Resident Evil 4: Ultimate HD Edition (PC) - Part 1

Developer:	Capcom Production Studio 4	|	Release Date:	2005	|	Systems:	GC, PS2, Wii, Win, iOS, Android, Zeebo
	HD Edition -		Release Date:	2011 (2014 PC)	|	Systems:	Win, X360, PS3, XBOne, PS4, Switch

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm going to be hating on another beloved Resident Evil game! Perhaps.

I mean there's no doubt that it's beloved, you can find the game on all kinds of top ten lists (often just behind Ocarina of Time), I just don't remember liking it much myself. Other people considered the innovative over-the-shoulder aiming to be a big step forward in third person shooters, but I was left wondering why I couldn't move and shoot at the same time like I could in Max Payne 2. I also remember finding the aiming to really awkward for some reason, maybe because I had to use a controller to do it. You've got to be accurate in a hurry and that's not an analogue stick's strength.

But I'm willing to give games a second chance... that's why I went back to it again right after beating Resident Evil 5. I played it up to the lake and got sick of it; it just seemed really awkward by comparison. But I'm willing to give games a third chance, especially if I haven't written about them yet.

Anyway I've already said too many words, but I have to mention that I'm playing the Ultimate HD Edition with the higher resolution visuals, on PC. I wish I could do my thing where I compare all the different versions, but have a glance up at the list of systems on the top right, there's about 10,000 of them! Windows actually got two ports and I don't even know what a Zeebo is! All I know is that the first PC port had... issues.

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The Ultimate HD Edition doesn't have a lot of graphics options, but there's more here than on the original PC port by Sourcenext. It even has the option to switch back to the original textures. Shame it doesn't give you a preview to show what the colour filters look like.

Weirdly the Sourcenext port does a better job at letting you remap buttons, as this only lets you cycle through controller presets and makes you map separate keyboard keys for shoot and reload, even though they should be the same keys as action and run. It's not ideal.

I've read that the physics can be a bit wonky with the FPS set to 60, so I'm putting it down to 30 instead. I'm also putting the brightness up to maximum because it's apparently necessary to get the game to display the full range of shades from white to black.

The Japanese version has an 'Amateur' difficulty that starts you off with a shotgun, but all I'm getting here is 'Normal' and 'Easy', so I'll go with Normal. I usually avoid picking the hardest difficulty if I can help it, but I'm comforted a little by knowing there's an even harder 'Professional' mode that unlocks when you beat the game. It's also got a bit of dynamic difficulty that makes enemies more aggressive if you're doing well.

Oh man, that's a relief. I was worried for a moment that the game wasn't going to say "Resident Evil... 4!" when I started a new game.

Also, good news, the Umbrella Corporation is basically dead! The intro explains that people took issue with how their viral experiments led to a whole city being nuked and now we don't have to worry about them anymore. That's really all the pre-rendered video wants to say, but when the stylish imagery ends the voice over narration continues. It turns out we're listening to Resident Evil 2 hero Leon S. Kennedy, now played by a different voice actor, and his career took an interesting turn in the six years since he survived the Raccoon City incident.

The game switches to real time in-engine 3D as he explains how he's now a secret agent charged with rescuing the US president's daughter, Ashley, from some isolated rural part of Europe. The accents of the two cops backing him makes me think they're in Spain maybe, but they've got really gravelly exaggerated voices so it's hard to tell.

Resident Evil 2 also began with Leon in a cop car, but there was zombies and action and a fuel truck drove into it and exploded! This time a cop gets out to take a piss and that's basically all that happens. It's not a bad intro through, and it's entirely skippable!

Leon clearly doesn't think too much of the cops and they don't seem to like him much either, but that's fine as they're going to wait in the car to make sure they don't get a parking ticket.

Leon isn't entirely alone though as he gets a Metal Gear Solid codec call from Ingrid Hunnigan, who'll be providing mission support. I can't just call her up whenever I want to chat about things like you can in the Metal Gear games, but their influence still feels pretty strong here.

This image reminds me of the character select screens you get in some of the earlier Resident Evil games, but here it's just Leon. There's no Resident Evil 5-style co-op either, which is a shame, because it was the co-op that got me into that game. I wanted to play something with my brother and I figured he could do all the difficult Resident Evil stuff while I helped out a little sometimes. But I really got won over by the game, boss fights aside.

