Resident Evil 4 Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Resident Evil 4 (Xbox Series X)

Friday, April 7, 2023.
by Chad Goodmurphy

Eighteen years ago, gaming was blessed with one of the best survival horror games of all-time, with that being Resident Evil 4. This occurred despite the game apparently having had a troubled development period, wherein four different versions were proposed and bandied about. The right decision was made, though, because the final product didn’t release with a whimper – it launched with the audible and vivacious roar of a chainsaw, and one that wasn’t going to quit until its evil user was put down for good.

I’ll never forget when this game released, because it marked one of the best and most memorable gaming moments of my life. A friend – he being the only one of us who owned a GameCube, as I was just a PlayStation 2 guy at the time – brought his console over and told me that I had to see, play and generally witness the greatness that was Resident Evil 4. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I bought my own console and a copy of the game, because I absolutely needed to play through it for myself, and own it in general.

As Capcom is known to do, Resident Evil 4 was expanded and brought back more than once in the years that followed. It may have originally released onto GameCube, but PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions followed later that same year. Two years later, it hit PC and Nintendo Wii, before eventually coming to iOS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android and Nintendo Switch in later years. Needless to say, there are a lot of different versions out there, and numerous ways to play it. It’s even likely that you did, unless you were perhaps not born or a little too young at the time.

Fast forward to today and we now have yet another version of Resident Evil 4 to play through. This one is different, though, because it’s not just a port or some sort of remaster. No, we’re talking about a full on remake, which is the talk of the gaming community at this current time. Capcom went back to the beginning and reworked this classic, revitalizing their first action-oriented Resident Evil game for modern day.

For those who’ve yet to play it: Resident Evil 4 centres upon Leon Kennedy, the former star of Resident Evil 2 who’s since undergone special ops training in order to become the biggest badass walking. He’s been sent deep into middle-of-nowhere Spain in search of the President’s daughter, Ashley Graham. Her exact whereabouts is unknown, but she’s been tracked to this dark, overgrown, dilapidated and creepy-as-all-Hell area. Unfortunately for Leon, those who kidnapped her are almost less human than the zombies he dealt with previously, having been infected by a worm like parasite that has turned them vicious and controls their every move.

The end result is a very tense and action-packed experience, wherein one must use their smarts and their wits to defeat numerous cultists, monsters and other unholy variations, including a massive lake monster. It is, perhaps, the best Resident Evil game ever made and, is to some, the best survival horror game ever made. Do I agree with that? No. It’s definitely up there, but I personally enjoyed Dead Space and Silent Hill 2 more. It’s really hard to beat the original Resident Evil 4, though, and that’s still true of this very good remake.

What you need to know most about this remake is that it isn’t 1:1. Things have been changed, updated or even thrown out entirely. For instance, the divisive and annoying U-3 boss has been removed, and others have been altered.

Re4make, as I like to call it, also introduces new enemies who can be a pain in the ass to say the least. There are new Ganado types, including one who carries a massive hammer, which I don’t remember from the original version. They’re also perhaps even more vicious than before; especially during the game’s opening chapters, which can be a real trial by fire. The first time you enter the village they come at you non-stop, and there are other section(s) where the enemies never quit coming until you’ve completed your objective within that area. This can trick those who aren’t paying attention, and really makes for some challenging early battles. In fact, the opening seems harder than it ever was before, even on Normal difficulty.

Before we move on, I need to take a moment to talk about something irritating found within the Resident Evil 4 Remake. Actually, it’s located at the very start, and is found in the difficulty select menu. There, those who pick up and play this updated classic will read that Hardcore mode is for those who finished the original version, whereas the Normal difficulty is for those who haven’t done so before. That’s incredibly misleading, because Normal is far from easy and Hardcore is quite difficult. Those who select it without knowing this are in for quite a challenge, because the core game is more challenging than it was before even on Normal. Maybe Hardcore is best for those who know the original inside and out, and completed it numerous times, but as someone who beat it one and a half times I must say that Normal was more than enough. Hell, there were even chokepoints where I considered dropping the difficulty to the lowest one, but didn’t.

The Resident Evil 4 Remake loves its chokepoints, that’s for sure. At least that’s the case with the early part of the game, which isn’t without its frustration.

This time around, Leon’s knife is more helpful and won’t be the only knife you’ll find or use. Whereas it used to be a last resort type of weapon, one can now utilize the knife to parry enemies. The problem with this new knife mechanic is using it makes it less durable. That’s because, for some dumb reason, Leon’s knife breaks, and breaks somewhat often. As such, you’ll have to spend around 4,000 coins in order to repair it. The same is true of body armor, which can be found later in the game.

You generally won’t need to worry about using a broken knife, though, because there are kitchen – and other types of – basic knives scattered throughout this rural village and the large castle that flanks it. They just happen to take up inventory space, which is limited, and obviously aren’t as good. Knife attacks are beneficial and can come up clutch, with the same being true of Leon’s finishing moves, which allow him to one hit kill dazed enemies using a strong melee attack like a kick.

