While the majority of gamers have most likely already played Resident Evil 4 on either the Gamecube or Playstation 2, it doesn’t mean that the Wiimake of this classic should go un-played. The nerve-wracking tension of the gaming experience that is Resident Evil 4 is intensified by the immersive control scheme. The use of Wiimote and Nunchuk reinvigorate the game and make it a title worth playing a second, third or even a fourth time through.

For the one or two people who haven’t played Resident Evil 4, you play as Leon Kennedy, secret agent extraordinaire, who is charged with finding the president’s daughter. She has been…surprise, surprise…kidnapped by a mysterious Spanish cult-like organization. Leon travels far into the Spanish hill country to track down the kidnappers and save the president’s daughter. Upon arriving at the small farm town, Leon finds its residents to be less then inviting. Not much of the small town hospitality here. On a scale of undeadness, the townsfolk aren’t quite zombified, but not much is going on besides bloodlust with these people. After they take a look at you, they decide that you would look better with an axe in your head or a pitchfork in your eye. Thus, the adventure begins. The storyline is intense and leaves the perfect amount of ambiguity that makes gamers uneasy at every turn and plot twist. The Wii version of the game does include the “Separate Ways” addition of the PS2 version, but it fails to provide any new exclusive content. If you completed the game on the PS2 or Gamecube, you won’t have any surprises as far as the storyline goes on the Wii.

The environments are beautiful and truly foreboding. Leon travels through sepia drenched farmhouses, slimy caves, and gothic churches. While gorgeous, the surroundings have a dead feeling to them that compliments the inhabitants perfectly. Flies buzz around spoiled food in every farmhouse Leon enters. A sense of decay abounds from every corner. Crows fly ominously above your head throughout the game. Fire flickers naturally and provides shadow filled light for most rooms. This is a game best played with the lights off. Character models are rendered with great attention to detail. The game is limited by the stunted graphic firepower of the Wii, but honestly, this might be the best the Wii is going to look.

Make no mistake, this game isn’t easy. Within five minutes of starting the game, you are thrown into a relatively intense battle with hordes of the cultish Spaniards. The sparingly rationed ammunition exacerbates the difficulty of the game significantly. This isn’t a lock, load and go shooter. Gamers will have to think about their ammunition supply constantly and might be wise to go around some of the undead townsfolk instead of blasting through them. Boss battles are epic. The first boss drags you along a lake on a little dinghy while you try to launch harpoons into its massive body, and the boss’s just get bigger and more menacing from there. The Wiimote and nunchuk flow beautifully into the game. The precision aiming that the Wiimote affords does make the game slightly easier then previous incarnations, but this game is far from being a walk in the park.