Resident Evil 4 at 20: the horror game that revitalised a genre With brutishly fast zombies, raw action and most importantly an over-the-shoulder viewpoint, the influence of Capcom’s horror game can still be felt.
But in 2002, Capcom revealed five exclusives to boost the beleaguered platform – and among them was Resident Evil 4, technically the 13th title in the franchise, which on its release three years later would be considered its zenith.
It is an interesting quirk of video game history that one of the greatest ever horror titles debuted on the Nintendo GameCube, a toylike console better known for the cutest titles in the Zelda series and Animal Crossing.
This sense of dislocation continued when the traditional lumbering zombies (clearly inspired by George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead trilogy) were replaced by brutishly fast, axe-wielding country folk, infected with parasites by evil aristocrats in a gothic castle.
These sprightly creatures were much more in line with the infected maniacs depicted in Danny Boyle’s modern take on the zombie flick, 28 Days Later, surely an influence on Resi 4 director Shinji Mikami.
