Since I didn't elaborate on what I meant at 10:45, I'm saying Mexican dialect, not Mexican language, referring to the fact that while the game is set in rural Spain, they are speaking in a way that is more common in North america/Mexico than what would be heard in modern Spain.
This is a cool clarification, if people don't get that, they speak in a way that you can tell is Mexican Dialect because they don't lisp their C's as the current Spanish do. This is a lot like Castilian Spanish, which would make sense as it is staged in an old castle village.
Jesus Christ, "Mexican DIALECT", i really don't hear the Nahuatl or Mayan in there. First, learn your English words when making a video on the internetz, and second, that is definitely castilian spanish with a characteristic accent from Spain. (Shrug in disappointment as i was enjoying the video)
@@unboxthedog3330 they didn’t have a lot of IP’s so there was room to create stuff. Of course, all those IP’s are famous themselves now so that’s what they focus on.
@@dan78789 Dead Space is also a game of the generation next to the GC/PS2/Xb era. So it's normal. And of course, corridors of a spaceship are a simplier location to represent.
Daniel Pedersen the Dead Space games are dark as hell though, so youre rarely exposed to lowres textures. DS3 was bright a lot of the time and didnt really look good even for its time
@@dan78789 dead space was first released on the 360/PS3 Resident Evil 4 was originally released on the ps2 GameCube and original xbox. Obviously Dead space would look better it came out on a next-gen for the time while resident Evil 4 was just ported up. for the time when resident Evil 4 was made yeah it looks fucking amazing today
@@uria3679 Or the halo franchise, or the prototype franchise, or the elder scrolls franchise, they all took a turn for the worse, they started off good, then the next games or comics or whatever for them were bad, the resident evil 6 movies were all bad cliche movies, except for the first movie which was actually a little good, the 2nd wasn't half bad, it had a balance between it's good and bad moments, then the rest were just slaps in the face, but in my opinion, if you stop looking at it the way you would look at anything resident evil, and in some other way, you can start to like the Alice character, until it goes from resident evil 5: revelations(or something like that) to resident evil 6: something, the plot of the first 5 movies is just cut off in favor for an even worse plot, and then there's the lawsuits...
Could you explain to me what's the deal with him? I still don't get it. He's risking his life in a zombie-infested island, carrying enough weapons to arm the entire local population, teleporting ahead of you, and sort-of helping you...? For diamonds, which were incredibly common in that backward village, but still, who would sell stuff in such a place? Who is he? What is he? Why was he waiting around in a shop for just 1 potential customer in an entire island-of-death? How does he carry all that stuff and gets ahead of you? Where did he take all those weapons from? Which...? Just which. Because I asked all the other stuff.
Just Someone "He is described as a weapons peddler who dresses in a long black coat. A pale blue flame marks the location of his shop, and he appears capable of traveling great distances in the blink of an eye. He carries a wide selection of weapons inside his huge backpack and coat. It is obvious from his appearance that he is a Ganado, but he doesn't seem to regard outsiders as a threat, and will deal with anyone as long as the price is right. No one knows how he gets his weapons, but his selection is enough to impress even Leon. "
I think RE4 is loved for a couple of reasons : - The game is just fun to play. Simple actions like shooting enemies and picking up items are satisfying. The encounter design is endlessly varied and still the best ever for a shooter by a wide margin. - The game constantly throws new things at you. New setups, new weapons, new enemies, new gameplay elements practically every 20-30 minutes while being in tune with its environments and story and it keeps that up for 20 hours which is practically unheard of. - It's the best-paced action game ever in terms of escalating and deescalating tension and intensity. - But the pacing isn't just for combat. The economy (pesetas) is also masterfully paced to string the player along with upgrades. - Its controls and combat while lacking certain features of newer games is still precise and tightly designed, every element is well made and has a purpose and flows into each other. There is not one aspect of its gameplay thats not well made and polished. - RE4 is a case study into why less can be more in game design. The lack of quality of life features like running and gunning, running and reloading, and strafing all work in the games favor and make enemy encounters that are quite unlike anything else. I can only imagine how sub-par the first village encounter would be if I could strafe circles around the ganados and unload on 'em all the while reloading. It forces you to think smart and use the environment around you, it demands you learn the monsters cues. It forces you to engage enemies up close and personal and treat every monster as a threat. - No forced walk, and 99% of the game's uninteractive moments (cinematic cutscenes, mini-cutscenes of doors opening/area flythroughs/etc) are instantly skippable by pressing a single button. Short load times between rooms also keep downtime to an absolute minimum. This is incredibly important, and has become a significant issue with video games since the 7th gen. I honestly wouldn't change a damn thing about RE4.
@@dan78789 I prefer RE4 because of its enemy variety, boss fights, level design, and replayability. Dead Space is scarier but for me RE4 is a better game overall.
Shinji Mikami: “If RE4 appears on anything but the GameCube I’ll cut off my on head.” I feel like Capcom is just porting that game to nearly every system just to bait him
what do you mean, "just to bait him"? As soon as Shinji learned of the PS2 port he immediately left Capcom, therefore he "cut off his own head". He never meant that literally, he said it that way to sound "Resident Evili"-ish when all he meant was he would resign from Capcom, which he did.
I was incredibly amazed by it as well, but I somehow think Re4 would've been more underwhelming had that been the final version. If it did, I strongly believe it'd feel the same as Silent Hill, and not to mention Leon in Re4 and James Sunderland in Silent Hill somewhat look the same lol (James is a bit chonkier tho), just imagine Leon saying "aren't you Maria?"
You can’t blame RE4 for the developers taking something good and deciding to take the “more is more” approach. Also, RE5 isn’t a great survival horror game, but it is a great coop game!
I cant expect every "Survival Horror" scenario to be like" 98". The story and adventures move become more dramatic. I still gotta check out those resident evil CG movies that are cannon.
Matt White but REmake and Zero weren’t as financially successful as Capcom or Mikami had hoped. The truth is that 4 was necessary to really push change into the series, and you can’t blame Capcom for trying to appease the audience that liked RE4, that’s shown in how 5 is the best-selling game in the franchise. If they had continued that formula, people would have called it outdated and lacking in innovation, the same critiques that RE:0 got from some people. Truth is no matter how some RE fans feel, RE4 is undoubtably one of the most important and most acclaimed games in the franchise, and it would have made zero business sense for Capcom not to continue down this route at the time at least, although I do agree the action got out of hand. IMO though, 5 and 6 aren’t bad games at all. Their set pieces get out of hand but there’s fun to be had in both
RE4 wasn't survival horror either. Many people seem to forget that RE4 had just as many explosions and backflips as RE6. RE5 and 6 were made the way they were because of the positive reception RE4 received.
Regenerators, Verdugo, the first encounter with a Garrador, sneaking Ashley past those knight statues... IMO RE4 had plenty of scary moments. The perfect mix of action/horror, IMO.
You're too young to have really played the actual scenarios in the original RE2. That one had 4 very distinct Scenarios. The remake only has 2, with very very small differences between Leon and Claire. No original cutscenes or additional story. @Craig Adams
@Craig Adams not even close. The only thing re2 has going for it is the scary atmosphere and graphics. The gameplay is the worst of all the third person games.
Love that game. I wish village played more like 7 than it did like 4. Too many people were complaining about 7 being too scary 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️…. It’s a survival / horror game, it’s suppose to be scary !!
Kinda, i gave it a good review for feigning sincerity but by 8 Crapcom were back to their dirty ass tricks of casualizing and making the game into an action shooter. Werewolves and Vampires dude!? Seriously!? 7 did have atmosphere, some good backtracking, key items, inventory management going on but no zombies, no Wesker, no fun on subsequent playthroughs. I must have played through RE1-Code Veronica DOZENS of times. I couldn't even bring myself to replay 7 ONCE. It was a one and done game, much like most SP games these days. ZERO replay value.
Oh it was the downfall for sure, but still an amazing game. The problem itself was not the game but what the developers took from it's widespread praise of it.
RE4 was a ground breaking game, for that reason alone it should be comemorated, it pretty much reinvented an entire genre, and set the foundation for all 3rd person games we have today. thats why saying it was the downfall is wrong. 5 on the other hand, didnt really bring anything to the table besides the action, even its co-op were there because they were finally ready to throw away the survival aspect.
Perfectly said, it's just a good thing Capcom actually listened to what people wanted after their 'action game' debacle. They really knocked it out of the park with RE7 and RE2remake.
This reminds me of how Ocarina of Time was an amazing Zelda game, but everything it introduced eventually produced Skyward Sword. Skyward Sword was enjoyable, but it had lost the adventure prospect of the action/adventure genre that series was known for. BotW ended up as an absolute return to form, basing its design on the first game. It is funny how "progress" can sometimes bring us things less appealing than the root experience.
One time my friend asked me why I adored RE4 but hated 5 and 6, and I just told him that 4 kept itself balanced between action and tension, and 5 and 6 threw all the tension away. RE2 and Code Veronica also did good balancing action with survival horror, and RE7 did phenomenally. In RE7 you start the game with nothing, then you get a pocket knife, then a pistol, then a shotgun, then a grenade launcher. Resident Evil should always give you that feeling, helplessness slowly progressing into feeling like a badass.
That's...actually a fair way of looking at things. Start helpless as it increases player tension and then later in the game allow players access to more powerful ways of defending themselves. Ammo scarcity can also help maintain the tension.
@@travisz11 I think people just wanted to hate it cuz it was first person and didn't have any of the usual cast, but at the end of the day it's a true RE game through and through.
@@Bodwaizer Code Veronica X was really good except for the storyline. That's where the Resident Evil series started losing the plot, with the whole Wesker coming back from the dead with super powers and shit. That's where it started adopting some of the silly anime undertones that got blown out of proportion in Resident Evil 5 and the spin offs. But purely from a gameplay point of view it was the last of the classic RE survival horror, and arguably accomplished that the best since the first game. It was set in an isolated location, full of enemies and with a genuine item/ammo scarcity that made it very challenging. It wasn't as good as the first three albeit, but still a good send off for the original gameplay style, plot and Steve Burnside notwithstanding.
What I'm going to say will make a lot of people hate me, and you're free to kill me for it later. I think that from the narrative point, shift to action as opposed to horror makes sense, because these characters are already familiar with bioterrorism and what it entails. In RE4 Leon has already been through RE2's outbreak, Chris and Jill went through RE1 together and then went through CV and RE3 respectively. They are already expirienced in this business. And later they created BSAA specifically to fight bioterrorism, so they actually train people for this. From the narrative stand-point, there CANNNOT be any horror in regards to these characters because they already know what they are up against. People may give shit to RE7 because its protagonist is just some random everyday dude, but that's exactly that can bring horror back to the series. Experienced characters from prior games can no longer have that fear like on their first jobs, but new ones, the ones who aren't trained or conditioned for these kinds of situations, are the type of characters that can help bring horror back.
What you are saying makes perfect sense. Its called Character progression. Why should Chris be scared shitless for mutliple games. Same goes for Leon. The only problem is that most lose their personality like Jill. Jill in Revelation seemed like another special agent. Chris despite being experienced he was traumatized by losing people. But i will say I dont depend on the main characters fears to make me scared. Cause Im the one controlling them at the end of the day. You didnt really hear Chris or Jill or Leon scream when dogs jumped in the window, or Mr. X and Nemesis bust in a wall.But it made sense that these people were able to survive. An everyday regular persons chances of survival with no clue as to what weappon experience he has is not believable.
I very much agree with you, that's why Chris has become bulkier then ever because he has to be to combat the evolving threat of the bio weapons or else not be strong enough to take them on.
@@mandalorianhunter1 Chris actually evolved because of Wesker himself, he was a superhuman with excellent combat skills. Chris had the skills to take on Wesker, he just didn't had the strenght, that's why he bulked up.
