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Resident Evil 4 is hard.

January 20, 2005 By Glenn Turner

Like the title says, it's hard.

It's especially hard for a fellow like me who isn't 1) too fond of the Resident Evil franchise to begin with and 2) someone who isn't too keen on mixing strategy with action. When it comes to action games, I like my Devil May Crys. The words 'resource management' don't enter my vocabulary in an action genre game.

With that said, Resident Evil 4 is 50,000 times more engrossing than the prior games. The fact that my Wavebird hasn't been tossed at my Gamecube is sheer proof of that since usually, I'm all about ejecting an RE game after struggling with the controls for ten minutes. Finally, the 2D controls fit the perspective.

Sadly, and I'm saying this only having been through about the first half-hour so take this with a grain of salt, I have no idea what the point-of-view is other than perhaps, to screw the player over. The camera cuts to scenes that are out of Leon's reach: the first interstitial after gaining control of Leon takes place far from his perception (the classic/cliched unrestrained narration device), and after 'learning' that enemy encroachment brings ominous music, a quick look into a shed will immediately dispel that theory.

Sure, these devices keep you off-kilter, a bit off your toes but is it good for the narrative? Is it a good thing for a game to so quickly break its own established rules? How about to toss off any semblance of narrative cohesion?

Quite frankly, it concerns me a bit that they're already exploiting such devices so quickly in the game but ... that's what this journal is for I suppose. I have absolutely no idea how far I'll make it in this game. I suspect not too far - this is the kind of game I prefer to play tag-team style: when I get sick of playing after about half an hour or so, I swap off with a friend. Somehow, I doubt that'll happen with RE4.

But now I'm babbling. Someday I'll tie this into MGS3 but ... that's best left for another day.

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