Resident Evil 4 was ported to the Wii in June, 2007, which is the version I played through. It took me a while to try it out because of my distaste for the scariness of the original games. I finally got around to it, and was rewarded with a truly great gaming experience.
RE4 sets a great atmosphere; from the beginning, I was engrossed into the storyline and mystery of the Plagas virus. Despite this, towards the end the characters start to get a little silly, and the dialogue does occasionally get rather... unfortunate at times. The game was still pretty scary, but it is mainly an adrenaline based fear, though there were some genuinely scary parts. The graphics are certainly antiquated for an '07 release on Wii, but it doesn't detract much. It is still totally awesome when you blow a zombie's head off, especially after you start witnessing the insectoid appendages that sometimes sprout out after you do later in the game.
Speaking of decapitation, let's talk about the gameplay, which has much of that. The game has you killing zombies left and right from the get go, combat is completely engaging and fun (especially working in kicks and suplexes on stunned enemies), and the difficulty curve ramps up at a pretty fair rate. RE4 also made an excellent use out of the wiimote as a targeting reticule, the controls never felt clunky. I did enjoy the ability to customize your arsenal through the merchants, but disliked the tedium of inventory management that accompanied it. It's also a break in the action when you're pretty much pausing the game while zombies are in your face to peruse your inventory.
Review is a little short this time around mainly because there’s so little for me to criticize. My only complaints have been minor ones. The standard game is long, and it’s engrossing the entire way through. When that is finished, there are additional minigames that also hold one’s attention for a decently long time as well. RE4 is simply a great game, and I’m very much looking forward to playing RE5 next month to compare/contrast the two (and in the meantime, I’ve picked up Dead Space to keep me sated).
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