What pushes RE4 above most comparable games is the sheer variety in combinations of what are essentially the same basic set-ups using the same basic mechanics. I'd guess most people took ~20 hours on their first playthrough, and for like 80% of that (if not more) it's just Leon with his normal run, shoot, and contextual interaction abilities while the game bends its encounter design, enemy design, and rules around you over, and over, and over again. Considering you kill somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 enemies by the end of the game, that's pretty incredible. Then, not only is combat pacing and tension managed well, but the game knows exactly when to slow down outside of those sequences WITHOUT FORCIBLY SLOWING THE PLAYER to let you catch your breath and restock. It's crazy for a game that went through as many revisions as RE4 did over a development cycle as long as it had to still feel so meticulous. It's one thing for Nintendo to pull this off with their big Mario platformers where level design and gimmicks can go wild and still fit the game, but it's another thing to do this in a shooter that has some sort of logical consistency. At no point in RE4 do you ever feel like the developers cut corners, or said "good enough", or saved something for the sequel. It feels like they thought they were making their last game ever. RE4's level design, variety and creativity in encounters, which are then tied together with the best pacing ever, are simply unmatched in my opinion.
"It feels like they were making their last game ever." Considering how much of Capcom's success at that point was riding on RE4, you're not that far off the mark. Masterpieces can come out of high-pressure creativity. As much as I dislike doing it sometimes, I know my own best work comes from setting deadlines and being demanding of myself. I think there's something I remember Adam Savage saying that sums it up: you've got to make your muse work for you, not the other way around. I'd say the dev team more than accomplished that, considering they had two more published games come from RE4's crafting, of which DMC is still going strong.
Your comment just describes everything so perfectly. And I felt the same way as if the developers were like "aight boys this is our last game let's give it all that we have" but in reality it really was the series relied on re4's success to continue.
Evolved Cockroach I enjoyed the guns felt like mine, I wasn't throwing one down for another I was upgrading the same weapons, RE4 hit the perfect balance between horror and action imo.
Yup if Capcom had rolled out another RE game with the isometric style of the first three or another one like Code Veronica the series would have probably sunk.
The designers of RE4 went all out with a green light from Capcom, didn't conform to whatever the trend was at the time, didn't go into it with the mindset of screwing over the consumer, etc. It FEELS like an "all hands on deck" kind of effort and the ripples are still being felt to this day. They made exactly the kind of experience they wanted to make, perfected the base gameplay and never strayed from it, paced it to near perfection, never tried to repeat the magic of any one scenario, rarely took control away unnecessarily, made it supremely replayable, etc. It's a masterpiece.
They're remaking RE4 now, and though I'm sure that they'll do a great job, I'm not really sure that it's a game that needs remaking. RE 1-3 were sensational games, but thoroughly outdated, and completely foreign to modern gamers who didn't play them when that style of game was the norm. I just finished my first playthrough of RE4, and what struck me was how intuitive it was. I just turned it on and started playing. After learning the button layout, there wasn't much of a learning curve at all, it all felt natural to play. Why remake the game for modern gamers, when a modern gamer like myself can already get into the original without difficulty?
Resident evil 4 is outdated too know, not so much graphically but tank controls in a ots camera are just terrible and getting rid of the qte's would massively improve the game, then there's the whole look of the game, why capcom decided to make literally everything brown, is beyond my comprehension
Part of me is sort of super excited and disappointed. The game doesn’t need a remaking, and this game is huge and considered the best ever made by many. It’s VERY easy to screw up a massive project like this and it’s headed towards casual direction. I don’t have a problem with that I just don’t want it to be easy, I hope they learned from RE3R cause re4 is gonna be ruined if it’s like that. The team said they are going to try their best to look at everything from what made the original godly and improve on it.
Not sure where I have been. I've always viewed RE4 as a masterpiece. I had no idea it had a conflicted legacy. Still one of my top 10 games of all time.
Oh yeah agree man. RE4 is widely regarded as one of the best games ever made. As said in the video, the developers seemed to misinterpret and exaggerate some of the elements that were started in RE4 to an extent where it became too action oriented and too heavy on set pieces, QTE's, etc. The game itself is a masterclass but it is also what caused the series' downfall.
I think the general consensus is that RE4 is a superb game, but not a great horror game like its predecessors. In my experience, people who cared more about the atmospheric horror aspect of the series had a level of disdain for 4, but still recognized it as a quality title.
RE4 was one of the first PS2 games ive ever played, i lost count how many times ive replayed it now, and somehow im still not getting bored of it. the game is pretty much a miracle that capcom still to this day tries to to make happen again and it only thanks to it, that we have the DMC franchise
RE4 has great combat, a great protagonist, good writing (for the time) it's overall really good. Also tons of modes, hard mode, mercenaries, Seperate ways plus adas side bit game. Why is it games like Mass effect andromeda, Fallout 4, Battlefield V, COD, can't get their games right but this game from 2005 btfos all their games, just on a fun factor alone...
Ryan Stewart Resi4 is just that good. I was one of those people back in 2005 that thought an 'action' Resi game without tank controls as a gamecube exclusive meant the end for the series. I had a gamecube but had no interest in Resi4. Then I started hearing good things about it, and it then came out on PS2. So I got it around 2006-2007, and have to admit I was 100% wrong for doubting it. And, having played a couple of different PC versions since, I can say it still holds up.
I've beaten RE4 around 30-50 times. It's overrated as can be. Prior to launch the industry and community were agreeing quick timer events were pretty much the anti game then RE4 came along and made it cool again. Fast foward to last of us and they're casually horsing around with QTE. I ask you to go play RE4 in a new way and see how broken it is. Waste ammo. Don't knife boxes, use ammo on every box. Don't upgrade the guns, don't buy anything. The game still plays fine. Which is funny because people always boast how the game reacts to your playstyle. Yeah it does! The game is beyond easy.
@@split2nd898 yeah a game intended for just gamecube just to end up on every dam console, very much sucked, dipshit , it was a dam fucking masterpiece. It made RE relevant
Leon is just amazing in RE4, he's one of the reasons why RE4 is such an enjoyable game. The only thing I would like to change would be the lack of puzzles, if only the developers put in more puzzles in there, but it is what it is and I still enjoy playing this game over any modern RE games. There's just something about it.
“While before you were the one getting caught off guard, now you were the one in control.” This is something I’ve always found interesting about resident evil 4, however I always found it somewhat difficult to actually voice it, as I could never really figure out how to word it. You summed up my thoughts about the topic perfectly. Thanks.
Look, I know RE4 "retrospective" videos have been done to death from Mark Brown, to Super Bunny Hop, to Jim Sterling all putting out amazing videos on the subject but I just have to say: This is definitely one of the better ones on UA-cam and it makes me want to replay it.
Die hard fans are dull as fuk you need to learn how to enjoy a game cuz even after you get used to dealing with the enemies it's still fun every re game in the middle of the game your going to start dealing with the enemies more often and I think re4 did a good job of helping the player get through that without getting bored plus it's still kept the suspense throughout the whole game and it felt like a re game I think the remake of part 2 is going to bring out the best elements of all of the series
That remake is so good. They incorporate player agency, but still strip you of control by making enemies function on a whole different playing field. You feel helpless even though you technically have full control of your character in a natural way.
Kristoffer Pettersson I've just got RE2 remake I'm starting it tonight I hope I love it?! RE4 is an all time favourite of mine but I haven't played 2 yet
Daniel Pedersen I have yes mate 👍🏻 I've played Dead Space 1 and 2 but not 3, I bought Dead Space day 1 I was really looking forward to it, ur right quality game.
RE4 was my favorite until 7 came out BUT its so close you might as well call it a tie. One thing, among a bunch of things, that made me fall in love with RE4 is that it seemed to never end! As a kid, I had it on gamecube and I remember being well into the game with hours and hours already played and I was still on disc 1! There's something really satisfying about playing a game a lot and knowing that you still have whole 'nother disc to go. Thats one of the gripes that I have with 7, is that its a little too short. Great video!
RE4 had -Lonely isolated location -Mainly just Leon, some parts with Ashley -U-3, verdugo boss fights are pretty scary, they're nicely made. -Combat is fun, even for todays standards, it's slower, but still works. -Tons of content, long game, good story, slick protagonist.
you forgot: -QTE's -Absurd melee combat that negates the whole low-on-ammo feel from the originals. -One big escort mission with the most annoying character in gaming history. -Boring putrid colour palette, ranging from poop brown to dull grey.
@@SA80TAGE > He was trained special agent and why Leon defending himself with CQC moves to conserve ammo is considered bad? > I found the escort mission is not that bad since there are some spots for Ashley to hide in and she's not interfering a lot, but I have to agree, Ashley is an annoying character. > it's a PS2 graphics era, same goes for games like DMC3, Godhand or Silent Hill 3. Ofc there would be limitations. (or maybe Capcom was a cheap skate)
Van Maul On the last one, it's highly likely that Capcom was a bit of a cheapskate, since they cut the hookman build partially on the basis that it would cost extra to duplicate some npc/pc models. Still, like you say, muted, dismal color palettes were the norm in many games of the era. It wasn't really until Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, I think, that rich coloring and environments gained a foothold in many titles other than those for a younger crowd. Nowadays, seen in games like Destiny, Fortnite, No Man's Sky, Dragon Age, and more, colorful surroundings have gained a long awaited popularity (at least for me).
22:02 Zombies are the only classic monster that I am truly afraid of. They're oversaturation especially in video games is disappointing because a lot of times they don't capture what's truly scary about a zombie. A zombie apocalypse is only frightening because the way you live your life has to drastically and permanently change. Games that throw hundreds of zombies on the screen and rely on pure panic just don't deliver the actual fear that comes with a zombie. Games like the original Resident Evil truly capture how terrifying a zombie is because of how sparingly they are used. What I feel is truly scary about a zombie is having to move through a hallway or a room with a dead person in it. On a purely visceral point of view it is completely unnatural and terrifying because something that is hard enough to come to terms with like death no longer works the way you thought it did. But if you think about it more and go a bit deeper the real reason a zombie is scary is because it is literally death chasing after you. And if it catches you it will consume you. It's a physical manifestation of the ultimate fear. The fear of death.
Guessing, as infected, he hasn't seen a uninfected person in a long time ( how long has this poor fellow been infected is really beyond me ) so I'm guessing Leon's unexpected arrival threw him off guard before going murder mode on him
You're not wrong about how all the goofy comedy undercuts the horror here, but I think you're very much downplaying how great that comedy is. This is the real legacy of RE4 for me and the reason its imitators rarely have the same sheer likability. The series already had plenty of straight-laced atmospheric horror by that point and plenty of unintentional camp. The two elements always had an uneasy truce at best when they weren't actively clashing. The genius of RE4 is how its creators consciously embraced the cheese side for the first time with Leon's awful one-liners, the merchant, giant robot Spanish Napoleon, etc. While the gameplay innovations were indeed great, it's the camp component that serves as the game's real "X factor" in 2018. It's not really Alien *or* Aliens, but closer to something like Roger Corman's Galaxy of Terror.
It's less Alien vs. Galaxy of Terror and more Evil Dead vs. Evil Dead 2. First film was a fantastic film, but had a lot of unintentional camp, while the second embraced the camp and is considered one of the rare horror films that either lives up to or surpasses the original. Doesn't hurt that the two Evil Dead movies were made by the same person, just like how RE1/REmake and RE4 also share the same director, and he was a producer for every main game up to that point.
@SpyengoEen Exactly. I personally found that the earlier games could never seem to integrate the two properly, resulting in a bit of the old tonal whiplash. RE4 really nailed it seamlessly and it seems to me that the designers made that a priority here for the first time.
We do have a project called CODE: MADMAN currently in production that is attempting to recreate the Hookman version as a full game, so at least the fans once again are attempting to fill what's been left behind. twitter.com/CodeMadman
@@TanWam reaction time is when i have freedom of my actions and i choose what the best action is in the heat of the moment, as stuff is coming at me. Not pressing a button after the game straight up told me to press it, and watching my character do the action themself. There, that explain why qte's are dog shit?
I'm literally going to the store to buy some popcorn for this video. Can't wait for your Bayonetta 2 retrospective... But holy cow, never thought you were making one of Resident Evil 4. I love your videos man.
