Some environmental textures are mottled and ugly, others surprisingly detailed. They haven't been dramatically altered-higher resolution textures mean the characters and environments look sharp even at 1440p-but the models are still limited to their original polygon counts. I played the game at both 1920x12x1440 on two PCs, thanks to Steam Cloud support, and thought the character models and lighting held up well. The game defaults to the new HD textures and 60 frames per second, but also includes the original textures and a 30 fps option. The most significant additions Capcom made to this version of Resident Evil 4-higher definition textures and a locked 60 fps framerate-are both adjustable in the graphics options settings. The Xbox 360 controller is also fully supported, including new in-game graphics for all of its buttons. Thankfully, more important keys can be remapped, and I liked having the run button tied to my mouse for quick getaways. Another quibble: two of the buttons used for quicktime events, X and C, are hard to press quickly when your fingers are poised over WASD. Those keys can't be remapped, which is annoying. You can't use the mouse to move items around in the briefcase, and instead have to use a clunky combination of Backspace and the Page Up/Down buttons to pick up and rotate items around. And while mouse support works great for shooting, it hasn't been fully integrated with the the rest of the in-game interface.
Capcom did include some basic PC options for adjusting key bindings and display resolution, though the game runs letterboxed on 16:10 monitors and doesn't let you customize each key in the options. I jumped with surprise a couple times when Ganados snuck up on me from outside my field of view.Ĭapcom didn't build an FOV slider into this PC port, but even a small change to that field of view could ruin the fine line of empowerment and danger RE4's combat dances on. That tuned-to-perfection over-the-shoulder camera angle keeps Leon vulnerable when I take aim. Headshots are easier, yes, but tougher enemies can soak up the bullets, and swarms can still overwhelm me and cause me to miss plenty of headshots.
But on normal difficulty, RE4 still feels remarkably balanced.
I thought that the aiming precision of the mouse might make headshots too easy, leaving Leon's attache case brimming with unused rounds. Just when you thought they couldn’t get worse, they get even freakier.Playing on the PC only makes the game better. The Regenerators come back later as Iron Maidens, which are basically spiked and deadlier versions of that base enemy type. This is an intense process because you need to take the time to aim and shoot, all while their twitching bodies are shambling towards you, making it hard to aim. To kill the Regenerators, you’ll first need to get a special thermal scope for your sniper rifle, then use that to aim and shoot at the key spots in the Regenerator’s body. However, the way their bodies twitch as they inch their way slowly towards you soon becomes terrifying as you realize that they can insta-kill you. The Regenerators don’t look particularly scary at first glance they’re literally just a grey walking mass. The fact that Capcom had to bring a new iteration of them back in Resident Evil 6 as the Rasklapanje to make that game feel even remotely scary speaks volumes to their effectiveness. They’re easily the scariest enemy type in the series, in appearance, encounter, and the way that you have to kill them. The Regenerators are the very best enemies Capcom has ever created for the Resident Evil series. That whole encounter was intense, and cemented the chainsaw-type enemy as one of the most iconic ones in the series. There’s barely any time to react, and the fact that the chainsaw’s a one-hit kill certainly doesn’t help matters either. Before you even realize what’s happening, this maniac with a bag on his head is full-on sprinting towards you with a chainsaw in-hand. You’re in the village, you hear shouting, and then, the rev of a chainsaw. The first time you encounter the Chainsaw Man in Resident Evil 4 is a moment you’ll probably never forget. There’s a reason why we keep seeing chainsaws popping up in virtually every Resident Evil game that came after this one they’re just really fucking scary, and Capcom knows it. The chainsaw-type enemy was first introduced in RE4, and while chainsaws themselves have always been scary and frightening in the horror genre, RE4 really capitalized on that and made it a Thing. Spoiler alert: we’re gonna be talking about quite a few Resident Evil 4 monsters today.