Humble Pie, Not So Tasty :(

Awesome news. Today Amazon Claus dropped off "Resident Evil 4" for the Wii on my door step. "Resident Evil 4" has to be one of my all-time favorite games. I know that last remark was a contradiction in terms, but I only made it so so that I could make room to include the "Advance Wars" series for the Game Boy. Those games are stellar, and they're a series... not a single game. And at least for me, not "traditional" games. Untraditional in that they don't have a proper narrative, I mean they do tell a story... but it's not much of a story. Those games are much more about gameplay and strategy rather than gameplay married with a traditional narrative to deliver an immersive, interactive experience. And in that respect "Resident Evil 4" delivers like no other game I've ever played. It's as close to total immersion that a game can deliver. It's piled high with atmosphere and tension. It's a true experience.

"Resident Evil 4" was originally released as an exclusive for the Nintendo Gamecube, but years later was ported to the Sony Playstation 2 and the PC I believe. I bought the game as soon as it was available for the Gamecube and have been a slut for the game ever since. I've played and beaten the game countless times. So much about this game is great, the greatest being its replay value. It's a definite bang for the buck. This new version more so than ever since it includes extras released with the PS2 version that I never had the opportunity to play. And I can't even get into how amazing the controls for this game are. There have been a smattering of criticisms about the new control scheme with the "Wiimote" and the "Nunchuck" controller... basically concerning independent movement between the character and the gunsight. For those of you unaware, RE4 is basically a shooter and on paper that control scheme might seem a bit sketchy, but it's really not. If anything, the controls are an improvement. A huge improvement. Leaps and bounds ahead of what the old scheme was like. And it's all thanks to the inherit ingenuity of the Wii. The game before was Perfect. Absolutely Perfect. And somehow now, Capcom (the developer) has been able to surpass that.

So I played through about four hours of the game so far, and as you already know it's holding up very well. Although, I did notice some slight changes. If I'm not mistaken, I could swear I've noticed some slight graphical improvement over the main character (Leon). I'm also sure there's been a slight tweak to the whole treasure-reward system used when you kill enemies. I've noticed a slight gain in the amount of cash I've received. But as I've said it's very minimal, maybe a 2-3% difference. Quite a nice bonus... although it could just be my imagination.

The greatest change though, has to be the difficulty level. I'm a master of this game. It has bowed to my greatness time and again. Several times, the majority of the time, 99.9% of the time I've beaten the game without dying. Today however... I died. And not just once. Not twice. But three times!!! I actually tasted the bitter tang of defeat. The trauma of failure. :( However, as crushing as that shock might've been... it's gotten me sooo excited! The enemy AI has definitely been retooled since the Gamecube version. They're a bit more clever than before. A little ingenious and sneaky. I left off near midway in the game... at the battle with "The Big Cheese". That whore killed me twice tonight. He's never bested me! Which is very humbling, if not infuriating. :P I actually love this new challenge. And despite what some may think, this new level of difficulty has nothing to do with the new control scheme. It's all a matter of getting used to them. The game itself isn't glitchy or flawed. I could actually sense the moments when I knew I fucked up. It's all me. I'm the reason I lost. And the prospect of improving and righting that wrong is very awesome. I'm actually stiffling the urge to stay awake pulling an all-nighter to finish the game. :P Sadly, we all must sleep. And that means me too. And with that, I take my leave. ;)

DS333, gestating.