Resident Evil 4 – there’s always one (pic: Capcom)

A reader admits to having never liked Resident Evil 4 and explains why the Chainsaw Demo convinced him not to buy the remake.

There are getting on for 8 billion people on planet Earth and we’re all unique and different in our own ways. Everyone’s got at least one special thing about them, wither it’s a blessing or curse, and mine is, as you might have guessed already, the latter: I have never liked Resident Evil 4.

I should do. I’m not a mega fan of Resident Evil but I certainly have enjoyed previous entries and was very much looking forward to playing the fourth entry when it eventually came to PlayStation 2. But I was very disappointed. One of the main problems at the time was the game was hyped up so much that I was expecting something mindblowing but what I got was a survival horror with no horror and very repetitive action.

Not being able to move and shoot didn’t really register as an issue at the time, but after the initial village scene I quickly began to lose interest. All the enemies were the same, the plot was stupid even by Resident Evil standards, and Leon was really goofy. Even fans of the game admit Ashley is annoying and I really resented having to keep rescue her.

To me, Resident Evil should be slow-paced and scary but Resident Evil 4 never is, it’s not even trying. The plot in Resident Evil games is always kind of silly but in number 4 they’ve just given up. Things happen for no reason and the whole thing with the parasites is just stupid and never properly explained. And don’t start me on the villains: a 15th century Spanish lord with a Napoleon complex and a wizard.

Not everything is for everyone, I get that, but I just could never click with the game and naturally that put me off the next two games as well. Although I actually liked Resident Evil 5 quite a bit better as it wasn’t quite as silly and at least there was some attempts to make it scary and less goofy. Overall I was much happier when they came out with Resident Evil 7, which was much more up my alley.

So anyway, fast forward 15 years or so and everyone’s excited about the Resident Evil 4 remake. I’m curious – it’s not like the original ruined my life or something – but I tried out the Chainsaw Demo and it’s just the same old thing again. Except this time the standard controls make it seem even more ordinary than before.

There’s still almost no artificial intelligence to anyone, so it never feels like you’re really fighting a real creature, but just playing a glorified shooting gallery. The graphics are pretty good, I’ll give them that, but for me keeping the original dialogue is a mistake. I felt Resident Evil 2 updated the dialogue and tone perfectly, but with this remake it literally is just the same game with better graphics and more normal controls.

I guess you could say that Resident Evil 4 was too whacky to do any other way, or otherwise you’d just have to change everything, but at this point there’s no way I’m going to get the full thing. I’ll just wait and see what Resident Evil 9 turns out to be. Village was okay but I felt it was a step back from 7 – it was too silly again – so I’m not sure the series is really going in the direction I want.

So that’s my story, not much of a superpower but I have the ability to not like a game almost everyone else seems to. I’m absolutely not a killjoy though, so you all have fun with it and I’ll just wait for something more up my street. I never did get that Dead Space remake…

By reader Lokey

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A reader admits to having never liked Resident Evil 4 and explains why the Chainsaw Demo convinced him not to buy the remake.