This was one of my favourite games as a kid, I must have finished the PS2 version at least 30 times and I’ve played it on all its different console versions. When this was announced I was hoping it would live up to the original, with the same story but much fresher. Let me tell you, this is a proper remake.
I played the remakes of 2 and 3. 2 was great, 3 was okay, but 4 is incredible. It’s easily one of, if not the best remake of a game I’ve played . The story is almost identical with some bits moved around and some changes for more logical choices. There’s more of a fear factor than the original, especially the fight in darkness with the blind wolverine guy.
Leon is as badass as he was in the original, part gymnast, part model and part super soldier. This game gives Leon the same over the top melee moves as the original but this time they’re even more mental. From the suplex move from the original to deflecting axes mid air, this game does a great job of making you feel superhuman. Ashley is actually less annoying than in the original, they do a really good job of transforming her from damsel in distress to a useful team mate with the random knowledge to operate a crane with a wrecking ball.
Some bits of the game are drastically changed. You still get the epic village fight that really defined the tone in the original and does the same in this. The village lake section almost feels open world as you can travel to 6 different places from the lake including a place you’ve been to before but now have the keys to plunder it fully. The castle seems to have had the biggest overhaul, rooms have all been moved around to a different order that what I remember from the original. This is good cause it keeps you on your toes, there were points where I thought I knew what was coming and I was correct, and others where I thought I was about to go through to the iconic maze section only to be hit with an entirely new rampart section before it.
The RE4 remake actually feels like it’s dipping its parasite filled trotters into an RPG. It’s obviously still a linear action fulled epic, but there are sections like the lake that almost feel open world with the various side sections you can visit as well as returning to old areas with the ability to explore them further. The addition of merchant quests are so good, there’s now a list of side quests you can complete for spinels that are used to purchase many many goodies, like the punisher or Matilda handguns to gunpowder for crafting or even tokens for the new keyring rewards. These new key-rings replace the models you get from playing the shooting range mini-game. So instead of little models that were previously just nice to look at, we now get these key rings that are also nice to look at, but come with bonus multipliers (very RPG) like extra ammo crafting and more heath recovered with snakes.
Gameplay is great, nice slick controls, knife parrying is mega OP, but it fits with the style of RE4. Being able to parry the chainsaw guy with a kitchen knife is comical but being chainsawed in half if you’re facing the wrong way is appropriately brutal as you’d expect. The quick time events have gone, like the boulder run and Krausers knife fight. I’m in two minds about this, on one hand I enjoyed them in the original but the knife fight in the remake feels like a boss fight now instead so I suppose I’m happy with it.
The QTE events aside, this game stays true to the combat and chaos of the original. Boss fights are much improved with the exception of the U3 boss fight being cut. I do understand as it’s kind of random in the story but it was fun so I do miss it slightly. Regeneradors can run now which is just terrifying, these were the worst enemy for me, mainly due to my very poor sniper skills. These flabby blobs of pain and nightmare fuel do really heighten the horror aspect though which as I said is a big improvement in this game. Not much else terrifies you more than when you think you’ve killed one of these flobby bastards, only to see it rebuild itself with the addition of shards of metal, turning itself into a Bruce Dickinson-less iron maiden.
This game is an easy 10/10 for me. Some Real Fuckin’ Tasty gaming . That much so I finished the game and then preceded to start a second play-through immediately.
I intend to platinum this game although it looks horrendous to do, but I’m willing to replay this many times.
Reviewed by MoonHead
Released 23rd March 2023, Sony Playstation 5
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