A landmark of action gaming, still eminently playable two decades on, here perfectly portable. The port is faithful with no notable compromise; only the dated presentation betrays its original age.
Your verdict
Category
Action Adventure1 player18+
Description
A Switch port of the 2005 classic (originally on GameCube), published by Capcom in 2019. Agent Leon Kennedy sets out to rescue the president's daughter in a cult-ridden rural village, in over-the-shoulder third-person action that redefined the genre. The Switch version adds gyro aiming and the Mercenaries mode.
Resident Evil 4 review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
The 2005 art direction remains a genre model: a squalid village, a gothic castle and a military base compose a memorable visual progression, carried by dread-inducing lighting and a real cinematic sense of framing. Twenty years on, the atmosphere still works completely.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
In 2005, Resident Evil 4 redefined third-person action: over-the-shoulder aiming, tight ammo and space management, spectacular quick-time events. This pioneering gameplay stays remarkably readable and tense, and the Switch version's gyro aiming makes it even more precise.
The bosses are all-time greats: the giant El Gigante, the monstrous Del Lago, the ever more grotesque final mutations. Each forces you to manage resources and positioning under pressure, delivering peaks of horror and action that made the game legendary.
