Resident Evil 4 (PS2)

...Leon Kennedy, hero cop of Resident Evil 2 now spec ops expert, has walked into a peasant hovel somewhere in 'a lonely and rural part of Europe' (the only clue to location you get in the game - apart from all the blood-curdling Spanish being hissed at you). He's tracking Ashley Graham, the kidnapped daughter of the US president, and as he reaches out to touch some hovel-dwelling local on the shoulder to attract some attention, something shocking happens...
...Leon's hand. It has begun. Resident Evil has grown monster cajones. Welcome to the new horror.

Resident Evil 4 picks up six years after Resi 2. Raccoon city is destroyed, Umbrella Corp is bankrupt, the T-Virus terror is no more. But the world is about to face another devastating bio-nightmare and it revolves around Ashley and this godforsaken village.

Forget staggering zombies, forget saving your bullets 'til you meet the ... more

It takes less than five minutes of play before a couple of startling realisations hit you: one, that Resi 4 is utterly different to the games that have gone before, and two, that you're up to your angular haircut in a world of gibber-mouthed nutters waving farm tools with intent.

Leon Kennedy, hero cop of Resident Evil 2 now spec ops expert, has walked into a peasant hovel somewhere in 'a lonely and rural part of Europe' (the only clue to location you get in the game - apart from all the blood-curdling Spanish being hissed at you). He's tracking Ashley Graham, the kidnapped daughter of the US president, and as he reaches out to touch some hovel-dwelling local on the shoulder to attract some attention, something shocking happens...

The peasant turns from tending the fire, yells at you and charges at full pelt with an axe. Not 'shambles', 'shuffles' or 'lollops dragging a manky leg'. Charges. And your left thinking, "Do I go for my knife? Surely I can't use the handgun?I need to save ammo right? I can't waste my bullets on the first weirdo who runs at me with a rusty hatchet?" But he's coming at you fast and the first swipe takes half your energy?Gun? Knife? He's raising the axe again, and then in a flash he's lying dead on the floor. There's a smoking gun in Leon's hand. It has begun. Resident Evil has grown monster cajones. Welcome to the new horror.

Resident Evil 4 picks up six years after Resi 2. Raccoon city is destroyed, Umbrella Corp is bankrupt, the T-Virus terror is no more. But the world is about to face another devastating bio-nightmare and it revolves around Ashley and this godforsaken village.

Forget staggering zombies, forget saving your bullets 'til you meet the real baddies. Resi 4 comes at you with everything it has right from the start and god help you if you're not a fast learner. The enraged brain dead yokels are relentless, leaping from their slime-spattered hovels, upturning their putrefying meals, throwing axes and dynamite, screaming at you with spine-clawing venom.

Parasites Lost

And while all hell breaks loose and heads in your direction with breathtaking momentum, slowly but surely, a story unravels with Hitchcockian precision and timing. A religious cult, a mad despotic plan, an ancient parasitic creature, characters from the past, new friends whom you suspect know too much. It's drip fed to you in tense, slickly directed cut-scenes and puzzling notes left in dozens of locations. And once you find Ashley, well the nightmare is just getting into its stride.

To suit this new autobahn of slaughter, there's the cleverly monitored control system. The camera is now behind Leon - a la Metal Gear Solid - And tight on his shoulder so you get something more akin to a first person shooter. Complementing this setup, the right analogues stick can be used to look around. Combined, these factors open up the environments like no other Resi Evil game before.

Finally we're free from these oppressive fixed cameras. Finally we're in there with the characters, at ground level, right in with the blood, sweat and livestock. This adds immeasurably to the sense of being there - not to mention setting up some genuinely scary 'what's around the corner?' moments', but also allows the designers to be more subtle. Important objects can now be hidden above just above head height, so you have to have a good look around each location to make sure they're not missing anything. The same applies to traps laid by the psychotic yokels.

Of course the more action-heavy direction is likely to make you greedy for more innovation. There are times when you'd feel like a strafe function is necessary or the ability to quickly change weapons without having to keep opening the inventory. But of course this is a horror game and not a straight shooter and the lack of fast combat mobility just adds to atmosphere of panic and tension.

The aim function is another important addition, the camera pulls in closer and a laser sighting mechanism leads the way from gun to slobbering target. Bingo. You can choose your target, shoot at their knees to bring them down or go for the raw blood spasm of the head kill. With the rifle and scope you can rifle freaks and monsters from afar. With a shotgun and later a riot gun, you can waste a room fool of madmen with a single round. Combined with extensive maps, rich in alternative routes, the vast array of weapons - which are all upgradeable - opens up what is essentially a linear experience to experimentation with gameplay styles. Some will sneak through a window with a sniper rifle and a handgun, happy to take out enemies at a difference where possible, or with a clinical combo of shotgun and kung fu kick where not. Others will tool up with grenades and TMP (an Uzi derivative) to reap merry, slate-rattling slaughter, as spent cases fall like rain. Meanwhile 'fancy' players will no doubt opt for explosive exotica like the mine launcher or the new disintegrator.

