Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

I was really looking forward to this and it is everything I had dreamed of. I played and beat the crap out of the gamecube version of RE4 and I was pleased when it was announced it would be rereleased on the Wii - especially with the PS2 extras that were added for that port. Let me just say this game is a flat out steal for 30 bucks.

So, the wiimote controls....are brilliant. I was worried they would be shaky or skippy or bad in some way but they are frankly perfect. I don't have a very steady hand and I have no problem aiming whatsoever. The game is a bit easier because the old GC and PS2 versions were limited in how fast you could move the aiming, where as you can flit around easily with the wiimote. The developers countered this by reducing the amount of ammo available and increasing the aggressiveness of enemies. This leans the game even further towards action rather than the survival horror of older RE's.

All of the old controls are also available, you can use a gamecube controller instead of a wiimote and there is a knifing button instead of swinging the wiimote. The old versions required button presses for actions during cutscenes (for example, monster is swinging an axe at you, hit A to dodge) now you must swing or shake the wiimote which is an improvement. The only thing I don't really like is sometimes you can accidentally swing the knife by swinging the remote, especially after actions that require swinging of the wiimote.

The graphics are the best yet, using the GC version's superior graphics on the Wii's superior hardware. Some of the extra stuff from the PS2 version still looks kind of bad because it was ported over from that instead of the GC, but nothing major, and nothing you would be able to witness on your first play through. They are still 2 years old though, so don't expect anything amazing. Of course they were amazing when the game was first released so they are still pleasant on the eyes.

Basically, this would be game of the year if it were just being released. This is the ultimate version of RE4 and its worth 30 bucks whether you have played the previous releases or not.