Okay, I suppose I should just go find people to talk to, find out if anyone's seen Ashley.

GameCube

Here's what the original GameCube version of the game looks like at the moment you first get control. It's not the prettiest scene in video game history, but it's got a lot of atmosphere, and I can see a house in the fog that looks like it's worth investigating.

People always say the PlayStation 2 version looks inferior, but the two consoles are very similar in capabilities so I'm curious to see how that looks as well.

PlayStation 2

Okay yeah that definitely looks worse, even in 480p mode. The lower model detail is especially obvious when you look at the seams on the back of Leon's jacket, but it seems like there's trees missing as well. The textures are a little lower res too and the lighting isn't as good. Leon's blond hair is basically black on the left side of his head here.

I know I said I wasn't going to compare all the versions, but there's one more port I need to check out and it's something very special. I've been waiting to see this for a long time, ever since I heard the stories of how broken it is, and I've finally got an excuse!

2007 Sourcenext PC port

It's the first PC port! Completely unpatched! They apparently fixed the fog and post-processing later, but this is how it looked on release. It's based on the PlayStation 2 port, so it's inherited the lower detail as well. Oh, one more problem, it doesn't support mouse control. At all. Well, unless you get a mod.

It runs pretty slick though.

Ultimate HD Edition (PC)

Alright, here's the version I'll be playing. We've gone full circle to the GameCube look again, just in a higher resolution.

This port does support mouse, but it controls the camera, not Leon's walking direction. I keep instinctually trying to steer with it, like in any third-person shooter, but I just end up getting confused about which way Leon's moving and have to try to get the camera facing the right way again. I'm going to need to force myself to not to touch the mouse at all until the shooting starts because it's really not helping here. These controls are archaic no matter what controller you're playing on though, as it's got the traditional Resident Evil tank controls, and there's no way to side-step whatsoever.

Anyway I can't go further down the road because there's a truck blocking the way and if I try to go the other way I get shouted at by the cops, so I guess I'm checking out the house!

PlayStation 2

I stepped through the open door and Leon took over from me, walking up to the inhabitant and showing him a picture of Ashley.

It definitely looks motion captured, the animation's very nice, but a few of the ports take a dive here visually because they use a fuzzy video clip instead of rendering cutscenes in real-time like the GameCube original. The original Sourcenext PC port is even worse for this as it's going from sharp high(ish) resolution graphics to terrible low res videos.

Ultimate HD Edition (PC)

The Ultimate HD port renders the cutscenes in-engine again, and you can really tell the difference. But you can also tell that the new HD textures don't always match the look of the original game. Check out the bricks on the right, they're much blander in HD. Maybe because they didn't want to (allegedly) steal copyrighted photos from the Surfaces texture collection CD this time.

I'm not sure if Leon can understand Spanish but he definitely isn't trying to speak it. Makes me wonder how he was hoping this conversation was going to work out. Leon walks away disappointed by the guy's apparently negative response, but manages to dodge in time when he follows it up by swinging an axe at him! I guess the guy doesn't like intruders wandering into his home?

Alright now I've been given back control and I need to figure out how to shoot people before Leon gets axe-murdered.

This means holding down the gun button to switch to shooting mode, which pulls the camera down closer to his shoulder, raises his pistol, and activates the laser sight. It also switches the movement stick into an aiming stick; you can't do both. Though on the PC I get to aim with the mouse and... it's really awkward! Man, all those years I wondered how awesome this game would be with mouse aiming and now I finally know.

Oh hang on, there's an alternative camera mode in the options which keeps the laser sight centred on screen when I move the mouse and that's a lot better. I can still barely see the laser, but it'll do.

Fade to Black (MS-DOS)

Resident Evil 4 really popularised having the camera hang around the character's shoulder, but the idea of zooming in when you press the aim button has been around a while. There likely aren't many proper 3D third-person shooters older than 1995's Fade to Black and this is what it looks like when you're aiming. Like Resident Evil 4 there's no moving in this aim mode, only aiming. If there's a way to look up and down I never found that either, but you can turn left and right at least!

Anyway, Fade to Black is terrible and I'd rather get back to Resi 4.

I kept putting shots into the axe-maniac until he stopped getting back up, and that did the job. He wasn't a zombie though, at least that's what zombie expert Leon said (in text) when I investigated the body.

