Videogame review: Resident evil IV

Before first person horror games, with lots of jump scares, darkness, no weapons, madness, and helplessness became popular, on consoles we could play horrors like Project Zero, Silent hill and Resident evil. They were different horror experiences than today’s games where you were feared despite the fact you had pistol, shotgun and were well trained policeman or agent. Horror games from that time were played from third person perspective, similar to adventure games, but with possibility of shooting. What you like more depends of personal taste. I must confess that I tried playing Resident evil 4 in 2005. when it came out on PS2, but I didn't like it very much, so I passed only one level and put it on a shelf. Not long ago, Resident evil 7 came out, so I decided to play one of the older Resident evil games. So, I looked in my steam library, searching for the oldest one I have (I thought that it was Resident evil 5 – the first that came out on PS3), and I installed Resident evil 4, thinking it is actually 5 and not the game I played long time ago, with a lot of passion toward playing it. When I started the game, I realized: 'Oh, no the wrong game', immediately realizing that was the game I played long time ago. As I already downloaded the game, I gave it a chance. After first level, I was like: ‘Not that same feeling again’. Frankly I didn't like the game. It's all thanks to a really awful controls (I played with gamepad on PC). Resident evil 4 is probably the only game in which you are playing special agent and can't shoot while moving. Yes, you heard it right, when you take out your weapon to shoot you stop and controls for moving (left analog stick) are now controls for shooting. Now imagine a scene where 10 zombies are coming for you, and you are standing there trying to shoot them down one by one with left analog (I heard that game doesn't support mouse – great). Oh well, despite the initial catastrophe, I decided to give a game another chance and looked on internet how long does the game take to finish, and can I bear it for that long. It said 5-6 hours, and I have already been playing for one 1 hour. So that was okay, I gave it a shoot. What I didn't know is that I was looking at wrong Resident evil again. Fortunately, that was the best mistake I could have made – game is about 16 hours long.

So, I am playing for 5 hours already, and I can't see the ending anywhere near. In the meantime, I started to like the game, and I realized their initial flaws are example of a great game design. It may sound stupid, but in one hand in this game you experience fear thanks to awful controls (that's probably why you can't use mouse). So, the game gives you all the weapons, but you're not superman (in cut scenes you almost are, but never mind), and you need to follow game's rules what makes for a high level of fear and tension. Every bullet you lose by missing a zombie in one combat, can mean death in another. Every part of health you lose in an easy situation can kill you later in the game and so on. So, you'll be tense despite having only one enemy in near vicinity because despite the fact it wouldn't kill you, it's enough that it takes a little of your health. To our luck game warns you with music and enemy voices as long as there are alive enemies in the area. Mainly, it is not a rare situation that you'll change your weapon to a weaker one when there aren't a lot of enemies near you, so that you can use your stronger weapons for bosses and difficult encounters.  This game sets a standard for game design. Every weapon, every ammunition is carefully set in the world, so you always have just enough of everything that you need (not too much, not too little), different parts of this game (bosses, mini games etc.) are perfectly placed in gameplay to disperse monotony. Also, you are constantly learning and getting better thought the game, unlike for example in most FPS-s where most of them are so similar that you don’t feel any personal advancement. For example, in the begging of the game you are attacked by a bunch of zombies and you have only 10 bullets, there is no other possibility than to run, while doing that you learn: ‘Hey this is a game in which running from enemies is not cowardly, you are faster and take advantage of it’ - it’s part of the game. Bosses in game are very interesting but they are maybe too easy to beat comparing to standard enemies. I’m not complaining because it’s a great feeling to beat the boss from first try. I should note that in some parts of the game you are protecting another person, so that parts are even more difficult. Sometimes you need to solve puzzles with the person you are protecting, but those are secondary parts of the game and don’t contribute to a game nor do they bother it. Considering the initial disappointment, I must say Resident evil 4 is a blast to play, and it was a real treat to play something different, even though this treat did come out 13 years ago, and I have lived in a cave. There was a reason this game collected a bunch of awards for the game of the year.