Honestly, I adore the action packed craziness of RE6, but for me, RE4 feels far tighter. In RE4 it all feels so consistent, with headshots and knee shots allowing you to always spin kick or duplex enemies. I’ve never had that responsive feedback in 5 or 6. It always feels far too finicky to get the spin kick prompt to pop up, often seeming completely arbitrary. Could of course be me, but that’s how they felt when I played them. I think I still prefer RE4 over REmake overall, but it’s a very very close second, and I’m not entirely sure RE4 is necessarily a better game per say. Just really like Leon’s campy western action-hero nature.
REmake with revamped controls... it's a great game, but I prefer the over the shoulder dynamics. RE4 and the remake of RE2.. these are godlike games. The isometric REs didn't aged well, even with QoL controls.
I loved 7 ! I really enjoyed 8, very fun game, but I wish it was more like 7. I love how they brought back the safe room with the item box, back to limited ammo/resources, back to survival / horror…. 8 played more like 4 while looking like 7.
The appreciation you express for cinematography and camera angles makes this my favorite retrospective by far. It's hard to put into words just how impactful a single camera shot can be, and you are completely justified to call the early RE games "cinematic," hell, I would call them more cinematic than RE4 - 7. Some of the pre-rendered backgrounds in REmake and Zero are breathtaking, like timeless works of art. I was crushed when I saw what was happening to RE2 Remake. Great video!
I think this video does a good job of nailing the duality of Resident Evil 4, what lead to it and how its aftermath affected the series. In those terms, this video is great. The only criticism I have, and it's meant to be constructive, is there are moments when you are restating the same thing you said earlier in the video without adding anything significant to the idea. This video could have been trimmed down a bit if this was addressed. That being said, it's a damn fine video and you have a new subscriber.
Oh my gosh this was an absolute pleasure to watch. You nailed it. RE4 is one of my favourite games of all time yet it's a sort of bittersweet love I hold for the game because it was essentially the catalyst for the shift towards action based gameplay and a departure from the mechanics I was so fond of in the original trilogy/ CVX. RE2's remake has filled me with hope for the future of the series and I'd be giddy beyond belief if we get to see a RE4 remake upon a day.
The one thing I never realised just watching the gameplay that no one mentions, holy fuck, was the shotgun so goddamn satisfying to use. Seriously, no words can describe just how satisfying it is.
How can the creative peak of the series be its downfall? RE fans never fail to baffle me with their nonsense. RE4 is up there with the likes of Chrono Trigger, Ocarina of Time, Metroid Prime, Super Metroid, Super Mario 64, Doom, Half Life 2, Street Fighter 2, Deus Ex, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VI, Symphony of the Night, and other landmark titles. It belongs to an elite list of video games.
The reason why is look at resident Evil 5 and 6 they were tanked controlled FPS shooters with kindergarten level of puzzles. Resident Evil 4 while yes it was amazing it was ultimately the downfall of resident Evil
Simple. "Too much shooting" for it to be survival horror which is a genre that the first game in the series pioneered. Still it's easy to really admire the game despite the entire different approach it took, which came along with the sequels that made the shifted direction more apparent.
@james Nas I agree that those purist fans are a pain in the ass and annoying as fuck to deal with. But I don't know what's so leftist about that lol. But answering @John Titor I agree that the survival horror fans are not good at accepting change at all, every single game is met with disdain by the fanbase and it confuses the hell out of the developers especially the money people, the second game doesn't have creepy classic mansion-like scenarios and scary backstory enough like the first one, so they make code veronica, which is the creepiest but is then ignored, so they make another raccoon city based game with 3, but it's met with complaints, resident evil 4 is a great game overall but "it gave way to a worser game" after it lol. I don't get it, the fans wanted their games to be the exact same thing with no changes whatsoever forever... and so they got it, and nowadays we only have top franchises who work just like that, with nothing inventive about them at all. Therefore no "saviour/downfall" to their series. Dumbasses don't even know how they killed their franchises by asking for the same game over and over and the same perfection always. What's the big deal with franchises changing? You want another game like RE1 or SH1? Just play Resident Evil 1 again then lol, it's already there, it's done, and you can play it over and over again. I don't get it, mob mentality is ruining video games since the 2000s.
Capcom released two landmark titles in the same year, DMC3 and RE4. And guess what was the biggest complaint about both games? Lack of or subdued horror elements compared to earlier titles. I'd take the reduced horror if it meant revolutionising and modernising the hack n slash and 3rd-person shooter genres respectively.
I always thought, even back in 2005, that while it was a great game - and it is - that it wasn't a Resident Evil game. However. years of ruminating and a recent play thru of the whole series, I see now that 4 did have the macabre elements of Resident Evil, and that after 0 the series did need an overhaul.
Ah yes. I remember playing this when I was 15, on an emulator where all the controls shown on the screen were those of PS4, therefore I never knew what actual buttons I'm supposed to be presing to dodge. I actually sold the infrared scope, as in the early game I decided not to get the rifle, thinking that it would take too much inventory and I would probably get something even better later in the game so I wanted to save money. Boy, how I regret that decision...the fight with Iron Maiden gave me anxiety as I was left without ammo and had to use my knife. Miraculously, I survived it with just a slither of HP, only to then fall into a dump and see TWO of those fuckers coming at me. I found the hard way that even standing 3 meters near one of them will hurt a lot because their limbs can extend, as can those spikes. I played other horror games, but none of them gave me this much anxiety, although it traumatised me more than it should have me because of a poor choice
I just wanna say that I think its great that I can watch a video of a guy talking about my favorite games for forty minutes and have it be way more entertaining than TV the whole way through. The guy doesn't even need a TV studio, just a computer and some writing skill. I love it all.
Absolutely fantastic video. Your passion for this game bleeds through every aspect of this vid. The tone you set and the way you break down every aspect of this game really encapsulates its worth and legacy. This really felt like a passion project, definitely more so than most of the generic editorials done on this game.
I don't think it was just action prompts that ruined the series. Final nail in the coffen was the inclusion of an AI partner in every game afterward. Sure this had been in games earlier in the series but it wasn't until 5 that it got out of hand. On top of its action oriented gameplay, any and all tension is removed when you aren't alone. Just the fact your partner is there takes away the sense of dread and isolation. What's worse is in Revelations 1 the partners serve no purpose other than to ease tension, as they have horrible accuracy and don't even agro enemies. The best part of Revelations is when Jill and Parker split up and Jill gets stalked by the Rachael Ooze. I believe it was the trend of pushing the Gears of War-like Co-op action on players that ruined the series.
RE4 killed the series, No horror, no puzzles, no zombies, but repetative peasant shooter. Huge letdown. First 3 games were amazing survival horror games.
There is just something magical about RE4 that it never gets boring. It’s like a classic movie that you can always watch no matter how many times you’ve seen it already. Even now more than a decade later from the game’s original release, people are still talking about this game, playing it, doing speed runs. It just never gets old. It never loses its magic. It’s still a all time favourite of so many people including me.
Sorry for my cryptic message, I was too excited. I'm very happy for this video because it shows someone cares for the series, also I don't mind over the shoulder for re2, we get to see the rpd in a new angle
I'm not a horror game fan at all, yet re4 was so special that it sits in my top 5 favorite games of all time. One of those games I can always go back to and enjoy myself.
Bro my dad was laughing when one of the plagas villagers said "Te voy a ser picadillo". Later as I grew up, these plagas characters were saying shit that my uncles would say when they are drunk. Then I found out that Campcom got the wrong Spanish dialect for their dialogue lmao!
I'm so glad you experienced this game when you did and understand/comprehend it's amazing triumph in gaming as well as it's revolutionary story/cinematic driven phenomena of a journey that this game forever goes down in history for. No matter how outlandish, this game shaped the next generation of gaming and gamers alike. We can all relate in that this game is resoundedly uniquely original and unprecedented with all it delivers in every and all categories. It's a masterpiece for the gaming world, forever and always.
For me what made RE4 rly good was the fact that since you have more ammo enemies are less spongy, so you spent less time shooting one same zombie, and have to and because of that you had more varied situations, with different configurations of enemies.
The village is crazy. Every time I decide to replay the game I’m instantly hooked up on it due to the perfection of this intro. The first time I played it the title card blew my mind. « Wow that’s just the start »
It was a giant mistake of Mikami to have done the exclusivity deal with Nintendo on the GC. As much as i did like RE4 and RE5 and some of the game franchises that RE4 help create, it just can't be helped that Mikami's decision to only release Remake for the GC was a huge mistake. By my understandings of the time, most of the Resident Evil faithful was indeed on the playstation. So with this in mind, for Mikami to just only release Resident Evil Remake to the GC was the nail in the coffin for classic RE at that point. Which is a shame because Resident Evil Remake did so much to improve and evolve the classical Resident Evil formula. As much as a fan i was as a kid for RE4, I just feel like for the case of RE as a whole and even the SH genre, classic RE should have been given a chance. For i feel, classic RE overall was what made Resident Evil Resident Evil. Classic RE was the heart and soul for the SH genre. Like how Diablo was for the ARPG genre. When classic RE faded, so did the SH genre.
@TGK18 For the love of horror, you think CVX, RE2 (original), RE3 (original) is RE4 levels of action? RE4 is the action game here. Not the classic RE's. BIG difference.
@TGK18 Hookman build or RE 3.5 build of RE4 showed that the classic formula could have still be retained without completely drastically changing it into a different genre. No RE4 threw a lot of classic game play mechanics and design from the classic games and instead, focused purely on action. Ammo was a constant resource always given to the player, the treasure/ currency system, QTE's, constant button smashing, chapter system, linear gameplay, lack of player consequence, boss encounters being one fight acts, easy to takedown enemies, drastic change to Leon's character, and a wacky over the top tone that never reached to that point even in the classic games. Their is all of that and the plot itself. Which has nothing to do with the overall story of the classic Games. That and Umbrella's conclusion was covered in plot exposition. When we should have seen a concluding end of Umbrella in a game made in the classic RE image. Remake/Rebirth did nothing important? It made zombies scary again, before the running zombie was even in a thing in Hollywood. Along with a great explanation and gameplay loop to make zombies more of a threat. Along with the RE3 style hidden choice cutscenes/endings that can only be seen by the choices you make. Tons of different ways to a solve an issue related to progress through the game. added additional rooms, Plus expanded upon the world building. How is that doing nothing? I could make the same argument with RE4 being the main cause for RE overall, not having a clear identity.
@TGK18 Yes, I know that Hookman was cancelled due to limitation's on the Game Cube. Not the whole console race of that era. Like Remake, RE4 was set to be a console exclusive for the GC. It wasn't until Mikami left for Capcom decided to port it to the PS2, Unlike Remake which was stuck on Nintendo consoles until 2015. RE4 didn't have free roaming exploration. The chapter system of RE4 made backtracking almost non existent. The puzzles were simplified. Yes, but only in area's where you need it for boss encounters. Other than that, you can only find ammo by taking risks, or as rewards, for backtracking for exploring new area's unlocked through a key or item, or by solving puzzles that hade nothing to do with the core progress of the main storyline. RE Zero didn't retcon RE 1 Remake. For the story focus's entirely on Rebecca and how Bravo team managed to get to the Mansion. I do believe that Remake hints at Wesker living. Sure Remake, came out before CVX but that still shows that Wesker having lived was set in stone and backed with Rebirth only two years later after CVX. I disagree with you. Of course Remake didn't move the series forward. The reason it didn't is because it wasn't given the chance to do so. Umbrella Chronicles isn't great. I shouldn't have to play arcade stylized versions of RE Zero, Remake, and RE3, to get the extended content that bridges the gap between RE3 and RE4. How was Survival Horror of that era getting stale? Capcom could have easily changed up the formula from the previous classic games. In fact, they did with Remake, but that wasn't given a successor. Instead RE4 was chosen to be the future of the RE franchise. Along with, the death of survival horror. Just look what became of the staples that were competing with the classic RE games. Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Capcom's other horror centric games like Haunting Ground. There was more than enough life within the genre for Capcom to continue it. They chose not to do so. Not because survival horror was stale. I have played a better RE4, it's the RE2 Remake. RE4 gave Resident Evil a fighting chance? RE was only increasing in sales even before RE4 released.
