An unbelievably robust particle effects system tests the very limits of gore. Villagers' heads explode in chunky mists of blood and guts when you snipe them from a distance. Blood sprays in every direction when the chainsaw man slices Kennedy's head off. Rain falls realistically from the sky and splatters on the environments. Flames rise and sway inside lit torches, shimmering the ground in light. Smoke rises convincingly from burned bodies. Capcom's attention to detail is unmistakable.
And then there are the environments. Somehow, Resident Evil 4 looks every bit as dazzling and detailed as its pre-rendered counterparts, and this is a 3D game. The locales are not only exceptionally varied, but also overwhelmingly stylized and gushing with the little extras that go a long way. After the sun dips behind the distant mountains and darkness blankets the local village, the landscape goes black, temporarily illuminated by bright flashes of lightning. Villagers approach nearby, carrying torches that cast light unto their surrounding pathway. It looks so fabulous and so eerily perfect that it's difficult to believe it's running in real-time, and at a steady 30 frames per second.
Later, when Leon enters a dungeon area drowned in lava, a heat wave distorts the character's vision so that everything looks ever so slightly warped. Envision the lava world in Wind Waker, and now imagine that it looks several times better. A true showpiece. When Leon approaches a gargantuan sized castle, a group of monks use a catapult to hurl a projectile at him. It crashes into a nearby stone structure and explodes in real-time. We kid you not when we state that the explosion is so rich and believable that other developers would simply not have been able to do it in-engine.
Closing Comments
Wow. I had some pretty high expectations for Resident Evil 4 and to my complete surprise the title actually exceeded them. This is simply the best survival horror game ever created. In fact, had it come out in 2004, it would have been my pick for Game of the Year.
With Resident Evil 4, Capcom has successfully -- triumphantly -- taken the franchise to the next level. It's really emphasized the "survival" in survival horror, too. You're oftentimes on the run for your life. And villagers, much smarter than any zombie, team up, dodge bullets, and do other nasty things that I will let you discover on your own. Then there are the boss fights, which are unexpectedly brilliant. This game is extremely scary, and that fear is intensified by the best graphics and some of the most eerie audio on Nintendo's console.
When you add in the new camera and action systems, as well as Leon's excellent new analog targeting function, you have a completely transformed survival horror experience. One that eclipses everything before it. Indeed, even after 20-plus hours of non-stop thrills, you won't want to put the controller down.
You don't own Resident Evil 4. It owns you.
An absolute must-have.
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