Resident Evil 4: Negative Edition!

[Stu]

So i've just played through Resident Evil 4 for 12,000th time, and quite surprisingly i'm still finding it as much fun as i ever did. And i'm even finding whole new things that i haven't even noticed before.

With that in mind, i come to you all for help.

Simply, what is it that you dislike the most about Resident Evil 4? I want to feed on all the negative feedback i can possibly gather up. Fear no reprisals, i'm not going to go counterpointing everything that you have to offer. It's a genuine interest i have right now that is dying to hear all the criticisms people have for Resident Evil 4.

And if anyone else can keep from the rebuttals, that would be fantastic too.

Thanks for your time! Now, rip RE4 a new one...you know you want to!

[consoul]

I'm struggling to come up with much, but if I had to nitpick I must admit Ashley annoyed me. Her voice and her goofy appearance got on my nerves.

The only other thing wrong with RE4 was that it ended.

[CODE_umb87]

Honestly, I really liked RE4. For some reason it just never gets old for me playing through it. I also liked how it was such a long game. But with RE5 however, I just got tired playing through the story after a while....and the fact that you are able to choose chapters doesnt really give me any motivation to play through the whole game again.

I can't think of anything I disliked about RE4, I had a lot of fun playing it. The thing about RE4 was you didn't know what to expect, which made it more exciting....and RE5 was just so predictable to me.

And while RE4 was a major change from the series, it still had some horror aspects to it, which I liked. For one thing you were alone and not with a "partner", and on top of that you had to take care of a Ashley who was completely defenseless. I will say that RE5 had the better story, but it just didn't have that freshness RE4 had to it.

[TheSelfishGene]

Lack of enemy variety.

[Canas Renvall]

Not even going into the story or Leon's shitty attitude...

In all actuality, the game is very fun, but Ashley is a total annoyance. Also, I think they could've at least gotten the names grammatically correct. It should be Luis Serra, not Sera.

[Ray]

Honestly, it was VERY fun. Probably the most fun I've ever had playing a game.

Though, the reason that 4 irks with me the most is its departure from the storyline. At least they are trying to pull it closer to the original storyline.

The puzzles were so fucking easy.

No scares. Sure, it had a WHOLE LOT of tension, but no scares that vibed off the original RE's.

Also, Leon's attitude. Sure, he's a super spy, but everybody has at least SOME vulnerability in emotion. Though, he did seem to have a soft spot for Ada. "ADA, WAIT."

Zombies? I miss you. A Plagas is fine, too, but at least come up with a better explanation than the fact it was a 'parasite that could be controlled by certain people, only to have it buried, then resurface again'. Come on, a 400-something-year old resurfaced parasite as an enemy in RE? At least explain it better, like, maybe 'it was a parasite that was originally harmless in European settlers, until they reached Africa, where the Plagas mutated due to contact from the Progenitor flowers, staying dormant until reaching its peak in maturity in Europe', or it was really a 'parasite that was actually a main source in the NE-t project', or something... Crazy ideas, but IMO better explanations of what Plagas was than what 4 ave us.

And finally, the castle. Its enemies were decent, and the environment itself was pretty freaky (the monks, the music, the church/gothic-esque theme, and the Garradors), but it just didn't seem to have any relevance to the story (and if it did, it was stretched way too long).

Rant ended. It's still fun, though.

EDIT: Oh, and "LEON!!! HELP!!!!" Just grab a gun and pull the fucking trigger, Ashley. Sheva's AI was moar useful than you.

[REmaster]

Honestly, I really liked RE4. For some reason it just never gets old for me playing through it. I also liked how it was such a long game. But with RE5 however, I just got tired playing through the story after a while....and the fact that you are able to choose chapters doesnt really give me any motivation to play through the whole game again.

I can't think of anything I disliked about RE4, I had a lot of fun playing it. The thing about RE4 was you didn't know what to expect, which made it more exciting....and RE5 was just so predictable to me.

And while RE4 was a major change from the series, it still had some horror aspects to it, which I liked. For one thing you were alone and not with a "partner", and on top of that you had to take care of a Ashley who was completely defenseless. I will say that RE5 had the better story, but it just didn't have that freshness RE4 had to it.

