RE4 Remake (PS5): Playing through 20 years later as a boomer
I played RE4 on Gamecube back when it originally came out. I still have fond memories of all the campy one-liners and the memes from the GameFAQs message boards, long before reddit was a thing.
I finally got around to playing the remake for PS5, and it's just as fun and janky as the original. The updated graphics are great, and there's plenty of good story changes while staying true to the original. My main complaint is that on console, the controls are somehow even jankier than they were 20 years ago. Walking is too slow, running is too fast, turning is imprecise, and I confused the run button with the knife button for the first 5 hours. Even aiming was a struggle, turning on "snap-on aiming" was a must and even then I had to keep fiddling with the setting multiple times. There's a dodge QTE button but god I wish there was some kind of roll button instead (I know: this ain't Dark Souls). This was all mildly frustrating, but it was also refreshing to feel like a noob again.
One-off thoughts below:
- There were two early puzzles about rotating an image that sucked big-time. Was like one of those fake 3D images where you can't see the hidden picture.
- They took out two of my favorite Leon lines: "Your small time, Saddler!" and "Your right hand comes off?". Unforgivable. If "Hey it's that dog" had been removed I don't think I could've played on. XD
- The merchant shows up too often, it slowed down the game for me as I couldn't help but micromanage my inventory every time. Similarly, crafting ammo and breaking 5 loot boxes per room slowed things down.
- Regenerators can go suck a dick. If you miss one sniper shot at a vital you might as well just reload the autosave because you're going to tank damage and a lot of ammo getting away from it. And when it worms around on the ground, wtf.
- Krauser can go suck a dick too, although after giving up and watching a youtube guide it was ok. Just spamming the parry button seemed to work better than trying to time it.
- THE KNIFE BREAKS???
- Game is loooong. Overall that's good, but as a boomer gamer it was a bit exhausting.
I loved it, I hated it, I'll probably do another run soon!