Hello, welcome back to another, and infrequent, text-based beating to your eyes and patience. I’m Surge, also known as [insert preferred Moyai here]. Like a lot of people, I have played the hit series Resident Evil; like a smaller group of people, my first ever RE title was Resident Evil 4, arguably the best one, and inarguably a landmark title in gaming. It, followed shortly after by Gears of War, made significant innovations that created the standard for 3rd Person Shooters going forward. It’s a shame Shinji Mikami never got to see the influence RE4 had on the gaming world, poor guy killed himself with a chainsaw after the PS2 port…
Anyways, RE4 was the first M-rated game I had ever completed start-to-finish and it made me realize: brutal, bloody violence in video games is awesome. It has a very special place in my heart, it was my entrance into officially getting into gaming; the worst, most expensive hobby that’s filled with the most obnoxious, annoying and detestable vermin I’ve ever had the displeasure of having to acknowledge the existence of. At least I’m not a Nintendo fan. Oh yeah, here’s my review of Resident Evil 4 (2023).
After hearing the dev team behind RE3 Remake would be making 4 Remake, I was as hesitant to the notion of even wanting it. Once Capcom took it back in-house and guaranteed the game will be reimagined and not a 1:1 remake, I was interested but not hyped. Once it arrived, and having watched each trailer several times in succession, I was beyond excited to see what they did to a game that was so substantial to forming my gaming tastes.
Gameplay
Having played the demo, I knew the game felt familiar but different from the original game; the shoot-and-melee strategy was alive and well, the movement felt great, and the parry was a nice addition that could negate damage and offer critical openings if timed perfectly.
On launch day I decided to play on ‘Standard’ difficulty, it implies it is the optimal difficulty for people who haven’t played the original RE4; something told me that it would probably be fine, Hardcore probably just has stronger enemies. As I shredded through enemies and made it to the Castle in a few short sessions I realized how many resources I had, I was surprised that I was so well-equipped for so long, even after boss fights and Ganado-filled gauntlets. I hardly parried because the enemies rarely had a chance to close-in on me. By the time I was midway through the Island, I was entirely annoyed by my lack of resources and the disappointing lack of staggers my guns were offering me. By the end of my first playthrough my impression was, “It feels fun to play, and I want to keep playing. Did I not upgrade my damage enough, or do the pistols just suck now?”
As the final cutscene of my first playthrough played out, Mercenaries was about to release at the end of the week. I easily got S ranks in every level and unlocked the Handcannon without knowing that was the way to get it without doing a fresh Professional run. As I saw the cool unlockable accessories (also Chicago Sweeper), and their requirements, I started reflecting on the parts of the game that annoyed me a lot to get through. At the time of editing this review, I have played through the game a total of 4 times and have only beaten it legitimately once; I have used HC, Sweeper, or Cat Ears in every other run.
I do not find the gun play as rewarding or fun as the original. I have not cared to learn parrying, or do any of the dev-provided challenge runs. Fighting Krauser really highlights how fun the parrying can be, I can’t help but feel pistols and their stagger potential were nuked from orbit so the enemies have a chance to rush you and offer the opportunity to parry. Every other weapon class feels satisfying to use, including the knife; it’s a new game with a new gameplay meta to master, I suppose I just don’t care enough to learn it like I did in the original RE4.
Visuals
The original RE4 came to the GameCube in 2005, nearly 20 years ago, to say the remake is graphically improved is entirely selling it short. RE Engine once again powers a beautiful game full of icky monsters and juicy gore. The characters are 3D scans of actual people, which leads to the cast being truly realized and life-like. Leon looks tired, Luis looks shady, and Ashley is very cute; everyone else is very much a realistically rendered version of their previous incarnation. Gore looks great and tentacle-y, and the monsters feel more present and intimidating than ever before, the El Gigante feels like you’re an insect trying to avoid being swatted by an absolutely massive beast.
