# Game Resident Evil 4 Original Recap
Macatrens – Released by Capcom in the year 2005 on the Nintendo Gamecube and later ported to multiple platforms, Resident Evil 4 was a game that started development in 1998, endured over 6 years of development Hell, and became one of the most controversial but successful sequels that saved the franchise. Originally developed on the PS2 as Resident Evil 3, it was pushed then abandoned as Nemesis became the actual Resident Evil 3.
As Resident Evil 4, they made a sequel based on sons of Spencer who were superpowered thanks to biotechnology, and the game became an over-the-top hack and slash game. Series creator Shinji Mikami felt the game strayed too far from the path but insisted they keep the work done so far, so the project was completed, rebranded, and released in 2001 as a new IP Devil May Cry.
Retrying Resident Evil 4, they drafted a new storyline in which Leon Kennedy returns as a USSTRATCOM agent assaulting Spencer’s castle at the same time as Wesker, and the two clash, with Leon getting infected and suffering hallucinations during the game as he explored alongside a young girl and her dog BOW.
However, the enemies and gameplay veered in an overly supernatual direction and development got too expensive, and again the game was scrapped, but parts of the game and script were salvaged and used in a later survival horror game, Haunting Ground, released in 2005, though unfortunately this would be the last project of longtime series writer Noboru Sugimura.
Fourth the time charm, written and directed by series creator Shinji Mikami himself, Resident Evil 4 would be developed under pressure that it would spell the end of the series if it wasn’t a success, and thus the controversial decision was made to change the genre of the game and reinvent the series. For story, the game would still continue to be about monsters, but not necessarily zombies, and it brought back Leon Kennedy for the first time since Resident Evil 2.
Introducing new enemies that were faster, more aggressive, more intelligent, and attacked in large numbers, it complemented the radical formula change to make the game more of a 3rd person shooter where enemies had to be fought instead of potentially being ignored. Still, despite being more of an action game, there was a rich amount of cinematics, dialogue, and writing for the story, which was now segmented into chapters.
For gameplay, Resident Evil 4 would revolutionize the game industry by pioneering the over-the-shoulder 3rd person perspective that would then be seen in hundreds of games since. With a new laser sight aiming system, players now had direct control and precision with firearms, alongside a knife Leon could instantly switch to.
There would be plentiful ammo and recovery items as enemies now dropped supplies upon defeat, players could break and loot contrainers, and there was a robust weapon system that could be upgraded with money the player also collects. In addition, for the first time, a player’s health was clearly visible with a health bar that could also be expanded with the new Yellow Herb.
The inventory system would change from set item slots, and instead feature proportial storage size against a grid. As enemies can now react and be staggered in several ways, so too could Leon engage in contextual counter attacks or close quarters combat. The game would progress to several different environments, and thus there would be a drop in the amount of puzzles encountered tied into the enviroment, instead opting for several quick-time events, even during cutscenes.
Early in the game, a new character Ashley Graham, would be a new noncombative escort character that would add a new complexity to surviving on behalf of two characters. Finally, additional minigames would return, including Separate Ways and Assignment Ada, in which Ada Wong from Resident Evil 2 now returns and is playable, and the time-attack highscore mode called Mercenaries returning from Resident Evil 3.
The story only gets larger from here, so let’s cut it down to size with a RECAPitation. Composer: Misao Senbongi, Shusaku Uchiyama In 2004, it’s been 6 years since the destruction of Raccoon City, and in the past few years, the Umbrella corporation had been under suspension by the US government pending investigation linking them to the Raccoon city incident and recent bioterrorism.
During which, the company had gone bankrupt and Umbrella was finally finished. Since then, former cop Leon Kennedy now works for the US government in a special agency that reports directly to president, and has received new training for his job of protecting the president’s family. However, the president’s daughter Ashley has gone missing, and a lead brings his search to deep rural Spain.
His two escorting police officers seems less than enthusiastic to help, especially amidst Leon’s signature wit and sarcasm. As they cross a bridge to the outskirts of a nameless village, the police wait in the car and Leon exits to investigate. He’s radioed by his operator, Ingrid Hunnigan, who keeps him on task with his mission, and updates him with new intel.
As he approaches the first house, he asks the man within about Ashley, but the man rudely turns him away. Leon apologizes, but the man suddenly picks up an axe and takes a deadly swing at Leon. Leon urges him to stop but is forced to shoot in defense. As soon as he does so, he hears a truck outside start up and crash into the police car, and he sees several more hostile villagers outside.
