Post by Samface on Nov 1, 2004 13:57:00 GMT
Okay, so I got the new issue of NGC this weekend, and they've been given an exclusive extended go on Resident Evil 4, and subsequently written reams on it. So due to my somewhat fanboy nature, I feel a need to natter about it at great length.
What's it about?
For anyone who doesn't know, the basic plot goes like this. Set six years after the previous games (so we're now in 2004), Leon Kennedy has long since quit the RPD and ended up working for a special agency directly under President Graham. His daughter Ashley has got herself kidnapped, so Leon is drafted to an obscure Spanish backwater to find her. However, the locals are more than slightly psychotic.
So what's up with the locals?[/u]
Well, they ain't zombies. They're fast, smart, and use weapons against Leon. The plot synopsis doesn't mention Umbrella at all, so the real question is whether they're involved - or indeed still exist. After all, back in 1998 (i.e. in all the other games) a large amount of their facilities were unceremoniously blown up. However, there is something screwy with the villagers. Quite apart from the blind rage, they're somewhat...fragile...I've seen a video clip where Leon turns a man's head to mush simply via a sharp elbowing. Plus, and this is more important, there seems to be some sort of brainwashing involved. The now-well known E3 demo shows Leon saved from a horde of villagers at the last moment, when the village church bell starts tolling and the villagers drop their weapons and shuffle mindlessly into the church. So what's making them act like this? I say virus. When you do find Ashley, she seems fine but occasionally coughs up blood and refuses to talk about it. And, there's hints that Leon gets infected with "something" too. And remember, when the game was first announced, the story was that Leon was wandering around a typical deserted mansion and was definitely infected with the T-virus. There are so many virii strains already in the series - T-Virus, G-Virus, Mother virus, T-Veronica virus, Progentior virus - that it only seems sensible to assume there's another type behind all of this, whether under Umbrella's control or not.
Who's pulling the shots?
There's two revealed possibilites for Head Bad Guy/Guys. The first is the village chief, who is an 8-foot tall bearded giant, and is considerably stronger than Leon. You find the key to the church in his house, and in the church a series of mysterious tunnels, so he's clearly fairly high up to be trusted with such a secret. The other is the Heretics, the sect of monks that are holding Ashley. They look pretty zombie-ish, actually. Stretching my neck a bit here, I'm betting Wesker's involved. The village chief shows similar signs of strength that Wesker had developed in Code: Veronica, slightly too much to suggest merely matching his unusual height. Plus, there's the Woman In Red.
Who?[/b]
The Woman In Red shows up in a cut-scene, saving Leon from strangulation by the chief via some lovely markmanship. She's in a red dress, with a black bob of hair. She looks exactly like Ada Wong. Now, it's no secret that Ada somehow survived Resi 2, and those of you that have read the two "Wesker's Report" files will know there's some connection between the pair. So, what's going on?
Wesker and the Chief are in the same agency. Ada has either left this agency or is deliberately disobeying her orders due to her feelings for Leon.
Wesker and Ada are in the same agency. The chief has left the agency and Ada has been ordered to kill him and finish off some rogue operation he's carrying out with the villagers to serve him.
Several different possibilites based on the two scenarios above, depending on who's on who's side and who's just pretending to be.
It's not Ada at all.
If it's not Ada, who is it? Let's look at who of the established cast it could be.
Claire Redfield: well, she knows Leon. But a long red dress isn't really her style. Plus, we don't yet know what happened to her after her and Chris vowed to take down Umbrella at the end of Code: Veronica.
Jill Valentine: she may or may not have met Leon. It could reasonably be her, as her cat-burgular past provides her with the agility needed (in the cut-scene, the woman dangles one-handed from a tree or roof and shoots through a window). Plus, after being vaccinated in Nemesis, she's immune to the main strain of the T-Virus and possibly variations of it, so she could safely traverse the village (providing this is actually a virus situation).
Rebecca Chambers: yeah, right.
Or it could be someone new, and Capcom could be dressing her to throw us off the scent. Or it could actually be Ada, and Capcom are trying to make us be thrown off the scent. A not-really-red herring if you will. I'm reading into this too deep, aren't I?
Louis[/u]
Right, I'm getting tired now. And you're probably tired of reading this waffle. So I'll end with a quick glance at one definite new character: Louis. He's an ex-policeman, seems to be Spanish, who Leon finds tied up in a cupboard. He doesn't seem to be infected, so why was he tied up rather than just killed? After all, the villagers are seen to kill the two cops who drive you to the village, so why'd they spare him? Since that's literally all we know, I'll leave you with that.
