Resident Evil 4 VR has a lot of faults but takes the game to a new space.
Resident Evil 4 is a classic game that took the horror genre and ran with it. Playing as Leon Kennedy, you embark on a journey to take down the Los Illuminados cult and save the president’s daughter. The story is suspenseful and memorable, as are many aspects of this game.
The graphics may seem outdated, but they were at the forefront of manipulation with the engine back then, bringing fear into reality in ways that never happened before.
How many faults are there in the VR version of the game?
The thing about Resident Evil 4 for VR is that it’s not without faults, which are becoming apparent now with this release. It’s not that the game is unplayable, just that it’s not perfect, and that’s normal. The character movements and camera movement feel off, but it can be forgiven because Resident Evil 4 was built for VR and only VR.
It might be the most immersive experience in gaming history (from a non-VR perspective), but it isn’t for everyone.
Resident Evil 4 is a full step above the previous installment and set the foundation for future games to come, becoming one of the most memorable experiences in gaming history. If you haven’t played this game and want to experience it for Virtual Reality, Resident Evil 4: The Anthology is a must buy, however, if you’ve already played the original and/or RE5 – don’t bother.
It’s for people who want to feel like they’re actually there, not just another player with their own death animations.
Is the VR game for those who want to dive into the new gameplay?
The first thing we should note is that RE4 features four protagonists instead of two for gameplay reasons – Leon and Rebecca arrive last in both campaigns. The new VR has a lot of faults in the RE environment. The movement of characters feels broken, and the controls are unresponsive at times.
The camera also makes movements on its own, not the player, and it feels like a whole new experience, which is good and bad.
It feels like an entirely new game, and sometimes it sucks to be familiar with the layout of the levels after having played this game for over a decade. You can technically play any campaign with any character anyway because of their differing stories, but it doesn’t work out very well.
The A and B controls change depending on the character, and the stories overlap for certain parts of the game, so it’s a confusing mess.
The good thing about this release is that it has put the original Resident Evil 4 in a new light. It shows how mobility has changed with games and how movement is influenced by your experience with VR games. You can trade your old copy of RE4 for this one if you have any issues playing the original – just don’t expect it to be as smooth of an experience as you remember from ten years ago.
Overall though, Resident Evil 4: The Anthology has been a beautiful return to a classic survival horror experience, even if there are some kinks to work out.
Image courtesy of Dante Ravioli/YouTube