I am so in the middle on RE4, it's crazy. But, at the end of the day, the series is still going today because of it. So, you know, thanks RE4. Ya did good.
31:38 This is what im hoping RE2REmake gets right. It could be the logical "inbetween" and further make more sense of RE4 Leons bullshit if we see Leon struggling to get by in a similar perspective.
The real problem of the re4-re5-re6 downfall, it's the characters developlement. You can't just spect Leon, Claire, Cris, jill and Ada, to sustain by one level of abilities, they became more experienced, faster and smarter surviviors.
I absolutely love RE4. It's probably the game i've replayed the most in my life, but i also hate it, for it ruined one of my favorite things, the RE saga. PS. 7 is a fun game, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original 4 games (CV being the 4th).
ryan stewart no it ain.t down fall of it for me papi. was resident evil 7. my beef about it was 1st person view and a new hero that u can.t see. which makes it hard on to getting to know them as a person. and the story about infection and bio terrorism and the creation of bio organic weapons papi. was gone in resident evil 7. nah re4 re5 re6 and the new re2 remake are the best. I resident evil has always been a mixed bag of action horror and suspense. even in its days of its old identity. papi. the action was still there. from the very get go. that some heads fail to see.
Re4 is one of my all time favorite games because it is so well balanced in all aspects. It's a perfect mixture of horror, action, seriousness, and campy-ness. It's a perfect storm to make it an unforgettable classic. Oh, and great video!
I highly recommend looking into the old "Resident Evil: The Official Comic Magazine". They Hardcore turned Leon into this overpowered superhero, while doing the same for no other characters. Around the time he was having an brawl with a bunch of mind controlled T-virus bats with nothing but his knife. I was laughing way to hard. 🔪
I didn't mind 4 making Leon a badass because really everything he encounters in 4 is cake compared to Raccoon city where he was surrounded by tens of thousands of infected, Hunters, Tyrants, Crimson heads, G-mutants etc. Like a trapdoor to a spike pit? Dude, his boss turned the entire precinct into a deathmaze that he had to traverse on his first day after aforementioned Chief began hunting down officers like they were big game.
Good analysis. but I disagree with most of your criticisms. I loved RE4 back in 2005 and I replayed it recently (still on the gamecube) and it still holds up as a benchmark masterpiece of a game. Easily in my Top 5 games of all time. Am I the only one that enjoys the escort mission mechanic in this game? Including the QT events during cut scenes. Everything just works perfectly in RE4 that may not in other games. No fault on this game's developers just because it was copied so often by other developers with lesser results. RE4 is ridiculous on purpose and it absolutely works to its advantage. btw, I remember liking RE5 but not even remotely as much as 4. Replayed that one as well, it's a shadow of a game in comparison to it's predecessor then, and even more so today. RE4 is a 10 out of 10.
You want to hear controversial, re5 is the closest to a favorite I have. And I think re6 was an excellent game. Re5 wrapped up so many things and finally ended Wesker, and 6 offered four completely different campaigns.
TheFatMan069 I agree. I’ll even go as far as saying RE5 has the best story in the entire franchise. The stakes feel very real, Wesker is a top notch villain who we understand and is badass at the same time, Chris’ character development from start to finish is terrific, the gameplay is further improved from RE4’s gameplay, and the ending is the most satisfying and optimistic out of all the others.
@@DanteSparda-wo7ls re5 could of picked up right where RE4 left off which it did of it wasn’t the controversial of killing black people and Capcom had to change everything about it. The leaked gameplay footage looked amazing as single player so similar to RE4 but updated version!
To be honest Capcom didnt know what to do the moment Racoon City was destroyed, the city is the perfect location for a viral outbreak because a lot of us can relate to it thus making us think that it can happen to us when the time comes.
The over-the-shoulder camera is an improvement. Fixed camera angles were fine, were very effective and an intelligent work-around for hardware limitations, you don’t have the same excuses to use when technology evolves. When cameras can be masterly manoeuvred without choking the cpu, is when you must drop the fixed camera.
My only real problem with RE4 is the insane amount of one off game mechanics that are in each chapter that are never seen again, ie the blue medallions, hiding ashley in the garbage bin (though it shows up once in the middle ending), the Ashley section, etc. Its almost as if they had many ideas but not enough thought into said ideas so they just through all of them and spread them out throughout the game's chapters, imo at least.
"Pioneered the survival horror genre", you do realize that Alone in the dark came first, right? and that game wasnt a small unkown little hidden gem either, it was incredibly successfull, to the point of getting 2 sequels. RE was a very important game, but it didnt create the genre, it didnt even set the "rules". if anything, RE took things from AitD, to build upon.
DooM didn't invent the FPS, and RE4 didn't invent the over the shoulder perspective, but it sure as fuck popularized it. Those games just took pre-existing concepts and expanded upon them. Pioneering something doesn't mean you have to have made it, just taken a concept and fully expanded on those ideas.
@@tcrpgfan saying expanded doesn't neccessarily mean they improved nor does it mean that it needed to be regarded the first ever existent video game to make more games with that style.
They purposefully made the Ganados less scary in the Island section so that when you run into the Regenerators it comes out of fuckibg no where and really hits you harder.
Since I didn't elaborate on what I meant at 10:45, I'm saying Mexican dialect, not Mexican language, referring to the fact that while the game is set in rural Spain, they are speaking in a way that is more common in North america/Mexico than what would be heard in modern Spain.
This is a cool clarification, if people don't get that, they speak in a way that you can tell is Mexican Dialect because they don't lisp their C's as the current Spanish do. This is a lot like Castilian Spanish, which would make sense as it is staged in an old castle village.
Jesus Christ, "Mexican DIALECT", i really don't hear the Nahuatl or Mayan in there. First, learn your English words when making a video on the internetz, and second, that is definitely castilian spanish with a characteristic accent from Spain. (Shrug in disappointment as i was enjoying the video)
@@Tacitvrno be careful with criticism of language on the internet when you follow it up with "Internetz"
@@DrakebIood I see you're not the brightest.
It's Castillian dialect.
Leon running with the pistol is one of the most iconic silhouettes in games. That's usually hard to do in 3D games.
Harry Willmore max payne too
@Dre lul wot 😂
For real anytime I see anyone hold a handgun the way Leon does in this game I'm immediately like "Man, I miss Leon."
Harry Willmore true i used to want to be like leon as a kid i thought he looked cool how he held the gun instead of the classic always pointing it
That and chiefs arms holding an assault rifle in halo.
I love how cancelled RE4 projects became great games in them selves
They really just kept pumping out the greatest ideas back then.
@@unboxthedog3330 they didn’t have a lot of IP’s so there was room to create stuff. Of course, all those IP’s are famous themselves now so that’s what they focus on.
Like DMC and Dead Space
Just say “Devil May cry” like a normal person
@@DarshanBhambhaniMany DMC fans call it DMC lmao. I’d almost say the abbreviation is more common
Crazy how the graphics of RE4 still hold up pretty solid to this day. This was an amazing game!
You should try the HD texture mod
@@dan78789 Dead Space is also a game of the generation next to the GC/PS2/Xb era. So it's normal. And of course, corridors of a spaceship are a simplier location to represent.
Daniel Pedersen the Dead Space games are dark as hell though, so youre rarely exposed to lowres textures. DS3 was bright a lot of the time and didnt really look good even for its time
@@dan78789 dead space was first released on the 360/PS3
Resident Evil 4 was originally released on the ps2 GameCube and original xbox. Obviously Dead space would look better it came out on a next-gen for the time while resident Evil 4 was just ported up. for the time when resident Evil 4 was made yeah it looks fucking amazing today
@@dan78789 gta iv was a 2008 title so stfu!!
_"Just like how Ada's design in 4 is objectively the best."_
*Yes*
I kinda prefer her re2r design
@@tounsi_m7ashesh RE2 remake Ada design is great, but RE4 Ada design is perfect.
@@tigga2300 let's agree to disagree both are great tho
@@tigga2300 can't argue with a fellow splinter cell chad
No, RE2's was better.
Using "objectively" here is incorrect.
"To RE4, the cause of and solution to, all of RE's problems."
-Homer Simpson
I get that refrence
@@uria3679 Or the halo franchise, or the prototype franchise, or the elder scrolls franchise, they all took a turn for the worse, they started off good, then the next games or comics or whatever for them were bad, the resident evil 6 movies were all bad cliche movies, except for the first movie which was actually a little good, the 2nd wasn't half bad, it had a balance between it's good and bad moments, then the rest were just slaps in the face, but in my opinion, if you stop looking at it the way you would look at anything resident evil, and in some other way, you can start to like the Alice character, until it goes from resident evil 5: revelations(or something like that) to resident evil 6: something, the plot of the first 5 movies is just cut off in favor for an even worse plot, and then there's the lawsuits...
Yes but without changes of what RE4 brought RE franchise will die slowly like Silent Hill
@@uria3679 RE audience doesnt used to be comprised of children
@@callumkristofer7793 Prototype only had two games, and both were good.
It's sad that there were no eastereggs regarding the merchant in later series.
Could you explain to me what's the deal with him?
I still don't get it. He's risking his life in a zombie-infested island, carrying enough weapons to arm the entire local population, teleporting ahead of you, and sort-of helping you...? For diamonds, which were incredibly common in that backward village, but still, who would sell stuff in such a place?
Who is he?
What is he?
Why was he waiting around in a shop for just 1 potential customer in an entire island-of-death?
How does he carry all that stuff and gets ahead of you?
Where did he take all those weapons from?
Which...? Just which. Because I asked all the other stuff.
WHADDYA BUYIN?
Trippy What are you selling??
Just Someone simple. Hes a scavenger making a quick buck, who happens to take a liking to leon
Just Someone "He is described as a weapons peddler who dresses in a long black coat. A pale blue flame marks the location of his shop, and he appears capable of traveling great distances in the blink of an eye. He carries a wide selection of weapons inside his huge backpack and coat. It is obvious from his appearance that he is a Ganado, but he doesn't seem to regard outsiders as a threat, and will deal with anyone as long as the price is right. No one knows how he gets his weapons, but his selection is enough to impress even Leon. "
I think RE4 is loved for a couple of reasons :
- The game is just fun to play. Simple actions like shooting enemies and picking up items are satisfying. The encounter design is endlessly varied and still the best ever for a shooter by a wide margin.
- The game constantly throws new things at you. New setups, new weapons, new enemies, new gameplay elements practically every 20-30 minutes while being in tune with its environments and story and it keeps that up for 20 hours which is practically unheard of.
- It's the best-paced action game ever in terms of escalating and deescalating tension and intensity.
- But the pacing isn't just for combat. The economy (pesetas) is also masterfully paced to string the player along with upgrades.
- Its controls and combat while lacking certain features of newer games is still precise and tightly designed, every element is well made and has a purpose and flows into each other. There is not one aspect of its gameplay thats not well made and polished.
- RE4 is a case study into why less can be more in game design. The lack of quality of life features like running and gunning, running and reloading, and strafing all work in the games favor and make enemy encounters that are quite unlike anything else. I can only imagine how sub-par the first village encounter would be if I could strafe circles around the ganados and unload on 'em all the while reloading. It forces you to think smart and use the environment around you, it demands you learn the monsters cues. It forces you to engage enemies up close and personal and treat every monster as a threat.
- No forced walk, and 99% of the game's uninteractive moments (cinematic cutscenes, mini-cutscenes of doors opening/area flythroughs/etc) are instantly skippable by pressing a single button. Short load times between rooms also keep downtime to an absolute minimum. This is incredibly important, and has become a significant issue with video games since the 7th gen.
I honestly wouldn't change a damn thing about RE4.
