Resident Evil 4 - Nintendo Wii review

Full Review

Claimed by some to be the "Best game ever made" the classic zombie slasher has made it to the Nintendo Wii, so should you get excited? We took a look at Nintendo's Wii house in the heart of London to find out.

First seen in January 2005 on Nintendo's GameCube the game then made its way to the PlayStation 2 in October.

The Nintendo Wii version follows the identical storyline as the GameCube and PlayStation 2 version and for those new to the series this means players are reacquainted with Leon S. Kennedy, Raccoon City Police Department's idealistic rookie cop from Resident Evil 2. It has been 6 years since the destruction of Raccoon City and in that time, the US government has been able to destroy the evil Umbrella Corporation. Six years later and Kennedy has been tasked to look into the abduction of the President's daughter and his investigation has led him to a mysterious location in Spain.

Cue being left in the countryside with no support and ten bullets in your gun. The action is non-stop from there on.

What isn't identical however is the use of the Wii's motion sensored remote control.

With an new control system that requires you to use both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck, it’s a vast improvement on the static controller movements of the PS2 version that saw you having to fumble with the thumbsticks to get the cross hair in the right position quick enough to take out he impeding zombie charging towards you.

Now it’s a case of pulling out your gun and pointing the remote it in the right direction rather like you would in House of the Dead and pulling the trigger. Failing that you can slash and hack your way through the action with your knife in a very similar way to the sword fighting in Zelda by swishing your controller back and forth in front of your TV (watch out for that flying remote).

As the game progresses the story unfolds and you'll find yourself like any good horror movie with moments of intense action where swarms of zombies complete with chainsaws that will hack your head off if you aren't careful coming after you and then moments of calm and searching as the story moves on.

Starting off with a pistol and a knife, the weapons do get bigger, better and more advanced. As previously you have to manage your inventory.

Graphics wise and due to the limitations of the console they aren't going to match up to anything you've seen on the Xbox 360 or the PS3, and overall are very similar to the GameCube version two years ago. At times we did have issues with the camera angle getting in the way.

Like Zelda they have a misty gloss over them. Sound however is good, and the soundtrack and effects, which also come through you're Wii Remote certainly bring atmosphere to the experience.

Verdict

When we reviewed the PS2 two years ago, we loved the gameplay, the storyline, but found the camera angels and controls frustrating.

Two years on the game has improved no end with the controls. The induction of the motion controller makes a heap of difference for the better.

Think of this like a successful facelift. It's still the same person underneath; they just look so much better for it.

Resident Evil 4 on the Nintendo Wii is due out later this year.

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