Overrated or Underrated: Resident Evil 4

[Uncle Sam]

That's right, overrated and underrated is back in a new and improved gaming format. Vote and discuss whether you think the game in the topic is overrated (i.e. not as good as most people say it is), underrated (i.e. better than people say it is) or correctly rated (the people are right!).

I could have chosen a better game than Resident Evil 4 for this - few people are going to say it's underrated. It's one of my favourites and a game I know extensively though. I think quite a few people will have played it too, it having been released on Gamecube, then PS2 and most recently in a special Wii edition (yeah, I know!).

With an entirely new gameplay mechanic (and new everything really, except for the main character returning from Resident Evil 2) that you could best describe as "Gears of War without the cover system" Resident Evil 4 has either revolutionised or broken the survival genre, depending on the way you look at it.

Personally, I think that it's revolutionary. This game gave me a great time. It's long enough to keep you entertained but you'll never feel overwhelmed. And the quality pretty much never dips; getting more and more powerful weapons as you go keeps you repetitive and few set pieces (which are consistently magnificent) get repeated. So, correctly rated then.

 

[Doody-ka-ka]

It's correctly rated. I bought the game long after release, and it ended up being one of my favourite games of all time.

The attention to detail was fantastic, the gameplay was just right, the aiming was awesome. I didn't even mind not being able to walk when aiming, which seems to be most peoples biggest problem. The story was a nice break from the typical Resident Evil story, altough they're great, but it was still a breath of fresh air.

No game has given me the same sense of panic, when you hear that damn fucking chainsaw.

Oh god.

 

[JackAttack]

Personally, I think that it's revolutionary. This game gave me a great time. It's long enough to keep you entertained but you'll never feel overwhelmed. And the quality pretty much never dips; getting more and more powerful weapons as you go keeps you repetitive and few set pieces (which are consistently magnificent) get repeated. So, correctly rated then.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. I think RE5 is without a doubt one of the most overrated games of 2005. Now when finding flaws with this game, I'm gonna have to nitpick and highlight even the littlest flaws possible, simply because of all the hype it got. It was a great game, but not nearly as great as the critics made it out to be.

"There are no flaws in Resident Evil 4"(Game Informer issue 143, page 134).

Way off. There are many flaws with this game. Noticable ones too.

For one thing, having to stop everytime you want to shoot makes many fights incredible sloppy, and gives the entire game a clunky feeling. It wouldn't be so bad, its just that many times enemies attack in large clusters, and thus you frequently have to run away and constantly adjust position. Not a huge flaw, and mostly subjective, but were just getting started.

"The controls are fashioned beautifully"

Critics wouldn't be saying this if the controls of the previous RE games weren't so bad. The controls were decent, but could have been much better.

The over the shoulder camera is an improvement, but makes it to were you contantly have to turn around to notice everything in the environment, which leads to another flaw. The simple command of turning around feels just as awkward and sloppy as it did in the previous RE games. Your character just simply doesn't turn fast enough, and backing up is just as much of a nightmare as it always was.

"Astonishing Boss battles" (Gamespot).

The only truly amazing boss battle in the game is the fight with Krauser, which is one of the most epic fights of all time. Other than that, none of the other bosses are that special.

In fact, most of the bosses require repetive tactics in order to defeat them. Many of them have the player simply unload at an ememy and wait until it shows its weakness before you can damage it. The fights with Salazar and Saddler were a mess because of this. Though many of the boss battles give you optonal ways to kill them, this often leads to more repetetive moments. Like having to run around and lead enemies into explosive barrels, as seen in the U3 boss battle.

Its not just bosses either. Many of the regular enemies are a pain to fight as well. The Regenerators and the Iron Maidens were a cool idea, but you always have to stop and use the thermal scope to see their weakness, and you always fight them in tight quarters, so you don't have alot of room to maneuver.

As far as quick-time events go, they were fun, but led to too many trial-and-error moments. Many times the player doesn't expect them to come-up, and thus have to die at least once in order continue through the game. In many cases, the game doesn't give you enough time to react to the commands, such as in the mine shaft where you have barely any time to jump off the cart, and if you die you have to play the entire thing over again.

Even without these little things, its far from perfection like most critics claim. The storyline, while an improvement, was unimpressive. The voice acting was dull, and the music lacked any memorable tracks.

Don't get me wrong, I loved this game. Its just that too many critics tried to say that it was perfect, which just isn't true. Great game, but overrated.

 

[George Michael]

Absolutely correctly rated.