The controls are pretty hard on me sadly
@@StewHeisenberg You just have to get used to it which takes a bit of time but once you get the hang of it, it makes the game that much better
@@dan78789 I love Dead Space as well, but I prefer RE4. Hopefully we will see a new Dead Space game someday because I miss the series.
Lmao we meet again.
@@dan78789 I prefer RE4 because of its enemy variety, boss fights, level design, and replayability. Dead Space is scarier but for me RE4 is a better game overall.
Shinji Mikami: “If RE4 appears on anything but the GameCube I’ll cut off my on head.”
I feel like Capcom is just porting that game to nearly every system just to bait him
Barry AK
I know but they excessively still ported it to nearly every other platform, which makes this quote even more hilarious
@@Sjono I know dude, i mean , is there even a post GC system that doesen't have RE 4?
Sjono it’s crazy to think RE4 is gonna be ported to the ps5 and Xbox series meaning it’s the only game ever to be ported to every console platform..
what do you mean, "just to bait him"? As soon as Shinji learned of the PS2 port he immediately left Capcom, therefore he "cut off his own head". He never meant that literally, he said it that way to sound "Resident Evili"-ish when all he meant was he would resign from Capcom, which he did.
@@gamephreak5 There's no way he left the company because they ported a game he worked on.
The hookman build looks ahead of its time honestly.
I was incredibly amazed by it as well, but I somehow think Re4 would've been more underwhelming had that been the final version. If it did, I strongly believe it'd feel the same as Silent Hill, and not to mention Leon in Re4 and James Sunderland in Silent Hill somewhat look the same lol (James is a bit chonkier tho), just imagine Leon saying "aren't you Maria?"
Meh, we've had realtime shapeshifting environments with Soul Reaver 1 on the PS1.
You can’t blame RE4 for the developers taking something good and deciding to take the “more is more” approach. Also, RE5 isn’t a great survival horror game, but it is a great coop game!
I cant expect every "Survival Horror" scenario to be like" 98". The story and adventures move become more dramatic. I still gotta check out those resident evil CG movies that are cannon.
I can support this sentiment, RE5 is a great game! It’s just not a “good” game.
Matt White but REmake and Zero weren’t as financially successful as Capcom or Mikami had hoped. The truth is that 4 was necessary to really push change into the series, and you can’t blame Capcom for trying to appease the audience that liked RE4, that’s shown in how 5 is the best-selling game in the franchise. If they had continued that formula, people would have called it outdated and lacking in innovation, the same critiques that RE:0 got from some people. Truth is no matter how some RE fans feel, RE4 is undoubtably one of the most important and most acclaimed games in the franchise, and it would have made zero business sense for Capcom not to continue down this route at the time at least, although I do agree the action got out of hand. IMO though, 5 and 6 aren’t bad games at all. Their set pieces get out of hand but there’s fun to be had in both
RE4 wasn't survival horror either. Many people seem to forget that RE4 had just as many explosions and backflips as RE6. RE5 and 6 were made the way they were because of the positive reception RE4 received.
I feel like a lot of people forget what huge rut Resident Evil was stuck in around the time RE4 was stuck in.
Me: "RE4 ain't scary.."
*hears regenerator*
never mind...
God I hated those things
Regenerators, Verdugo, the first encounter with a Garrador, sneaking Ashley past those knight statues... IMO RE4 had plenty of scary moments. The perfect mix of action/horror, IMO.
@@John6-40 exactly!
Also, Dr. Salvador. Ugh
Me : "Hears Chainsaw guy scream or Garrador Running"
I Guess I'm Done
@Shadow_Fox LTG. No, scary too
Re4 is the only game I can play over and over and not be bored. Something magical is in this game.
My favorite game. Beat it hundreds of times. Last run I did was pro mode of handgun only with no upgrades. 40+ hours, 300 deaths. God status achieved
Yeah, it's kinda weird how you can replay this game over and over and still it doesn't get boring
You're too young to have really played the actual scenarios in the original RE2. That one had 4 very distinct Scenarios. The remake only has 2, with very very small differences between Leon and Claire. No original cutscenes or additional story. @Craig Adams
Same here and idk why other than I like the gameplay and adventure and levels.
@Craig Adams not even close. The only thing re2 has going for it is the scary atmosphere and graphics. The gameplay is the worst of all the third person games.
This is why RE7 was so big. It was a return to atmospheric survival horror.
Love that game. I wish village played more like 7 than it did like 4. Too many people were complaining about 7 being too scary 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️…. It’s a survival / horror game, it’s suppose to be scary !!
Kinda, i gave it a good review for feigning sincerity but by 8 Crapcom were back to their dirty ass tricks of casualizing and making the game into an action shooter. Werewolves and Vampires dude!? Seriously!?
7 did have atmosphere, some good backtracking, key items, inventory management going on but no zombies, no Wesker, no fun on subsequent playthroughs. I must have played through RE1-Code Veronica DOZENS of times. I couldn't even bring myself to replay 7 ONCE.
It was a one and done game, much like most SP games these days. ZERO replay value.
Oh it was the downfall for sure, but still an amazing game. The problem itself was not the game but what the developers took from it's widespread praise of it.
RE4 was a ground breaking game, for that reason alone it should be comemorated, it pretty much reinvented an entire genre, and set the foundation for all 3rd person games we have today. thats why saying it was the downfall is wrong. 5 on the other hand, didnt really bring anything to the table besides the action, even its co-op were there because they were finally ready to throw away the survival aspect.
Perfectly said, it's just a good thing Capcom actually listened to what people wanted after their 'action game' debacle. They really knocked it out of the park with RE7 and RE2remake.
This reminds me of how Ocarina of Time was an amazing Zelda game, but everything it introduced eventually produced Skyward Sword. Skyward Sword was enjoyable, but it had lost the adventure prospect of the action/adventure genre that series was known for. BotW ended up as an absolute return to form, basing its design on the first game. It is funny how "progress" can sometimes bring us things less appealing than the root experience.
@@marcosdheleno I think the closest we can get to its status as the downfall is saying it was _part_ of the downfalls cause.
Mikey C23 yeah, the amount of time it took for them to realize what we wanted was definitely unfortunate, but better late then never right
One time my friend asked me why I adored RE4 but hated 5 and 6, and I just told him that 4 kept itself balanced between action and tension, and 5 and 6 threw all the tension away. RE2 and Code Veronica also did good balancing action with survival horror, and RE7 did phenomenally. In RE7 you start the game with nothing, then you get a pocket knife, then a pistol, then a shotgun, then a grenade launcher. Resident Evil should always give you that feeling, helplessness slowly progressing into feeling like a badass.
That's...actually a fair way of looking at things. Start helpless as it increases player tension and then later in the game allow players access to more powerful ways of defending themselves. Ammo scarcity can also help maintain the tension.
I don’t understand how so many people hate on RE7. I thought it was fantastic and thinking about now makes me want to play it again.
@@travisz11 I think people just wanted to hate it cuz it was first person and didn't have any of the usual cast, but at the end of the day it's a true RE game through and through.
Code Veronica is unreal trash, can't believe someone likes that game.
@@Bodwaizer Code Veronica X was really good except for the storyline. That's where the Resident Evil series started losing the plot, with the whole Wesker coming back from the dead with super powers and shit. That's where it started adopting some of the silly anime undertones that got blown out of proportion in Resident Evil 5 and the spin offs. But purely from a gameplay point of view it was the last of the classic RE survival horror, and arguably accomplished that the best since the first game. It was set in an isolated location, full of enemies and with a genuine item/ammo scarcity that made it very challenging. It wasn't as good as the first three albeit, but still a good send off for the original gameplay style, plot and Steve Burnside notwithstanding.
What I'm going to say will make a lot of people hate me, and you're free to kill me for it later. I think that from the narrative point, shift to action as opposed to horror makes sense, because these characters are already familiar with bioterrorism and what it entails. In RE4 Leon has already been through RE2's outbreak, Chris and Jill went through RE1 together and then went through CV and RE3 respectively. They are already expirienced in this business. And later they created BSAA specifically to fight bioterrorism, so they actually train people for this. From the narrative stand-point, there CANNNOT be any horror in regards to these characters because they already know what they are up against.
People may give shit to RE7 because its protagonist is just some random everyday dude, but that's exactly that can bring horror back to the series. Experienced characters from prior games can no longer have that fear like on their first jobs, but new ones, the ones who aren't trained or conditioned for these kinds of situations, are the type of characters that can help bring horror back.
What you are saying makes perfect sense. Its called Character progression. Why should Chris be scared shitless for mutliple games. Same goes for Leon. The only problem is that most lose their personality like Jill. Jill in Revelation seemed like another special agent. Chris despite being experienced he was traumatized by losing people.
But i will say I dont depend on the main characters fears to make me scared. Cause Im the one controlling them at the end of the day. You didnt really hear Chris or Jill or Leon scream when dogs jumped in the window, or Mr. X and Nemesis bust in a wall.But it made sense that these people were able to survive. An everyday regular persons chances of survival with no clue as to what weappon experience he has is not believable.
That's what I'm trying to say. Just play as Chris in RE7 after playing as Ethan, Chris just kills Molded like they were toys.
People can't see the narrative point of resident evil
Good for you
I very much agree with you, that's why Chris has become bulkier then ever because he has to be to combat the evolving threat of the bio weapons or else not be strong enough to take them on.
@@mandalorianhunter1 Chris actually evolved because of Wesker himself, he was a superhuman with excellent combat skills. Chris had the skills to take on Wesker, he just didn't had the strenght, that's why he bulked up.
What pushes RE4 above most comparable games is the sheer variety in combinations of what are essentially the same basic set-ups using the same basic mechanics. I'd guess most people took ~20 hours on their first playthrough, and for like 80% of that (if not more) it's just Leon with his normal run, shoot, and contextual interaction abilities while the game bends its encounter design, enemy design, and rules around you over, and over, and over again. Considering you kill somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 enemies by the end of the game, that's pretty incredible. Then, not only is combat pacing and tension managed well, but the game knows exactly when to slow down outside of those sequences WITHOUT FORCIBLY SLOWING THE PLAYER to let you catch your breath and restock. It's crazy for a game that went through as many revisions as RE4 did over a development cycle as long as it had to still feel so meticulous. It's one thing for Nintendo to pull this off with their big Mario platformers where level design and gimmicks can go wild and still fit the game, but it's another thing to do this in a shooter that has some sort of logical consistency.
At no point in RE4 do you ever feel like the developers cut corners, or said "good enough", or saved something for the sequel. It feels like they thought they were making their last game ever.
RE4's level design, variety and creativity in encounters, which are then tied together with the best pacing ever, are simply unmatched in my opinion.
"It feels like they were making their last game ever."
Considering how much of Capcom's success at that point was riding on RE4, you're not that far off the mark. Masterpieces can come out of high-pressure creativity. As much as I dislike doing it sometimes, I know my own best work comes from setting deadlines and being demanding of myself. I think there's something I remember Adam Savage saying that sums it up: you've got to make your muse work for you, not the other way around. I'd say the dev team more than accomplished that, considering they had two more published games come from RE4's crafting, of which DMC is still going strong.
Yes, RE4 is the best RE game ever made, hands down. Unless RE2 surpassed it recently, have to play this one.
Your comment just describes everything so perfectly. And I felt the same way as if the developers were like "aight boys this is our last game let's give it all that we have" but in reality it really was the series relied on re4's success to continue.
Evolved Cockroach I enjoyed the guns felt like mine, I wasn't throwing one down for another I was upgrading the same weapons, RE4 hit the perfect balance between horror and action imo.
Yup if Capcom had rolled out another RE game with the isometric style of the first three or another one like Code Veronica the series would have probably sunk.
What are you buying? What are you selling?
Come back anytime
ohhh i'll buy that at a hiiiigghh price
NOT ENOUGH C A S H!
stranger.. STRANGER! now that's a weapon
Got a selection of good things on sale stranger!
