I did a little write up of it last night:
There hasn't been a new Resident Evil title since 2000, with the release of Resident Evil: CODE Veronica for the Sega Dreamcast. Sure, you can count RE0, as it came out in 2002 for GameCube, but I'm talking the continuation of the series. No prequels (RE0), remakes (Resident Evil), or side stories (Gun Survivor, Gun Survivor 2, Dead Aim, Outbreak, Gaiden).
That is to change come January 11, 2005 when Resident Evil 4 is released on Nintendo GameCube.
One of the most, and my most, anticipated titles in history, it's sure to make a big splash as it features a completely overhauled gameplay system. While some RE fanatics (such as myself) were aghast that Mikami was going to change things around, once we looked at everything, and saw how it was going to turn out, we were elated. Something fresh and new finally.
After months of watching trailers, reading previews, looking at screenshots, and proclaiming it as "Game of The Year 2005", Capcom released a demo in a special "Capcom Issue" of Famitsu. $40 seemed a bit steep for it all ($20 for the magazine/disc, and $20 for the Freeloader), so I had decided against importing the demo.
Luckily, that all changed tonight. Talking to Brandon, I asked him if GameStop had the RE4 demo in, as I had heard Nintendo of America was sending out demo discs with the game to GameStops and Electronics Boutiques nationwide. He gave me the good news earlier this afternoon.
I headed straight for GameStop from school. I got there, and trying to make my way through the maze of Halo 2 fanatics, I noticed someone was using the 'Cube kiosk. I was clearly annoyed, and ready to throw him to the ground. I didn't want anything to stand between me and my finally playing RE4. Luckily, I only had to wait about five minutes, and I was on the 'Cube in an instant. Finally... Since January I had dreamed of this as I was finally playing RE4!
I knew the game looked good, but wow! It looked much better coming off a TV screen as opposed to a computer monitor (It's usually the other way around...), and it controlled EXACTLY as I thought it would. I had the controls down in less than ten seconds. Running Leon around a bit, I was still in awe at the fact I was actually playing the game. I knew the demo like the back of my hand, due to my watching so much footage of the game up to this point.
Heading into the first house, I was anxiously awaiting meet that first Ganado in front of his fireplace. Watching the cut scene of him attacking Leon, I aimed my pistol, shot him a few times, and killed him. The targeting system was also just as I had imagined it would be.
Following the path a bit, killing a few Ganado here and there, I finally got the village where all hell breaks loose. Once again, exactly like in all the videos of the game I had seen, you're just swarmed by villagers. I ran into a few houses, got a few things, all while getting attacked left and right, and my killing them left and right.
Luckily, avoiding villagers, I grinned as I heard the infamous chainsaw. The one guy that was hard as hell to kill, the sack wearing chainsaw villager. He cut my head off more than I had liked.
Repeat the above four paragraphs over and over for about an hour and a half.
On my final playthrough, (after several failed attempts to kill the chainsaw guy), I thought I had him. How the in the hell can he stand up to four shotgun shells, two grenades, and half a clip from my pistol?! I know you can kill him (I hear it takes about seven direct shots from the shotgun to take him down), but argh!
I'm gonna take him down for good when I head back tomorrow.
I did another one today:
I asked Brandon if he could give me a ride to GameStop after school. I kept asking if Cody was working, because he's a real asshole towards me, and I knoew he'd kick me off the machine. Luckily, Coday wasn't there, it was just Aaron, he's a pretty cool guy.
Anyway, today I went back to GameStop after school, and gave the demo a couple more rounds. I let another person play mid-way through my first round.
Second round was great. I managed to really speed through the demo. Everything went by very quickly, so the chainsaw guy showed up sooner.
I managed to take him down this time. I whipped out my shotgun, and blasted him to the ground. A bunch of other villagers were heading my way, so I blasted them as well, the spray from those shots hitting the chainsaw guy. I managed to get another direct hit on him, before retreating. Equipping my grenades, I threw 'em, and all three were direct hits. I ran around a bit afterwards, just avoiding the villagers, and just barely dodging the chainsaw as it was being swung at my head a couple times. Equipping my pistol I fired a few rounds at the chainsaw guy, but I hit other villagers instead. I was out of ammo!
I managed to run around the village a bit, avoiding everyone, looking for ammo. I managed to find a single clip for my pistol. 10 shots, had to make 'em count. I managed to get to a spot where I could see 'em all. I aimed, and fired three times at the chainsaw guy, and he hit the ground. He was dead. I killed a couple other villagers before the demo ended.
I grinned as I had managed to survive it all, listening to the bell ring ,watching the villagers drop their weapons, and head for the cathedral.
Leon: "Where's everyone going? Bingo?"
End Demo.
What a rush...
Looking forward to going back on Friday.
