of the weekend. I beat the game once, and then proceeded through a second time earning money for the infinite rocket launcher. I stopped at the point when I finally got it.
But as the week began, I got caught up in other things, and never really got back to it.
Resident Evil 4 is quite an amazing game and makes brilliant use of the Wii controls. I find myself comparing this port against the other greatest game on the gamecube to receive a Wii port: Zelda - Twilight Princess. I hated the Wii port of Twilight Princess. The two things I absolutely hate about the Zelda Wii controls is un-precise sword controls and no camera control. Both these are absolute non-issues for Resident Evil 4.
The Wii Controls add an amazing amount of attacking precise you use guns, rather than a sword. Shooting a "Zombie" in the head could not be simpler.
The lack of camera is a non-issue because the game operate on a fixed camera to begin with, which lends itself perfectly for aiming and firing.
The gameplay was quite solid to begin with, but adding the extra precision of the Wii mote aiming brings it to a whole new level. It's tough going back to FPSes on the 360 after playing Resident Evil 4.
This is the first time i've played Resident Evil 4, so it's not easy to draw the distinction between liking the game in the first place, or liking the game on the Wii. So many people out there love Zelda on the Wii, but I think thats because they never got a chance to play the gamecube version. When you fall in love with something, you grow loyalty towards that first initial experience and alike subsequent experiences won't measure up.
Some CAGers say they're in love with the Wii version of Resident Evil, despite playing through the Gamecube or Playstation 2 versions, but I'm not so sure I would be. I have enough games I haven't played yet, to start playing a new version of something i had.
In that respect, I'm quite glad to have put off RE4 until now. I'm also glad I played through Gamecube Twilight Princess before the Wii version. Twilight Princess Wii is so gimmicky.
I do love this game quite a bit, and as mentioned earlier, I'm not the only one. There are several things that bug me about the actual game design that would never have me saying, "greatest game ever".. or even "greatest resident evil ever"
The gameplay, itself, is top notch. Maybe that's why everyone is all about this game. Resident Evil was in serious need of a gameplay revamp. How stupid is a game where you can't even tell what exactly you're aiming at. This problem reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Solid 1. For MGS2, they added in a first person view when firing your gun. MGS1 did have some first person views, which is easily accomplished when all of your levels are 3D. Resident Evil held onto the pre-rendered backgrounds a little too long, and in typical Capcom fashion pumped out a good 2 or 3 sequels before thinking about what they were doing.
That's all water under the bridge now, right? Resident Evil 4 feels like a completely new game. So much so, in fact, it doesn't even feel like a Resident Evil game. They made an action game out of an adventure series. They even split up the game into bite-sized level and sub-level chunks. It's kinda like mario, you begin on stage 1-1.
Instead of finding yourself in an expansive area with some doors locked and other doors unlocked and you find keys to these doors, and solve puzzles to open others... You find yourself on a linear path for point A to point B with very little exploration.. it's all about killing the zombies.
For a Resident Evil standpoint, it is disappointing. You can't really take it at face value either with the number 4 in the title. It's part of a series. Being so, it should follow more than just the overall story, it should follow the feel as well.
Honestly, I still think the best Resident Evil is #2, with #1 as second. Resident Evil 4 is amazing, but it's a Leon side-story.
Why are Resident Evil games getting more ridiculous? Code Veronica made Claire into some kind of super hero, and the main boss was a cross-dressing psychopath. In Resident Evil 4, Leon is also some kind of super hero was precise knife-handling skills and fast reflexes. Does initial contact with Zombies make you that much better? I suppose, you'd probably work out quite a bit for fear of the next impending Zombie disaster.
meh..
Part of what makes Resident Evil 1 and 2 so eerie is how down to earth you feel. You feel like regular people trying to survive. Regular people with guns, of course.
I hope Resident Evil 5 really brings back what it means to find yourself in a weird mysterious place in the heart of a Zombie outbreak. An actual entire town would be fantastic.
Now don't get me wrong.. if you haven't played Resident Evil 4, definitely pick it up. It is one of best games of the last generation, and, currently, is the best game on the Wii. You will not find a better, more affordable complement to your Wii library.
In fact, you probably won't find it because Stores have been sold out since that initial release.
Thanks to Resident Evil 4, I cannot wait for Metriod Prime ^_^