Capcom's modern classic is unleashed on PC, and very little has changed.
Unless you've been hibernating in a PC bunker for the last two years, you've probably played this one already. It hit GameCube in early 2005 and blasted onto the PS2 later that year with a deflated price point and extra content. Now it's 2007, Resident Evil 4 is on PC, it's got all the added goodies of the PS2 and the same addictive gameplay. Unfortunately, Capcom forgot to add mouse support, upgraded textures, any kind of scalable graphics interface, or anything new beyond the PS2 version.
That being said, RE4 is still a great game. As Leon Kennedy you head to Europe in search of Ashley, the U.S. President's daughter. Craziness ensues as you discover a town of not quite zombified villagers, robed cultists, and all sorts of other monstrosities and curiosities. Resident Evil 4 wowed gamers when it first came out with its willingness to buck many of the stagnant thumbprints of previous Resident Evil games. It introduced a new control scheme to make shooting and maneuvering less of a migraine, put a larger emphasis on action, both in number of opponents and twitch reaction sequences, and told an interesting tale. It still, however, forces you to stop and aim before you shoot, a mechanic that I, personally, still don't understand. It must be written somewhere in the cosmic expanse that "Thou shalt not make a Resident Evil game where you can shoot from the hip." It's a poor mechanic for close-up fighting, and it's still in this one.
Here's the main caveat with the PC version: you can't configure any of the controls to the mouse. If you're without a gamepad, such as an Xbox 360 controller or whatever else, you shouldn't play this game. With no mouse support, you're forced to aim with the keyboard. If you should choose the take such a route, the amount of cursing, self-inflicted injuries, and noise complaints filed by neighbors the ensuing frustration will cause is no fault of ours. We can't quite figure out why Capcom chose not to support the mouse, especially considering Lost Planet, the Xbox 360 original they're bringing over soon, does feature mouse support. They're clearly capable of doing it, they just didn't. Using a gamepad solves the control problem, though the instant action sequences can be disorienting. At various points during the game you'll be prompted to hit two buttons at once to avoid some deadly threat, such as a moving car, swinging blade, or falling axe. Whereas on the GameCube and PS2 these prompts corresponded to the buttons (be it A and B or Circle and Square), the gamepad only shows up as "1" or "2." Thankfully the prompts tend to be displayed onscreen in positions corresponding to their layout on the gamepad, but even late in the game it'll still feel awkward.
Framerates do remain smooth, however, and there's a lot more to like about the visuals. Enemy designs and animations are fantastic, particularly once you start fighting the painted cultists and giant insects later on. Boss designs can be truly harrowing too, overflowing with gristle, gore, and metallic spikes. Assuming you haven't played this before, some of the boss fights are so unnerving you might even forget about the dungeon wall that looks like construction paper behind them. Amazingly, the game somehow supports a 1920 x 1200 resolution. We can only assume there was some sort of divine intervention to prompt this.
Like in the previous versions, the sound is terrific. In gaming, there's little more satisfying than a booming shotgun blast splattering three heads at once, while other enemies spin and slink to the ground in pain. Thundering weapons effects and eerie enemy howls and chants bring the world of Resident Evil 4 to vibrant life. The voice acting, as seems to be a tradition in the franchise, still sounds forced, like a golf ball through a stirring straw.
Yet another element that didn't survive the port in good shape is the UI. It's been included in a horribly low resolution; a pang of visual discomfort you'll be assaulted with every time you open the menu. You'll see it in the bottom right corner of the screen as well, your health ammo display; a constantly visible, blurry circle adding to the sizable portfolio of things done wrong or not at all for the PC version.
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