What's it about?
For anyone who doesn't know, the basic plot goes like this. Set six years after the previous games (so we're now in 2004), Leon Kennedy has long since quit the RPD and ended up working for a special agency directly under President Graham. His daughter Ashley has got herself kidnapped, so Leon is drafted to an obscure Spanish backwater to find her. However, the locals are more than slightly psychotic.
So what's up with the locals?[/u]
Well, they ain't zombies. They're fast, smart, and use weapons against Leon. The plot synopsis doesn't mention Umbrella at all, so the real question is whether they're involved - or indeed still exist. After all, back in 1998 (i.e. in all the other games) a large amount of their facilities were unceremoniously blown up. However, there is something screwy with the villagers. Quite apart from the blind rage, they're somewhat...fragile...I've seen a video clip where Leon turns a man's head to mush simply via a sharp elbowing. Plus, and this is more important, there seems to be some sort of brainwashing involved. The now-well known E3 demo shows Leon saved from a horde of villagers at the last moment, when the village church bell starts tolling and the villagers drop their weapons and shuffle mindlessly into the church. So what's making them act like this? I say virus. When you do find Ashley, she seems fine but occasionally coughs up blood and refuses to talk about it. And, there's hints that Leon gets infected with "something" too. And remember, when the game was first announced, the story was that Leon was wandering around a typical deserted mansion and was definitely infected with the T-virus. There are so many virii strains already in the series - T-Virus, G-Virus, Mother virus, T-Veronica virus, Progentior virus - that it only seems sensible to assume there's another type behind all of this, whether under Umbrella's control or not.
Who's pulling the shots?
There's two revealed possibilites for Head Bad Guy/Guys. The first is the village chief, who is an 8-foot tall bearded giant, and is considerably stronger than Leon. You find the key to the church in his house, and in the church a series of mysterious tunnels, so he's clearly fairly high up to be trusted with such a secret. The other is the Heretics, the sect of monks that are holding Ashley. They look pretty zombie-ish, actually. Stretching my neck a bit here, I'm betting Wesker's involved. The village chief shows similar signs of strength that Wesker had developed in Code: Veronica, slightly too much to suggest merely matching his unusual height. Plus, there's the Woman In Red.
Who?[/b]
The Woman In Red shows up in a cut-scene, saving Leon from strangulation by the chief via some lovely markmanship. She's in a red dress, with a black bob of hair. She looks exactly like Ada Wong. Now, it's no secret that Ada somehow survived Resi 2, and those of you that have read the two "Wesker's Report" files will know there's some connection between the pair. So, what's going on?
Wesker and the Chief are in the same agency. Ada has either left this agency or is deliberately disobeying her orders due to her feelings for Leon.
Wesker and Ada are in the same agency. The chief has left the agency and Ada has been ordered to kill him and finish off some rogue operation he's carrying out with the villagers to serve him.
Several different possibilites based on the two scenarios above, depending on who's on who's side and who's just pretending to be.
It's not Ada at all.
If it's not Ada, who is it? Let's look at who of the established cast it could be.
Claire Redfield: well, she knows Leon. But a long red dress isn't really her style. Plus, we don't yet know what happened to her after her and Chris vowed to take down Umbrella at the end of Code: Veronica.
Jill Valentine: she may or may not have met Leon. It could reasonably be her, as her cat-burgular past provides her with the agility needed (in the cut-scene, the woman dangles one-handed from a tree or roof and shoots through a window). Plus, after being vaccinated in Nemesis, she's immune to the main strain of the T-Virus and possibly variations of it, so she could safely traverse the village (providing this is actually a virus situation).
Rebecca Chambers: yeah, right.
Or it could be someone new, and Capcom could be dressing her to throw us off the scent. Or it could actually be Ada, and Capcom are trying to make us be thrown off the scent. A not-really-red herring if you will. I'm reading into this too deep, aren't I?
Louis[/u]
Right, I'm getting tired now. And you're probably tired of reading this waffle. So I'll end with a quick glance at one definite new character: Louis. He's an ex-policeman, seems to be Spanish, who Leon finds tied up in a cupboard. He doesn't seem to be infected, so why was he tied up rather than just killed? After all, the villagers are seen to kill the two cops who drive you to the village, so why'd they spare him? Since that's literally all we know, I'll leave you with that.
It was generic beyond belief, not scary at all, and had Steve in it.
I did buy the Rocket Launcher and Gatling Gun in the mini-game, though.
