Resident Evil 4 (PS2) WIP
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-7.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-8 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-
+ Improved controls/camera and overall interface (separate inventory for treasure/key items, quick turn move (hold backwards then press square), rotatable items in the weapon inventory, manual targeting and viewing controls, over the shoulder view, etc.), fairly impressive physics (destructible building parts and furniture, enemies react differently depending on where you shoot them and can fall into each other or off platforms/roofs), the weapon salesman (humorous, weapon upgrades, sell treasure and equipment), hidden treasure (money, puzzles?), faster pacing overall, good variation, good animation, sometimes clever enemy AI (scripted events), more interactive environment (knock down ladders and doors, blow/shoot/punch furniture apart, move furniture in front of doors to keep enemies out), difficulty and (limited) control options, some good puzzles?, larger weapon arsenal, enemies can hit themselves with certain weapons like dynamite, basic ranking system, good bosses overall (the sea monster - motorboat segment done right), some large boss models, chicken eggs (eat or throw), upgradeable life bar and inventory space, very good map system (only problem is that it spoils the layout and where things are before you get there),
+/- Quick time events (pretty much guaranteed death the first time you encountered them, some button mashing, on the other hand it makes some cutscene action interactive), much more action oriented and cheesy compared to RE2 and 3 (progressively more so as you get further into the game, also has some more arcade stuff like 'press x to…' pop ups, on screen health/ammo bar, enemy drops light up, etc.), non-enemy drop items don't light up for some reason, Leon's got a somewhat shaky hand (can be annoying when trying to shoot the blue gems for example), can reload in-game but not use health items (unless you're about to pick one up in which case there's a prompt pop up), plays a bit like a beat 'em up (fairly resilient enemies, crowd control is necessary), save points (fairly frequent) and checkpoints (unlimited continues though deaths are counted on the ranking screen), borrows the videophone conversations from MGS, can't crouch or crawl, no zombies (but most enemies act like them anyway), limited inventory and resources, turn faster by using the right analog stick while turning (square would've made more sense with the control scheme available), the binoculars can only be used when the game lets you (later on you can look around with the rifle scope though), can't buy health items or ammo (despite there being plenty of the latter lying around in some of the shops), the two male leads look like models, can't cancel/return weapon upgrades
- Can't access the options menu at any time (frustrating when you know you're going to die since it'll take up to 10 seconds to reload), can't map run or action to the shoulder buttons (would've made the controls less cumbersome since you'll want to use the right analog stick pretty often for turning faster, remapping the run button would've made it much easier to run and look around at the same time - useful since the default view is directly behind the character instead of slightly above so you can quite easily run into traps on the ground), ), trial & error (hard to tell when an enemy will get stunned enough for you to be able to kick it (regular stun from a shot doesn't count, short time window, no stun when shooting an enemy while it's getting up), pendant puzzle - intuitive to press the button to grab for it after you've shot down the lid but this opens it and then you can't close it again, normally locked doors can be opened by kicking them three times or shooting the lock, can't quickly look over your shoulder (or dodge, or strafe) and listening for some enemies like the chainsaw wielders isn't reliable), so-so knife controls (slow targeting, can't move or crouch while using it, only one kind of attack; can't upgrade any of it), steep learning curve (get attacked by a crowd in the first chapter; chainsaws kill instantly), can't pick up villager weapons like chainsaws, lack of consistency for some puzzles/road blocks (can't use the nearby ladder to climb over the locked gate in the first chapter, wooden boxes can be destroyed but not debris blocking your way), can't turn off the prompt that activates when picking up items (you'll generally want to pick up all health and ammo items), no more save room (the type writers are placed in random locations and don't give the player a sense of safety or a pause from the horror/action), saves in the save menu tell you nothing about which area you were in, the map is on a separate screen, slow boot up and you have to reconfigure the Hz and language every time, can't run backwards, the game is a bit picky about your positioning when trying to jump over something or down from higher ground, scripting oddities (Leon won't act differently towards his superior when you first try to open the church even if you found the nearby document telling you about the church being locked and there being a sea monster, possible to miss enemy drops if they fall down a pit?, Ashley can't jump down or climb down by herself (at some points you can't catch her either and the map gives the wrong location) and doesn't follow Leon closely enough (having her around can also be annoying because you get a game over if she dies, because of the screams and because she can't heal herself), sometimes the camera goes into frog perspective (the second el gigante encounter), some tedious backtracking if you want to get all the treasure, can't cycle context sensitive actions (sometimes the 'catch' move takes precedence over the 'raise ladder' move)