Hunnigan updates him that he is authorized to take any measure to save the subject, but to head to the village for now. Noting the man is not a zombie, but is still a strange killer, he breaks out of the house and deals with his assailants. Checking on the police car, he sees it was dashed against the rocks below, and with the bridge out, Leon has no choice but to move ahead to the village.
Helping a dog out of a steel trap, he moves past booby traps in the woods and scenes of gruesome murder that reveal there’s something dark about this village. He spies on the main village from a distance, he sees one of the police officers hung on a hook and burned at the stake, and as he gets closer, the entire village turns to him, now converging on him with a terrifyingly frenzied intent to kill.
Jumping inside a house, Leon is alarmed to see them organizing and arming themselves, including revving up a chainsaw and breaking down all barriers to get to him. Unknown to him, he’s spotted by an old flame of his, female spy Ada Wong, who despite receiving orders from Wesker regarding sample retrieval, takes the time to distract the horde from Leon.
As Leon pushes barricades to stem the flood of maniacs, the church bell suddenly rings out thanks to Ada, in which all the villagers drop their weapons, and like drones, march towards the church, leaving Leon alone entirely. Puzzled at these new events, Leon radios Hunnigan about the hostile situation here and the death of the police officer, and Hunnigan advises him to leave, guiding him to a path out.
He sees the villagers were actually on specific orders to attack him from Village Chief Mendez, and he learns of the location of a prisoner they are keeping. Thinking this prisoner to be Ashley, Leon sticks to investigating further into this village, despite the ominous signs of danger, and the elaborate traps prepared by the villagers.
Exploring some strange sounds, he discovers a prisoner though its not Ashley, and instead a charismatic man named Luis who notes Leon isn’t the same as the rest of the village. They don’t have time to talk as Chief Mendez stomps in, a giant of a man. Leon takes the initiative and strikes first, but Mendez isn’t phased, catching the attack and tossing Leon aside, knocking him unconscious.
He is brought to a mysterious man who talks of sharing a new power with him, as Leon is injected with a strange egg, and he wakes up with a start. Finding himself now chained to Luis in a new basement, he takes the time now to ask Luis some questions. Luis jokes that Leon almost sounds like a cop, but when he sees the photo Leon has, he knows Ashley is the president’s daughter and he overheard the villagers have her in a church somewhere.
Luis explains he used to be a cop himself, but left that life behind, and Leon shares he also used to be a cop, but only for a day as that was when the Raccoon City outbreak happened. Luis begins to mention he remembers seeing a sample of t-Virus in a lab at the department but he’s interrupted as a villager comes in to kill them.
Using their foe’s axe against them, Leon and Luis escape their bonds, Leon counters the villager with a fatal throw, and Luis simply runs. Hearing of a secret route to a church in the village, Leon moves out, but is met by a strange merchant who is intent to help Leon with his services to tune up his weapons, or provide a good selection of things on sale for a stranger like him to ‘buoy’.
Gearing up and navigting past a windy canyon, he finds Chief Mendez’s house where he learns Mendez is acting under orders of a person named Lord Saddler, who left specific instruction to leave Leon alive for some reason. Leaving, he is caught by Mendez who sees Leon is infected, and releases him, saying that while they now share the same blood, he’s still an outsider and is warned to stop meddling.
Confused at what he meant by ‘same blood’ Leon is radioed by Hunnigan who reveals the villagers are part of a religous cult called Los Illuminados (the Enlightened Ones), and as Leon moves after Mendez again, Mendez isn’t so merciful this time. He stomps down on Leon, but suddenly he’s pelted by some gunfire by Ada, who slips away as Mendez gives chase.
He manages to capture her, but she still slips away in the end. Moving on and finding a prominent church, Leon learns Luis stole something highly valuable that Mendez wants more than Leon or even Ashley, and there is a key that can free Ashley across a lake wherein a monster named Del Lago lives. Finding this lake, he sees the body of the second officer being dumped there as its quickly consumed by a giant mutated salamander swimming in the lake.
Getting in a boat Leon has no choice but to enage the monster, and harpoon it over and over until it eventually sucuumbs to its wounds and dies, though it almost drags him down with it. Crossing the lake safely now, Leon coughs up blood and collapses over in pain, having a nightmare close to the truth about parasites completely taking over his body.
He wakes up 6 hours later as night has fallen, and immediately he notices that strange parasitic creatures now burst out of the bodies of the villagers, almost as if the parasites wear them as a suit. Finding what looks to be a key, he heads back to the church, only to find the villagers trap him in an arena, and drag out a giant named El Gigante who smashes everything in sight uncontrollably.