The designers of RE4 went all out with a green light from Capcom, didn't conform to whatever the trend was at the time, didn't go into it with the mindset of screwing over the consumer, etc. It FEELS like an "all hands on deck" kind of effort and the ripples are still being felt to this day. They made exactly the kind of experience they wanted to make, perfected the base gameplay and never strayed from it, paced it to near perfection, never tried to repeat the magic of any one scenario, rarely took control away unnecessarily, made it supremely replayable, etc. It's a masterpiece.
Because it catered to casuals. The enemies are the dumbest. They purposely want you to shoot them.
They're remaking RE4 now, and though I'm sure that they'll do a great job, I'm not really sure that it's a game that needs remaking. RE 1-3 were sensational games, but thoroughly outdated, and completely foreign to modern gamers who didn't play them when that style of game was the norm. I just finished my first playthrough of RE4, and what struck me was how intuitive it was. I just turned it on and started playing.
After learning the button layout, there wasn't much of a learning curve at all, it all felt natural to play. Why remake the game for modern gamers, when a modern gamer like myself can already get into the original without difficulty?
Yeah I'd rather them expand on the RE3 they released and restore some of the content from the OG one.
we def need a code veronica or outbreak remake instead of Re4R imo
Resident evil 4 is outdated too know, not so much graphically but tank controls in a ots camera are just terrible and getting rid of the qte's would massively improve the game, then there's the whole look of the game, why capcom decided to make literally everything brown, is beyond my comprehension
Part of me is sort of super excited and disappointed. The game doesn’t need a remaking, and this game is huge and considered the best ever made by many. It’s VERY easy to screw up a massive project like this and it’s headed towards casual direction. I don’t have a problem with that I just don’t want it to be easy, I hope they learned from RE3R cause re4 is gonna be ruined if it’s like that. The team said they are going to try their best to look at everything from what made the original godly and improve on it.
@@nemesis8626 no it’s not
Sees video:
“Got something that might interest me?”
After watching:
“Hehehe thank you.”
Not sure where I have been. I've always viewed RE4 as a masterpiece. I had no idea it had a conflicted legacy. Still one of my top 10 games of all time.
masterpiece :DD
Oh yeah agree man. RE4 is widely regarded as one of the best games ever made. As said in the video, the developers seemed to misinterpret and exaggerate some of the elements that were started in RE4 to an extent where it became too action oriented and too heavy on set pieces, QTE's, etc. The game itself is a masterclass but it is also what caused the series' downfall.
I count RE4 in my top 3 of best games ever, but the legacy is definitely really bad, RE5 and 6 were some of the worst games I ever played
@Death Enforcerer There's no survival horror in the game. None. Survival horror isn't just being scary.
I think the general consensus is that RE4 is a superb game, but not a great horror game like its predecessors. In my experience, people who cared more about the atmospheric horror aspect of the series had a level of disdain for 4, but still recognized it as a quality title.
RE4 was one of the first PS2 games ive ever played, i lost count how many times ive replayed it now, and somehow im still not getting bored of it.
the game is pretty much a miracle that capcom still to this day tries to to make happen again
and it only thanks to it, that we have the DMC franchise
RE4 has great combat, a great protagonist, good writing (for the time) it's overall really good. Also tons of modes, hard mode, mercenaries, Seperate ways plus adas side bit game. Why is it games like Mass effect andromeda, Fallout 4, Battlefield V, COD, can't get their games right but this game from 2005 btfos all their games, just on a fun factor alone...
RE4 feels like a SEGA Dreamcast game... in a good way.
Ryan Stewart Resi4 is just that good. I was one of those people back in 2005 that thought an 'action' Resi game without tank controls as a gamecube exclusive meant the end for the series. I had a gamecube but had no interest in Resi4. Then I started hearing good things about it, and it then came out on PS2. So I got it around 2006-2007, and have to admit I was 100% wrong for doubting it.
And, having played a couple of different PC versions since, I can say it still holds up.
I've beaten RE4 around 30-50 times. It's overrated as can be. Prior to launch the industry and community were agreeing quick timer events were pretty much the anti game then RE4 came along and made it cool again. Fast foward to last of us and they're casually horsing around with QTE. I ask you to go play RE4 in a new way and see how broken it is. Waste ammo. Don't knife boxes, use ammo on every box. Don't upgrade the guns, don't buy anything. The game still plays fine. Which is funny because people always boast how the game reacts to your playstyle. Yeah it does! The game is beyond easy.
It is a pretty boring third person shooter with a ridiculous story and characters. I just cant get the praise for it.
it straight up says "action horror" on the back of the box, not survival horror.
cookieface80
It's not action horror though, it's horror action.
I would call it "action shooter" instead, there are some creepy moment in this game, but not scary, and definitely not horror.
Windflier
It's action with some horror, it's horror action.
That’s why it sucked
@@split2nd898 yeah a game intended for just gamecube just to end up on every dam console, very much sucked, dipshit , it was a dam fucking masterpiece. It made RE relevant
Leon is just amazing in RE4, he's one of the reasons why RE4 is such an enjoyable game. The only thing I would like to change would be the lack of puzzles, if only the developers put in more puzzles in there, but it is what it is and I still enjoy playing this game over any modern RE games. There's just something about it.
“While before you were the one getting caught off guard, now you were the one in control.”
This is something I’ve always found interesting about resident evil 4, however I always found it somewhat difficult to actually voice it, as I could never really figure out how to word it. You summed up my thoughts about the topic perfectly. Thanks.
Look, I know RE4 "retrospective" videos have been done to death from Mark Brown, to Super Bunny Hop, to Jim Sterling all putting out amazing videos on the subject but I just have to say: This is definitely one of the better ones on UA-cam and it makes me want to replay it.
Boss! As someone who has seen the videos you have listed, I too agree that this is one of the best!
Boss! *salutes*
Hey Snake, you play a CAPCOM game?
Big Boss whole heartedly agree :)
Die hard fans are dull as fuk you need to learn how to enjoy a game cuz even after you get used to dealing with the enemies it's still fun every re game in the middle of the game your going to start dealing with the enemies more often and I think re4 did a good job of helping the player get through that without getting bored plus it's still kept the suspense throughout the whole game and it felt like a re game I think the remake of part 2 is going to bring out the best elements of all of the series
With the RE2 remake i think they've proven that you can retain the original Resident Evil atmosphere and feel without the fixed camera.
That remake is so good. They incorporate player agency, but still strip you of control by making enemies function on a whole different playing field. You feel helpless even though you technically have full control of your character in a natural way.
Kristoffer Pettersson I've just got RE2 remake I'm starting it tonight I hope I love it?! RE4 is an all time favourite of mine but I haven't played 2 yet
Daniel Pedersen I have yes mate 👍🏻 I've played Dead Space 1 and 2 but not 3, I bought Dead Space day 1 I was really looking forward to it, ur right quality game.
RE4 was my favorite until 7 came out BUT its so close you might as well call it a tie. One thing, among a bunch of things, that made me fall in love with RE4 is that it seemed to never end! As a kid, I had it on gamecube and I remember being well into the game with hours and hours already played and I was still on disc 1! There's something really satisfying about playing a game a lot and knowing that you still have whole 'nother disc to go. Thats one of the gripes that I have with 7, is that its a little too short. Great video!
RE4 had
-Lonely isolated location
-Mainly just Leon, some parts with Ashley
-U-3, verdugo boss fights are pretty scary, they're nicely made.
-Combat is fun, even for todays standards, it's slower, but still works.
-Tons of content, long game, good story, slick protagonist.
And -Horrendous controls
@@naasgp7683 The controls were fine.
you forgot:
-QTE's
-Absurd melee combat that negates the whole low-on-ammo feel from the originals.
-One big escort mission with the most annoying character in gaming history.
-Boring putrid colour palette, ranging from poop brown to dull grey.
@@SA80TAGE > He was trained special agent and why Leon defending himself with CQC moves to conserve ammo is considered bad?
> I found the escort mission is not that bad since there are some spots for Ashley to hide in and she's not interfering a lot, but I have to agree, Ashley is an annoying character.
> it's a PS2 graphics era, same goes for games like DMC3, Godhand or Silent Hill 3. Ofc there would be limitations. (or maybe Capcom was a cheap skate)
Van Maul On the last one, it's highly likely that Capcom was a bit of a cheapskate, since they cut the hookman build partially on the basis that it would cost extra to duplicate some npc/pc models.
Still, like you say, muted, dismal color palettes were the norm in many games of the era. It wasn't really until Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, I think, that rich coloring and environments gained a foothold in many titles other than those for a younger crowd. Nowadays, seen in games like Destiny, Fortnite, No Man's Sky, Dragon Age, and more, colorful surroundings have gained a long awaited popularity (at least for me).
22:02 Zombies are the only classic monster that I am truly afraid of. They're oversaturation especially in video games is disappointing because a lot of times they don't capture what's truly scary about a zombie. A zombie apocalypse is only frightening because the way you live your life has to drastically and permanently change. Games that throw hundreds of zombies on the screen and rely on pure panic just don't deliver the actual fear that comes with a zombie. Games like the original Resident Evil truly capture how terrifying a zombie is because of how sparingly they are used. What I feel is truly scary about a zombie is having to move through a hallway or a room with a dead person in it. On a purely visceral point of view it is completely unnatural and terrifying because something that is hard enough to come to terms with like death no longer works the way you thought it did. But if you think about it more and go a bit deeper the real reason a zombie is scary is because it is literally death chasing after you. And if it catches you it will consume you. It's a physical manifestation of the ultimate fear. The fear of death.
Touche! And this is also why slower Romero zombies are scarier. Leave the faster ones for games like L4D.
It also helps that the zombies in REmake were bullet sponges and didn't drop ammo for you.
@@nimazsheik5152 Exactly.
@@விஷ்ணு_கார்த்திக் Not giving you an immediate way of dealing with them does force you to face the fear of each encounter.
@Mateusz Kuciapski Those sound like pretty interesting ideas. I'll have to check those games out.
Foxcade, you're small time.
Hahah
Writhe in a cage of torment my friend.
Hahahaha!
Thank you.
@@lemonoreo5762 Allow me to awake you from your world of cliches!
@@hre2044 where's the satisfying sound of one's impalement?
@@lemonoreo5762 Heh not falling for this old trick
9:35 I've always wondered why that ganado makes a 270 degree turn to face Leon.
I've played this game thousand times but didn't even notice once that so efficient movement until you mentioned 😂 thank you!
Guessing, as infected, he hasn't seen a uninfected person in a long time ( how long has this poor fellow been infected is really beyond me ) so I'm guessing Leon's unexpected arrival threw him off guard before going murder mode on him
@@Dukesparrow1999 Honestly, that is too far-fetched. Maybe they just did it for aesthetic purposes.
He doesn't want to be a cultist he just wants to dance.
"Fight for the most amount of kills" made me lol. i got so nostalgic from this vid good job!!!
You're not wrong about how all the goofy comedy undercuts the horror here, but I think you're very much downplaying how great that comedy is. This is the real legacy of RE4 for me and the reason its imitators rarely have the same sheer likability. The series already had plenty of straight-laced atmospheric horror by that point and plenty of unintentional camp. The two elements always had an uneasy truce at best when they weren't actively clashing. The genius of RE4 is how its creators consciously embraced the cheese side for the first time with Leon's awful one-liners, the merchant, giant robot Spanish Napoleon, etc. While the gameplay innovations were indeed great, it's the camp component that serves as the game's real "X factor" in 2018. It's not really Alien *or* Aliens, but closer to something like Roger Corman's Galaxy of Terror.
It's less Alien vs. Galaxy of Terror and more Evil Dead vs. Evil Dead 2. First film was a fantastic film, but had a lot of unintentional camp, while the second embraced the camp and is considered one of the rare horror films that either lives up to or surpasses the original. Doesn't hurt that the two Evil Dead movies were made by the same person, just like how RE1/REmake and RE4 also share the same director, and he was a producer for every main game up to that point.
