Turo602
The King of Kings
I prefer the more technical term: "John Wick stance."
Resident Evil 4: Chainsaw Demo
- Thread starter Turo602
- Start date
leon_hellppp
Well-Known Member
My thoughts:
The movement in this demo surprised me. I had gotten the impression from the trailers showcasing the action gameplay that Leon would be more responsive to control, and that the movement would be maybe like RE6. Instead, they gave Leon a heavy lumber that the player has to learn to account for. He's a bit slippery and there's input delay. I think this was a good decision that adds some challenge to outmaneuvering enemies. I don't think RE games should ever give you too much control over your character.
I think the aiming is likewise a bit trickier than the other recent remakes, although I didn't have such a hard time adjusting. I thought it was an interesting decision to keep the focused reticle shot mechanic in, since it incentivizes "stop and shoot" gameplay, and the inability to move while aiming is one of the longest standing and most pervasive complaints about the original game. Again, I personally have no issues here. It's nice to have the option.
The parry mechanic is great fun and the range of things that can be parried is hilarious. It feels like a natural development of the original gameplay. I actually laughed out loud when I first parried a punch and Leon sliced the enemy's arm off. I hope for tighter parry windows on harder difficulties, or for only perfect parries to count. Knife kill prompts on staggered or downed enemies is kind of neat, but in practice I don't think it's worth the knife durability, except for on Dr. Salvador or to stop bent heads from forming in cramped spaces.
The improved Ganado AI is another thing that took me by surprise. I think they're much more prone to flanking you now, and they come at you from all sides, putting pressure on you to keep moving. I'm sure they appear in greater numbers and are also more aggressive, with attacks that carry them forwards more than before (e.g. the pitchfork charge, the grab). They definitely kept me on my toes on my first demo run. You also have to calculate your melees more carefully now, because I think the stun radius after executing one has been reduced. Dr. Salvador seems to have been tanked up, although curiously now staggers from two handgun headshots (I'm sure it took more than this before?). The bent heads are a good new enemy type---it's great to see a proper zombie equivalent Ganado, and I imagine you'll be trapped in some enclosed spaces with them later in the full game. Also, I like that axe wielders can now do fakeout throws, and that chickens attack you.
I think the presentation and sound design are great, which has been equally true for all the RE Engine resis. The level of detail in graphics these days is just mind-blowing to me. The inclusion of greens into the colour palette and the overall rockier appearance are a pleasing fresh take on the village. The gradual build-up of the panic track that kicks in after you trigger Dr. Salvador is reminiscent of Mr. X's theme in how it nudges you into the zone.
If I had to list some complaints:
The movement in this demo surprised me. I had gotten the impression from the trailers showcasing the action gameplay that Leon would be more responsive to control, and that the movement would be maybe like RE6. Instead, they gave Leon a heavy lumber that the player has to learn to account for. He's a bit slippery and there's input delay. I think this was a good decision that adds some challenge to outmaneuvering enemies. I don't think RE games should ever give you too much control over your character.
I think the aiming is likewise a bit trickier than the other recent remakes, although I didn't have such a hard time adjusting. I thought it was an interesting decision to keep the focused reticle shot mechanic in, since it incentivizes "stop and shoot" gameplay, and the inability to move while aiming is one of the longest standing and most pervasive complaints about the original game. Again, I personally have no issues here. It's nice to have the option.
The parry mechanic is great fun and the range of things that can be parried is hilarious. It feels like a natural development of the original gameplay. I actually laughed out loud when I first parried a punch and Leon sliced the enemy's arm off. I hope for tighter parry windows on harder difficulties, or for only perfect parries to count. Knife kill prompts on staggered or downed enemies is kind of neat, but in practice I don't think it's worth the knife durability, except for on Dr. Salvador or to stop bent heads from forming in cramped spaces.
The improved Ganado AI is another thing that took me by surprise. I think they're much more prone to flanking you now, and they come at you from all sides, putting pressure on you to keep moving. I'm sure they appear in greater numbers and are also more aggressive, with attacks that carry them forwards more than before (e.g. the pitchfork charge, the grab). They definitely kept me on my toes on my first demo run. You also have to calculate your melees more carefully now, because I think the stun radius after executing one has been reduced. Dr. Salvador seems to have been tanked up, although curiously now staggers from two handgun headshots (I'm sure it took more than this before?). The bent heads are a good new enemy type---it's great to see a proper zombie equivalent Ganado, and I imagine you'll be trapped in some enclosed spaces with them later in the full game. Also, I like that axe wielders can now do fakeout throws, and that chickens attack you.
I think the presentation and sound design are great, which has been equally true for all the RE Engine resis. The level of detail in graphics these days is just mind-blowing to me. The inclusion of greens into the colour palette and the overall rockier appearance are a pleasing fresh take on the village. The gradual build-up of the panic track that kicks in after you trigger Dr. Salvador is reminiscent of Mr. X's theme in how it nudges you into the zone.
If I had to list some complaints:
- The prompt to melee staggered enemies or jump out of windows seems dependent on you angling the camera correctly even if you're in proximity. A few times I missed suplexes because of this, or had to press multiple times to jump out of a window.
- Enemies already being in certain animations appears to lock them out of normal stagger behaviour (e.g. I have to wait for an enemy to stop ducking before I can stagger it with leg shots). I don't understand the reasoning for this, to me it feels weird or like they cut corners on transition animations.
- I absolutely hate how the quick turn doesn't work off of only simultaneous inputs. If you have it mapped to your run button, and you're walking backwards away from an enemy, and you press the run button to run back faster, Leon will quick turn instead. I think there should be an option to change this.
- Death animations aren't as good as they could be but I'm hoping this is just censorship for the demo.
Ikawaru
Well-Known Member
I've been playing "Mad Chainsaw Mode" so much that I am afraid the base game is going to be too easy for me now because it is forcing me to be extraordinarily good at staying alive and knowing each little function, responsive, and improving my aim. I mean it's good to know all the mechanics but damn, it's impossible to play on "Standard" now because it is cheese.
leon_hellppp
Well-Known Member
Mad Chainsaw Mode is no joke! I think it really ups the ante and I had a blast with it. I wonder how the hardest difficulty in the full game will compare. Gun Power B, my solution to the problem you're describing is that I'm going to hold off playing the demo any more until release day. That way I get a whole week to forget everything. I'm going to replay RE2make and RE3make in the meantime.
Ikawaru
Well-Known Member
After examining the producer of these REmakes profile, Hirabayashi Yoshiaki, RE5R will most likely be the next REmake after 4, as he seems to be mostly interested in games he was personally involved in. He became a fan of the series starting with RE2, hence the remake of that game, and was personally involved in the development of RE4, RE5 and RE6. Anything can happen, but it's looking like my predictions of no RE1 or CVX remakes could hold some water after more careful analysis.
Works for me tbh, I mean why not take my least favorite games in the series (4, 5, and 6) and make them decent? Bumping them off the radar and replacing them with these remakes is certainly far from the worst thing that could happen. I mean they could remake CVX and RE1 and utterly ruin them, which to me is a far worse scenario than turning the lesser games into something decent.
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