Anonymous
6/13/2025, 7:09:50 AM No.712512293
When you really break it down, the original Resident Evil 4 is really just a gallery shooter in the vein of Time Crisis or Virtua Cop, except instead of releasing a pedal to hide behind cover, you're given freedom to move wherever you want to, whenever you want. And that is why I think RE4 (the OG, not the remake) remains such a fun and satisfying game to play even to this day. It takes a fundamentally sound game design concept straight from the arcade floor and translates its strongest parts over almost 1:1 to a larger-scale adventure game without losing any of the mechanical satisfaction that makes arcade games so fun to begin with.
Consider how RE4's encounters are structured. They're essentially elaborate shooting galleries where enemies funnel toward you from predictable spawn points, just like waves of targets in an arcade shooter. The opening village siege, the cabin fight, raiding the island compound, and more aren't organic combat scenarios - they're carefully choreographed arcade sequences stretched across larger spaces. But notice how they all share a similar rhythm: enemies appear, you prioritize targets, you manage resources, you clear the wave, you get a brief moment to breathe and pick up the spoils. There's that addictive gratification from the arcade with how headshots really POP and the SE when picking up items, and even the hidden "rank" mechanic that keeps the challenge relevant as you exhibit mastery of the game.
I think that these design sensibilities and more are what have caused "new" Resident Evil to start sucking ass around RE6. You can argue that this was never what made RE good to start out with since it's not like RE1/2/3/0/CV tried to be like this at all, but what you can't argue is that the things that made RE4 so good have really gotten lost as the devs try to rope the series back in towards its adventure/horror roots.
Consider how RE4's encounters are structured. They're essentially elaborate shooting galleries where enemies funnel toward you from predictable spawn points, just like waves of targets in an arcade shooter. The opening village siege, the cabin fight, raiding the island compound, and more aren't organic combat scenarios - they're carefully choreographed arcade sequences stretched across larger spaces. But notice how they all share a similar rhythm: enemies appear, you prioritize targets, you manage resources, you clear the wave, you get a brief moment to breathe and pick up the spoils. There's that addictive gratification from the arcade with how headshots really POP and the SE when picking up items, and even the hidden "rank" mechanic that keeps the challenge relevant as you exhibit mastery of the game.
I think that these design sensibilities and more are what have caused "new" Resident Evil to start sucking ass around RE6. You can argue that this was never what made RE good to start out with since it's not like RE1/2/3/0/CV tried to be like this at all, but what you can't argue is that the things that made RE4 so good have really gotten lost as the devs try to rope the series back in towards its adventure/horror roots.
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