Materials of clothing, items, and the environment look sharp and interact realistically with light and rain. The only real complaint I have is the loading for all these impressive assets, cutscenes sometimes have textures load in a literal second too late on Series S (and consoles in general, so I read). A lot of camera movement seems to make the game struggle to dictate which assets it can change the LODs of as they exit your view; I moved the camera away from a wall and then right back to it and saw the low-quality texture linger for several seconds before the high quality one pops in its place. It’s a bit more present than it probably should be, but it also feels like it could be remedied with an update fairly easily, the sooner the better.
As a quick aside, I feel as if they turned down the rain too much after the ‘controversy’ it had. It was absolutely too much in the early footage they showed off, but it’s hardly visible in the final game. I’ve played on a 4K HDR 43” television and a 1080p 28” monitor, nothing made the rain more visible.
When compared to the remake, the original RE4 has far more brightly lit areas. The newer game not only uses light to set the mood for an area, it also shows the passage of time, Leon has been in this crazy-ass village all day. Leon arrives in the very early hours of morning when the sky is still a deep blue, as he finishes the village onslaught dawn has completely broken. By the end of the game the long night has ended, and a new sunrise is seen. I enjoy the various shades the sun casts over the early sections, from the aforementioned blue morning trot to the first house, to the dark red hues seen in the fishing village right before the Del Lago fight. The dimmer lighting that rests over a majority of the game, that is meant to fill you with a sense of uncertainty and dread, it would before more effective if the next point was simply more present:
Sound
RE4 Remake has an issue with its sound that is a relatively new one for the series, it’s too quiet. The recent titles have chosen to highlight very specific aspects of their sound design, those being gunshots ringing through the environment, monster noises, and sometimes the music when a boss fight comes along. Other than that, the game is pretty silent other than Leon’s footsteps and breathing. I went back to listen to the game ambiance more attentively and realized that’s exactly the issue; you didn’t really have to listen for the rippling waves of water or the howling of wind in the 2005 release, the environment was louder than any action Leon did, aside from shooting.
The game suffers from a lack of atmosphere, the issue rests solely on the sound. Familiar environments have been built in a photo-realistic art style and are a joy to observe and traverse through. The effort is kneecapped by the quietness of the mixing; it makes it feel like you’re walking through a great UE4 fan recreation of the original village rather than the official remake of it. Silence is a strong tool for horror, as is overbearing loudness and seemingly normal soundscapes. Unfortunately, RE4 Remake utilizes almost none of them frequently. Parts of the game feel too safe as you pass through, there’s no questioning whether or not danger is ahead or right beside you; the sounds of footsteps are all there is to fill the air.
The music is also woefully absent from this title. There were combat themes for all three main areas in the original RE4, they weren’t bombastic or action-y, they were drenched with uncomfortable drones and sound effects that injected tension into every encounter. Even the tracks used to play while you traversed the dirt paths in the village have sounds of low winds echoing through the mountains around you; it succeeds in making player feel uneasy no matter if they are on playthrough #1, or permadeath run attempt #5. RE4 Remake certainly has great music, such as the Car Ride/Shooting Gallery theme, the Mine Cart track Thrill Ride, and Salazar’s boss theme are a few of the stand outs to me. There just feels like a woefully low, if any, amount of musical backing to the game outside of mini bosses, bosses, and set piece segments.
Characters
Resident Evil 4 Remake more than makes up for the original’s short comings in terms of its characterization and portrayal of its cast. The protagonists especially have seen a massive upgrade, the antagonists are a bit more of a mixed bag. Aside from 1, possibly 2, performances on the latter’s side there is very little to complain about; it doesn’t seem too hard of a task to update such iconic characters faithfully or substantially, most of the characters just need a bit more to do than just say a couple of lines and die.
