A New Perspective Drastically Changes The Experience In Resident Evil 4 VR
In January of 2005, we got an entry in Resident Evil that would drastically change the way we play third-person action titles. Resident Evil 4 was an immediate hit. To date, it is the second highest-selling Resident Evil game in the series and is generally loved by the majority of Resident Evil fans. But there was one person in 2005 who really did not like Resident Evil 4… me.
I remember Resident Evil 4 coming out and not owning a GameCube, but my best friend Steve owned one. One of his favorite things to do was watch me play scarier games. So along with my other best friend Luke, we went to Blockbuster and rented Resident Evil 4. We told ourselves that we would stay up all night and finish it. We failed at this notion horribly, Steve was out first around 11 PM, before the first fight with the El Gigante, and Luke and I called it quits around the 4 AM mark right before fighting the two El Gigantes in the lava pit room. Funnily enough, after Luke and I went to sleep Steve woke up, killed the two El Gigantes, and fell back asleep. But something hit me very early on in Resident Evil 4 right after your second run-in with Salvador the chainsaw man, Resident Evil 4 really isn’t that scary. At the time, that’s what I went to the series for, it was just a lot more action-focused trying to overwhelm us with fast-moving village dwellers than the BOWs and slow but ever-present zombies of the original trilogy.
I have since replayed Resident Evil 4 on PC in 2020, while I do think it was revolutionary to the third-person action shooter genre, I still believe that it is the beginning of the more action-oriented Resident Evils that would eventually end with Resident Evil 6. Again I do believe now that Resident Evil 4 was a fantastic game, just a little less on the scary side, with the Remake coming out in 2023 looks to lean more into the scares. After Resident Evil 7, Village, REmake 2 and 3, Capcom is on a roll and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
But, last year we were treated to a Quest-exclusive Resident Evil 4 VR. I thought to myself, okay this will be okay at best I’m sure, but it won’t drastically change how I feel about the game and it probably won’t look that good because I mean it’s a 2005 game brought to 2021, but closer to your eyeballs and seen in a way it was never meant to be seen in VR. I had big doubts going into it. But I saw people were enjoying it but I chalked it up to people having rose-tinted glasses for Resident Evil 4.
So I decided to try it out for myself. Hachi Machi was I wrong. There is something that happened in translating this to VR that made it not only on par with its 2005 release but in my opinion catapulted it to be far better than its original release. It really makes you feel this sense of dread as Leon. Especially encounters with Salvador turn into this horror show of this man slowly trodding towards you with a chainsaw as you flail wildly trying to dispatch him before he can touch you. Other keystone moments have nothing but intensified since its transition to VR. Any encounter with the Wolverene enemies and the worst one being the fight again Verdugo.
The immersion in Resident Evil 4 is amazing, the 3d spatial audio really makes it feel like you are in the village, and there is a certain level of fear when you hear the villagers yell as they come for you. I know I am fully bought into the VR cult and have been for years now. Resident Evil 4 is one of the shining examples of how you can bring a franchise to VR. After the successful inclusion of VR in Resident Evil 7, we had to know there would be more VR in Resident Evils‘ future. I’m just glad it was Resident Evil 4. It gave me a chance to have another perspective on a game I always felt on the outside for. I suggest if you haven’t played it to this point or even have a passing interest. Go play it or go watch someone play through it. Because even though it is exactly the game that came out in 2005. Putting on the headset, getting enthralled in the environment, and hearing the sounds of terror coming at you from all angles. It changes things, and it may not always be for the better but here for Resident Evil 4, it raises up a great game to an outstanding game that I can’t wait to see how the remake of 4 shakes out now.
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