The dog he saved earlier arrives and assists Leon in distracting the giant long enough to expose an equally giant parasite within, and with his agility and trusty knife, he’s able to fell the goliath. Returning to the church, he discovers a hidden room, and within he finally finds Ashley safe and sound. He radioes Hunnigan for an extraction chopper and she confirms, giving him the location of the landing zone outside the village.
Leaping down and sometimes avoiding looking up Ashley’s skirt, Leon is soon met by Saddler, the leader of the Los Illuminados cult, who casually reveals Ashley has been injected with the egg of one of their parasites, and he intends to have her returned so she may infect the president too. Of course, the ransom money was just a bonus, but he intended to send Ashley back regardless.
He also reveals Leon was also injected with an egg, and when they hatch, both of them will be helpless puppet slaves to him. Leon takes Ashley and crashes through a window to escape, calming her concerns of what will happen if the eggs hatch. Naturally, the entire community is ralled to apprehend them, and they are also hunting Luis, who apparantly was once injected with an egg too, but found a way to safely remove it.
He receives an update from Hunnigan that their chopper will be delayed since the first one got shot down (Obligatory Resident Evil Helicopter Pilot Death), and they’re prepping a second one. Crossing a bridge, Leon and Ashley find themselves sandwiched between two mobs, and think to hole up in a nearby cabin.
Jumping inside and barricading the door, they see Luis also there with the same idea. He make a light introduction to Ashley too, but their focus is drawn to the mob outside. Beseiged on all sides, Luis and Leon do their best to hold out, and only after dozens fall does the mob finally thin out and they pull back.
Making it clear he’s a threat they shouldn’t ignore, Leon navigates Ashley past several ambushes and traps, only to run into Chief Mendez, here to personally stop them. Leon quickly blows up the boss, but all it accomplishes is revealing the true monster within. Destroying the village chief and securing his false eye key, there is now no one here to stop them from leaving the village.
The villagers themselves try one last measure to gang up on them, but Leon and Ashley make it to a strange castle and duck inside, closing the bridge off behind them. Unfortunately, they’ve jumped from the frying pan into the fire as the castle is actually packed with the Los Illuminados cult as robed cult members now use all manner of weapons to get them both.
Leon tries to get some guidance from Hunnigan, but the signal is sudden cut off. They bump into Luis again, who says he has something to cure their parasites, but dropped it and heads off again. They are then met by Ramon Salazar, lord of this castle, who explains he’s been the one to team up with Lord Saddler, and gives one last chance for Leon to hand over Ashley.
Leon refuses, but then their path forward is blocked. Later executing a bladed but blind prisoner, Ashley now starts helping out as well. However, she soon begins coughing up blood, a sign according to Luis that the parasite within them is growing. She pushes Leon away in a panic but stumbles into a trap, getting captured and separated from Leon.
Wading through the sewers past the early experiments of Los Illuminados, including some human-insect hybrid that can turn invisible called the Novistador (the Unseen), he finds some notes by Luis down there as well. One is a biology book with notes as he tries to figure out how Las Plagas works, including several real-world examples of parasites that manipulate the thoughts and behaviors of a host in an attempt to infect another host.
He then finds a journal detailing the history of the Salazar family, as it turns out they have a long history with Los Illuminados. The first head of the family and castle did not agree with the cult, and took away their rights and power as they sealed Las Plagas beneath the castle. As the current 8th head, Ramon Salazar agreed with Saddler and the cult, returned their power and helped rejuvenate Las Plagas again, thinking it would help cleanse the world.
After pushing past more of Salazar’s Ganados (the Herd), he makes his way through a garden maze and the zombie dogs within, only to be held up at gunpoint by a woman in a red dress. Leon manages to disarm her but she’s quick to reverse things too. As she kick flips away a gun, Leon grabs his trusty knife and rushes in, and despite her flexibility, Leon simple had better reach as he closes in.
Taking away the gun, Leon quickly recognizes her to be Ada, whom he hasn’t seen since Raccoon city, and confronts her on the rumor that she works for Wesker. Ada admits that to be true, but before Leon can ask her any more questions, she drops a flashbang and gets away. Leon sees a report that Ada may be working with Luis, and he has a particularly valuable sample they need back.
Meanwhile, Ada receives orders from Wesker to get the sample Luis now has, but also kill Leon, and while she downplay’s Leon’s impact in all this, she secretly refuses to kill Leon, thinking to instead protect him as alongside personal feelings she will also use him to further her own mission in all this.
