Gaming Target - GameCube: Resident Evil 4

Written by D'Marcus Beatty on July 07, 2004

Hands-On Preview: Evil: New and Improved

The Resident Evil series has always been the poster boy for survival horror games. The Umbrella Corporation and their zombies have terrorized gamers on Playstation and more recently the Gamecube. However, lately the series has been feeling stagnant, even stale. With competition from numerous fronts, most especially the psychological scares of Silent Hill and Fatal Frame, the Resident Evil series would have to freshen up or potentially lose its followers to more innovative survival horror titles.

This is where RE4 comes in. The latest chapter in the RE mythos pretty much throws away everything that players are used to by completely abandoning the Umbrella Corporation and their slow, mindless, shuffling zombies. It also changes the view to follow the protagonist, Leon Kennedy, as he investigates a small, mysterious village filled with hostile humans intent on seeing him dead.

The first thing I noticed about the new RE was the graphics. The game is beautiful, easily one of the most aesthetically pleasing showings at E3. The characters are expertly animated, and the visuals are so realistic that they're effortlessly enthralling. From the moment I picked up the controller, I became Leon Kennedy, and nothing in the presentation shook me from that simple belief.

I began in a forest, making my way to the village. Along the way, you can choose whether or not to free a dog caught in a bear trap, and if you're not careful, you can get caught in the trap yourself. Shortly after freeing the dog, I arrived in the village.

Here is where the game became interesting, proving swiftly and decisively that this chapter of Resident Evil will be far more intense than any that came before. When the villagers realized a stranger had entered the village, an alarm sounded and they came towards me, en masse, all intent on killing me. They came with pitchforks, torches, shovels, and axes, and one overzealous character wearing a burlap sack over his face even attempted to dismember me with a chainsaw. To defend myself, I shot at the attackers utilizing the new laser scope weapon. Using the laser, you can actually aim and target body parts, which all have a different effect on the characters. Shoot their arms, and they drop the weapons they were carrying. Shoot their legs, and they will limp or crawl after you. You can even target heads for instant kills and a gushy explosion of brains and flesh!

In Resident Evil 4, the character models were all varied and convincing, adding an undeniable element of realism to the game. The A.I. also added to this feeling, as my foes all acted realistically, ganging up on me and even retreating if necessary.

There is also the inclusion of the context sensitive Action button which allows Leon to do a number of things that were only dreamed of before in the RE universe. Using the A button, Leon can kick zombies that get too close, knock over ladders that the enemies use to reach him, dive in and out of windows, and even free the aforementioned dog from the bear trap.