The Resident Evil 4 remake is a masterclass in updating a classic game for modern audiences. The killer gameplay that made the original so influential has been polished to a mirror sheen, the plot is subtly altered for the better, and the graphics have been given a huge overhaul to tap into the power of modern consoles.
But RE4R isn’t a 1:1 reworking of the original. Various elements like Ashley’s brief playable sequence have been rethought completely and new sequences have been added that wouldn’t have been possible in the GameCube original. For better or worse, a lot has also been cut from the original game, so here are the 10 things we missed the most.
It’s perhaps worth noting before we begin that while the addictive high-score-chasing Mercenaries mode isn’t available at launch, it’ll arrive soon as DLC, and there are strong indications that Ada Wong’s also absent Separate Ways campaign is coming, too. So, though they’re not in the game now, they will be sooner or later — so they’re not on the list.
10. Escaping Salazar’s Giant Statue
Resident Evil 4 is often very scary and tense, though it’s also an extremely goofy game compared to other Resident Evil entries. Perhaps the height of this in the 2005 original sees Leon encountering a gigantic statue of diminutive tyrant Ramón Salazar. After climbing up and around the colossus, it’s finally activated, with Leon having to run for his life as the statue thunders toward him.
The statue itself is present in the remake, though sadly, it never fully comes to life and merely sprays flames at Leon from its rotating head. We can’t deny we’re a little underwhelmed by its absence — if they’re going to include some form of it, they should have gone the whole hog and included the eyebrow-raising chase sequence.
9. Incendiary Grenades
Incendiary grenades have been a staple of many Resident Evil games, were present in the 2005 original, and have returned for the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes — but are curiously absent here. This is a bit of a headscratcher, as the game already contains multiple ways to set enemies ablaze by shooting down lanterns or knocking flaming torches from their hands with a well-aimed shot.
Perhaps to compensate, there’s a new “heavy grenade” here that’s very fun to use, though it’s just not the same as burning some ferocious Ganados alive. Oh well, if you set a cow on fire and propel that at enemies, it’s a kind of incendiary grenade. Sort of.
8. The Laser Hallway
2002 saw the arrival of Paul W.S. Anderson’s first Resident Evil movie, with by far the most memorable scene being the grisly “laser hallway.” This saw an unfortunate soldier cubed by the deadly beams, and three years later, Capcom considered the scene so memorable that they tipped their hat to it in Resident Evil 4 by having Leon acrobatically flip through one toward the end of the game.
It’s now been 21 years since that movie, and perhaps the reference is a little outdated, so Capcom didn’t bring it back for the remake. Another contributing factor may have been that the original relied on QTEs to pass the final barrage, so with those largely absent, it may just not have mechanically worked.
7. Various Cheese-tastic Lines
We’re relieved that the remake Leon is still very much the one-liner-spouting himbo we all fell in love with back in 2005. Iconic lines like “Where’s everyone going? Bingo?” are intact, as well as new ones like the powerful dad joke, “Nighty night, knights.” But sadly, others were left on the cutting room floor. Leon no longer wonders whether Salazar’s right hand comes off, Luis doesn’t call Father Bitores Méndez a “big cheese,” and Leon no longer angrily snarks “No thanks, Bro” when he meets Salazar.
Though these lines didn’t make it into the new game, they are at least referenced in the trophy list. It’s nice that we have all-new one-liners to replace them, too, and we’ll admit that a few of them really are very strange-sounding in the original. Even so, we miss them.
6. The Cable Car Battle
One of the more memorable set pieces in the 2005 game sees Leon and Ashley take a cable car ride from one side of a canyon to the other. As you’d expect, Las Plagas arrives to spoil the fun, and you must snipe them before they can attack and blast their thrown axes from the air.
This sequence isn’t in the new game, though you can see that the cable cars are indeed present on the village map behind the house in which you find Luis. We can’t think of any gameplay reason they couldn’t return for the remake, so perhaps we’ll see them pop up in Ada’s DLC?
5. The Garrador Cage Trap
The blind yet deadly Garrador is one of the most fearsome Resident Evil 4 enemies and is present in all his grisly glory in the remake. But one set piece didn’t make the leap. This sees Leon trapped inside a small cage, having to blast off a lock in order to escape. The twist is that the Garradors attack based on sound, and firing at the lock makes you a big target. Our strategy was always to hold back a grenade to blast off the lock in one go, so we kept one handy throughout the castle.
Sadly this moment doesn’t reappear in the remake. Maybe it was considered a little too difficult, or maybe a lock you have to shoot multiple times was unintuitive to players. Either way, after getting swarmed a few times, we wish we’d just used that grenade we kept spare…
4. Ashley’s Panties (Plus Assorted Sexism)
A lot has changed in the 18 years since 2005, and Capcom made the smart decision to remove almost all of the original game’s sexist comments and general creepery towards Ashley. You now can’t peek up her skirt to see her underwear, which was met in the original by indignant cries of “What are you looking at?!” and “Ah! You pervert!”
For some desperately horny gamers, this omission is a deal breaker, though we can’t say we’re sorry to see it go. Does being able to see Ashley’s panties really add anything of value to the game? We don’t think so. Some things are best left in 2005.
3. QTEs
Another thing we’re happy to see gone are QTEs. In 2005, these were the hot new thing, having turned heads in Shenmue and playing a big role in the first few God of War games. On paper, they’re a fun way to keep the player engaged during cutscenes. In practice, they’re annoying distractions that usually result in a quick death.
The remake strips practically every one of these out of the game, though we’d argue that the knife parrying system and various context-sensitive dodge commands during gameplay fulfill the same function. For example, during the Méndez battle, you have a prompt to flip over his tentacle swipe during gameplay. Getting hit won’t kill you, but succeeding doesn’t break the flow of gameplay. A big improvement.
2. Ashley’s Big Bulldozer Moment
Toward the end of the original Resident Evil 4, Ashley finally makes herself useful by climbing into the driver’s seat of a giant bulldozer while Leon attacks from the rear. This doesn’t happen in the remake, being replaced by a wrecking ball scenario that’s similar, though not quite the same.
We’re not overly sad to see this go as it was one of the hardest moments in the original, and if you happen to run out of ammo, you’re toast as you can’t destroy a truck chasing you. We’ll chalk this up to a change for the better.
1. The U-3 Boss
For us, this is the biggest piece of cut content. In the original, the U-3 was a disgusting fleshy abomination encountered near the end of the game. You must first evade its attacks while opening gates inside a hanging cage, then fight it as a traditional boss inside some caves. There’s absolutely no sign of this at all in the remake.
It’s arguable that this boss slows down the pacing of the endgame a little and isn’t connected to the rest of the story, though we liked the tense sequence aboard the hanging cage and the excellent monster design. Then again, if we had to cut some things from Resident Evil 4, the U-3 would be high up the list, though we wish it had made the cut for the remake all the same.
Dataminers have already uncovered indications that Ada Wong will return for her own DLC, so fingers crossed that at least some of this cut content makes the leap to that short campaign. The original Separate Ways was a very brief story, so seeing that fleshed out a little with some of this would be great.
We suspect some kind of official announcement from Capcom about that soon, but in the meantime, we’re going to keep playing the excellent Resident Evil 4 remake.