Leon is no longer an overly cool and cocky, one-liner delivering, wannabe playboy that feels like a character entirely divorced from his previous, and later, appearances. He is depicted as being entirely unhappy of his forced servitude to the U.S government, he still spews one-liners, but the sass has dried into snark. He is still entirely confident in handling the series of horrors laid out before him, he just has no patience for anyone’s games and insists on getting to the point. The training and lessons Leon has gone through has made him far more resourceful and self-sufficient, it’s nice to see the skills and knowledge he’s acquired between RE2 and 4 be reflected through his actions in the remake. He doesn’t blindly trust strangers who seem to be on his side anymore, illustrated by having Hunnigan do research on Luis right away. Ghosts from his past reappear into his life and mean to disturb both his mission, and life, even more than the plaga-addled crazies of the village; regardless of these wrenches being thrown at him, he marches on with the same conviction he had when he was a rookie cop over his head in a zombie-infested police department. Leon hasn’t changed as much he insists he has throughout the game.
Ashley has also seen a great improvement to her characterization. Simply a young damsel to be saved in the original game, she quickly entrusts her life to Leon after hearing he is working for her father, George (GG EZ)W Bush. In the remake she doesn’t entirely trust Leon, but, due to lack of any better alternatives, is forced to take him at his word that he only wants to help get home. The hesitation makes sense when you realize the last blonde-haired American man she saw kidnapped her and brought her to a bug-worshipping cult in rural Spain. One trust-fall later and she is committed to staying glued to his hip, though clearly scared and overwhelmed by the insanity of her situation, Ashley proves capable of overcoming fear and pushing through the nightmare with Leon. Ashley even saves a trapped Leon this time around, her segment has shifted from ‘I need to get back to Leon’ to ‘Leon needs my help’ in tone and empowers the character in a way that isn’t a writer putting a pistol in her hand and saying, “She’s strong now, see?” Her progression in the story takes her from a frightened woman that just wants to go home, to a more confident one that playfully proposes the idea of teaming up with Leon as super agents to protect America. It’s a progressive building of their relationship, and of Ashley’s feelings for Leon; it makes the modified proposal she gives him in the last cutscene feel more natural.
Luis is a vastly improved character. In the 2005 release Luis lies and says he was a cop in Madrid before becoming a good-for-nothing lady’s man. Then says he saw a T-Virus sample in his local police department laboratory. Leon never questions it and trusts him completely. The remake breaks the mystery around him pretty early on, learning about his past actually helps cement a proper dynamic between Luis and Leon. He’s witty and plucky, which juxtaposes his exhausted face and regretful eyes, he’s a shifty man just trying to do what little good he can.
Ada is as mysterious as ever, she has a slightly new dynamic with Leon, in the way of wanting him to essentially abandon his current mission and run away with her, she seems to see the burden and regrets that weigh on him. Ada hasn’t changed much after that: She keeps her distance from him but offers information to assist his mission, only coming face-to-face with our rookie super cop when she absolutely needs to. It’s been said to death by this point, but her voice actress isn’t all that impressive; she didn’t deserve weirdo dipshits online harassing and threatening her over a fucking video game performance. Fucking losers.
Major Jack Krauser was given more to his character as well in the remake. Rather than being a completely random character that shows up in a cutscene with Saddler, and then surprising everyone by being former partners with Leon, he is established in the beginning cutscene as someone who our main character trained with as he was forced into his new career. His grizzled and scarred face lets you know he’s the expert that our baby-faced protagonist was the protégé to. Their dynamic gives validity to Krauser’s confidence in brazenly confronting Leon, his student is an incredible soldier, but one he knows everything about. His lust for power is similar to Wesker’s, but the difference between the two is their career paths; Wesker was a scientist for Umbrella and most likely knows far more about the viruses he’s pumping into himself whereas Krauser is a government operative-turned-mercenary who will take a body-warping parasite from a cult in Spain for a power boost. This isn’t to say Krauser is incompetent, he is just out of his depth and blinded by his infatuation with strength.
