I acclimatised to the VR setup soon enough, familiarising myself with a game I’ve played multiple times on a screen, leaning into the advantages of VR and making use of the easier aim (although you’ll need an especially steady hand with the rifle). Part of the panic can be attributed to getting used to VR movement and manually reloading, and that’s all part of that pulse-raising experience.
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Resident Evil 4 may be considered as a turning point when the series embraced action over horror, but I’ve never bricked it quite as badly in the first village area as I have playing in VR, as your limited field of vision obscures where the mob is coming from before you hear the whir of a chainsaw. However you customise your control options though, it still feels great being Leon – and being in these environments really does magnify the terror to a new level. In my small room, I opted for teleporting movement, but you can also play in room scale (though you still move with the analogue stick), and opt for smooth or snap turns. There’s also a broad range of control options to fit what’s comfortable for you you can also cycle through a weapon wheel to pick your equipment, and play standing or seating – the latter option moving the gun and ammo pouches from your hip to two icons on either side you just need to reach into. That said, you needn’t play it in this fashion if you don’t want to.
But by having a holster on his hip, ammo pouch on the other, a two-handed weapon over his shoulder, as well as grenade and knife attached to his chest, it really does feel like you’re Mr. To be clear, in first-person, Leon is only visible by his pair of disembodied hands, wearing a smartwatch that shows his health. Take the weapons: there’s still the brilliant inventory management Tetris in the menus, but instead of dipping back into this every time you need to use an item or equip a weapon, your equipment is now attached to different parts of your body (similarly to PSVR exclusive Blood & Truth). This has been driven by necessity the developers needed to make the experience comfortable in VR and fully ground you in its beautifully grim world. In this case, despite looking stylistically like the Resident Evil 4 you know and love, the VR version is arguably the best looking version yet with vastly improved resolution and faster framerate. In fairness, if there’s one criticism of Resident Evil 4, it’s that its ports over the years feel incredibly lightly touched, and it’s been left to modders to bring new HD textures to the game. There’s also the added benefit that this is essentially a port of an old GameCube game, meaning even as one of the underpowered headsets on the market, the Quest 2 can still make the visuals of a 16-year old game sing. Resident Evil 4 and VR are a perfect match, really: the original campaign is already a solid foundation to work from, and of a more substantial length than most single-player VR games that typically last just a few hours. Kennedy, now a special agent on an assignment to rescue the US president’s daughter, Ashley. Resident Evil 4 VR, however, has been reworked from the ground up exclusively for Oculus Quest 2 to really put you in the shoes of the legendary Leon S. Sure, there have been VR ports of 3D games before (such as Skyrim) and for this series, Resident Evil 7 got there first, but it only lets you play with a controller. Instead, it’s this surprise VR port developed by Armature Studio that truly piqued my interest as it’s not just remaking a game, but taking it to a new exciting medium. Which is why the thought of a remake greenlit by Capcom last year has me nervous.
To me, Resident Evil 4 is such a flawless game – even in the areas where people find it dated – that I simply can’t imagine the game being improved upon. READ MORE: Armature Studio on bringing ‘Resident Evil 4’ to VR.In that time, video games have gotten better graphics, better acting and storytelling, and even better control schemes, but when it comes down to Leon’s rescue mission in rural Europe, it’s the platinum-standard of video game campaigns, with set pieces, pacing, and variety that other games don’t come close to matching. I realise that the game is celebrating its sweet sixteenth this year, but it’s true.