Resident Evil 4 is one of my favorite games of all time and this pc port of the PS2 version of the game is well done.
The HD edition touched up the graphics of the game, which was already one of the more visually impressive gamecube games of the time. Character models, especially Leon and Ashley, look very good and the environments are somewhat varied for a horror type game, most things are grey and brown but it helps make areas that do have color really stand out and be more memorable.
The best part of the game that sells the horror aspect in my opinion is the sound, I played with a headset on and having the villagers and cultists constantly whispering things or yelling stuff out when you're unable to see where they are can be very creepy. The lack of background music also can add to the unease when you're playing the game.
The main gameplay loop mostly involves a good amount of combat encounters and exploring rooms and semi-open areas. The controls can feel very clunky at the start and taking a little getting used to since they are tank controls, this does add to the horror element because you don't move super fluidly and so enemies appearing behind you or on your flank can easily surprise you. Fully exploring each area is usually rewarded pretty well, with lots of hidden treasures and ammo and health pickups. The game also rewards playing well if you're generally accurate with your shots and use environmental hazards to kill groups of enemies, helping you to conserve precious ammo and keeping yourself healthy. There is some enemy variety, with most being basic types but they can be equipped with different weapons to help combat encounters feeling fresh and not repetitive. You also can find and buy a large assortment of different guns and grenades and the guns can all their attributes upgraded multiple times, with some even being able to have attachments such as a grip or a scope. Some small puzzles that are mostly easy to figure out and help to break up the shooting and exploring you mostly do, the boss fights are fun and varied with each having their own weakpoints that are usually easy enough to figure out.
My biggest annoyance with the game after getting used to the controls again is the odd difficulty curve that I feel the game has. At the start you find lots of ammo and healing items, but after about the halfway point the game gets very stingy with ammo. You fight large groups of enemies in the early game and basically at all points in the game and most enemies you fight can take about the same amount of damage all game so it just feels weird to just randomly change the rate at which you find ammo. Even though I have beaten this game multiple times on both the GameCube and the PS2, it still always throws me off how the game just slows the rate of how much ammo you find/get.
Overall still one of the best games ever made even with those small issues.
The HD edition touched up the graphics of the game, which was already one of the more visually impressive gamecube games of the time. Character models, especially Leon and Ashley, look very good and the environments are somewhat varied for a horror type game, most things are grey and brown but it helps make areas that do have color really stand out and be more memorable.
The best part of the game that sells the horror aspect in my opinion is the sound, I played with a headset on and having the villagers and cultists constantly whispering things or yelling stuff out when you're unable to see where they are can be very creepy. The lack of background music also can add to the unease when you're playing the game.
The main gameplay loop mostly involves a good amount of combat encounters and exploring rooms and semi-open areas. The controls can feel very clunky at the start and taking a little getting used to since they are tank controls, this does add to the horror element because you don't move super fluidly and so enemies appearing behind you or on your flank can easily surprise you. Fully exploring each area is usually rewarded pretty well, with lots of hidden treasures and ammo and health pickups. The game also rewards playing well if you're generally accurate with your shots and use environmental hazards to kill groups of enemies, helping you to conserve precious ammo and keeping yourself healthy. There is some enemy variety, with most being basic types but they can be equipped with different weapons to help combat encounters feeling fresh and not repetitive. You also can find and buy a large assortment of different guns and grenades and the guns can all their attributes upgraded multiple times, with some even being able to have attachments such as a grip or a scope. Some small puzzles that are mostly easy to figure out and help to break up the shooting and exploring you mostly do, the boss fights are fun and varied with each having their own weakpoints that are usually easy enough to figure out.
My biggest annoyance with the game after getting used to the controls again is the odd difficulty curve that I feel the game has. At the start you find lots of ammo and healing items, but after about the halfway point the game gets very stingy with ammo. You fight large groups of enemies in the early game and basically at all points in the game and most enemies you fight can take about the same amount of damage all game so it just feels weird to just randomly change the rate at which you find ammo. Even though I have beaten this game multiple times on both the GameCube and the PS2, it still always throws me off how the game just slows the rate of how much ammo you find/get.
Overall still one of the best games ever made even with those small issues.