Possessed by EVIL


Leon Kennedy takes on homicidal hicks in Resident Evil 4.

How appropriate is it that after our Halloween Party, I go home and enjoy a rousing time with the PS2 conversion of Resident Evil 4? Very appropriate, and it was with gusto that I jumped into the latest survival-horror blockbuster. As mentioned, you play as RE2 hero Leon Kennedy six years after the Racoon City incident. A short prologue with Leon's voiceover reveals (SPOILERS AHEAD) that soon after the T-Virus breakout, the government 'cleansed' Racoon City via a nuclear strike (good thing they all cleared out of there fast). Afterwards, the Feds clamped down on Umbrella (the uber-corporation behind the whole mess), locking down its properties and privileges. Umbrella stock fell, and, in short order, the mighty Umbrella Corporation ceased to exist. Which is kinda anti-climactic considering that the first four (including Code Veronica) RE games had all the heroes working overtime to take out the company. Perhaps this was all press release- maybe the Redfields (Claire and Chris), Jill Valentine, Barry Burton and Leon had roles in ultimately bringing down Umbrella... but of course, the government took the credit. Oh well.

Anyway... Leon got kinda-sorta promoted after the whole shebang. Remember, he WAS the worst cop in Racoon City (One day on the force and the whole city gets killed) despite being a hero. Leon becomes a special agent attached to the government, and he's assigned to protect the President's daughter. Unfortunately, the girl gets kidnapped and vanishes into the countryside of what appears to be rural (deep rural) Spain. So, instead of sending Seal Team Six, the Prez sends Leon. Oh, and two goofball Spanish cops who'd rather stay in the car than work.
These weird circumstances aside, RE4 is a brilliant game in terms of gameplay and atmosphere. The controls are precise, effective and very cool. Targetting enemies and fighting is pretty easy and awesome to do, though you'll probably have to keep the inner Rambo in check unless you want to find yourself out of ammo while surrounded by crowds of snarling, sickle-throwing villagers. Unlike previous RE's, going up stairs and moving about is pretty easy and often seamless- the 'opening door' animations and stilted stair-walking animations are minimized here.
The enemies for the most part are pretty creepy- though so far I've only encountered the villagers. It's pretty cool to be able to precisely target body parts, and it's great to shoot someone in the face, then walk over to kick their asses. The trickier parts happen when enemies start throwing stuff at you... like sickles or sticks of dynamite. I wish I had a duck move or a dash-the-hell-away's move. Still, Leon is a bad-ass agent. Another cool aspect is the in-game shopkeeper, who lets you buy new guns or upgrade your old boomsticks.

I'll likely be playing through this one over the weekend (and hopefully Soul Calibur III too), in between pages of Samurai Sis of course. Now, if you'll excuse me... I've got some possessed farmers to ventilate. Heh.