Resident Evil 2 always stands out to me as one of my best gaming experiences; first game I played when I got my PS1. Loved it, and at the time best used the technology it had at the time to freak out the player, at least a few times. After getting familiar with the control scheme, it becomes horrifying when a 'licker' jumps through a one way mirror, or a skylight. Truly horrifying moments when you are stuck with a 'rotate and run' type scheme. Strafing was not an option.

I got a similar experience playing RE4; some truly scary and horrifying moments. I played it on the GameCube and then the PS2, it was that good. I think what makes this game stand out is its anti-GoW control scheme, but still utilized their generation of console technology to its best ability.

I wonder how RE5 will stand out. All I've been able to gather from the screen shots is that it's in Africa; no clues about how it will play. If it stands out like RE4 though I'll most likely be playing.

But back to the point, I think that RE4 is accurately rated. There is a nice majority who recognize it as a classic, and as they should. Most likely a game that a fan could play once a year. I'm going to play it again this year on my dusty Wii. An adequately rated game.

 

[Doody-ka-ka]

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. I think RE5 is without a doubt one of the most overrated games of 2005. Now when finding flaws with this game, I'm gonna have to nitpick and highlight even the littlest flaws possible, simply because of all the hype it got. It was a great game, but not nearly as great as the critics made it out to be.

"There are no flaws in Resident Evil 4"(Game Informer issue 143, page 134).

Way off. There are many flaws with this game. Noticable ones too.

For one thing, having to stop everytime you want to shoot makes many fights incredible sloppy, and gives the entire game a clunky feeling. It wouldn't be so bad, its just that many times enemies attack in large clusters, and thus you frequently have to run away and constantly adjust position. Not a huge flaw, and mostly subjective, but were just getting started.

I see your point, but to me (and I suppose most other gamers who loves it) it really added to the scare factor. It made everything more intense with you not being athletic like spiderman. The aiming was PERFECT, so you rarely had to run away, atleast in my experience.

"The controls are fashioned beautifully"

Critics wouldn't be saying this if the controls of the previous RE games weren't so bad. The controls were decent, but could have been much better.

The over the shoulder camera is an improvement, but makes it to were you contantly have to turn around to notice everything in the environment, which leads to another flaw. The simple command of turning around feels just as awkward and sloppy as it did in the previous RE games. Your character just simply doesn't turn fast enough, and backing up is just as much of a nightmare as it always was.

The over the shoulder camera again added to the factor that you couldn't always see what was behind you. Backing up is stupid since you could just hit the O button (on the PS2, where I played it) and back, and you did a 180 turn and sprinted the other way, if you really needed to. And in no way did turning seem just as sloppy as the old RE games. You need to go back and play RE2, and then play RE4. RE2 was like controlling a tank.

"Astonishing Boss battles" (Gamespot).

The only truly amazing boss battle in the game is the fight with Krauser, which is one of the most epic fights of all time. Other than that, none of the other bosses are that special.

In fact, most of the bosses require repetive tactics in order to defeat them. Many of them have the player simply unload at an ememy and wait until it shows its weakness before you can damage it. The fights with Salazar and Saddler were a mess because of this. Though many of the boss battles give you optonal ways to kill them, this often leads to more repetetive moments. Like having to run around and lead enemies into explosive barrels, as seen in the U3 boss battle.

You're forgetting that the game came out in 2005. The game with the lake monster was one of my biggest HOLY SHIT WTF moments in gaming.
And how many bosses have there really been that wasn't about doing the same thing like 3 times? Zelda is notorious for it, yet it's famous for it's boss battles. Even Gears of War 2 does it, God of War.. every single game with boss battles. The thing about the RE4 bosses was that they were creative in their attacks and the way you killed them.

Its not just bosses either. Many of the regular enemies are a pain to fight as well. The Regenerators and the Iron Maidens were a cool idea, but you always have to stop and use the thermal scope to see their weakness, and you always fight them in tight quarters, so you don't have alot of room to maneuver.

Dude, I'm beginning to think that you just don't like horror games. The whole idea about having to do all that is because it adds to the fact that the bastards are coming right at you, and you can't just plow through them with a minigun. Same for the tight corridors. Might just be my opinion though, I'm sure alot of people hated that part, but I love it

As far as quick-time events go, they were fun, but led to too many trial-and-error moments. Many times the player doesn't expect them to come-up, and thus have to die at least once in order continue through the game. In many cases, the game doesn't give you enough time to react to the commands, such as in the mine shaft where you have barely any time to jump off the cart, and if you die you have to play the entire thing over again.

