5/5 ★ – fez219's review of Resident Evil 4.

It will take a long time before I settle on whether REmake 2 or REmake 4 is my personal favorite. RE4 fans, breathe a sigh of relief — Capcom nailed it. The action is fantastic, the atmosphere is perfect, and the pacing is somehow even more refined than the original. It takes itself more seriously this time around, but I’m fine with it having a distinct identity. There’s still plenty of reasons to go back to the unfiltered B-movie perfection of OG 4, but the new characterization and gameplay of this remake more than justify it. It’s just so smooth and fun. The dialogue is still a hoot, with plenty of campy one-liners strewn in. I have some small story nitpicks and preferences for the original, but overall RE4 gets the story very right. Fans new and old should enjoy it. The excellent groundwork of third-person RE has been streamlined into RE4’s action framework extremely successfully. Leon can move and shoot now, but his enemies are faster and more aggressive. Much like the tone and story, this feels distinct from yet totally respectful to the original. The game might be a bit darker, but Leon is still suplexing, flipping, and roundhouse kicking. The action is just so smooth and crunchy, with Leon’s suitcase full of weaponry being as satisfying to collect, sort, and unload as ever. It’s a relief that the game doesn’t cut any corners either. Where 3’s remake was short and apparently chopped a lot of content out, 4’s remake is around the same length as the original — which was about twice as long as its predecessors — and has nearly everything the original did. There’s a few changes, but the new twists perfectly fit the new story. Enemy variety and challenge is great. I have no real complaints. Are there a few things I enjoyed in the original that I miss here? Yes, but the distinctly excellent gameplay and environments of the original give me more than enough reason to eventually go back and replay the original again. Even if the action/horror cocktail is shaken up this time, Capcom managed to make another all-time classic. I couldn’t be happier with how 4 turned out. It bodes well for possible remakes of the more action-oriented 5-6, or for remakes of the remaining horror-focused 1/CVX. Either way, I’m on board. More remakes Capcom go go go