GameCube

Oh good, the axe-maniac's friends have barricaded the door from the outside and I'm stuck here now! Well, okay I may have spotted one way out, but this is the top floor!

Hunnigan called up again and Leon explained that there was a hostile local and he had no choice but to neutralise him. It's true, the guy was an axe-maniac with a box of skulls, Leon's blameless here. But I'd still like to hear Leon try to actually explain what he did here. He went to a foreign country, wandered into someone's house, talked to him in a language he couldn't understand, and then shot him several times when he tried to scare him off his property.

Anyway, I need to carry on down to the village, so there's only one thing for me to do...

GameCube

Man that looked hilarious. He landed it well though!

Trouble is he landed right next to three unfriendly locals, so I need to use the run button to get some distance. That's a good idea in general when you can't move and aim at the same time. Fortunately I'm way faster than the not-zombies are, plus there's no sprint gauge or stamina bar so I can keep running indefinitely.

GameCube

Alright, now I get to play another game of 'spot the dot at the end of the laser sight'. There's no lock-on or aim assist, but I'm finding it fairly easy to hit the not-zombies. Hitting them in the right place though is a bit more of a struggle. I always feel like I've failed when I don't manage to shoot the weapons right out of their hands. I'm not even sure it's possible, but I'm hopeful; it's that kind of game.

You know, I don't really have that much of a problem with not being able to move when aiming, but the controls are way more frustrating than they need to be. I played a bit of The Evil Within 2 to compare and that manages to bring the same feel to combat without being nearly as awkward about it. Though on the other hand Evil Within 2 takes bloody forever to get to the action and here I am shooting not-zombies just a couple of minutes into RE4, so the game's not all bad.

Also the not-zombies have a lot of personality, which makes combat more interesting. They don't necessarily move the way I expect them to.

PlayStation 2

Well, unless I shoot their legs out from under them, then they generally move very quickly towards the ground. They won't stay there, but they're much easier to knife on the floor, and the knife never runs out. Targeting limbs to delay them like this also gives me a moment to reload the gun, as you don't do it in the inventory screen anymore. And if I'm really lucky I can properly stun them for a moment, which gives me a prompt to use Leon's mighty kick to send the whole crowd flying.

Awesome, I got them all. I can tell because the creepy horror noises have stopped and I'm back to silence again. Now I can go around and pick up all the loot they left behind without worrying about someone inserting a farming tool into Leon's head.

I also went back to check on the cops, and it turns out that the truck that was blocking the path earlier has rammed their car into the ravine and taken out the bridge leading out of here. On the plus side, the truck's not blocking the path anymore!

I carried on down the road past the house and found this shed containing a typewriter, a box of 10 bullets, and three smashable wooden boxes. And the boxes contained treasure! I've got a green herb here, which is a healing item, and some cash.

Spinning objects are back!

I remember getting a bit annoyed by this screen back in the day because my answer was always 'yes'. Of course I want the extra ammo! Yes I want the herb! Asking me the question every time is just slowing me down. I don't mind it so much now though, and I'm not sure what's changed. Maybe I'm more patient than I used to be? Doesn't seem likely.

One thing I haven't found so far is ink ribbons, because it turns out that I don't need them. I can use the typewriter as many times as I want!

GameCube

Infinite saves! It's a miracle.

If you're wondering why the time is so long, it's because I've been screwing around and stopping to write down notes. It shouldn't really take quarter of an hour to reach the first save point.

Hey the game marks the location of all the save typewriters on the map!

Man, this is a big map, and I'm pretty certain this isn't the whole game. Also there's a marker there to tell me my destination! That's another pretty major difference between this and earlier Resident Evil games: here I actually know where I'm meant to go. If I ever manage to get hopelessly stuck with no idea where I'm supposed to head next I'll let you know, but it doesn't seem likely.

Huh, I'm sure I can hear a whimpering sound coming from outside the shed.

PlayStation 2

Aww, it's a dog caught in a trap. I suppose this is the game's way of testing to make sure I'm not a heartless replicant.

I decided to help the dog and they ran off into the trees. So it seems they're not going to be my second playable character either then. I wonder if there are any co-op games where the other player gets to be a dog. And if there isn't, why not?

GameCube

Tripwires now? These guys are definitely not zombies.

