Resident Evil 4: Biohazard Review

"It is not a zombie". Finally they realise how boring it is to make us kill hordes of zombies and solving weird puzzles. Can't say no and neither a yes can be said. One thing however is for sure, this title isn't going anywhere with this series of what is supposed to be horrifying games.

The fourth addition to the numbered game series (who really knows how many Resident Evils there are) is a new direction away from ugly mutated zombies. Resident Evil 4, or Biohazard 4 as its known in Japan, starts off with you as a USA government agent called Leon being assigned to the investigation of the missing President’s daughter. The lead is in a remote part in Spain. As you arrive to the isolated village by an escort, you find out that the inhabitants of this village are more aggressive than average human.

The game is haunted by the series' onslaught between zombies and the protagonist, so expect mutant enemies all over the place. As you go through the areas one by one you start finding out about a mysterious man named Louis Serra and a woman that is helping him. That is of course aside from the obvious villain you need to track down.

As in all Resident Evil games, the controls are the same, however they have eliminated the fixed camera so you can change it to see hidden areas or take a look at your surroundings. There is still no strafe left or right. Sadly it wasn't that enjoyable as it was ported from the PS 2 to the PC. I thought if they used the mouse in targeting it would have been a lot easier to fight monsters especially in tight situations.

The gameplay is exactly the same with nothing changed. Playing this title proved there was no change from the routine storyline - kill some inferior mutants (which Capcom refers to as "not zombies" but they act and decompose like ones) watch a cut scene, get trapped in a boss fight then solve some puzzles. The slight change from the previous system could be in how the game was divided into chapters. At the end of most of them you watch a cut scene or sometimes at the start.

Most of the areas you fight in seem repetitive. The bosses you fight also seem "unreal". One particular boss, the one with the false eye for example, when I fought him, I shot him in the head only. Yet for some mysterious reason he split into two halves (from the waist up) instead of getting his head blown. In other areas you can somewhat just skip the fight with the boss. For example, fighting with Salazar's right hand (doesn't the name ring any Hogwarts bells?) once the elevator arrives you can just ride in and finish the chapter.

Still, the touch on how you can make Ashley (The President's daughter) wait or follow you is nice, as is the areas you get to control her in. Also worthy of mentioning is the new interactive scene system. In some scenes in the game you will be required to press some specific buttons in order to survive a fatal situation. This adds a little tension to the atmosphere.

The overall feel of the game doesn't by any means belong to a horror or a survival game. It felt more of an action game with some mutants rather anything else. The graphics though lost some touch in the porting process, but we can't just complain. Sounds are average; changing as you enter combat and move into a more settled theme once you start working on a puzzle or moving in a non-inhabited corridor.

The inventory system remains similar to the old one as well as the save system, except this time you don't need to search for ink for the type writer. The combination system remains the same but they removed some the old effects on some items. Expect the red herb to be mixed with the green so you can regain your health fully while if you mix yellow and green you would heal a little of your health and increase your health meter. Weapons in the game range from the normal pistol, Magnum, Blackbird and TMF (UZI like submachine gun). The real good side to this would be how you can buy, upgrade or sell items and gadgets from a mysterious man that possesses enough of those things to start a war. I really don't know why they aren’t acting to save the day instead of you.

The way I see it, Capcom didn't give a lot of thought in this title. They just needed to keep the people hooked up to the Resident Evil title (Which apparently is missing from the main menu). They have messed up this time. After the hit they made with Resident Evil 0, this wasn't to be expected. It would have been better to make use of Ashley a little more. It also would have been better for Capcom to have worked on this title as a horror game instead.