Resident Evil 4 VR Review – Worth It?
This classic game gets a remake for VR, but does it work?
Let’s get started on this Resident Evil 4 VR Review.
Table of Contents
- 1 What is Resident Evil 4 VR?
- 2 Who Makes Resident Evil 4 VR?
- 3 Which VR Headsets is Resident Evil 4 VR On?
- 4 Resident Evil 4 VR Gameplay Review
- 5 Some Strange Design Choices
- 6 Resident Evil 4 VR Graphics and Sound
- 7 Is Resident Evil 4 VR the full game? Is any content missing?
- 8 Who Will Enjoy Playing Resident Evil 4 VR?
- 9 How long is Resident Evil 4 VR?
- 10 Can you play Resident Evil 4 VR Sitting Down?
- 11 Does Resident Evil 4 VR cause motion sickness?
- 12 Final Thoughts On Resident Evil 4 VR Review. Is Resident Evil 4 VR Worth It?
What is Resident Evil 4 VR?
Resident Evil 4 VR is a top favorite of the Resident Evil franchise. It originally was released in 2005 for the GameCube. It has completely been redone in VR.
You play as special agent Leon S. Kennedy and his intense mission through a rural village in Europe. Your job is to rescue the President’s daughter who has been kidnapped by a mysterious cult.
Who Makes Resident Evil 4 VR?
Resident Evil 4 VR is made by Armature Studio. They are a developer from Austin Texas. They have also created several unique AAA games like Batman: Ao Blackgate, Re Core and Ark Genesis.
They have created several other VR game experiences like Sports Scramble and Fail Factory.
Which VR Headsets is Resident Evil 4 VR On?
You can play Resident Evil 4 VR exclusively on the Oculus Quest 2.
Resident Evil 4 VR will NOT be coming to PC, Steam, or Playstation. It is exclusive on Oculus Quest 2. This is similar to how most video game platforms work like certain exclusive games on Nintendo, Xbox, or Playstation. They do not appear on other systems.
Resident Evil 4 VR Gameplay Review
The main goal of RE4VR is to follow Leon on a linear storyline to save the President’s Daughter.
Along the way, you will be killing many bad guys, gathering information, and searching for all kinds of hidden treasures that you can use at the merchant to upgrade your weapons.
There are three groups of people when it comes to Resident Evil 4 VR:
- Those who have played the game hundreds of times on a different system and can say the lines in their sleep
- Those who played the 16-year-old game at some point and remember it was pretty good
- Those who have never played Resident Evil 4
Depending on which group you fall into your enjoyment of the new Resident Evil 4 VR may vary. Your expectations certainly will.
Resident Evil 4 VR stays extremely close to the original in terms of its functions, but they have changed a few things up to make it work better in VR.
The original RE4 was shot in 3rd person. You look over Leon’s shoulder. In RE4VR you BECOME Leon.
How do the Weapons Work in VR?
A big portion of this immersive experience is how you grab the weapons. Your gun will be at your hip. Ammo at your waist. You need to manually reload.
The knife is at your chest and like most VR melee experiences, it doesn’t always work so great. I found that an up and down motion was much better than a side to side one. There are also grenades to grab where you need to pull the pin out before you throw it. Healing plant sprays are over your shoulder.
This all really works. It gives you the impression that you are in Leon’s character. Extremely realistic shooting experiences can be very overwhelming, but RE4 keeps it at a nice mix of “realistic” and “I’m playing a video game”.
NEWBIE TIP – For those new to the series, these bad guys have a slight kick of supernatural to them, so yeah it takes quite a few shots and kicks to bring them down. That is not a design flaw just think of them as really buff. You can shoot them in the leg or arm to help slow things down though.
That is not to say that you won’t be feeling the pressure when the hordes start coming for you. It is very easy to run out of bullets, not have enough time to reload, and have to attempt to fend them off with the knife. That knife might not work so well, so restarting will definitely be happening until you get in the very regular practice of shoot, reload.
Your inventory system works in mostly the same manner as the original game. You will pause the game and go to your inventory management screen in the menu. This allows you to select guns, healing items, and move stuff around as you will have limited inventory space. You do also get a VR upgrade with the ability to access 2 weapons, a grenade, and a healing item from the sides of your body. You also get a fancy wristwatch that tells you how much health you have.
Early Resident Evil games are known for their Quick Time Events (QTE) and they remain in RE4VR. You will frequently be asked to move your Oculus Quest 2 controllers in a certain direction for these events or to escape the final death grasp of evil townsfolk. Anyone who played this on the WII will be at home, it involves things like moving the Oculus Quest 2 controllers in a circular motion quickly for example.