I could just walk through the obvious gap in between the traps but I decided to shoot the explosives instead to make the area safer for myself and other animals. Also I like explosions.

A little further on I heard yelling and the sound went sinister. I spotted a couple of dudes, invested a few more bullets into achieving their demise, and the sound cleared right up. I was left with gentle ambience again. It's good to know the game's going to keep giving me these aural indicators to let me know when I'm approaching danger and when it's safe.

I'm also glad that these guys drop bullets sometimes. Makes me feel better about wasting my precious resources shooting tripwires.

GameCube

The sneaky level designer tricked me with this shed, as it's the first one I've found that had an enemy hiding inside and I wasn't expecting to walk right into them. My health doesn't regenerate, so I really don't need to be losing it carelessly like this.

Also that's a suspiciously big door up there. Seems like I've reached the end of this area and I'm ready to go through the loading transition. I really hope I don't have to sit through a cutscene of a door opening, like you do every time you go anywhere in Resident Evil.

Oh, turns out there's no door cutscene! Awesome.

GameCube

After the door I got another codec call with Hunnigan and the option to spy on the locals with binoculars. The game doesn't have Metal Gear Solid's freedom to play with features like this, but there's still a lot of MGS in its DNA. And vice versa I suppose, considering how influential the first Resident Evil was. You can see RE4's own influence on Snake Eater, as it got a new third person camera for its Subsistence special edition and third person aiming in the 3DS port.

Well these guys seem to be preoccupied with their work, so I'll leave them to enjoy their cop bonfire and go sneak around the back. There's a few houses here and I'm sure some of them have windows I can sneak into.

Leon is bad at sneaking. He sure loves leaping through panes of glass though.

That has to have been loud enough for everyone to hear, but I don't think anyone actually cares so I'm going to loot the place quickly before they change their mind.

One improvement over the earlier games is that there's a 'ready gun' and 'ready knife' button, so I don't have to mess around in the inventory when I just want to slice up some crates. A 'use knife' button would've been a lot quicker though.

GameCube

Awesome, there's an incendiary grenade in here. Plus more ammo on the other table. I don't feel short of bullets exactly but I certainly appreciate every new box I collect, especially considering how many rounds it takes to put enemies down. The earlier games encourage you to run past enemies if you can, but here you're expected to blast away at everyone.

Speaking of that, I'm going to see if I can snipe one of them from the window.

GameCube

Well I just pissed off the hive, and it turns out they've got no problem getting through closed doors, especially after they've got a hole smashed in them. I really wasn't expecting to see destructible doors in a game this old, or any game really.

Oh crap, one of them just threw a pickaxe at me. They throw stuff! So that's given me something else to think about in battles, as I need to prioritise targets that are preparing to hit me. Actually screw this, I'm going to find a different house!

PlayStation 2

Crap, this house is even worse. Especially as they can come in through the windows too!

The enemies are bullet sponges, but in a good way. They always react to being shot, so there's no feeling of 'Am I even hurting this guy?' Each one is its own project to work on. Though they can steal all your focus if you're not careful, and while you're dealing with one or two of them, three more of their buddies are likely wandering into violence range.

There's a few houses to run around in this area and it's up to me to decide if I want to barricade myself inside or keep mobile. Well, sort of. In the GameCube version I ran into a house without windows and deliberately pushed a cupboard in front of the door, which worked out quite well. In the PS2 game I decided to run in here and inadvertently triggered an automatic cupboard-pushing cutscene, blocking my best escape route from these guys! Plus it also doubled as a 'there's a dude with a chainsaw out there now' cutscene, so I have that to worry about now as well. It really seems like I was better off in that house without windows.

Alright, time to press the 'turn 180' button and make a run for the stairs because I've gotten totally overwhelmed here.
 

Ultimate HD Edition (PC)

There's treasure upstairs! I know I said some bad things about house earlier, but that's before I learned there was a shotgun here. There are also more windows up here for enemies to jump in through... or for me to jump out of.

First though, I'm grabbing the loot. I'm not leaving this floor without that gun and maybe some ammo for it if there's any around. I can still hear chainsaw guy wandering around, so having a good weapon will probably come in handy.

PlayStation 2

Oh damn, I didn't see that coming! I got instant killed out of nowhere while I was looting the cabinet.

