4.5/5 ★ – DanTheBruv's review of Resident Evil 4.

Platform: PS5 Difficulty: Standard Play Time: 22:13:59 Introduction: Yeah this game ended up fantastic, what can I say? The original Resident Evil 4 is my second favourite game of all time so there was no question that this remake had some pretty damn big shoes to fill. And whilst it doesn't match my undying love for the original, it ended up being a pretty great game in its own right, doing a lot of shit right and honestly barely anything wrong in the end. Cut Content: After Resident Evil 3 remake being, let's be honest, lacklustre, especially when compared to the excellent Resident Evil 2 Remake, it was definitely a little worry of mine that the RE4make would get the same blasphemous chopping block treatment as its predecessor. However, I'm pleased to report that pretty much everything is actually in tact here, not everything, but pretty much everything, so it seems that Capcom have learned their lesson from what came before thankfully. The only noticeable cuts from what I can tell is the U-3 fight is gone entirely, which is a shame undoubtedly, I was a little curious to see that updated, the laser hallway, which I wasn't as fussed about, QTE's and incendiary grenades :( but thankfully they didn't cut huge chunks out of areas or the game's plot like 3 did to its detriment. There are some things that replaced the old stuff and changed lines and all that thay I do miss but for the most part, everything I loved is revamped and back here in glorious new fashion so aside from some stuff that I do miss, I pretty much have no other glaring issues with this remake, it was fantastic, I've played through it 7 whole times and each time I changed something up and it was still fun, especially to learn routes and tactics and really master speeding through it, replayability is what RE is great at and this one is no different, I'm even planning another couple of playthroughs to get that platinum so I can get my first one for Resident Evil. Super fun and super replayable. Combat & Controls: The combat is very satisfying, they took what worked with the OG and genuinely did make an improvement here. While I love the restrictive controls of the original, what they did with them here is nothing short of masterful. Leon has never been more resourceful and he has a lot more range of movement, if you can get good at the game, you really will feel like a highly trained agent. Getting the infinite knife is a real game changer too, getting good at parrying and not having to worry about knife durability makes you nigh untouchable to most enemies, including regeneradors. I even found myself able to parry machine gun fire which is metal as fuck but really insane, seriously this game goes batshit with how cool Leon can be, it goes balls to the wall with it and it makes for an insanely fun experience. The revamped areas, there's one that is the same as the OG but you come from the opposite side which switches it up, are expanded and switched up to make the new maneuverability work and boy does it work wonders. There's a huge range of weaponry and melee moves to work with that just makes this combat and control scheme so much damn fun, seriously can't get enough of it. Story & Characters: Another big improvement here too, the OG was a campy action film, this follows through here but with more emphasis on the drama than the camp. I do miss the insane cheese and constant one liners from the original but I'd be wrong if I said this remake didn't end up providing a better narrative experience in terms of its characters and story writing. Leon actually feels like an older, more worn version of the Leon from RE2 and they actually make an attempt to show us how all of it has affected him, they even give added backstory with Krauser and Leon's training too which is great. Speaking of Krauser, big improvement too; in the OG, he was largely detached from the main plot, a similar situation to Ada, but here his motivation feels a lot more fleshed and he feels a lot more integral to the story than before, his boss fight was great too. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find a bad boss fight in this game other than Del Lago, which was bad in the original game too tbh. Ashley gets a vast character upgrade here too, she feels more like an actual person, no longer a whiny sex symbol for terminally online people to lust over, she plays a bigger part in the story here, I mean I actually liked Ashley in the original if I'm honest but I can't lie, she's so much better here and her relationship with Leon feels a lot more fleshed out, having characters actually talk in gameplay means there's so much more time to develop them and it makes their journey so much more engaging in the process. The same goes for Luis, no longer a sex pest, but a tragic hero who is just trying to do the right thing for once, again, I loved him in the OG too, but he's made so much better here. The only characters I really think are a downgrade are honestly Salazar and Ada. Both are seriously cut down in the narrative, the former is no longer charmingly hateable, he's just an old fuck and I do miss the facetime calls between Leon and the villains. Ada is just kinda bland here, not much time to shine and she pales in comparison to the original version and even her counterpart from the RE2make, which should be the same character but it really doesn't feel like it. I won't get into the whole voice actress situation since it's been done to death but I personally prefer the voice from RE2make. But nevertheless, the characters and narrative are like a 90% improvement which I'm all here for. Really felt engaged and genuinely enjoyed my time with it by the end. 9/10