So in order to hype myself up for the upcoming show, I decided to sneak in a quick impromptu replay of Resident Evil 4 over the weekend. Started yesterday afternoon and 9-10 hours of in-game time later, the credits are rolling and I'm left with a big silly grin on my face.
I honestly feel like I didn't do this game justice with my contribution in the podcast thread... There are so many things I didn't even mention. Sound design being one of them. The various sound cues are incredibly well coordinated and everything just sounds crisp, distinct and carries a surprising amount of mechanical meaning. The music is also superb. Every boss battle has its own musical accompaniment that perfectly sets the mood. From the Verdugo and its full Alien-style high tension to Krauser's malevolent rhythm. It's all so... fitting.
It also bears repeating just how
fair everything is. I played on Professional with maxed out hyper-aggressive enemy AI to the point where standard goons were literally surviving hand grenades blowing up right underneath them, and yet every single fail state that occurred and almost every single point of damage that I took was entirely my fault. Never had to fumble around in imprecise real-time radial menus, always had a way to navigate the terrain, always had the perfect amount of time to react to unforeseen circumstances. Plan, act, react, execute. Just raw, precise, deliberate, methodical gameplay that puts every second to good use, never screws the player over and knows how to walk the razor-thin line between challenging and cheap.
It's also one of the last AAA games to be thoroughly, unapologetically gamey. It doesn't feel beholden to real-life logic and doesn't shoe-horn in half-baked explanations for its various systems. Things work the way they work because it benefits the pacing and creates a better gameplaying experience. When returning to the chandelier hall in the castle through the door on the top floor for example, a giant ladder has suddenly been placed right next to the exit. There is no logical reason for it to be there except for providing the player with a quick way back up in case they fall down. That's it. Everything is fluid and responsive and fun. Every single item you pick up is meaningful. No need for long-winded unskippable exposition dumps during otherwise tedious traversal sections. No pointless collectibles. It's closer to Super Mario World than to Horizon: Zero Dawn in that regard.
The polish puts 99,99% of modern non-Nintendo games to shame. Genuine glitches are exceedingly rare, and most of those I've encountered are the direct result of the sloppy 60fps conversion.
This really should be held as the gold standard of the industry for my money. Perfect storm of a great director in his prime with a crystal clear vision, followed by an incredibly talented development team, and backed by a solid budget that didn't have a thousand strings and cynical lowest-common-denominator concessions attached to it.
(Pictured: God Tier attention to detail.)
I'm completely in love. Anyway, bring on the podcast!