The aforementioned inventory system is still presented as an attaché case, but pre-order bonuses and in-game purchases can make it look different, and add to its size. This is good, because you’ll find a lot of different things throughout the environment, and will need to store them to the best of your ability. This includes green, yellow and red herbs, first aid spray (which I stocked up on as much as possible because I’m a health conscious wimp), grenades, weapons, gunpowder and both large and small toolkits. The latter three can be combined to craft new ammunition for your weapons.

Resident Evil 4 Remake introduces a new weapon, too, with that being the bolt thrower. It’s basically a silent crossbow that shoots retrievable bolts, which can be helpful for stealthy sections and for conserving ammo. After all, you can pick up every bolt you shoot, provided you haven’t shot them far into the distance. This includes picking them up from walls they’ve become embedded in, or downed enemy corpses.

As is usually the case with this type of game, one won’t have enough inventory space to carry all of the available weapons, even if one collects enough money to buy them all which is doubtful. There are several different pistols, which all have their own perks, a couple of shotguns, a rifle, an SMG and more. Finding the ones that work best for you is key, as is making sure you have enough storage room for them all.

I don’t particularly remember if this was the case with the original version of the game, back in 2005, but you can also use hotkeys to equip items and weapons of choice. Each direction on the d-pad offers two quick equip hotkeys, or whatever you want to call them. You tap once for the one, and double tap in that direction for the other. Needless to say, it was very helpful when it came to quickly switching between weapons and grenades.

Don’t expect to go guns-a-blazing, though, because ammunition is limited here like it is in all survival horror games. The developers have once again done a good job of keeping the player on his or her toes, and always having them worried about running out of something helpful. It’s why I try to hoard – in these games, and in others – as much as possible.

Granted, I feel like I don’t enjoy these types of games as much as I used to, because I’m always worried about whether I’m going to be able to finish them or not. I don’t feel like I’m as good of a gamer as I used to be, due to fatigue and being older, but I can still hold my own. Still, there’s always an underlying anxiety when it comes to challenging games like this. It’s something that was exacerbated by how challenging and sometimes cheap the opening chapters of Re4make were.

Other things to take into consideration include expanded fan favourite mechanics, like the shooting range and its tokens, which can be put into something like a gum machine that spits out figurines. Said figurines can then be attached to Leon’s inventory, adding perks like cheaper knife repairs, extra ammo for a certain gun or something else. The shooting gallery has been expanded and bettered, and there’s a sub-game there as a result.

Of course, the beloved merchant – who loves to call Leon ‘Stranger’ – returns, and is just as important as he was before. He will sell you items, weapons, weapon upgrades and the ability to repair both your knife and your body armor if you’ve found any. You’ll also want to make sure to sell him all of the many treasures you’ll find as you play and explore, with many available to be found by those who really take their time and look for everything.

The merchant also has his own side quests on offer, and those are shown as pieces of paper glued to beams and walls. Completing their tasks – be it something like shooting five different medallions in a certain area, killing all of the rats in a building or something else – will earn you a monetary reward and help with your completion score. You’re graded as you complete each chapter, and for your overall play through as well.

Although you’re able to save at each chapter’s end, it’s also helpful to save whenever you come across a merchant. He’s always got a typewriter near him, and though he sometimes appears almost right after the start of a new chapter saving is never a bad thing in this type of game. There’s more to the typewriters here, too, as they not only allow you to log your progress, but also provide the option to move things to storage or customize your storage with different, perk-giving figurines.

Moving on, many will be happy to hear that Quicktime Events have also been removed from cutscenes. That said, there are times – during combat – where players will have to mash a particular button in order to escape or simply survive.

Some of the changes that were made were for the better, but others are questionable. Certain differences – like the altered bosses – make the game better, but the exacerbated choke points early on do not. This makes me wonder whether just prettying up the original would’ve been a better choice. That’s not to say that this is a bad Remake by any means. I just can’t help but miss the original, and think that I prefer that overall.

It goes without saying, but the presentation facets have also received a facelift and other upgrades, leading to Resident Evil 4 looking the best it ever has. For the most part the game looks quite nice, with strong texture details and really nice lighting. There are some facets that still look a tad dated, though.

The sound design is also better than ever before, but there are some drawbacks. For instance, there’s a new voice actress portraying Ada Wong and she doesn’t fit the role nearly as well as the previous actress did. She’s not awful, but isn’t that good as Ada. That said, it’s not a huge deal and it’s disgusting that people are sending her hate mail, death threats, etc. over it all. That’s sick.

At the end of the day, Resident Evil 4 Remake is a really good return of a classic. It looks better, plays better (especially since Leon can move while he aims and shoots now), and features some appreciated changes. However, it still feels somewhat dated, and doesn’t feel as polished as the Dead Space Remake that came before it. I also question some of the developers’ decisions that made it harder/cheaper and more frustrating early on.

**This review is based on the Xbox Series X version of the game, which we were provided with. We played it on both a Series X and a Series S and had no problems.**

Overall: 8.7 / 10
Gameplay: 8.8 / 10
Visuals: 8.7 / 10
Sound: 8.5 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Resident Evil 4 (Xbox Series X)

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