PlayStation Hardware & Games

Looks like Evil is here to stay, and that's a good thing.

Video: 5
Sound: 4
Gameplay: 4

Perhaps more than any other series, Resident Evil has defined the modern horror survival genre. The combination of compelling storylines centered on virally created "zombies" and the corporate conspiracy behind this waking nightmare is made even more immediate by the always-cutting-edge graphics, yielding adventures that are a worthy investment for many rousing hours. This time out, agent Leon Kennedy is hot on the trail of the president's missing daughter, a disappearance somehow tied into the ongoing misdeeds of the malevolent Umbrella Corporation. Grr, those shadowy pharmaceutical conglomerates….

Not content to provide a simple port of the existing (and outstanding, "Best of 2005") GameCube version that had been previously released, Capcom has made several refinements for their excellent PlayStation 2 incarnation. In addition to new chapters, new weapons, and new costumes—a popular Resident Evil staple—the PlayStation 2 RE4 offers what Capcom calls "true 16:9 widescreen support" unavailable on GameCube. The GameCube version was letterboxed inside a 4:3 window, so users could either play as is, (16:9 within 4:3) or use the television's zoom function to fill the entire screen, chopping off the sides in the process. With the PS2, if you have a 4:3 TV, the image will look the same as on GameCube, inasmuch as it will retain the black bars top and bottom. With a widescreen TV however, the PS2 game will fill the screen, with no zoom necessary, as long as both the PS2's system menu and the game's options menu are properly configured. So be sure to actively select for widescreen display and Dolby Pro Logic II audio, otherwise the game defaults to 4:3 and stereo.

Sonically, the game is remarkably precise, with discrete-style effects that could almost pass for full Dolby Digital 5.1. Dialogue is always clear as a bell, front and center, while you can locate approaching enemies and nearby innocents by your ears alone. And the music is crisply reproduced. Environmental effects are natural, adding ambience and further establishing and embellishing where we are at any given moment. Capcom has also delivered this RE4 in progressive scan, resulting in an incredibly detailed world where we can see objectives clearly at great distances, and the overall realism of people, places, and things enhances the sense of involvement—and danger. Aliasing is minimal and never distracting.

My only grouse about the gameplay lies with the controls. The action is so elaborate that the controller must do a lot, and more than once I mistakenly used the arrow keys to move when I wanted to aim and vice versa. I also wish that I could aim more accurately, faster. (I'm quite fond of killing zombies the old-fashioned way: pointing a light gun at the screen, as in House of the Dead.) But, if you are a longtime Resident Evil fan or have simply been itching to kill lots of zombies—and maybe even make the world a better place—you will not be disappointed.