Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Shipping to retail shelves in the U.S. today, Resident Evil 4 hasn't had a shortage of coverage here at Wii Fanboy. We love the franchise and were anxious to see how the already amazing game could benefit from the implementation of gesture-based controls. Not only that, but always having a reticle on-screen seemed like such a simple, yet necessary, improvement. We're glad to say that, according to the critics at least, the newest version of the game is quite good.

• GameSpy (100/100) found themselves a perfect game: "The reason that the Wii version is the best is because the new control system makes the gameplay more enjoyable. Using both the Wii remote and the nunchuck, players will be able to perform all of the regular moves and attacks from before, only now they can do them in a more sensitive, accurate and pleasing fashion."

• CVG (93/100) thinks the game has been improved: "It has the looks, it has the compelling level design, and it has the scary bits. Check, then: this is Resident Evil 4 all over again, but slightly better."

• EGM (87/100) finds the new control scheme to be for the better: "Though they suffer a bit when things get hectic, the Wii-mote-enabled controls generally serve RE4 well: Aiming weapons, swiping your knife, and shaking off face-sucking nasties with real-world moves adds urgency to an already incredibly intense experience." [July 2007, p.82]

• EuroGamer (70/100) says the Wiimote controls hurt the game: "It's just a shame that one of the best ever action games has become another casualty of the Wii controller. Indeed, for a controller that was supposed to herald a new dawn of inclusive gaming there are a lot of third-party publishers who have yet to get their heads round it."

Capcom is offering up the chance at winning some goodies for its Japanese fans, namely a lucky 25 of those fans, themed after Biohazard 4. These items are some sweet pieces of gear, if we might say so, including a jacket modeled after Leon's and a pair of "Engineer Boots." Getting to this super-secret section of the website requires clicking on those little red blood cells floating around, but in the interest of saving you time, we'll just offer up a direct link to the page.

[Via Famitsu]

Ever wondered exactly how you're going to make those Plagas stop biting into your skull in the new Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition? Wonder no more, dear friends, as a rather buried link in the official Japanese website reveals a lovely trailer just rife with waggle. Looks like pretty standard stuff: shake remote, move remote in circle, stab parasitic zombie villager in the kidney with remote, you know.

If nothing else, this trailer just kind of rekindled our fiery lust for Resident Evil 4 ... damn was that game good. You remember that time when you took on two Gigantes and dropped one into a giant pit of lava by ziplining across the room like a badass? Yeah. We do too.

[via GoNintendo]

Forget those blurry, half-folded over scans -- we've got crisp, clear scans filled with heart-pounding Resident Evil 4 shots ... and lots of Japanese text. But an inability to read the text never deters us from bouncing around excitedly. After all, we don't have to be able to read to see that there's waggle in them there scans, and the idea of an all-new RE4 experience is nothing but awesome.

See, when the Resident Evil for the Wii was announced as the Umbrella Chronicles, we thought, great! An overarching story about everyone's favorite zombie-producing conglomerate. And we're getting that (in a sense), but it turns out that we've been fooled ... here, "umbrella" means "that which covers all" and chronicles seems to stand for "a little rehash of a lot of story."

That's right, folks -- the so-exciting ReWii may not be that exciting after all. Instead of an all new game or a straight up remake, Umbrella Chronicles will feature four chapters that recover old ground from games 1-4, and some Wiimote functionality has been tossed in like a drizzle of chocolate atop a subpar sundae.

While it will no doubt be interesting to see the long and winding story of Umbrella told in this fashion, it still feels like a copout. Capcom is throwing us a bone so that we remain dedicated to their series. Where's our game? Where's our chance to blast all new zombie heads? If we get it, it won't be soon. For now, we'll cling to the old idea that good things come to those who wait. But if they make us wait too long, we may be storming Capcom ala the torchbearing villagers in RE4.

[Via Joystiq]

[Update: The teaser trailer has hit the net and is after the break.]