Resident Evil 4 Preview

Since its announcement, Resident Evil 4 has been about as elusive as a green herb when you're limping through a zombie-infested area in need of some health. We've been teased with the game sporadically, but Capcom and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami have pretty much kept silent on the highly anticipated game. However, that silence was broken in spectacular fashion at Capcom's press event in Las Vegas this past January. Not only was a lengthy presentation devoted to the game, but, shockingly, the game was also available for hands-on play. We were sworn to silence on what we saw at the event--until now. While the demo on display was short, it offered a wealth of concrete information on the upcoming game.

Resident Evil 4 is a complete reimagining of the classic horror series on the GameCube.

The presentation opened with a short video clip of Mikami, now the game's director, being introduced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi (the game's producer), who simply told those in attendance to have a nightmare as the video segued to a new trailer for the game. Resident Evil 4 has undergone something of an overhaul since it was originally unveiled in 2002, and it now sports a number of new and promising gameplay elements. The video offered a montage of images that highlighted this new gameplay. We saw quick clips of gameplay that showed off the new third-person camera, a new targeting system, the new context-sensitive action button, a binocular view, a boss fight in a speed boat, and human enemies that didn't appear to be zombies but nonetheless attacked the game's hero, rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy. The macabre clip ended with the disturbing visage of a chain-saw-wielding freak that dissolved into a not exactly cryptic "winter 2004." Following the trailer, Kobyashi gave a presentation on RE4 that revealed quite a bit about the upcoming game.

Resident Evil 4 puts you in control of Leon S. Kennedy, whom we last saw in Resident Evil 2 when he was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed rookie member of Raccoon City's Police Department. For those who've forgotten, Raccoon City is the ill-fated town that saw a quantum leap in its zombie population when the Umbrella Corporation's T-virus got out and started infecting locals. In the six years since Racoon City's destruction, the US government has managed to destroy the infamous Umbrella Corporation, and life has settled down… for a bit. When we meet up with Leon in this fourth entry in the RE series, the enthusiastic lad has grown into a man--a federal agent, to be exact.

As the game opens, the president's daughter is abducted, and Leon is ordered to investigate. His sleuthing leads him to a remote and (surprise, surprise) mysterious location in Europe. Given the lad's adventures in defying death as the rampaging hordes of the undead came at him in Raccoon City, he's pretty much seen it all--until his European investigation takes an unpleasant and horrifying turn. Blessed with the truly crappy luck of anyone in a Resident Evil game, Leon winds up on a quest to discover who or what is behind the disturbing things he's seen while trying not to die horribly and painfully in the process.

You one again play the role of rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy, last seen in Resident Evil 2.

This promising and disturbing premise is being brought to life by the development team, which last worked on the Resident Evil remake for the GameCube that was released in 2002. Director Mikami is handling the scenario and has kept the details of the game's story rather vague, but, judging from the clips in the trailer, Resident Evil 4 is going to offer a genuinely unsettling mix of familiar scares and some all-new extra-creepy touches. The most interesting aspect of the game is that, while zombies and the Resident Evil name are typically a match made in heaven, the humanoid creatures you'll face in this game may or may not actually be of the formerly dead variety.

When we got our hands on the game, we were more than a little surprised by what we saw and played. Resident Evil 4 appears to be a complete overhaul of the Resident Evil experience as we know it. The game uses a fully 3D graphics engine and a standard third-person camera that, from what we were able to play, appears to be generally unobtrusive. The playable demo opened up with Leon making his way, in full-on free-roaming glory, around what appeared to be a deserted house near a recently collapsed bridge (always a surefire recipe for trouble). We did a quick lap around the house before going in, and we were able to try out the new shooting mechanic, which pulls the camera in tight behind your shoulder, making it much easier to aim.

The context-sensitive A button will allow you to interact with the environment in all sorts of ways.

Before going into the house, we got our first taste of the A button's many context-sensitive uses when an onscreen indicator let us know we could use it to enter the house. Once inside, we met up with a pretty disturbing individual who was standing over by the fireplace. The A button let us have a brief and troubling conversation with him during which he swore at us in Spanish. Shortly thereafter we were confronted by what we initially assumed were zombies, which offered a nifty opportunity to sample the new targeting system. Once you assume the "shooting" position, you'll be able to aim at specific parts of your intended target. A laser sight on your gun lets you know exactly where you're aiming, which is a useful touch. We were especially pleased with the option to use first- or third-person when shooting, which seems to give you the best of both worlds.

Back to our targets in this escapade: Our zombie theory got a bit shakier when we drew closer to the individuals in question, who, despite their odd gaits, didn't have the distinctive pallor or decomposition of zombies. In fact, the scary group of folks seemed to enjoy some limited speech. To make matters even more interesting, they reacted with a good measure of intelligence to our actions. For example, when we came upon a lone man in the misty forest, we figured we might as well do him in before his friends showed up, so we took a shot at him. Sadly, our aim was off a little, resulting in a miss that got his attention. Not only did he look our way, but he moved for cover and whistled, which resulted in the arrival of several more equally intelligent folks.