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 Post subject: Wii - Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:11 pm 
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Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 11:51 pm
Posts: 18622
Location: Bradford, UK
XBL Gamertag: Blokeh
PSN ID: Blokeh
Steam ID: Blokeh
Wii system code: 2445-8086-3386-0718
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
Nintendo Wii
1 player

Having never played the original release of RE4 I figured that the re-release of this game would be the perfect opportunity to play what has been billed by some as the greatest game ever made, and has recently been voted the second best game in the world ever. I wasn't too impressed by the other games in the series, although I liked the idea behind them, so if truth be told, I wasn't hoping for much with RE4:WE.

How wrong could I be?

If you've never played a Resident Evil game before, here's the lowdown. A large pharmaceutical company called Umbrella once created a virus that turned normal people into brain-hungry zombies. At first it was just one mansion that was filled with these fiends, but eventually an outbreak lead to an entire town becoming infected. You, as the player, got sent to clean up. Cue much shotgun-blast-to-the-head action. Six years later, the US government found out what Umbrella was up to and closed it down. Then the president's daughter gets kidnapped by some militant European group, and cop Leon Kennedy gets sent to go rescue her, and here's where RE4 begins.

You begin on the outskirts of the village where the president's daughter was last seen, and straight away you know there's something wrong. It could be the wooden sheds with no windows. It could be the eeries signposts. It could be the villagers surrounding the body of a policeman that is impaled on a hook and is cooking above a campfire in the village centre. Who knows for sure? From this moment on you're thrown into a terrifying ordeal that includes maniac villagers, parasitic organisms known as Los Plagas, scientific mutations, abominations, old friends, mysterious ladies, a conspiracy to take over the world, and possibly the most annoying sidekick you've ever had the misfortune to have, but more on that later.

From the second you start this game it's easy to see why this game succeeded in it's efforts to both impress and scare the player. Leon as the main character looks amazing, although you only ever really see him from behind-and-over-the-shoulder. Hair moves realistically, aiming and reloading weapons is different per weapon, and the enemies all have their own physical traits, not to mention grunts, groans and ominous breathing. The surroundings themselves are equally breathtaking, albeit bleak, dark, gloomy and foreboding, but all this adds to the feel of the game. The boss creatures themselves are well designed and some are guaranteed to give you nightmares, especially the one simply knows as "It". I'll never be able to go near a shipping crate again!

As with previous installments, there's a load of puzzles throughtout your adventure that need solving in order to progress. Some are simple, some not so, and one or two are downright frustrating. The good thing is that unlike the other installments, the puzzles actually take a bit of a back seat so you get to enjoy more of the game rather than taking two steps forward, backtracking eight steps, then taking two more steps forward. As well as puzzles are the QTE, or "Quick Time Events". These will appear at random points in the game and will require you to either shake the Wiimote or press buttons to avoid certain situations. You'll mainly get these when you get grabbed by a villager or a boss enemy lunges at you. You have to be quick, as one wrong button press or shake could be the last thing you do before getting your head chainsawed off of your legs burnt off.

The music in the game is very atmospheric, although you only tend to hear it once an enemy appears. Once you've dispatched them, the music will stop, allowing you to hear the silence around you, with only the occasional sound of dripping water, your own heartbeat in your throat, and occasionally, the laboured breathing of something hiding somewhere close by. Which brings me to the sound effects themselves. Enemies grunt, groan and breathe heavily, just like your atypical zombie horror movie, but its the other sounds that make this game as scary as it is. Echoes in the dark, falling rubble, the steady drip-drip-drip in blackened caverns, the fluttering of bats and crows in the night, there's ALWAYS going to be something that will scare the crap out of you. The weapons themselves have some satisfying sounds, the shotgun and the magnum guns being the best, meatiest weapons you can have, and aside from making lovely "boom" sounds, can make even the meatiest of heads splatter with a lovely squelch.

The Wii controls are also surprisingly easy to use. The Nunchuk controls movement and the Wiimote controls aiming your weapons. Once you have an enemy in your sights, hold B to bring your gun up, then press A to fire. The - button will bring up your inventory, the 1 button your map, and the + button controls Ashley. Yes, Ashley. Once you've rescued the president's daughter, you have to escort her out of the village and to safety. Most of the time she'll happily tag along, but on occasion it's prudent to tell her to wait while you go kick some parasite-infected villager ass. A simple press of the + will have Leon shout "Wait", and she'll just stand there til you say otherwise. Occasionally a villager will pick her up and try to make off with her, so you'll need to be quick to blow out the legs of the bad guys so they drop her. Most of the time, however, she'll just be whimpering, screaming, and shouting for help. Believe me when I say you'll be oft-tempted to "put her out of her misery", but if she dies, it's game over pal. Some puzzles require you to use Ashley to press buttons, pull levers and crawl through spaces too small for Leon, so she's not all bad.

The game itself is not one you'll beat quickly or easily – it took me over 16 hours and cost me several lives, but once you have completed it, you will not only open up a new difficulty level to try your luck with and a glorious movie player, you'll also open up three new games. Separate Ways is based around the of the main story and fill in some of the gaps of the plot. Assignment Ada is a game starring a Resident Evil veteran in an attempt to gather Los Plagas samples. The Mercenaries is a bonus “Kill as many villagers as you can in a certain time limit” style game, where success is rewarded with new characters and stages with which to play this delightful little addition. Given that some of these additions weren't in the original Gamecube release but on the PS2 release, you're not only getting to replay one of the Cube's greatest games, but also the extras featured on the PS2 version.

There are very few things wrong with this game. Graphically it's gorgeous, albeit dark. It sounds amazingly scary, and it plays brilliantly. The only gripe I have is that this is yet another port of an old game, something the Wii isn't exactly short of right now. But don't let that put you off buying it. It's a great port, and the extras justify the purchase. However, if you've already played - or still own - the original, then you're only really getting the extras.

Ratings
Graphics: A
Sounds: A
Gameplay: A
Replayability: A

Overall score: A

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