Another huge pain point when playing seated in VR is that when an item is on the ground, sometimes you need to kind of reach and grab and hope you get it. Resident Evil 4 VR does not have this problem as when you approach small treasures they float up to your waist and allow you to grab them.
They also updated how you interact with Hannigan. She is the Government agent that calls Leon on a small phone-like
device that will occasionally ring in your pocket and you will need to press to answer. Nice touch.
Some Strange Design Choices
Although the developer did a great job of updating the 3rd person into “you are playing the character” 1st person view, they ignored some of the other most common VR immersive experiences today.
In the original and update, there will frequently be cut scenes of movie action. When this happens in RE4VR, you as Leon will be standing in a black void, your hands waving around watching a movie clip of Leon doing some story-advancing action.
These are the original Resident Evil 4 clips that would play out on your flat 2D monitor but generally, in VR games we want the 3D experience wrapping around us. I imagine it would be too difficult or too expensive to re-do all these cinematics in VR so this is what we get. It does make you pause a moment as you are literally ripped out of your body into watching a movie, and this cinematics can happen a few times every few minutes in some spots.
Most VR games today have you climbing by grabbing items and pulling yourself up. They didn’t do that here instead opting for a simple you are just at the top of the ladder when you press A.
When you are getting overwhelmed by swarms of town folk or want to save your precious bullets you will kick them back. This is a must-do tactic. When you kick in RE4VR the screen flashes to a 3rd person over the shoulder view of this kick, as you would see in the original. The same happens when you barricade a window or push the various bookcases to block a door. 3rd person cutscene. Since we don’t really have feet in VR I guess this makes sense but again there is a definite “immersion” breaking moment when these things happen.
Resident Evil 4 VR Graphics and Sound
So Resident Evil 4 was initially released in 2005 on the Nintendo Gamecube. The graphics back then were not nearly what we see in triple-A titles today. This is actually part of what allows Resident Evil 4 to work on the Oculus Quest 2 so great.
The graphics in Resident Evil 4 VR are quite good. The developers have worked very hard to bring the game into VR and give it an immersive feeling. Like always the main noticeable difference is a lack of shaders on things, but since this is a 16-year-old game, they also lacked those similar shaders and techniques back then. This causes certain spots to appear flat. Overall it is a dark and dreary game that is supposed to keep you in a sense of impending doom, which it does quite well.
Is Resident Evil 4 VR the full game? Is any content missing?
You can play the entire Resident Evil 4 game – all of Leon’s mission – in VR with the exception of some extras. There is no Mercenaries mode. Mercenaries was the bonus horde mode included in Resident Evil 4.
There are also 2 extra bonus contents missing – Assignment: Ada (Ada the Spy) and Separate Ways. This was where you played as Ada Wong to receive some samples and it has got a different perspective of Resident Evil’s 4 key moments. That is several hours of extra content missing. These same parts were NOT included on the Game cube’s original launch. Perhaps we will someday see them released as add-ons here too.
There are also a few lines of content that don’t really work in 2021 that have been removed or changed. Many users were really upset about that, but in total it is about 70 lines that have been changed.
Who Will Enjoy Playing Resident Evil 4 VR?
Resident Evil 4 VR is rated M for Mature. There is intense violence, blood and gore, and language. Anyone who is a fan of Resident Evil or survival horror games will enjoy playing this extremely popular classic. Anyone who is looking for a long VR game with shooting and a great story.
What Games are similar to Resident Evil 4 VR?
RE4VR is a survival horror game with an intense first-person shooting experience. Similar VR Games would be SURV1V3, Walking Dead -Saint’s and Sinners, and Wraith The Oblivion Afterlife.
How long is Resident Evil 4 VR?
Resident Evil 4 VR is roughly 14-20 hours of gameplay! This is massive and a great step for VR games which are notably usually quite short experiences. This stays true to the original game and you can play the entire RE4 Leon’s mission experience.
Can you play Resident Evil 4 VR Sitting Down?
Yes! Resident Evil 4 VR can be played sitting down and includes an option for you to do so in the settings. You do still need some room to grab your weapons from your body.
You can also play it standing. You do not need a large play space or room movement.
Does Resident Evil 4 VR cause motion sickness?
Resident Evil 4 VR may cause motion sickness issues, but use the in-game control settings to find your comfort level