January 11, 2005 saw the light of the game that turned the industry upside down. Resident Evil 4 has become a benchmark horror action movie, relaunched the series and spawned many imitators. It has received many re-releases, but only the recently released version for VR-headsets Oculus Quest 2 can be considered the best. And that’s why.
Old in a new light
The work of Armature Studios is truly outstanding. Resident Evil 4 VR is the same Resident Evil 4 adored by millions. With all levels, locations, events and mechanics. Refurbished and rebuilt from scratch with a unique control system.
The first thing that catches your eye is pretty prettier graphics and perfect optimization. On the one hand, this is a 2005 game. On the other hand, it runs stably in fair 4K resolution at 90 frames per second on the portable Oculus Quest 2 hardware. Combine that with object re-rendering, texture redrawing and restoration, improved lighting and instant loading speed.
For all 12-15 hours that it takes to complete, you will not encounter a single muddy texture, an angular object, or the geometry of objects changing a meter away from the player, which is the fault of every second complex project on Oculus Quest. The only time a player will have to crumple in place for a good two minutes is during the first launch. However, there are some annoying omissions in the overall splendor. Explosions and smoke effects in VR look much worse than even the weakest version of Resident Evil 4 for PS2.
The main feature of Resident Evil 4 VR is, of course, control. RE4 is no longer a third person tank movement action. Now it’s a classic VR first-person shooter with all that it implies!
You freely move around the world, examine it, interact with objects directly with your hands. The game has extensive control settings. New to VR and afraid of getting very dizzy? It doesn’t matter, move around the locations with a teleport. Are you a veteran of VR battles? There is a full-fledged movement with a stick for you.