GameCube Leon was doing a lot better at this point. No shotgun, but no chainsaw guy either. I suspect that you have to enter this room and get the cutscene before he spawns. Either that or GameCube Leon's just lucky.

Fortunately PS2 Leon wasn't sent all the way back to the last save typewriter, as the big doors between areas apparently count as checkpoints! That's one feature I'm very happy about.

2007 Sourcenext PC port

Original PC Port Leon triggered the cupboard cutscene, got the shotgun, and made it out of the window. Now he's shoving their ladders down so the not-zombies can't ascend to the rooftops. They keep picking them up, I keep kicking them down.

I don't know if I'm supposed to kill a certain number of these guys or just survive a certain length of time, but they're sure seeming endless at the moment and I'll have to go down there soon to grab the ammo they dropped if I want to keep shooting them. The game's really keeping me moving here.

2007 Sourcenext PC port

"Shake off"? Fuck off! My controller's a lot more valuable to me than Leon's life and I'm going to do whatever I can to keep it in good condition. Also I'm playing with the keyboard, you dumbass button prompt!

This original PC port doesn't support a mouse and I expected that this was going to be a problem, though I haven't actually been struggling at all so far. Sure it's not ideal to fine tune my aim with the keyboard, it's like trying to play it with a SNES pad, but the game's controls have barely changed since Resident Evil 1 so it's not as bad as you might expect. In fact the archaic controls actually seem more forgivable in this port as the crappier graphics makes it feel like an older game.

The Ultimate HD port told me to shake the mouse instead, which doesn't really give me anything to complain about, annoyingly.

Resident Evil 4 Wii edition (Wii)

The Wii version has you shaking the Wiimote to shake free, which I guess makes sense. It also uses it for aiming and there's no weapon sway in this port, so if you can hold the Wiimote steady you can be much faster at sending bullets exactly where you want them.

In fact it may even have the edge over the PC version, because look at that beautiful green crosshair! There's no struggling to see a tiny laser dot here, plus it even changes colour to let you know if you're on target. Oh speaking of things that are easy to spot, you can see in the background that someone's dropped some ammo for me. I don't know why so many of them carry ammo as none of them use guns, but I'd definitely appreciate having some more bullets, and I also appreciate dropped items being immediately obvious even in the chaos of a fight.

I decided to do things a little different on this version, skipping the house with the shotgun which spawns the chainsaw guy, and heading straight for the area exit. I wanted to see if I could leave without surviving this onslaught. Turns out that chainsaw guy was there waiting for me, so I'm thinking... no.

Ultimate HD Edition (PC)

I've been experimenting and so far tests have shown that not-zombies don't like incendiary grenades much! It wasn't enough to kill chainsaw guy, but hey that's what the boomstick is for. This thing sends whole groups flying, it's awesome. It's only flaw is that when I want to switch to it I have to use the inventory screen, which slows things down for no good reason.

These guys are leaving behind so much money when they die, which is a definite change from the early games. It lets the game constantly deal out rewards for kicking ass and exploring, without overloading you with resources. In fact I fired off my last shell just as a bell started ringing and a cutscene started.

Now everyone's walking off through a door. They could've waited 20 seconds to give me time to pick up the loot they dropped! All that money... I hope it's still there.

Leon's very confused by their disappearance, wondering if they all ran off to play bingo. And then the title comes up again! I get why games do this, save the title until a dramatic moment, but it's just weird in this case... because it's flashed up the title at least three other times already!

It flashed up before the title screen, then it was on the title screen, then it appeared during the intro cutscene as well. This isn't Superhot, the game needs to calm down a bit! And Superhot should probably calm down a bit too.

Oh crap... that loot they dropped disappeared before I could get back to it! All that money lost. I bet that chainsaw guy probably left a hefty reward as well, considering how much effort and ammo it took to kill him.

Though I did find a golden egg as a consolation prize. If only I could figure out which of the hens laid it, then I could cut them open and get all the gold that must be inside!

Alright this part of the village is deserted now, so I'm free to smash any crates yet unsmashed and raid all the unraided cupboards. Then I can move on to the next big door and enter area #3. Ashley still needs rescuing and I'm not going to stop until I find her! Or until I get frustrated and turn the game off again. I've never made it past the lake before, but maybe this time will be different!

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO