Resident Evil 4 - STEYR POWER

A couple of weeks out from a full release, Capcom have pushed a demo of their long-awaited Resident Evil 4 remake to online stores. Presumably the first ten or so minutes of the final game, this preview code allows players to steer a lumpy, drunken-feeling Leon S Kennedy towards an even creepier break-and-enter incident, before urging him on to a one-sided shoot out with an army of creeping Nannas. Fans of ancient GameCube trial discs might recognise this segment as being broadly similar to the teaser packed with a special Capcom edition of Japan's Famitsu magazine. Published back in 2004, that miniDVD allowed extra curious players an opportunity to break the innate loop of the sample level, spawning two distinct chainsaw maniac encounters. These double-leggers, and the currency their defeat conferred, were crucial if the player wanted to unlock the TMP machine pistol. Here, Steyr fans simply have to discard the contents of their menu-bound attaché case before entering the fateful village, then drop down into a refuse-packed cave. 

ADAPTIVE DIFFICULTY

Ever wonder why Resident Evil 4 always feels so rewarding to play, regardless of how well you're doing? Mark Brown thinks he has the answer - a hidden difficulty modifier that took stock of how the player was progressing then fine tuned the experience based on that information.

President Zombie

Out of nowhere, we get a trailer for Resident Evil 6. Looks like we can expect several micro-campaigns staffed with leads drafted from previous entries, like a Best of Biohazard compilation album. Leon gets lumbered with creeping mountain town horror, facing legions of shuffling zombies; Chris zip-lines into a muscly action narrative, dash-sliding into cover, and firing around fleeing civilians; whilst Resident Evil 4's escortee, Ashley Graham, gets to leap across rooftops with a mysterious baldy. Most surprising of all is a release date that rather bravely puts 6 head-to-head with the next Call of Duty.

Disaster Year 2005: Resident Evil 4

No escape! From the get-go, Resident Evil 4 locks you into a survivalist think pattern. Early progress sees you stumble into a psychotically aggressive township brimming with scrabbling sickle swipers, and sack-head chainsaw brawn. Immediately cast as an interloper, players must scramble in and out houses, setting up temporary defences in an effort to survive this onslaught. Your foes are no longer stumbling, un-thinking zombies, they're a directed mob, in the thrall of diseased cult. Enemies doggedly pursue the player, smashing through windows and doors in an effort to destroy the invader, progress dictated by where your attackers aren't. The soundtrack thunders with a melody of clashing metals and panic shrieks as you desperately micro-manage the dregs of your ammo.

If Resident Evil 4 was simply this experience, it'd be worth a year end position, but it's not. Survive the village, and you can journey into an inquisition castle full of mangonel armed Omega Man zealots; you'll plunge into a rotting industrial space prowled by a Fincher draft biomech; you'll pick through a lab haunted by indestructible, reconstituted flesh shapes. You'll ride a mine cart, harpoon a sea monster, phone-in chopper support. More, more, more. Resident Evil 4 is constantly throwing new information at the player. Ever evolving locations bleed into each other. Enemy types are reconfigured, rearmed, then recalibrated before being pushed aside for something deadlier. Injury feedback on enemies cues context sensitive hurt animations. Your menu chest heaves with currency and upgradable weapons. It even gifts you an escort character that can keep herself out of trouble. Resident Evil 4 is a relentless procession of fun. A game stuffed to bursting with form mutating ideas, onion peel area secrets, and unending alarm. Disaster Year's game of the decade.