Resident Evil 4 demo impressions

[Superboy]

After playing the demo to Resident Evil 4, i've become really excited for this game! It definitely retains the spirit of the series while at the same time making some giant strides in gameplay that will probably draw a lot of people who are turned off by RE's awkward gameplay.

Quick notes:

- The controls are pretty much the same but the work much better with the new perspective. There are still problems with enemies sneaking up on you from behind, and there's no radar to warn you.

- The inventory system has been totally revamped, and there appears to be as many slots in your personal cache as the item boxes held in previous games. Larger items take up more slots, such as the shotgun. There are also shortened commands, such as "reload" for weapons so you don't have to combine them with ammo in an extra step.

- The interface has been drastically improved. You could tell from screen shots and videos but playing it makes you appreciate it so much more. Considering previous RE games never had a HUD it's a huge step. A non-vague life gauge and ammo counts on the screen really help.

- A lot of the cool action is almost totally context-specific, which means the game probably doesn't have a lot of replayability.

- The shotgun is incredibly powerful, it's one of the first times in the RE games that i've felt the power behind a weapon.

[nickdawgy]

where did you get the demo?

[Edison]

It's on the newest "kiosk" disk from Nintendo so check places like EB, Gamestop, ToysRus, etc. I imported the special issue of Famitsu that had the demo on it about a month ago and played it a lot. I'm looking forward to this game.

[DRG]

As someone who actually liked the gameplay on the other RE games, this sort of scares me. The HUD stuff and the new perspective, in particular, take away two things I actually liked... the feeling i was immersed in a movie of sorts, and not just another game. I just worry this will end up being more like Devil May Cry, which I didn't like at all.

[zero]

Originally posted by Edison
It's on the newest "kiosk" disk from Nintendo so check places like EB, Gamestop, ToysRus, etc. I imported the special issue of Famitsu that had the demo on it about a month ago and played it a lot. I'm looking forward to this game.

The Famitsu magazine demo features MANY different things and Im wondering which is closer to final code. For starters the inventory menus are VERY different. In the kiosk demo the slots are all large boxes, in the Famitsu demo the inventory slots are small and resemble tetris like blocks. In the Famitsu demo there are women villagers, the kiosk demo does not feature them. I can say this about both demos, the kiosk demo is harder, while the Famitsu demo I can clear without breaking a sweat. The bottom line difference is the difficulty of the villagers. The villagers in the kiosk demo swarm me at every corner, and await me to drop from ladders when climbing down which brings me to my next point...climbing. In the Famitsu demo you can opt to jmp down from the tower and not climb down, in the kiosk demo you have no choice but to climb down. Im willing to bet that the Famitsu demo is closer to the final code, but Im not complaining mind you, Im just glad I dont have to take my Free Loader and demo disc to work anymore :lol:

A lot of the cool action is almost totally context-specific, which means the game probably doesn't have a lot of replayability.

I dunno I can see myself playing this one over and over again. Res Evil games always have some sort of unlockable feature at the end and Im sure Capcom may have something in store for us at the end of RE 4.

[Giantrobo]

I played the demo disc at Gamestop this morning and I hated the controls. Granted, I hate Gamecube's controller anyway so that may have been the problem. I mean I was trying to shoot the bad guys and it was everything I could do to aim the stupid gun.

[jediwicz]

I get to take the demo home and play. It wouldn't work in progressive scan or at all on my HDTV. I played it on a smaller tv and it worked fine. Awesome, truly awesome (DPL II).

[djones6746]

This demo is being released with the new Pure Evil RE and REO collection on 11/30 correct? I will most likely preorder the set from Gamestop prior to release as I have been looking to pick up the first two again for some time now. :)