@SpyengoEen Exactly. I personally found that the earlier games could never seem to integrate the two properly, resulting in a bit of the old tonal whiplash. RE4 really nailed it seamlessly and it seems to me that the designers made that a priority here for the first time.
the cancellation of the Hookman version is probably one of the saddest moments in gaming history for me :(
We do have a project called CODE: MADMAN currently in production that is attempting to recreate the Hookman version as a full game, so at least the fans once again are attempting to fill what's been left behind.
twitter.com/CodeMadman
I love the modding/fan game community.
Chris Chen does Capcom take down fan projects?
Typically, Capcom is fairly lax when it comes to fan projects. I mean, just look at all the fully-featured Mega Man fangames that exist currently!
Gotta love it when the company's are alright with fangames
**glares at nintendo**
"Suplexing cult priests" best line ever.
It’s amazing how developers looked at this game and took away the worst possible lessons from it
i think you see that in a lot of media. thats capitalism for ya; copy success until it becomes irrelevant.
@@Spider-Man_234What? Lmao. Capitalism has problems. That was not one of them.
I swear I’m the only person who doesn’t have a problem with QTEs
I suck at qte and i really don't care if they're present or not.
People who hate them just lack the reflexes and reaction time to enjoy the process
They're fine, when used sparingly. It got a little rediculous when every game that came out after RE4 had to use them though.
@@TanWam reaction time is when i have freedom of my actions and i choose what the best action is in the heat of the moment, as stuff is coming at me. Not pressing a button after the game straight up told me to press it, and watching my character do the action themself. There, that explain why qte's are dog shit?
I think RE4 to this day still did QTE events the best. They just suck when they don't have a sense of urgency or tension.
I'm literally going to the store to buy some popcorn for this video. Can't wait for your Bayonetta 2 retrospective... But holy cow, never thought you were making one of Resident Evil 4. I love your videos man.
DistortedEmerald cringe
Funny that as i literally just finished my popcorn before reading this comment XD
Get a fucking grip lol. Cringe
Buying popcorn is "cringe" now.
Runner High welcome to the 2018/2019 period of time where every idiot try to be cool by saying “cringe”all the time.
Honestly, I adore the action packed craziness of RE6, but for me, RE4 feels far tighter.
In RE4 it all feels so consistent, with headshots and knee shots allowing you to always spin kick or duplex enemies.
I’ve never had that responsive feedback in 5 or 6. It always feels far too finicky to get the spin kick prompt to pop up, often seeming completely arbitrary.
Could of course be me, but that’s how they felt when I played them.
I think I still prefer RE4 over REmake overall, but it’s a very very close second, and I’m not entirely sure RE4 is necessarily a better game per say. Just really like Leon’s campy western action-hero nature.
shadonic565
And people are allowed to criticize whomever they want.
Bitchboy
@shadonic565 shh... These Resident Evil fans are known for being nostalgia braindead cucks that hates anything new.
REmake with revamped controls... it's a great game, but I prefer the over the shoulder dynamics. RE4 and the remake of RE2.. these are godlike games. The isometric REs didn't aged well, even with QoL controls.
Re 4 was a blessing and a curse and I'm glad they went back to form with 7 and the new RE2 remake.
I loved 7 ! I really enjoyed 8, very fun game, but I wish it was more like 7. I love how they brought back the safe room with the item box, back to limited ammo/resources, back to survival / horror…. 8 played more like 4 while looking like 7.
Re 4 wasn't even at the level of 7 and RE 2 remake, it wasn't the best game and it had a bad storyline and bad gameplay very easy wonky mechanics.
If Capcom tried recreating the Hookman version of RE4 now, even if it had no place in the timeline, I would be all over it
The appreciation you express for cinematography and camera angles makes this my favorite retrospective by far. It's hard to put into words just how impactful a single camera shot can be, and you are completely justified to call the early RE games "cinematic," hell, I would call them more cinematic than RE4 - 7. Some of the pre-rendered backgrounds in REmake and Zero are breathtaking, like timeless works of art. I was crushed when I saw what was happening to RE2 Remake. Great video!
I think this video does a good job of nailing the duality of Resident Evil 4, what lead to it and how its aftermath affected the series. In those terms, this video is great. The only criticism I have, and it's meant to be constructive, is there are moments when you are restating the same thing you said earlier in the video without adding anything significant to the idea. This video could have been trimmed down a bit if this was addressed. That being said, it's a damn fine video and you have a new subscriber.
Resident Evil: Rambo Scott Kennedy
#NotmyLeon
Oh my gosh this was an absolute pleasure to watch. You nailed it.
RE4 is one of my favourite games of all time yet it's a sort of bittersweet love I hold for the game because it was essentially the catalyst for the shift towards action based gameplay and a departure from the mechanics I was so fond of in the original trilogy/ CVX.
RE2's remake has filled me with hope for the future of the series and I'd be giddy beyond belief if we get to see a RE4 remake upon a day.
Hands down most immersive game I've ever played. A true masterpiece.
The one thing I never realised just watching the gameplay that no one mentions, holy fuck, was the shotgun so goddamn satisfying to use. Seriously, no words can describe just how satisfying it is.
How can the creative peak of the series be its downfall? RE fans never fail to baffle me with their nonsense. RE4 is up there with the likes of Chrono Trigger, Ocarina of Time, Metroid Prime, Super Metroid, Super Mario 64, Doom, Half Life 2, Street Fighter 2, Deus Ex, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VI, Symphony of the Night, and other landmark titles. It belongs to an elite list of video games.
The reason why is look at resident Evil 5 and 6 they were tanked controlled FPS shooters with kindergarten level of puzzles. Resident Evil 4 while yes it was amazing it was ultimately the downfall of resident Evil
Simple. "Too much shooting" for it to be survival horror which is a genre that the first game in the series pioneered.
Still it's easy to really admire the game despite the entire different approach it took, which came along with the sequels that made the shifted direction more apparent.
John Titor you have no idea what you’re talking about bud
@james Nas I agree that those purist fans are a pain in the ass and annoying as fuck to deal with. But I don't know what's so leftist about that lol. But answering @John Titor I agree that the survival horror fans are not good at accepting change at all, every single game is met with disdain by the fanbase and it confuses the hell out of the developers especially the money people, the second game doesn't have creepy classic mansion-like scenarios and scary backstory enough like the first one, so they make code veronica, which is the creepiest but is then ignored, so they make another raccoon city based game with 3, but it's met with complaints, resident evil 4 is a great game overall but "it gave way to a worser game" after it lol. I don't get it, the fans wanted their games to be the exact same thing with no changes whatsoever forever... and so they got it, and nowadays we only have top franchises who work just like that, with nothing inventive about them at all. Therefore no "saviour/downfall" to their series. Dumbasses don't even know how they killed their franchises by asking for the same game over and over and the same perfection always. What's the big deal with franchises changing? You want another game like RE1 or SH1? Just play Resident Evil 1 again then lol, it's already there, it's done, and you can play it over and over again. I don't get it, mob mentality is ruining video games since the 2000s.
Capcom released two landmark titles in the same year, DMC3 and RE4. And guess what was the biggest complaint about both games? Lack of or subdued horror elements compared to earlier titles. I'd take the reduced horror if it meant revolutionising and modernising the hack n slash and 3rd-person shooter genres respectively.
I always thought, even back in 2005, that while it was a great game - and it is - that it wasn't a Resident Evil game. However. years of ruminating and a recent play thru of the whole series, I see now that 4 did have the macabre elements of Resident Evil, and that after 0 the series did need an overhaul.
Ah yes. I remember playing this when I was 15, on an emulator where all the controls shown on the screen were those of PS4, therefore I never knew what actual buttons I'm supposed to be presing to dodge. I actually sold the infrared scope, as in the early game I decided not to get the rifle, thinking that it would take too much inventory and I would probably get something even better later in the game so I wanted to save money. Boy, how I regret that decision...the fight with Iron Maiden gave me anxiety as I was left without ammo and had to use my knife. Miraculously, I survived it with just a slither of HP, only to then fall into a dump and see TWO of those fuckers coming at me. I found the hard way that even standing 3 meters near one of them will hurt a lot because their limbs can extend, as can those spikes. I played other horror games, but none of them gave me this much anxiety, although it traumatised me more than it should have me because of a poor choice
I just wanna say that I think its great that I can watch a video of a guy talking about my favorite games for forty minutes and have it be way more entertaining than TV the whole way through. The guy doesn't even need a TV studio, just a computer and some writing skill. I love it all.
Absolutely fantastic video. Your passion for this game bleeds through every aspect of this vid. The tone you set and the way you break down every aspect of this game really encapsulates its worth and legacy. This really felt like a passion project, definitely more so than most of the generic editorials done on this game.
I don't think it was just action prompts that ruined the series. Final nail in the coffen was the inclusion of an AI partner in every game afterward. Sure this had been in games earlier in the series but it wasn't until 5 that it got out of hand. On top of its action oriented gameplay, any and all tension is removed when you aren't alone. Just the fact your partner is there takes away the sense of dread and isolation. What's worse is in Revelations 1 the partners serve no purpose other than to ease tension, as they have horrible accuracy and don't even agro enemies. The best part of Revelations is when Jill and Parker split up and Jill gets stalked by the Rachael Ooze.
I believe it was the trend of pushing the Gears of War-like Co-op action on players that ruined the series.
Richter Matthias
Agree!
RE4 killed the series, No horror, no puzzles, no zombies, but repetative peasant shooter. Huge letdown. First 3 games were amazing survival horror games.
except RE3 had just as much action in it as 4 did.
Yeah, however I actually liked Parker as a character in Revelations 1.
@@vargaa86 RE4 actually had several puzzles but most of them were easy except maybe 1 or 2 of them.
There is just something magical about RE4 that it never gets boring. It’s like a classic movie that you can always watch no matter how many times you’ve seen it already. Even now more than a decade later from the game’s original release, people are still talking about this game, playing it, doing speed runs.
It just never gets old. It never loses its magic.
It’s still a all time favourite of so many people including me.
You read my mind :)
@ Haaaaaaaardly :)
I AM SO HAPPY FOR THIS VIDEO!!!!
FOXCADE ROCKS!!!!!!
SO HYPED FOR THIS GAME.
resident evil 4 is also my favorite games ever
Sorry for my cryptic message, I was too excited. I'm very happy for this video because it shows someone cares for the series, also I don't mind over the shoulder for re2, we get to see the rpd in a new angle
"Leon's European Island Adventure" 😭
Aka, the north of Spain.
In some alternate universe, that’s the actual title of the game. 😄
30:28
There are people
Who think resident evil 4
Wasn't intentional camp
I'm not a horror game fan at all, yet re4 was so special that it sits in my top 5 favorite games of all time. One of those games I can always go back to and enjoy myself.
Bro my dad was laughing when one of the plagas villagers said "Te voy a ser picadillo". Later as I grew up, these plagas characters were saying shit that my uncles would say when they are drunk. Then I found out that Campcom got the wrong Spanish dialect for their dialogue lmao!
I’m going to make you mince.
re4 best horror game ever. regenerators used to scare me so much as a kid i had to call my friend round to get me past those stages
I'm so glad you experienced this game when you did and understand/comprehend it's amazing triumph in gaming as well as it's revolutionary story/cinematic driven phenomena of a journey that this game forever goes down in history for. No matter how outlandish, this game shaped the next generation of gaming and gamers alike. We can all relate in that this game is resoundedly uniquely original and unprecedented with all it delivers in every and all categories. It's a masterpiece for the gaming world, forever and always.
For me what made RE4 rly good was the fact that since you have more ammo enemies are less spongy, so you spent less time shooting one same zombie, and have to and because of that you had more varied situations, with different configurations of enemies.
The village is crazy. Every time I decide to replay the game I’m instantly hooked up on it due to the perfection of this intro.
The first time I played it the title card blew my mind. « Wow that’s just the start »
RE4 deserve the RE2 treatment.
I actually still play RE4 till this day! Will be getting it on the Switch too.
Maybe in 10 years
Have it on switch it's awesome playing it portable. Would totally be for a remake like 2
@@AccelSternritter we dont live forever u bitch, I need an re4 remake before 2025.