Mendez was just the big bald guy that was the last boss you fought before the castle segment. He didn’t really seem to have any other importance other than whooping Leon’s ass on occasion and giving an eyeball to get through a gate. In the 2023 title, Mendez is more clearly trusted by Saddler and in charge of the village. He injects Leon with Las Plagas after knocking him out, something Saddler had done by his zealots after restraining Leon and Luis in the original game. For such an overwhelming force to be a mere dutiful servant to another, the top of the food chain must be even more dangerous. Though not entirely a fleshed-out character, Mendez’s role in Saddler’s ranks is clear and his priestly occupation gives him a flavor of uniqueness that wasn’t there before. I wish his line delivery was a bit more forceful, but other than that, another nice improvement.
Salazar and Saddler are a bit more divisive in terms of their remake portrayals.
Salazar is noticeably more toned down compared to his original incarnation. He was an unhinged prankster that clearly loved using traps and hordes of zealots to sic on Leon, constantly taunting our hero as he blasted his way through the opulent castle; he only ever changed his behavior after being ‘tricked’ by Leon after dropping him into a spike pit. In the remake, Salazar is less playful and more sour towards Leon, seeing him as more of a nuisance rather than a plaything. He sadistic nature is still present, and highlighted greatly through obtainable notes, it simply lacks the childish glee the original Salazar had while inflicting woe on his ‘guests.’ He is also more overtly subservient to Saddler than in the 2005 title, where he seemed left to his own devices by the cult leader. He feels better integrated with the story now, it’s just a shame he and Leon he and Leon are missing some of their most iconic scenes from the original game. I miss the hat, but his new voice and delivery is much more compelling and achieves a true villain vibe, rather than ‘weird albino castle goblin with big bug bodyguards.’
Saddler has very clearly changed the most out of everyone in the cast. He is much more of a cult leader now, constantly using religious verbiage and touting the glory of the Las Plagas constantly. He truly believes infecting the world with these parasites will bring a holy utopia to humanity, his fanaticism feels as genuine as it is absurd. In the original 2005 title, Saddler is clearly the leader of the cult, but his personality and way of speaking betray his religious robes right away. His motivation for infecting humanity with Las Plagas is just to have the control, it seems. Much like Salazar, Saddler loses several memorable scenes with Leon, but unlike Salazar, his personality has not been preserved. Though the threat he poses to the world feels far more significant and realized in the remake, it came at the cost of everything that made him memorable as a villain. The only thread I can think of that they share is their uncaring attitude towards their confidants Mendez and Salazar, though remake’s attitude is more implied than stated; 2005 Saddler, after hearing Salazar is dead, had a reaction similar to saying, “Yeah, well that’s how it goes,” while 2023 Saddler didn’t even acknowledge Salazar’s death, it gave a sort of, “Such is the way this path takes us,” energy. Original Saddler is a villain, remake Saddler is an antagonist, it’s not hard to see why people prefer the former more.
Story
Resident Evil 4 Remake unsurprisingly has the same story beats and premise as the original GameCube game: Leon, now a certified government-funded badass, is tasked with saving the President’s daughter after she is mysteriously kidnapped. The search takes him to a rural village in Spain where he is escorts are quickly killed, leaving him alone and severely outnumbered by a population of unhinged killer villagers. Leon and Ashley are suddenly pawns in a cult’s conquest to infect all of humanity with a mind-controlling parasite, they must get rid of the freeloading bugs in their chests as it rapidly grows faster than the stack of bodies our protagonist piles up.
The primary difference between the two games is the writing, things are a lot more cohesive and thought out this time around. You would hope so, it can’t be too difficult to write a better script than one that was drafted in roughly two ½ weeks by Shinji Mikami. The main focus of the title was the gameplay, believe it or not. The nearly 20 years in between these games proved ample time to iron out all the kinks and inconsistencies in the narrative.
The biggest improvement is how Los Iluminados feels more like a multi-tiered organization, rather than a segregated group that has a top dog commanding their own pack of attack hounds. Mendez infecting Leon with a Plaga, rather than Saddler having his robed goons do it, is a simple change that shows that their zealous leader entrusts the towering priest to handle the happenings in the village. Mendez, as well as Salazar, also have more dialogue that references Saddler and their religious leader and Las Plagas being integral to their shared ambition.