Luis catches up to Leon, exclaiming he has what they need, but he is sudddenly impaled from behind by Saddler with a menacing tentacle, who takes back the sample and tosses away Luis’s body. As Saddler quickly leaves, Leon rushes to Luis, who hands him a suppressant to the growth of his parasite, and explains he was a researcher hired by Saddler.
Before he dies, he tells Leon he must get the sample Saddler has back at all costs. He then hears the cries of Ashley, still in the castle’s trap. Freeing her, she makes her way back to Leon in a brief segment where the player briefly controls a weaponless Ashley. Finally back together, the duo continue on through some increasingly bizarre sections of the castle, and outlandish deathtraps from Salazar that almost turn them into a sandwich.
Regardless, a Novistador swoops in and snatches Ashley from Leon, and once again he moves to rescue her from Salazar’s grasp. He catches up to them but falls right into their prepared trap, but he comes prepared, saving himself at the last second and readies a counter attack. Salazar is infuriated, leading Ashley away and sending his right hand out to kill Leon once and for all.
In the sewers beneath the castle, Leon dodges the scythe-like tail of Salazar’s bodyguard, a unique BOW called the Verdugo (Executioner) but Leon is undeterred in destroying it and moving on. Elsewhere, Saddler takes note that Salazar is stuggling to kill Leon, and so he sends in Jack Krauser, an old partner of Leon’s, to retrieve Ashley for a ritual and kill Leon.
Meanwhile, Leon learns that when the first head Salazar sealed the Plagas, they did die on their own without hosts, and their remains petrified. When Ramon Salazar allowed the seal to be removed, excavators unknowingly inhaled spores of the actually-dormant Plagas, infecting themselves, and fresh Plagas incubated and grew in the villagers, reviving the parasite and the cult.
Emerging in the caves where the Plagas are still being excavated, he fights through mineshafts and smelting pits, while finding a letter from Ada on what he can do to help remove the parasite from his own body and Ashley, though Ashley has been infected longer than he has. Taking an express minecart ride out of the catacombs, Leon makes his way back to the castle.
Finding a strange stonework Salazar robot, he outruns this extreme hazard, and right into the real Salazar, who tells him Ashley is already about to enter a ritual that will endow her with new power. Leon cuts right to the point, forcing Salazar away again, which forces Leon to deal with comically rolling barrels down stairwells as he ascends the same tower.
Storming in, Salazar informs Leon he just missed Ashley, as the ritual is now over and his men took her to a different island. He then says its finally time to deal with Leon personally, as he and his bodyguard allow themselves to be merged with a giant Queen Plaga almost the size of the tower itself. The 3 monsters fused togehter are still no match for Leon, as he soundly defeats the crazed castle keep and patron of the cult.
Descending down, he is welcomed by Ada to drive him to the island, and he takes her up the offer. As they sail, there is still some romantic tension between the two, though when they arrive, Ada grapple hooks away, and Leon quips about his bad luck with the women in his life. On this island, there appears to be a military base, making the infected within all the more dangerous with their improved armor and weaponry.
He’s right on the heels of Ashley, and even spots which cell they’re keeping her in. Venturing deeper in the base, he finds labs with notes from Luis wherein they were developing new BOWs with Plagas, like the El Gigante, the Novistadors, and Regenerator, a humanoid with multiple leech-like plagas within that enabled near instant regeneration.
Moving past them and a crane game in the waste disposal area, he finds a radio tower and attempts to radio outside for the backup Hunnigan sent as he soon finds and rescues Ashley again from captivity. A lovingly signed letter sails in from Ada, letting them know of a way out, and as they jump down the garbage chute, they must deal with a spikier Regenerator called an Iron Maiden.
With Ashley now by his side, Leon can now push heavier boxes, open wider doors, and have her drive slow-moving tractors out of the base. Their progress is halted by Saddler, who is able to paralyze Leon instantly thanks to the Dominant Plaga he wields with ultrasonic control over all Slave Plagas, like the one in Leon and Ashley.
He then turns to Ashley and easily places her under his control, and though Leon is gripped by pain, he manages to toss a tracker on her this time as she’s led away by Saddler. Meanwhile, Krauser meets with Ada, keeping tabs on Leon and the sample that’s with Saddler, and he makes it clear neither he nor Wesker trusts Ada.