I have to agree. I didn't like RE4 mostly because of the Las Plagas, sometimes cheesy dialogue and such...but I loved the game. Sure, it might not be what myself or anyone else was hoping for in a RE game, but as a game in general, it was pure genious. While the story didn't interest me much, it was told very fluidly and always stayed on track. I played through RE4 at least 50+ times and it has yet to bore me. I got tired of RE5 after beating it a third time, and I probably won't play it again until it's close to Alternate Edition's release since I finally got the platinum. That's when you know it's a good game, when you play it over and over and over again even though there wasn't any achievements like trophies to unlock, it was just fun lol. The fact that I liked RE4 better than 5 is saying something in itself, since I'm not a big fan of Leon and my favorite characters are Chris and Wesker. I'm still amazed that RE4 (full of funny little scenes here and there i.e. Salazar, ganado's getting killed in hilarious ways, Luis's sassy talk) was still scarier to me than RE5. Sure, RE4 wasn't that scary but it also didn't have a tagline like "Fear you won't forget" eithier. I would have probably liked RE5 ALOT more if you were alone for at least half the game like Leon was. Thinking back on RE4, the only things I can really come up with as far as complaints are the sometimes goofy dialogue/scenes. I didn't really mind Ashley, mostly because they didn't force you to babysit her the entire game.

[The_15th]

I hated the button push events. The part I liked the most was the gun range. It wasn't a bad game. It just didn't keep my attention further than the castle. The ridiculously stereotyped enemies got on my nerves too. Then again, i'm someone who stopped playing RE0 just because Marcus + Rebecca combined was just too much for me.

I actually thought Ashley was so annoying that she was fun. I loved the cable car part, when she did a little cheer with her fist everytime you took an unwashed crap head down. I should probably replay it with the camera further away from Leon code. The fact the camera was so close to him the whole time was obnoxious to my eyes.

[Det. Beauregard]

Honestly, I really liked RE4. For some reason it just never gets old for me playing through it. I also liked how it was such a long game. But with RE5 however, I just got tired playing through the story after a while....and the fact that you are able to choose chapters doesnt really give me any motivation to play through the whole game again.

The thing about RE4 was you didn't know what to expect, which made it more exciting....and RE5 was just so predictable to me.

And while RE4 was a major change from the series, it still had some horror aspects to it, which I liked. For one thing you were alone and not with a "partner", and on top of that you had to take care of a Ashley who was completely defenseless. I will say that RE5 had the better story, but it just didn't have that freshness RE4 had to it.

Agreed 100%.

However, the one major thing I disliked about RE4 was that the story felt detached from the RE universe. Leon and Ada (and to a smaller extent Wesker) were the only characters who returned, and some of the enemies (particularly the El Gigante) didn't fit well within RE in my opinion.

I also wish you could skip the "filler" parts in the Krauser knife fight, similar to how you were able to skip parts of the Wesker plane scene in RE5. However, this is very minor.

However, the gameplay and inventory systems in RE4 were far superior to those in RE5. I'm convinced that RE5 would have been just as good as RE4 if it was single-player only (for the main game) and Sheva's role didn't exist. Also, I greatly preferred RE4's grid-system inventory, and wished RE5 would have used it.

Another thing I loved about RE4 was that if the laser dot (or red crosshair) appeared on something and you shot it, your accuracy rating would not suffer. It may seem minor to most, but it's annoying to run around RE5 having to slash open every barrel with your knife as opposed to shooting it, only to protect your accuracy rating.

Also, in general, the environments and locales in RE4 greatly surpassed those of RE5. The Spanish village in particular is one of my favorite locations, especially in the daytime. At night it is awesome, too - really creepy and tension-filled. RE5 had virtually no interesting or "scary" locations, save for possibly the mines.

But if there was one thing that RE5 did better than RE4, it was the records (statistics) screen. As a baseball fan, I love statistics, no matter how trivial they may be to others. I enjoyed seeing how many enemies of each type I killed throughout RE5, as well as my accuracy/shots fired with each weapon and how many times I was killed by each enemy. I wish such a system was implemented in RE4.

[Chimera]

Plagas, Stu.

[Darkmoon]

Well, as just about everyone knows, I'm not a fan of the bad plotline. I'm not saying that the other RE games were Shakespear in there story by any stretch of the imagination, but Saddler was as dumb as a stump in so many ways. I can't remember if Leon ever mentioned to Hunnigan exactly what he was facing but I'm pretty sure he did mention parasites at some point, so it's not as though Ashley wouldn't have been checked medically. With a scan. That shows the giant thing in her chest. And then there were the files he felt the need to leave scattered around telling Leon the easiest ways to defeat him. And the whole President's daughter thing...if it was an aide's kid the plan might work.

What plot there was felt half way done. Krasuer and Leon was an interesting twist, but the, 'oh yeah, we killed umbrella LOL!' opening didn't fill me with fond wishes and the story behind Plagas seemed forced and stretched. Like they had the idea and no plan as to how to implement it. Which is odd, given the whole Nemesis Parasite.

The Ganados themselves are annoying, of course. The whole run and walk attack still annoys me. They managed to make it a lot less obvious in RE5, fortunately. In RE4 they might as well stop and paint a target on there forehead for Leon to aim at. These guys are supposed to be smart as the humans they control, able to use ranged weapons and vehicles...and yet zombies are more aggresive in there mindless assault. It makes the Ganado's feel not that dangerous.