4's Flaw

If Resident Evil 4 has a vulnerability, and you really have to reach out to find one, it's that the targeting system isn't perfect. It's actually quite difficult in fact, to aim and hit any distant targets without the sniper rifle. This is because the laser sight, come it a curious and oblique angle. Add this to the tremor in Leon's hand and you've got a system that takes time and patience to master. But you will eventually get the hang of it, partly because weapon upgrades steady Leon's arm considerably, but because the game's near flawless design, pacing and plot will have you seduced into an unspoken vow of wiring every last bit of fun out of the experience. One thing is certain, with a powerful arsenal and a relative abundance of ammo pick-ups, you've never felt so much power in a Resi game and never have you needed it so urgently.

In the beginning it's those Spanish maniacs with their farm tools, but later there are chainsaw-wielding Leatherfaces, mad monks charging in with morning stars and gruesome brain hugging monsters spurting out of exposed neck stumps. This is just for starters - completely new enemies are brought in throughout the whole game, each demanding new death dealing skills from the increasingly battle-scarred player. The beasts are brilliantly animated too, scuttling, leaping and on a couple of occasions swinging dirty great swords. But one shotgun blast later and they're flying backward in a twisted mass of clothing and flesh. Since every encounter feels like life wrestled from the jaws of death, the euphoria you feel at these moments is hard to express.

Naturally, this being a Resi game, there are enormous boss characters. From the tunnel-mouthed Leviathan lurking beneath a still, deep lake to gigantic beasts with skin the pallor of a tumour-ridden bladder, It's a series of confrontations and mutations. Yes, they all have specific weaknesses - just like every other boss character ever, but Capcom has made finding these flaws fun again, because they are so varied and inspired. Early on for example, you meet El Gigante, a beast resembling the Rancor from Return of the Jedi (or the troll from Lord of the Rings - take your pick) who Leon can only kill by softening him up with hot lead before jumping on his back and hacking a parasite from his spinal column.

Rough Guide to Hell

Leon lurches from one set piece to another - a festering farm, a collapsing mining town, a gothic castle, a vast network of caverns - and mercifully there's very little back tracking, so you always feel you're making progress. Also stellar is a new save system that does away with the need to pick up ink ribbons and puts a typewriter before and after every major confrontation. As a result, you can blast your way through the game without ever having to trudge around endlessly looking for items, or restarting miles behind your last position just become some leather-clad freakshow with 5ft long claws just ventilated Leon's guts.

But wait, don't go thinking this is all gung-ho action because you'll find puzzles in here too. As you'd expect from a Resi game, there are plenty of doors that can only be unlocked by finding the right arcane objects. There are also sliding puzzles, cog-turning puzzles, puzzles that involve re-positioning paintings (a nod to the famous early puzzle in Resi 1 perhaps?) - none of them have you going cross eyed, but they are taxing enough to ensure a warm glow of satisfaction when the mechanism triggers and a new entrance slides open.

Visually the game leaks style and attention to detail from every orifice. The rural scenes stink of death with their twisted trees, emaciated live stock, flies buzzing around manure-caked shacks, chains and hooks hanging everywhere. The mining shanty town is a mass of creaky multi-levelled walkways and abandoned equipment. Then there's the gothic overkill of the castle, while below the stairs in the festering sewers, you can almost smell the congealing blood and silage.

The lighting is clever too, drawing a gloomy veil over the rural scenes so everything is dank and muddy. And at night, the villagers gather beneath the forked lightening with burning torches and red eyes?It makes for chillingly atmospheric stuff.

Cinemaaaaaaagh!

Resident Evil 4 is awash with movie references. Those inbred locals, the animal traps, the rusty blades, the sense of being totally isolated - this is the rural horror of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Straw Dogs. Then there are elements of Wicker Man - Resi 4 has it's own weird cult led by a murderous giant. And lingering beneath it all is the dread of contagion that guided 28 Days Later, Rabid and Cabin Fever. Sound is also expertly employed to bump up the scare factor. Haunting strings mix with distorted cymbal crashes and electro-noises to create a soundtrack that feels like an orchestra whose conductor is being stalked by Michael Myers. Ambient effects too are superlative, frequently getting the heart pounding like a pneumatic drill.

As with all good horror, 90% of the experience is the anticipation. RE4's creators aren't afraid to give you hundreds of metres of game space without a single enemy, because they know that a few well-placed sounds will have you bricking it. The game also supports Dolby Pro Logic II so if you have a surround sound setup you might as well just wet your pants now and save yourself some time.

Even once you reach the heart-punching conclusion, Resi 4 hasn't finished with you. Not only do you open up a cool mercenary shoot-'em-up mini-game, and new weapons and outfits, but there's also a massive extra challenge starring seductive operative Ada Wong. Here you carry out missions that ingeniously interplay with key moments from the main game.

Resident Evil 4 is a masterful designed, flawlessly paced slab of horror gaming. The atmosphere builds relentlessly, the plot constantly introducing amazing enemies, locations and twists. There are no lulls, no stretches of gameplay where your enthusiasm dips - once you're in, you're in until the credits roll. And by holding back so much until the latter stages Capcom has shown both extreme confidence in its own abilities and unbridled generosity towards gamers. Simply put: Resident Evil 4 is unmissable

Publisher: Capcom

Devolper: Capcom

Players: 1

Website: www.res-evil.com/re4/

60Hz Mode: Yes

Widescreen: Yes

Surround Sound: Yes

Online: No 

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