{"id":312,"date":"2021-03-20T04:02:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T04:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=312"},"modified":"2021-03-20T04:02:40","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T04:02:40","slug":"resident-evil-4-savior-or-false-shepherd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/20\/resident-evil-4-savior-or-false-shepherd\/","title":{"rendered":"Resident Evil 4: Savior or False Shepherd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in January of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! YOU FIND YOUR ONE AND ONLY DOOMSAYER IN AN EXCITED MOOD!!!   The past year has had me rolling my eyes at the newest announced titles, but this current year has me ecstatic for some big releases.  One of those games includes Capcom\u2019s Resident Evil 2 <\/em>remake.  Even since I played Dead Space<\/em>, horror games have become one of my favorite genres.  From the gruesome monsters to the adrenaline-pumping moments of terror, some of the most exhilarating experiences have come from horror games.  So a polished-up Resident Evil 2<\/em> remake has me thrilled to experience Leon Kennedy\u2019s debut story.  What better way to get excited for that game than playing the game Leon is most known for.  No, not Resident Evil 6<\/em>.  I am, without a doubt, referring to Resident Evil 4.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leon\u2019s grand adventure takes him to Eastern Europe where he tasked with rescuing the President\u2019s daughter, Ashley.  Along the way, he runs into infected zombie-like villagers, a trap-laden castle, and a colorful cast of villains trying to take over the world with their homegrown monsters.  The whole game is baked in this B movie charm similar to movies like The Evil Dead <\/em>or Dawn of the Dead<\/em>.  Leon makes wisecracks at villains and monsters, dramatically dives through windows and ledges, and doesn\u2019t seem to be phased by danger.  The villains of the piece are equally campy and enjoyable.   Man-child Salazar\u2019s tantrums whenever Leon foils his plans constantly put a smile on my face.  While Saddler\u2019s banter with Leon is good, his rant about American action heroes will always stand out to me, because I too, see the irony saying life isn\u2019t an American action movie, when Resident Evil 4<\/em> is clearly inspired by them.  Sure, Ashley and some of the other supporting characters aren\u2019t the best, but I would say the Merchant easily makes up for all of them.  One only needs to say one of his iconic lines in that gruff voice and instantly everyone pictures that trenchcoat-wearing merchant.  On top of all these wacky characters, you have settings like the Salazar castle, which contains interconnected systems of secret passages and shortcuts that I love traversing.  All of these elements combine to make an immense setting for Resident Evil 4<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunately, a lot of the gameplay lets Resident Evil 4<\/em> down.  For starters, I absolutely hate the tank controls.  I know they were popular back in the day, but they feel so cumbersome.  Why would I need buttons to turn my character, when I could have my character turn with the camera.  There were numerous times that strafing could have helped me, but Leon would rather turn in place than a sidestep.   I also don\u2019t like having to play Tetris with my inventory space.  I am here to shoot monsters, not fiddle around with Leon\u2019s luggage.  Another big irritation is all the quick time events littered with the game.  Resident Evil 4 <\/em>uses QTE\u2019s to an almost absurd degree.  On top of that, many of these QTE\u2019s can one-shot you.  I don\u2019t mind if an obvious enemy like the chainsaw villager has the ability to one-shot me, but Resident Evil 4<\/em> seemed to love throwing random QTE\u2019s that instantly kill me if I fail them.  Also using X and C for quick time events is keyboard snapping frustrating.  To add insult to injury, most of those failed QTE\u2019s result in restarting entire sections.  I had to redo the mine cart scene about six times, because I didn\u2019t instantly slam my X and C keys the second Resident Evil 4 <\/em>demanded me to.  Frankly, that\u2019s not fun but borderline bullshit.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What\u2019s worse is combining these clunky controls and obnoxious QTE into some painfully frustrating boss fights.\u00a0 Take the \u201cIT\u201d boss fight.\u00a0 You are stuck in this metal maze with this hideous monster looking to make you its next meal.\u00a0 The monster will try to swipe at you and you\u2019ll have to perform a QTE to dodge him.\u00a0 Fail the QTE and the monster will take some of your health and spin you around.\u00a0 Really annoying when parts of the maze are about to break off.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be so bad if the maze had checkpoints, but it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Fail in the final section of the maze, Resident Evil 4<\/em> sends you back to the start.\u00a0 This is all unfortunate to me when Resident Evil 4<\/em> set the foundation for third-person action games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Resident Evil 4 <\/em>popularized the new third chase camera that starts zoomed out but zooms back in whenever you take aim.\u00a0 A camera angle you will see in games like The Last of Us<\/em>, The Evil Within,<\/em> and Dead Space <\/em>series.\u00a0 On top of that, Leon realizes his aim is a bit shaky, so he must stop whenever he aims his gun.\u00a0 It creates a tense game of fight or flight.\u00a0 Do you stand your ground and fire at the horde of villagers or monsters?\u00a0 Or do you turn tail and gain distances on your foe?\u00a0 I often find myself back against the wall, firing my shotgun wildly, hoping everyone dies.\u00a0 While the atmosphere in Resident Evil 4<\/em> is good, I found the imminent fear of deciding my next move to be scarier than any of the monsters.\u00a0 For me, I can\u2019t help but feel Dead Space <\/em>is the better third-person horror game.\u00a0 Dead Space<\/em>\u2019s Ishimura is more unsettling of an environment than Salazar\u2019s castle, the necromorphs are more terrifying than Resident Evil 4<\/em> monsters, and Isaac Clarke is more enjoyable to control than Leon.\u00a0\u00a0Now, while it might seem like I am hating on Resident Evil 4<\/em>, I can honestly say I had fun playing Resident Evil 4<\/em> and can see the influence in some of my favorite games.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think Dead Space <\/em>or Evil Within 2<\/em> could exist without Resident Evil 4<\/em>\u2019s over-the-shoulder camera and love for throwing monsters at you from all angles.\u00a0 Despite Resident Evil 4\u2019s <\/em>house having some flaws like tank controls and QTE\u2019s, I can\u2019t be mad at it when it is the foundation of some of my favorite games.\u00a0 Some of my favorite games are flawed, but none embraces them as well as Resident Evil 4<\/em>.\u00a0 Nonetheless, Leon\u2019s over-the-top save the President\u2019s daughter is certainly enjoyable and nothing else will ignite your excitement for the remake of Resident Evil 2 <\/em>more. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in January of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy. HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! YOU FIND YOUR ONE AND ONLY DOOMSAYER IN AN EXCITED MOOD!!!   The past year has had me rolling my eyes at… Continue reading Resident Evil 4: Savior or False Shepherd<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}