Not gonna disagree here. Quicktime events are fine, but atleast give a warning so you just don't sit back and think you're done, and then you're dead. Fair point, but doesn't devalue the whole game imo.

Even without these little things, its far from perfection like most critics claim. The storyline, while an improvement, was unimpressive. The voice acting was dull, and the music lacked any memorable tracks.

This part is completely opinionbased. It's like a movie, not everyone is gonna like it. I liked the story though. It wasn't perfect, but it did alot for me seeing I'm a big RE fan.

Don't get me wrong, I loved this game. Its just that too many critics tried to say that it was perfect, which just isn't true. Great game, but overrated.

You have to remember it was back in 2005. The PS2 and Gamecube completely SUCKED on the shooter front. RE4 made THE best shooting mechanic on the last gen console, atleast in my opinion. And I still haven't played a game with so many memorable moments as RE4.

Not attacking you, just speaking my mind

 

[JackAttack]

Not attacking you, just speaking my mind

Thanks for being civil. To be clear, I absuoutely loved this game, I'm just trying to add an oppossing view.

As far as the quick-time events go, they were fun but were done much better in God of War. In GOW, if you mess up once, you lose a bit of health and can try again. In RE4, you often have to die before you realize you were suppose to hit the L1+R1 buttons. Don't get me wrong, this provided for some of the most intense moments in gaming history such as the knife fight with Krauser. It just felt it was a little unforgiving at times.

Also, while the controls were a solid improvement for the series, it wasn't really revolutionary. Adding a laser pointer was great, but the 180 degree turn still feels clunky. Oh, and just so you know, I don't have RE 2 anymore, but I have RE 3 and the movement does still feel somewhat similar to me.

But think about this. If no other Resident Evil games had been released prior to 4, do you really think it would be so highly praised? It wouldn't, because if you read any RE4 review, the reviewer goes on for three paragraphs shouting about how much better it was than the previous archaic control scheme.
Look at Metal Gear Solid 2, people thought that adding the first person view was revolutionary, but that was just because they had grown accustomed to the sloppy MGS 1 controls.

 

[Doody-ka-ka]

Thanks for being civil. To be clear, I absuoutely loved this game, I'm just trying to add an oppossing view.

As far as the quick-time events go, they were fun but were done much better in God of War. In GOW, if you mess up once, you lose a bit of health and can try again. In RE4, you often have to die before you realize you were suppose to hit the L1+R1 buttons. Don't get me wrong, this provided for some of the most intense moments in gaming history such as the knife fight with Krauser. It just felt it was a little unforgiving at times.

Also, while the controls were a solid improvement for the series, it wasn't really revolutionary. Adding a laser pointer was great, but the 180 degree turn still feels clunky. Oh, and just so you know, I don't have RE 2 anymore, but I have RE 3 and the movement does still feel somewhat similar to me.

But think about this. If no other Resident Evil games had been released prior to 4, do you really think it would be so highly praised? It wouldn't, because if you read any RE4 review, the reviewer goes on for three paragraphs shouting about how much better it was than the previous archaic control scheme.
Look at Metal Gear Solid 2, people thought that adding the first person view was revolutionary, but that was just because they had grown accustomed to the sloppy MGS 1 controls.

The controls are made similar on purpose. It was alot more fluid, but still had that old RE feeling that the fans wanted. Sure, you can debate wether or not RE4 really was a horror game (to me, it was more of an action game..), but it would've lost alot of the scaryness feeling if it had controls similar to something like Timesplitters or something. Or even Syphon Filter, just to stay in the timeframe.

And I do think it would've been that highly praised, even if it was a first. Maybe even higher then, since it would've been awesome out of nowhere. Reviewers expect a great game when it says Resident Evil, and isn't a Lightgun game. To me, it doesn't control any worse than Gears of War, which is the most highly rated 3rd person shooter at the moment. It controls different, but not worse. But controls have always been a matter of opinion like everything else, it's very hit or miss.

Hmm.. I never found MGS to have sloppy controls. The first game came back in 1998 if I remember correctly, and what was there really before that? I know Mario 64 was there, but that was one of the most revolutionairy games.. ever. But yeah, MGS controls aren't fantastic, so I get your point Splinter Cell kills it in that department imo.


But I can see what you mean, I think the Zelda games are immensely overrated haha, but most people seem to love them, and I do still respect them for what they did to gaming as a whole.