Does Resident Evil 4 Hold Up?

I was thinking about picking up The Evil Within as a good "Halloween" game, but after reading several reviews and impressions on that game, I've decided that it's probably something I'd feel better about playing through if I wait a bit and pick it up on sale down the road.

However, for obvious reasons, pretty much everything I read on this game mentioned RE4 and everything anyone said about that game was unwaveringly positive. However, a lot of the praise for RE4 was qualified with "for the time" or "of the generation"... which makes me wonder if it's still a game worth playing through for the first time today or if the last 10 years of design and technical advancement have relegated the greatness of RE4 to nostalgia.

So... that's my question. Is the HD version of RE4 recommended in 2014? The only experience I have with the RE series is with RE5, which is a game I enjoyed quite a bit. I understand RE4 is similar in terms of gameplay, but quite a bit older and technically limited.

Thoughts?

My first Resident Evil game was Code Veronica for Dreamcast and while I thought the graphics were great the ammo conservation and difficulty of the game (for me at least) made me swear off Resident Evil until RE4 came out. It removed the ammo conservation piece that I found most frustrating so I picked it up and loved it. I'm not anti-ammo conservation, I love Silent Hill games, but I think enemies are easier to avoid in Silent Hill.

Maybe I'm not remembering it well but Revelations on 3DS reminded me of RE4, so on that note I would say RE4 holds up. Though that little Napoleon dude in RE4 felt ridiculous at the time, in a game full of ridiculousness.

I just started replaying this on my GameCube this month after never finishing it when it was new. Overall I'd say yes. The graphics and atmosphere are still great (although obviously not HD). The controls take some getting used to but are far better than the previous RE games as well. The setting is also the best one of all the RE games in my opinion.

If you were okay with Resident Evil 5, I think you'll like Resident Evil 4. The control scheme and some of the level design are a little dated if you are used to really snappy controls and very clearly marked objectives. There's also a bit of a difficulty hump early in the game.

Innovations like the over-the-shoulder camera and were widely adopted so I would say the game does not seem as revolutionary anymore; but it still holds up well.

I am fighting the urge to buy the PS4 re-re-release.

I know I already own the best version: Wii. It has the knife bound to a flick of the wrist so it's faster and easier to melee most enemies. I would clear whole rooms without drawing a gun, and even the fight with Krauser is easier if you make it a knife duel. (Kind of a reverse of the old line about knives and gun fights.)

That's the only version of RE4 I played and I really enjoyed it. Never quite finished, though. As I recall from some four years since last I touched it, I'm at the part where

Spoiler:

Leon is at the bottom of a well or something and needs to go up stairs, but one of the two henchman are coming down. Not sure how close to the end that is, but as I'm no fan of boss battles this is the part of the game that started to fall apart for me.

All the same, I still frequently think about finishing it.

gains wrote:

I am fighting the urge to buy the PS4 re-re-release.

I know I already own the best version: Wii. It has the knife bound to a flick of the wrist so it's faster and easier to melee most enemies. I would clear whole rooms without drawing a gun, and even the fight with Krauser is easier if you make it a knife duel. (Kind of a reverse of the old line about knives and gun fights.)

Even playing with a controller (the Wii version is the one I did NOT like) the fight with Krauser is best done mostly with the knife. I think they intentionally designed it that way.

I'm almost certainly going to get this re-re-release out of nostalgia if nothing else.

Played GCN 1.5 times, Wii 3.5 times, then PS2 through the villiage. Wii version was my favorite, without a doubt. Sadly I haven't touched it since lending it to a friend.