It’s coming
Just beat RE 4 for the first time ever yesterday. Doesn’t need a remake yet, it holds up stupid well
It was a giant mistake of Mikami to have done the exclusivity deal with Nintendo on the GC. As much as i did like RE4 and RE5 and some of the game franchises that RE4 help create, it just can't be helped that Mikami's decision to only release Remake for the GC was a huge mistake. By my understandings of the time, most of the Resident Evil faithful was indeed on the playstation. So with this in mind, for Mikami to just only release Resident Evil Remake to the GC was the nail in the coffin for classic RE at that point. Which is a shame because Resident Evil Remake did so much to improve and evolve the classical Resident Evil formula.
As much as a fan i was as a kid for RE4, I just feel like for the case of RE as a whole and even the SH genre, classic RE should have been given a chance. For i feel, classic RE overall was what made Resident Evil Resident Evil. Classic RE was the heart and soul for the SH genre. Like how Diablo was for the ARPG genre. When classic RE faded, so did the SH genre.
Yeah, I agree.
Can't you okay there rename on other systems?
@TGK18 For the love of horror, you think CVX, RE2 (original), RE3 (original) is RE4 levels of action? RE4 is the action game here. Not the classic RE's. BIG difference.
@TGK18 Hookman build or RE 3.5 build of RE4 showed that the classic formula could have still be retained without completely drastically changing it into a different genre.
No RE4 threw a lot of classic game play mechanics and design from the classic games and instead, focused purely on action.
Ammo was a constant resource always given to the player, the treasure/ currency system, QTE's, constant button smashing, chapter system, linear gameplay, lack of player consequence, boss encounters being one fight acts, easy to takedown enemies, drastic change to Leon's character, and a wacky over the top tone that never reached to that point even in the classic games.
Their is all of that and the plot itself. Which has nothing to do with the overall story of the classic Games. That and Umbrella's conclusion was covered in plot exposition. When we should have seen a concluding end of Umbrella in a game made in the classic RE image.
Remake/Rebirth did nothing important? It made zombies scary again, before the running zombie was even in a thing in Hollywood. Along with a great explanation and gameplay loop to make zombies more of a threat. Along with the RE3 style hidden choice cutscenes/endings that can only be seen by the choices you make. Tons of different ways to a solve an issue related to progress through the game. added additional rooms, Plus expanded upon the world building. How is that doing nothing?
I could make the same argument with RE4 being the main cause for RE overall, not having a clear identity.
@TGK18 Yes, I know that Hookman was cancelled due to limitation's on the Game Cube. Not the whole console race of that era. Like Remake, RE4 was set to be a console exclusive for the GC. It wasn't until Mikami left for Capcom decided to port it to the PS2, Unlike Remake which was stuck on Nintendo consoles until 2015.
RE4 didn't have free roaming exploration. The chapter system of RE4 made backtracking almost non existent. The puzzles were simplified.
Yes, but only in area's where you need it for boss encounters. Other than that, you can only find ammo by taking risks, or as rewards, for backtracking for exploring new area's unlocked through a key or item, or by solving puzzles that hade nothing to do with the core progress of the main storyline.
RE Zero didn't retcon RE 1 Remake. For the story focus's entirely on Rebecca and how Bravo team managed to get to the Mansion. I do believe that Remake hints at Wesker living. Sure Remake, came out before CVX but that still shows that Wesker having lived was set in stone and backed with Rebirth only two years later after CVX.
I disagree with you. Of course Remake didn't move the series forward. The reason it didn't is because it wasn't given the chance to do so.
Umbrella Chronicles isn't great. I shouldn't have to play arcade stylized versions of RE Zero, Remake, and RE3, to get the extended content that bridges the gap between RE3 and RE4.
How was Survival Horror of that era getting stale? Capcom could have easily changed up the formula from the previous classic games. In fact, they did with Remake, but that wasn't given a successor. Instead RE4 was chosen to be the future of the RE franchise. Along with, the death of survival horror. Just look what became of the staples that were competing with the classic RE games. Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Capcom's other horror centric games like Haunting Ground. There was more than enough life within the genre for Capcom to continue it. They chose not to do so. Not because survival horror was stale.
I have played a better RE4, it's the RE2 Remake.
RE4 gave Resident Evil a fighting chance? RE was only increasing in sales even before RE4 released.
I am so in the middle on RE4, it's crazy. But, at the end of the day, the series is still going today because of it. So, you know, thanks RE4. Ya did good.
You have such a soothing and pleasing sounding voice to listen to. You are a talented Mr. Fox
31:38
This is what im hoping RE2REmake gets right.
It could be the logical "inbetween" and further make more sense of RE4 Leons bullshit if we see Leon struggling to get by in a similar perspective.
Your wish.....has been granted!
The real problem of the re4-re5-re6 downfall, it's the characters developlement.
You can't just spect Leon, Claire, Cris, jill and Ada, to sustain by one level of abilities, they became more experienced, faster and smarter surviviors.
"Where's everybody going, bingo?"
I think RE4 was still pretty okay with it's survival elements but RE5 really hits the fan...
I absolutely love RE4. It's probably the game i've replayed the most in my life, but i also hate it, for it ruined one of my favorite things, the RE saga.
PS. 7 is a fun game, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original 4 games (CV being the 4th).
You're insane for thinking 7 isn't better than cv
@@dramamine755 man I love cvx
re7 is far better than code veronica, I haven't heard anyone have such an opinion. I'm starting to wonder if you even played it lool
@@rolan5948 re7 had a great demo, great first hour and fell off
Ritchie Evans how exactly? Ive played the entire game twice and its a damn good game until you get to the ship through an through
I don't know man. That Knife fight with Krauser was awesome!
When Resident Evil became a franchise to kick doors as if it were an action/karate movie in the style of Chuck Norris.
For the damn cause of RE4, the survival horror games became CoD, a synonym of Chris on Duty.
ryan stewart no it ain.t down fall of it for me papi. was resident evil 7. my beef about it was 1st person view and a new hero that u can.t see. which makes it hard on to getting to know them as a person. and the story about infection and bio terrorism and the creation of bio organic weapons papi. was gone in resident evil 7. nah re4 re5 re6 and the new re2 remake are the best. I resident evil has always been a mixed bag of action horror and suspense. even in its days of its old identity. papi. the action was still there. from the very get go. that some heads fail to see.
@Ryan Stewart Why? Do you have an issue with other people's opinion or what. Just because it's your opinion, that doesn't mean it's a fact.
Thx man. It's because of you, that I got my s+ with leon!!
34:24 RIP Mike. He knew a good bar
Re4 is one of my all time favorite games because it is so well balanced in all aspects. It's a perfect mixture of horror, action, seriousness, and campy-ness. It's a perfect storm to make it an unforgettable classic. Oh, and great video!
RESI 4 was the perfect blend of action and horror
I highly recommend looking into the old "Resident Evil: The Official Comic Magazine". They Hardcore turned Leon into this overpowered superhero, while doing the same for no other characters. Around the time he was having an brawl with a bunch of mind controlled T-virus bats with nothing but his knife. I was laughing way to hard. 🔪
Love this series so much. RE2 remake was amazing and so lovingly remade!!! RESIDENT EVIL IS BACK!!
Very much agree, looking forward to talking about RE2 on the channel sometime soon!
The regenerators still creep me the fuck out till this day man, and the music, OMG the music! Best enemys in RE4.
I didn't mind 4 making Leon a badass because really everything he encounters in 4 is cake compared to Raccoon city where he was surrounded by tens of thousands of infected, Hunters, Tyrants, Crimson heads, G-mutants etc.
Like a trapdoor to a spike pit?
Dude, his boss turned the entire precinct into a deathmaze that he had to traverse on his first day after aforementioned Chief began hunting down officers like they were big game.
Good analysis. but I disagree with most of your criticisms. I loved RE4 back in 2005 and I replayed it recently (still on the gamecube) and it still holds up as a benchmark masterpiece of a game. Easily in my Top 5 games of all time. Am I the only one that enjoys the escort mission mechanic in this game? Including the QT events during cut scenes. Everything just works perfectly in RE4 that may not in other games. No fault on this game's developers just because it was copied so often by other developers with lesser results.
RE4 is ridiculous on purpose and it absolutely works to its advantage.
btw, I remember liking RE5 but not even remotely as much as 4. Replayed that one as well, it's a shadow of a game in comparison to it's predecessor then, and even more so today.
RE4 is a 10 out of 10.
You want to hear controversial, re5 is the closest to a favorite I have. And I think re6 was an excellent game. Re5 wrapped up so many things and finally ended Wesker, and 6 offered four completely different campaigns.
TheFatMan069 I agree. I’ll even go as far as saying RE5 has the best story in the entire franchise. The stakes feel very real, Wesker is a top notch villain who we understand and is badass at the same time, Chris’ character development from start to finish is terrific, the gameplay is further improved from RE4’s gameplay, and the ending is the most satisfying and optimistic out of all the others.
@@DanteSparda-wo7ls re5 could of picked up right where RE4 left off which it did of it wasn’t the controversial of killing black people and Capcom had to change everything about it. The leaked gameplay footage looked amazing as single player so similar to RE4 but updated version!
@@JessicaGarcia-xf9wr nah the reason RE5 was changed is because the PS3 and 360 couldn't handle alot of features
3:55 no one can forget that😂😂
To be honest Capcom didnt know what to do the moment Racoon City was destroyed, the city is the perfect location for a viral outbreak because a lot of us can relate to it thus making us think that it can happen to us when the time comes.
Watching this video on it's 1 year anniversary! Amazing detailed review, i love this game!
My favorite game of all time. It has all the elements of a great game.
It doesn’t have Barry tho
Whether is was the downfall or savior of the RE franchise... RE4 is one of the GOAT games ever. In my top 3 personal favorites. Goddamn what a game.
One of, if not my favorite game of all time. If you haven't played it yet, PLAY IT!
you have a shit taste in games, thats all
@@vargaa86 Judging by how many people love this game it would appear YOU are the one who has a shit taste in games.
@@archentity lmao gottem
@@vargaa86 shut yo bitch ass up
Che Ati you are not worthy of RE4
The over-the-shoulder camera is an improvement. Fixed camera angles were fine, were very effective and an intelligent work-around for hardware limitations, you don’t have the same excuses to use when technology evolves.
When cameras can be masterly manoeuvred without choking the cpu, is when you must drop the fixed camera.
My only real problem with RE4 is the insane amount of one off game mechanics that are in each chapter that are never seen again, ie the blue medallions, hiding ashley in the garbage bin (though it shows up once in the middle ending), the Ashley section, etc. Its almost as if they had many ideas but not enough thought into said ideas so they just through all of them and spread them out throughout the game's chapters, imo at least.
Even today in 2019 RE4 is the only game that managed to make escorting an AI fun.
It's all fun and games until Ashley decides to stand between you and a mob of heavily armed cult priests and you accidentally shoot her.
"Pioneered the survival horror genre", you do realize that Alone in the dark came first, right? and that game wasnt a small unkown little hidden gem either, it was incredibly successfull, to the point of getting 2 sequels. RE was a very important game, but it didnt create the genre, it didnt even set the "rules".
if anything, RE took things from AitD, to build upon.
DooM didn't invent the FPS, and RE4 didn't invent the over the shoulder perspective, but it sure as fuck popularized it. Those games just took pre-existing concepts and expanded upon them. Pioneering something doesn't mean you have to have made it, just taken a concept and fully expanded on those ideas.
@@tcrpgfan Yet people still praise the game as... oh...
@@tcrpgfan saying expanded doesn't neccessarily mean they improved nor does it mean that it needed to be regarded the first ever existent video game to make more games with that style.
Please do a retrospective on the modern Ninja Gaiden games. I would love to see your take on the series.
Absolutely love this video very impressed with all the ties you make in!
They purposefully made the Ganados less scary in the Island section so that when you run into the Regenerators it comes out of fuckibg no where and really hits you harder.