He even threatens to kill her if she tries anything but Ada dismisses him, not caring what he thinks and reminding him she’s known Wesker longer than he has. Krauser then takes matters into his own hands, ambushing Leon, and revealing himself to not only have faked his death 2 years ago, but also having been the one to kidnap Ashley from America in the first place, just to win the trust of Saddler and get the special Plaga he developed.
As the two CQC masters trade blows, Krauser lets slip this is to help Umbrella, and Leon is surprised to hear the name again. Krauser overpowers him, though luckily Leon receives a helping hand from Ada again when she shoots away Krauser’s blade. Krauser is unsurprised at Ada’s betrayal, pulling away for now, just as Leon is unsurprised at Ada watching over him and slipping away without answering his questions.
Saddler now radios Leon to taunt him, but Leon is never short for cutting witty banter. As Leon passes through a surprisingly advanced laser grid hallway, his quick reflexes and agility earn him passage and a quick moment of spite and respite in Saddler’s throne room. Now traversing more underground caves, Leon fends off and defeats a strange experimental fusion of Human, insect, and lizard simply labeled U-3.
Making his way outside, when he learns Krauser plans on killing both him and Ada as a gift to Wesker, Krauser himself comes out, commenting on Ada and Leon’s relationship, and he holds nothing back as he unleashes and explosive bow, traps, and CQC against Leon. As it turns out, after Krauser lost use of his arm in the South America mission, he faked his death and sought out Wesker, who fixed his arm and earned Krauser’s loyalty.
Working for Wesker, he earned a sample of the Dominant plaga from Saddler, and thus can transform his once useless arm into a powerful bladed, fan-like arm. Defeating the plaga within him, Leon defeats Krauser, allowing his old comrade to fall to his own trap, and weakening him enough for Ada to finish him off.
Leon then runs into a small army of well-armed Ganados, but luckily he is hailed by helicopter backup that finally arrives. Introducing himself as Mike, Mike lays waste to the standing Ganados and their emplacements, relieving Leon on the ground to make his way through the cliffside resistance. Unfortunately, after sweeping clean all bogeys, Mike is caught off guard by an RPG directed by Saddler, shooting him down and sending Leon’s backup exploding against the cliff base (Obligatory Resident Evil Helicopter Pilot Death).
He’s soon met by Ada, and Leon begins to suffer another attack from his parasite. He suddenly grabs Ada and begins strangling her, but she kicks him away, stabbing him in the leg and knocking him to his senses again. She urges Leon to get the parasite out of his body and agrees to help him, as he insists on finding Ashley first, so she splits up for now.
Navigating past a prison, Leon confronts Saddler, but thanks to Ada’s support, he’s able to not only free her, but also escape for now. He finds notes from Luis in which while he was researching Las Plagas, he also developed a way to remove the parasite from the host, though the longer one waits, the riskier the procedure is.
Finding Luis’s machine, Leon tests the procedure on himself first, and while painful, he survives the operation. Repeating the same for Ashley, the two are finally rid of their Plagas and ready to return home now. Sensing something wrong, Leon ascends a platform outside, to find Ada strung up unconscious, and Saddler standing nearby.
Saddler tries to control Leon, but its obvious he’s not infected anymore as he frees Ada and tells her to stand back. Saddler now mutates into his true monstrous form, and as Leon keeps it at bay on the rainswept platform, Ada once again tosses Leon the tool he needs to take aim and end this nightmare once and for all.
As the leader of the Los Illuminados cult and dominant plaga he retained are destroyed, Leon spots the sample Saddler was developing, and picking it up, he’s halted at gunpoint by Ada. As the game ends, she takes it from him and runs just as her ride arrives, and as she triggers the self-destruct on the island, she also tosses Leon a means of escape, and bids farewell for now.
However, as it turns out, she’s been a double agent this entire time, not only helping Leon out against Wesker’s orders from behind the scenes, but also sending Wesker a normal Plagas sample, and not the special Dominant one Saddler developed, instead working for a 3rd entity. Hurrying to her stowed jet-ski, Leon and Ashley ride out with the Plagas base and research lab exploding behind them.
Mission accomplished, Ashley offers Leon some overtime when they get back to her place, but he politely declines. When she asks Leon about who Ada was, Leon simply replies that she’s a part of him he can’t let go. As they ride into the sunset, Hunnigan is able to get through to Leon and get them rescue, and Leon notes how cute she looks without her glasses and makes a pass at her, to which she shoots him down.
Sighing, Leon quips how he can never win with the ladies. Resident Evil 4 has enjoyed the success of selling over 7.6 million copies worldwide.