That's not helped by Leon's personality. He constantly seems more smug than anything else. There's only a couple of points in the whole game where he even seems a little bothered or mildly concerned. I can understand bravado when someone like Saddler or the hideous midget and his giant mechanical statue is around, but his complete unconcern when the crap hits the fan, Ashley has been captured again, he's got a parasite growing in him and he's facing another horde of Ganado with a gattling gun makes you wonder why you should worry about them at all. It would have made the game a whole lot better if El Gigante appeared towering over him and he looked like he was about to loose his lunch...into his underpants. Or if the glowing eyes thing happened and he did the typical, 'What is hap-pen-ning to meeeeeee?' thing.

[CODE_umb87]

The Ganados themselves are annoying, of course. The whole run and walk attack still annoys me. They managed to make it a lot less obvious in RE5, fortunately. In RE4 they might as well stop and paint a target on there forehead for Leon to aim at. These guys are supposed to be smart as the humans they control, able to use ranged weapons and vehicles...and yet zombies are more aggresive in there mindless assault. It makes the Ganado's feel not that dangerous.

I really don't think the Majini are any different from the Ganados, besides the fact that they move around alot more....they still stop right in front of you for like 4 seconds, giving you an opportunity to shoot them. To me, it just feels like they didn't do much to improve the enemies(Majini) in RE5, but rather make things more easier by giving us more melee options to use on them. I haven't played RE4 in a while, but I think the Ganado's attacks would take away more health as well.

[randomwab]

The only thing I dislike about Resident Evil 4 is that it's too good.

Spoiler:

show spoiler

Seperate Ways can die in a fire

[Darkmoon]

I really don't think the Majini are any different from the Ganados, besides the fact that they move around alot more....they still stop right in front of you for like 4 seconds, giving you an opportunity to shoot them. To me, it just feels like they didn't do much to improve the enemies(Majini) in RE5, but rather make things more easier by giving us more melee options to use on them. I haven't played RE4 in a while, but I think the Ganado's attacks would take away more health as well.

Oh, they still do it. It's annoying as hell. But it's not quite as noticible as the Ganado's themselves. Probably because y0ou can focus much more on a single group in RE4 whereas, due to the two player thing, there's more to keep track of in RE5. RE5 has it's own boatload of fail. You even get to play on it.

I don't know about the health issue, but they deffinitely missed a chance to give the Ganado's a nice upgrade in RE5. Since they're not the same type after all, and could have gotten an upgrade to represent it. I guess that wasn't possible for whatever reason though. Which sucks.

[MeganGrass]

Damn... seems this debate will never come to a conclusion. I guess I will give my final 2 cents. Of course, this is all personal opinion, the same right that each of us share, here. I am not posting anything here to envoke any critique from others, I am simply expressng what I like and dislike about BioHazard 4. Furthermore, this is really a mixed-review, and not entirely negative.



I really dislike the entire concept of Ganados, their AI nothing short of 'stupid'. On most occasion, they would run up to me, come to a complete stop, walk around for a second, then try to attack... -_- ...lame! Also, I didn't like having to shoot poor villagers that made the mishap of falling under the control of a madman, as part of a scheme for global domination. I miss actual BOWs. Zombies. Hunters. Actual monsters created from a real bio-hazard.

El Gigante is a joke. They hyped his appearance so much to the point that I went into it (the game) honestly thinking that El Gigante was going to be badass, for better of lack of a term... sadly, he's nothing more than an overscaled Ganado, without any clothes on, that can swing trees from their very roots and throw boulders. Please. It's kinda sad that I can beat him in less than a single minute on professional mode, yet i've only played through the game a couple times. I've got to admit, though, he almost got the best of me in our first encounter... but it was to easy to grow wise of his AI.

At best, Salazaar make me want to rub my eyes out with a pencil eraser, but only after going swimming in a pool of double-edged razor blades. His voice, his 'physical' self, his stupidity - All of which are too much for me to tolerate. And it's really sad (to/for me) that the best puzzles came from Salazaar having your run around the castle like a puppet. Other than his puzzles, the only enjoyment I got from this character was blowing his ass up, but only while my TV/speaker system was set to MUTE so that I didn't have to hear his god-aweful, cringing voice.

The puzzles themselves were a novelty to previous-generation Reisdent Evil titles. At best, the only required brainpower required to solve these puzzles was remembering which room to navigate to. Otherwise, you simply have to blow-away a few mindless peasants, and the puzzles either solve themselves or leads to another 'kill and obtain' puzzle. Overall, I enjoyed the better part of puzzles that BH/RE 4 had to offer, simply because they brought back some feelings of nostalgia.