Level Design-8 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-
+ Improved controls/camera and overall interface (separate inventory for treasure/key items, quick turn move (hold backwards then press square), rotatable items in the weapon inventory, manual targeting and viewing controls, over the shoulder view, etc.), fairly impressive physics (destructible building parts and furniture, enemies react differently depending on where you shoot them and can fall into each other or off platforms/roofs), the weapon salesman (humorous, weapon upgrades, sell treasure and equipment), hidden treasure (money, puzzles?), faster pacing overall, good variation, good animation, sometimes clever enemy AI (scripted events), more interactive environment (knock down ladders and doors, blow/shoot/punch furniture apart, move furniture in front of doors to keep enemies out), difficulty and (limited) control options, some good puzzles?, larger weapon arsenal, enemies can hit themselves with certain weapons like dynamite, basic ranking system, good bosses overall (the sea monster - motorboat segment done right), some large boss models, chicken eggs (eat or throw), upgradeable life bar and inventory space, very good map system (only problem is that it spoils the layout and where things are before you get there),
+/- Quick time events (pretty much guaranteed death the first time you encountered them, some button mashing, on the other hand it makes some cutscene action interactive), much more action oriented and cheesy compared to RE2 and 3 (progressively more so as you get further into the game, also has some more arcade stuff like 'press x to…' pop ups, on screen health/ammo bar, enemy drops light up, etc.), non-enemy drop items don't light up for some reason, Leon's got a somewhat shaky hand (can be annoying when trying to shoot the blue gems for example), can reload in-game but not use health items (unless you're about to pick one up in which case there's a prompt pop up), plays a bit like a beat 'em up (fairly resilient enemies, crowd control is necessary), save points (fairly frequent) and checkpoints (unlimited continues though deaths are counted on the ranking screen), borrows the videophone conversations from MGS, can't crouch or crawl, no zombies (but most enemies act like them anyway), limited inventory and resources, turn faster by using the right analog stick while turning (square would've made more sense with the control scheme available), the binoculars can only be used when the game lets you (later on you can look around with the rifle scope though), can't buy health items or ammo (despite there being plenty of the latter lying around in some of the shops), the two male leads look like models, can't cancel/return weapon upgrades
- Can't access the options menu at any time (frustrating when you know you're going to die since it'll take up to 10 seconds to reload), can't map run or action to the shoulder buttons (would've made the controls less cumbersome since you'll want to use the right analog stick pretty often for turning faster, remapping the run button would've made it much easier to run and look around at the same time - useful since the default view is directly behind the character instead of slightly above so you can quite easily run into traps on the ground), ), trial & error (hard to tell when an enemy will get stunned enough for you to be able to kick it (regular stun from a shot doesn't count, short time window, no stun when shooting an enemy while it's getting up), pendant puzzle - intuitive to press the button to grab for it after you've shot down the lid but this opens it and then you can't close it again, normally locked doors can be opened by kicking them three times or shooting the lock, can't quickly look over your shoulder (or dodge, or strafe) and listening for some enemies like the chainsaw wielders isn't reliable), so-so knife controls (slow targeting, can't move or crouch while using it, only one kind of attack; can't upgrade any of it), steep learning curve (get attacked by a crowd in the first chapter; chainsaws kill instantly), can't pick up villager weapons like chainsaws, lack of consistency for some puzzles/road blocks (can't use the nearby ladder to climb over the locked gate in the first chapter, wooden boxes can be destroyed but not debris blocking your way), can't turn off the prompt that activates when picking up items (you'll generally want to pick up all health and ammo items), no more save room (the type writers are placed in random locations and don't give the player a sense of safety or a pause from the horror/action), saves in the save menu tell you nothing about which area you were in, the map is on a separate screen, slow boot up and you have to reconfigure the Hz and language every time, can't run backwards, the game is a bit picky about your positioning when trying to jump over something or down from higher ground, scripting oddities (Leon won't act differently towards his superior when you first try to open the church even if you found the nearby document telling you about the church being locked and there being a sea monster, possible to miss enemy drops if they fall down a pit?, Ashley can't jump down or climb down by herself (at some points you can't catch her either and the map gives the wrong location) and doesn't follow Leon closely enough (having her around can also be annoying because you get a game over if she dies, because of the screams and because she can't heal herself), sometimes the camera goes into frog perspective (the second el gigante encounter), some tedious backtracking if you want to get all the treasure, can't cycle context sensitive actions (sometimes the 'catch' move takes precedence over the 'raise ladder' move)