KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — The remake of Resident Evil 4 was recently ported to Apple devices and I got to try a time-limited trial of the game.
A reworking of the 2005 game, that is considered a gaming classic that is still revered to this day, made it hard for me to pass up.
If you loved the original, the remake adds updated graphics as well as redesigned backgrounds and characters with some appreciated quality of life tweaks to the gameplay.
I wish I could say I had time to play the game to finish but alas, time is a finite thing and my attention was mainly gripped by the also-new-to-the-Mac Baldur’s Gate 3.
Why so large?
One of my main gripes with the game is wow the download size is huge — whether on the phone or the Mac, you’re talking over 60GB.
My 500Mbps internet plan meant it wasn’t that much of a pain to wait but I suppose the file size relates to the quality of the graphics and under media elements such as the impressive sound.
Playing the starter mission proved fairly immersive on a larger screen, not so much on the iPhone with the dark moody atmosphere and the creepy sound effects. Definitely setting the mood for a horror game.
No controller? No fun
I tried my best to play the game on an iPhone 15 Pro Max but I didn’t like how the controls took up so much of the screen, blocking out part of the display when my thumbs were on it.
It’s not such a bad thing if you’re playing a fighting game but a survival horror game? It felt frustrating not to mention how I had to keep adjusting the brightness due to my poor eyesight as I couldn’t see pertinent details in the environment.
If you happen to have a Razer Kishi, Gamesir X2 or even the Sony Backbone, or any other mobile controller, the game would be more playable as you would get the full display and really get sucked into the visual aspect of the game.
Otherwise it’s hard for me to recommend and without a separate controller you won’t be able to play the game at all on a Mac — there should really be a “controller required” label for the game as it’s just not playable on a keyboard on the Mac as I found out.
On an iPad the touch controls wouldn’t feel great either so you would likely have to use an external controller.
For people like me who already have a PlayStation, at least the support for PlayStation controllers, the transition wasn’t too bad but I’m not sure if the mapping of the controls would be as seamless for either Xbox controllers or other third party controllers.
Yes or no?
To be honest if you already have the game on PlayStation or Steam, I’m not sure if you need a mobile version unless you truly want to be able to play the game everywhere you go.
The game is also unavailable for phones other than the iPhone 15 Pro models and won’t run that well either on much older iPads or Macs.
It’s still nice that if you buy the game for iOS, it is a “universal” app, which means you don’t need to buy a separate version for either your Mac or iPad.
If you’re already deep into the Apple system and already game on your devices, it’s not a bad purchase.
Considering it is currently on sale for half-off at RM121.90 which is nearly the same as its sale game on Steam (PC version) it’s not a bad purchase except if you already own it on other platforms.
As for DLC, the Separate Ways add-on is RM40.90 and not discounted and there’s also an extra DLC pack for RM60.90 and various Weapon Ticket in-game purchases with different prices.
If you’re a fan of the horror survival genre, have mobile controllers and like the idea of playing Resident Evil 4 in bed or while visiting relatives during the upcoming Chinese New Year it’s not a bad purchase.
Give it a pass if you’re more a keyboard and mouse gamer, not a fan of horror or zombie games and aren’t willing to spend extra for controllers if you don’t already have them.
Resident Evil 4 is already purchasable on iPhone, iPad and Mac and the base game will be on discount until January 17, 2024.
