Gaming News Resident Evil 4: Before the Remake, here is the episode that changed the horror video game forever!
Of course, before Resident 4 Remake, which is expected on PC and consoles on March 24, there was Resident Evil 4 “very briefly”. In this article we explain why the base game was a real revolution.
Video games like to reinvent themselves! Over the years, developers have proven that a platform title is just as comfortable in 2D as it is in 3D (Mario with the trigger on Nintendo 64), for example. “Survival horror,” a genre in which great thrills come with limited ammunition, has more or less followed the same path, favoring fixed cameras at first (Alone in the Dark | Silent Hill) before adopting a view of the 3rd- person perspective. These changes are often the result of technological advances.
When the first Resident Evil came out on PS1 in 1996 and established the survival horror genre, pre-calculated sets and angles were the order of the day. Capcom’s new series directed by the brilliant Shinji Mikami looks like a bomb! Success is both critical and commercial (5 million copies sold according to TrueAchievements) and its sequel Resident Evil 2, which came out two years later, will be just as popular. We are then in 1999 and must prepare well for the future.
Three designs for one masterpiece
We won’t repeat the whole story (our JV Legends is here for that), but basically, back then the next-gen machines were about to arrive and Capcom needed to stay on top of it. A new Resident Evil – still led by Shinji Mikami – is in the works for the Gamecube and PS2, but the road is proving to be very long. In the end, three major “blueprints” are needed to create this next-gen horror software – the blueprints of which will breathe life into the Devil May Cry series or even the Haunting Ground title! Despite everything, Capcom finds a happy medium in 2003.
A new perspective that changes everything
So finally Resident Evil 4 was released in 2005, first on Gamecube – under an agreement with Nintendo – then on PS2 at the end of the year… Spoilers: it’s a hit, but that’s the main pointa major turning point for Shinji Mikami’s license and the survival horror genre. With this fourth installment, the Capcom teams are going for the action, with a shoulder camera that allows you to capture precise shots. A super close-up view of the hero Leon, who prefers blind spots and replaces the off-screen style effects. Controller in hand, it works with the fire of God.
Not that much seems said, but Resident Evil 4 resembles a revolution. The gameplay changes everything, our relationship with the environment, with opponents… In short, the formula is so effective that it will serve as the basis for the fifth and sixth parts in an increasingly outrageous action approach! Resident Evil 6 (2012) will mark a turning point before Resident Evil 7, with its first-person perspective, once again upsets the habits of a cult series.