In the 2005 release, Mendez just felt like a large guy that whooped your ass until you sawed him in half, Salazar felt like a bat-shit crazy bridge troll that was given too much power to torture people. They were meant to be subservient to Saddler but never really gave the impression that they actually had his confidence, which is only highlighted more by Saddler’s flippant reaction to Salazar’s death.
On the topic of 2005 Saddler, he doesn’t feel like a parasite worshipping fanatic, he comes off as a conman who came into knowledge of Las Plagas, used the guise of a religious leader to gain the population’s trust, and then inject Plaga eggs into them to make them wholly servile to him as their mining operations chugged along. His plan is to infect the President and then control the entire world eventually with Las Plagas, but to what end? He just sort of seems like he’s doing it for the joy of being villainous. The iconic parts of his personality are gone in the remake, but his genuine threat to humanity is far more emphasized, it’s a trade I’m willing to accept.
Luis being more present in the game is wonderful, his history of being a researcher for Umbrella finally brings a bit of nuance to the many faces that worked for the company. His story is a redemption arc; rather than just helping Leon and Ashley because they’re infected by a parasite he helped study, he wants to help Leon in an act of atonement for the tragedy of Raccoon City. His level of involvement with the incident isn’t entirely clear but knowing that he contributed to such an atrocity clearly haunts Luis all these years later. Leon is one of the few faces that made it out of the city alive, he’s a living reminder of what was lost inside a mushroom cloud; to Luis, risking his life for Leon and Ashley isn’t the right thing to do, it’s the only thing truly worth doing. His deal with Ada muddies this narrative a bit, he knows the potential of Las Plagas but is willing to sell it to a buyer whom he does not know the motivations of; trading over the Plaga sample will guarantee him a ride out of Spain, he doesn’t care to stop Los Iluminados or their plan because that goes against his self-preservation. Luis isn’t a perfect man, but he wanted to change, by the end he stuck his neck out for people who he didn’t stand to gain from. People can change.
Krauser does not work for Wesker in the remake, which also severs him from Ada. The decision to do this is a benefit to his character, he now has a more personal stake in his mission when he confronts Leon whereas in the original, he is fighting Leon out of obligation to not fail Wesker. Both versions of the character obsess about power, but only remake Krauser has any form of writing to justify why he seeks it. The teacher-student angle is a more compelling dynamic that them just being former partners, it ends with Leon having to witness the end of another mentor’s life as he continues down a path of hardship alone. They are two sides of the coin.
Closing
Capcom has been making an effort to realign and establish the official canon of Resident Evil in the recent remakes, RE4 Remake is absolutely their best effort so far. It preserves the original story while vastly improving its cast, reimagines the original layout of its environments so they’re familiar yet fresh, and offers updated controls that provide a fast and frantic experience that is highly replayable and customizable.
I have entirely burned myself out on the game at this point, having clocked in 66 ½ hours in the first 3 weeks. I achieved S+ on Professional, blasted through Assisted in under 4 hours for fun, unlocked all the bonus items except Primal Knife, and S-Ranked every Mercenaries level. This game has absorbed all my free and I’m not complaining about it one bit, I have come to a realization, however:
I don’t like playing the game above Standard difficulty. I like it when my guns stun enemies and feel powerful. I haven’t played on Hardcore yet, but after seeing multiple people complain about the difficulty, I don’t really care to. I will never attempt a ‘legitimate’ run of Professional because the ‘Perfect Parry Only’ modification is a restriction that limits your only genuine form of defense, seeing how you can’t rely on your guns to stagger enemies reliably, or at all, really.
If the enemies were more aggressive like in Professional, Standard would be the perfect difficulty.
I’d leave a number ranking here, along with a small list of pros and cons, but my full review will not fit in the Newgrounds character limit. I will post the second portion really soon, along with my numbered review score. I talk about two videos that pertain to RE4 Remake. Can you guess which ones??
Stay Tuned for:
Surge Watched RE4 Remake [Video Whinging, SCENARIO B]