I remain perplexed over Resident Evil 4’s high stature. As before, I remain utterly unimpressed by it. A mainline Resident Evil game I have always felt held a very awkward position in the franchise, with the main action taking place in a remote European village and island, with very little recurring characters and whose new characters never show up again any place else (sorry Ashley).

I think the game shows some potential in the opening fight in the village. Having to actually dodge and run away from the villagers and save most of your ammo creates a tense and dynamic environment. It is here that its more limiting controls (having to stand still and take aim) work really well. Forcing you to be on your toes, to look behind once a while and especially to keep moving. Sadly, the game fails to replicate this ever again. Most of the game's level design is just hallways, corridors, bridges and the occasional open field, which leads the player to just move forward and murder the enemies as they appear, with little thought. Which I find a tad too simple and monotonous. Running away or dodging them is generally not really incentivised as they drop ammo or other loot, creating a game loop the player must engage with. This also makes it, so the player rarely runs out of ammo, as using up ammo often leads to more ammo spawning. The only time I feel a semblance of the game's promise and dynamisms is in the late-game Krauser boss fight. Here Leon must run and hide from Krauser’s gunfire, and must dodge his knife stabs, something that actually becomes a challenge with the limited controls. Unfortunately, here too the level design is quite small and limited, but I think the fight itself still works.

The game tries to diversify itself with the introduction of Ashley, but I think it fails to do anything interesting with her. Often, she’s allowed to hide in random containers (great game design) or the game asks you to camp in a spot to cover for her and fend for yourself. But this last thing is not very dynamic, as it’s quite easy to find a corner where enemies can only launch at you from the front. At best I did not feel her presence and at worst she was a bit annoying. I do not think the developers managed to make her into an engaging game mechanic.

But what also bothered me quite a bit was the game's pacing and storytelling. Whilst I understand that most people do not play Resident Evil 4 for its story, I personally do prefer these types of games to have a plot that at least keeps you entertained for the most part. Instead, we have this very underwritten and sluggishly paced plot. Leon barely has any meaningful recurring interactions, so most events feel like yet another obstacle to overcome. This is at its worst near the end of the castle area, where there is actually some build up (slowly ascending to the top tower) only to be told that by Salazar that our Princess is in another island. Going from the castle to the island completely sucks out any semblance of progress we’ve made and makes it feel like the story is starting over. It doesn’t help that it’s here in the island where any real story beats start happening, largely revolving around Ada and Krauser.

Speaking of those two, I was very bothered by how little Leon interacts with them. He has some quippy telephone calls with Salazar and Saddler, but most of his in-character interactions with the supporting cast are extremely shallow and short. Ada occupies a more interesting position in the story, having both a previous tie with Leon and working with Umbrella. Making her one of the few ties to the original series. And whilst her presence is felt, her few scenes with Leon are too short to develop anything. Krauser is another character I feel has potential, being a double agent, working with both Umbrella and Sadler, and having a past with Leon. Sadly, he is introduced so late in the game and only shares two scenes with out main character. Leaving him to be very underdeveloped.

Another extremely underdeveloped character is Luis. We do not get a feel what type of character he is; he randomly shows up to help and then dies, in his notes we read some remorse, but him having worked with Sadler is never commented on by Leon. Just like the other RE games, players can find these and other notes throughout the game. But in older RE titles, these notes would contain micro-stories from infected test subjects, concerned citizens, mad scientists and the likes. Which combined give us a broader view of the many viruses, zombies and resident evils. Here though, most of the notes truly are just notes. They explain exactly what actions the antagonists are taking and why their tactics change suddenly. With the game’s more linear structure they are also impossible to miss. But instead of expanding the game’s story, they feel as exposition dumps (Luis’ notes), boring navigation clues (“the key can be found in [place]”), or teasers (“the American is approaching, prepare another boulder”). I was honestly shocked there was not any sort of writing from any of the villager’s turning into the zombie-like monsters. Which is only briefly explored in the illustration in the game’s credits. The only file I read to came close to the classic notes was from Salazar’s butler, who disapprovingly details Salazar’s embrace of las Plagas and Lord Sadler before essentially ending his note with a shrug of the shoulders. Riveting stuff everyone.

I have of course not talked about Leon’s narrative interactions with one other important character: Ashley. Even the players who love RE4 seem to have little good to say about her. This is in part her helplessness during play sections, but I am much more bothered by how under written she is. We have absolutely no clue what type of person she is, almost all her dialogue is asking for help, whilst Leon’s dialogue for her is making sure she’s safe. I suppose she seems rightfully scared by everything going on, but aside from that, what does she think about the creepy cultists, her father, or really anything? During game sections she and Leon don’t talk, and in cutscenes they have absolutely no memorable or deepening conversations.

All in all, I remain utterly disappointed by Resident Evil 4, its game mechanics form a solid enough basis, but everything built around it do not do it any justice whatsoever. Coupled with its extremely lacklustre storytelling and awkward pacing make it a game I find hardly worthy of its high status.

The original Resident Evil 3 is one of my favourite RE games. I really liked its set up, an overrun Raccoon city that we’re desperately trying to escape from. But I don’t think this remake reaches quite the same heights as the original. Despite its big budget, this remake feels much smaller than the ps1 original. And I really do not care that they cut out the clock tower sequence, what I mean with smallness is that the few areas we get to explore are quite small and compact, the sewers are only a few corridors, and the lab area is not much bigger.

Which is a real shame because I thought this game started out quite strong. The opening scripted chase with Nemesis is pretty tense and serves as a good introduction to our primary antagonist (Nikolai? Never heard of him). The first area we truly get to explore, uptown Raccoon City is also quite promising, delivering that classic survival horror exploration I enjoy from this series. The game’s true potential shines through when Nemesis starts stalking you in this area. Which makes the final item collection unbelievably tense. But I was beyond disappointed to realise this would be the only time we’d get this less scripted and more open fight with Nemesis. All the later encounters with him are sadly heavily scripted.

So, this scriptedness, together with the game’s later areas being so small leads to a somewhat disappointing experience. Next to that, I also thought that visually this game was extremely similar to RE2make. The original RE3 felt like it had its own distinct visual style from RE2 where its areas look quite different from the earlier game.But here the lab, sewer and even hospital areas don’t look too different from anything we’ve seen in RE2make, which makes this game feel much more like a side game than the original. And I originally didn’t want to compare the remake so close to the original, but it’s hard to do when the original engages in many of the same play elements and is much more successful.