Krauser. What a sheep.

Wesker - "Hey, Krauser! Try to stick your head up your own arse and implode into nothing!"
Krauser - "Sure thing, Master Wesker! *bends over*"

Saddler... perhaps one of the most redeemable things this game has to offer. I'm usually all-for the good guy winning, but this pistachio nut-case had a point, and most importantly, presence (which is something I felt was often too absent of other characters, regardless of whether I personally like them, or not), even when he wasn't visible, in-game. Everything, from his statments such as "No longer will the U.S. think it can police the globe!", to his [rather ballsy] antics (such as ordering the catpure of Pres' daughter), gives this guy actual character. Sadly, though, i'm not much of a fan of tentacle-monster-boss', and Saddler was pretty much nothing more or less... which is why I love fighting against him as Ada in Seperate Ways.

Hunnigan's presence is completely pointless, and at times, frustrating. Is there not an option to turn her 'cutscenes' OFF? I mean, I understand the whole 'government agent needs contact with base' ordeal, but it ended up being nothing more than a "Hey, stupid! This is what your supposed to do to progress the game!" kinda thing. Then, Salazaar hijacks the line (see above). This is simply nothing more than a Hint System, and for me, annoying. And that's putting it kindly.

Leon Scott Kennedy. What else could be said? His name alone can spark personal debate of whether his character is tolerable, or not. Personally, I love his confidence. Confidence is not only sexy, but it shows that one has some kind of power/handle over any given situation. What's not cool about Leon's presence in Bio4? He sprays his shorts everytime Ada enters the scene. In the BH/RE timeline, it had been 6 years since he had even seen Ada, and still, he semi-chases after her like a dog in heat (which is kinda creepy, given not only their situation, but the gap in time it had been since they had actual seen and spoken to each other). Overall, it was nice to see the return of this character, no matter how odd his 'love life' may be.

Ada. Yay! The return of one of my favorite BH/RE characters. I like that she has a hidden agenda, as always, and the adaptation of her character in this title wasn't too deviated from the original.

Ashley, although annoying at times, I really have nothing against. In a way, I feel sorry for her character, as it will probably go down in history, only as being part of one of the most ignorant storylines, ever. The storyline "came completely out of left-field", and serves no real importance to BH/RE cannon, but Shinji Mikami sure knew what he was doing when merging it with actual gameplay, and did it quite well - a fast-paced, in-your-face horror-action game that delivers a fun, shoot-em-up experience. For this, I praise Mikami-san as being one of the most creatively advanced videogame developers. On the other hand, I don't like how he alienated his old fanbase, but the series was in dire need of a reboot, and he certainly came through, which I cannot argue against.

Luis... another pawn, but expected in the BH/RE universe - his character helps aid you along your journey, letting you know "what's up", but without being annoying about it. His death was certainly predictable, but overall, his character served a purpose and definitely deserves it's right to be BH/RE cannon.

Concerning gameplay experience, I really enjoyed the fact that it takes more than 2 hours to complete this game. Although the [bizarre] storyline seems to drag-out, there were [initially] moments of 'not knowing whats going to happen next', etc., which I liked, and despite the storyline, the enivorments, combined with the [often] creepy music, were nothing short of amazing and helped the game progress smoothly. And the enviroments will stand the test of time, i'm sure. The music was very well fitting for each scenario, action, or otherwise. It got creepy when things got a little too weird, and escalated into intensity during those moments of killing hoardes of enemies in fast-paced moments. Overall I enjoyed the OST to some degree, but I do miss the creepiness factor that dominated music from older BH/RE titles. Actually, I miss the entire sruvival-horror aspect, but a good thing never lasts forever.

Las Plagas. No. Just... no! Although it would pose a biological threat to human beings [if exposed], it just doesn't classify as a bio-hazard outbreak, to me. It more like an alien invasion, which deviates too far from the original Good vs. Evil Pharmecutical Co. plotline.


Bottom Line: From a fangirl's POV (that spans back to 1996), this game doesn't suck, it just simply lacks a lot of what was expected of it, at the time, and adds a lot of what some like, and some dislike (eg, action instead of horror). There's an old saying: "If it isn't broke, don't fix it!". While the older part of the series wasn't broken, it was stale. Yes, I miss zombies just as much (if not more) than the others who feel as I do, but BioHazard 4 saved the franchise... but this raises the question, "When will it end?", for every good story deserves it's ending before being washed-out to rags. BioHazard 5 hints at that closure, especially with the new Alternative Edition, yet to be released... but since the main shift of gameplay from SurvivalHorror->ActionHorror, it makes me sad to realize what Mikami-sans love-child (BioHazard Series/Franchise) has become - a cash crop for CAPCOM.