Building upon such a genre-defining game as Resident Evil 4 was never going to be easy. It broke the mould in terms of third-person action games and veered the ailing survival horror franchise into new territory to the acclaim of both critics and fans. What could be added to this successful formula that wouldn’t pollute it? Co-operative play and a radically different setting says Capcom!
If the shooting mechanics of RE4 took franchise fans by surprise the partner dynamic is set to do the same. Not being alone in a survival horror is strange at first – not having to constantly check behind you and the regular conversations to break the silence feel odd to begin with. Partners and squadmates are usually an irritating burden when they try to join in on the action but Sheva, for the most part, does a fairly stand-up job of thinning out the zombie hordes. The AI is particularly robust and will even collect goodies and supply you with ammo when needed!
The sections designed specifically for teamwork (usually meaning splitting you up) aren’t exactly groundbreaking with only a couple of decent “cover me” moments and the rest just plain old lever pulling. The system comes into its own, however, when playing with a human partner (although preferably not in the eye-straining split-screen mode) as you can really improvise your own rules of engagement and tactically work yr way through the masses.
Having a partner bends the difficulty curve quite a bit too. I found with an AI partner the game seemed a tad easy to begin with as trusty old Sheva does quite a bit of the work for you if you let her but conversely she becomes less useful as the game gets harder. With a human by your side its obviously going to be an easier task with Normal mode being a breeze in 2-player.
Difficulty in general is quite lenient with little need to be resourceful with your ammo or health supplies even on Veteran. The ability of your partner to give you an instant health top-up (regardless of supplies) in your “hour of need” only exacerbates this leniency.
The other major change, the change of location to rural Africa, is also largely a success. The initial shanty town locale with its sun-soaked dirt paths and contrastingly dark and grimy alleys is a graphical tour de force and equal to anything on the PS3. The unnerving feeling of being an unwanted outsider is also played upon to great success in these early levels and adds immeasurably to the tension. The developers do their best to vary things with swamps, caves, industrial sections etc. and to their credit it certainly breaks things up.
But, and this is a big but, its not as spine-tinglingly chilling as a haunted mansion, a dilapidated city or an ancient castle as seen in previous games. It does try to echo some of the franchise’s classic imagery with the likes of abandoned laboratories but they only serve as a reminder of previous successes. I suppose there are only so many times you can re-visit such themes before they become tired and Capcom can only be praised for trying something different and maybe we should be careful what we wish for (I’ve no doubt that Capcom will have us revisit the Arklay Mansion or RPD Headquarters one day!)
Gameplay-wise very little has changed from the predecessor – crowd control, a few simple puzzles and some gigantic boss fights. The latter being slightly disappointing with some very samey bosses and reliance on using prescribed super-weapons. A minor departure in general gun-play is seen towards the end of the game with the use of cover becoming more prevalent and a more “military shooter” feel to proceedings as you regularly come up against AK-47 and RPG toting zombies. This is handled well though and feels as solid as the rest. The less said about the on-rails shooting level the better!
Overall this is an excellent shooter with a reasonably long campaign and plenty of replay value (an extended Mercenaries mode returns, as well as the usual plethora of hidden stuff). The co-operative play is a great feature and with upgradeable weapons its always asking to be played again on a higher difficulty setting. It mightn’t tick all the boxes as far as survival horror is concerned but there’s enough of the classic Resident Evil themes of evil corporations and maniacal enemies, silly plot twists (with some nice surprises and tie-ups of old stories) and the essential cheesy dialogue to keep fans happy.
