Resident Evil 4
A fresh but still violent take on the horror series.
Parents say
Based on 32 reviews
Kids say
Based on 107 reviews
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Resident Evil 4 is a violent, bloody game. Players must stab, shoot, and bomb their way through hundreds of realistic-looking humans and monsters. With some cursing and sexual dialogue in the mix, Resident Evil 4 is a game that earns its M rating. Parents need to know that the star rating given this game is based on quality of gameplay within this horror genre of video gaming and not endorsement of the violence within the game.
Community Reviews
No Worse Than Avengers!
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What’s It About?
RESIDENT EVIL 4 is really more of a horror-themed shoot-'em-up than a survival horror game. Players assume the role of Leon Kennedy, a U.S. government agent. Leon is a veteran of the Raccoon City Police Department, but the whole former Resident Evil setting has been scrapped. Instead, Leon finds himself sent to Spain to retrieve the president's daughter, Ashley, who has been kidnapped by mysterious foes. Finding Ashley will take Leon through a rural village, an elaborate castle, and a run-down research facility, all the while killing just about everything in sight including possessed people and monster aliens. Players can expect a number of plot surprises and double-crosses through a linear and surprisingly long one-player adventure.
Is It Any Good?
In addition to new environments and new baddies, Resident Evil 4 ditches survival-horror gameplay for something more akin to straightforward action. Players will also appreciate the truly wonderful overhaul of the controls. Thanks to floating camera angles and more intuitive controls, Leon is more agile than his Resident Evil predecessors. The result of these changes is that gamers feel more in control of their hero.
Resident Evil 4 is in many ways an outstanding game. It is a long, involving, graphically gorgeous action experience, and a wealth of unlockable gameplay modes adds a lot of replay value. But remember that in the Resident Evil universe, ramping up the action means ramping up the gory carnage. Combine this with a splattering of curse words and some sexual innuendo in the cutscene dialogue, and the result is a game that is most definitely for adults and mature teens only. But it's still pretty amazing.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the role of violence and gore in the horror genre. Do games and movies need to be violent to be scary? Do science fiction elements -- like monsters -- make the violence more palatable than in reality-based games like Grand Theft Auto?
Game Details
- Platforms: Nintendo Wii, Windows, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube
- Available online?: Not available online
- Publisher: Capcom
- Release date: January 12, 2005
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- ESRB rating: M
- Last updated: November 4, 2015
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