Lens of Combat Encounters

Resident Evil 4 combat encounters are under the context that the player is trying to rescue the president’s daughter from an evil cult that kidnapped her. From the start, the main player encounters a whole village of peasants infected by a mind controlling virus and the plot evolves from there. The enemy encounters are divided by area and they start chasing the player as they hear or sense the player entering that area on the map. Regarding stealth mode clearly the game was not developed with that strategy on mind. For playing in this style the player would have to go out of their way to achieve it counting with long standing still time in order to avoid an enemy, entirely robbing from the game flow.

Usually the enemies are placed on the path of the player on its way to go through that segment of the map and as the player clears the area it advances from sector to sector,giving the player the sense of progress. This sense keeps the player playing and engaged as opposed to being frustrated by feeling stuck. As mentioned before there are situations where the players have to survive hordes of enemies or keep companions alive therefore presenting a different combat experience. There are traps in the game like bear traps that if the player is not keeping their eyes peeled you end up running into it providing a constant sense of tension. The damage is not much but the player or companion gets momentarily immobilized by it. Therefore it becomes a challenge dealing with it while surrounded by enemies.

The mood of the game changes as the player progresses into it. The combat reflects that by providing different and stronger enemies through it. The difficulty level of the game is kept balanced by the improved weapons found, unlocked or bought through the game. The enemies variety and design also vary to make sense of the narrative of the story therefore adding to the lure. From it the n player must cleverly choose the best weapon for the situation that is being faced. High concentration of enemies asks for weapons of higher firing rate, stranger enemies ask for higher gage weapons or even taking advantage of hitting from further away by sniper rifle with the aid of the scooped aim. Throwables are always an option making it possible to incapacitate or get rid of several enemies at once. With that said it is offered a range of options for the player to overcome the enemy encounters adding to the fun of the game and the sense of accomplishment.

The dynamics of interaction with the enemies is rich and fulfilling. Depending on where on the enemies body the player hits it is expected a different reaction. For instance, if the player hits the enemy leg it is expected that it loses balance and falls. If the enemy arms are hit it drops its weapons. Everytime an enemy falls it takes a few seconds for it to stand up again, providing the player valuable time to hit it again and kill it once and for all. Headshots usually make the enemy heads explode, especially with high gauge weapons like shotguns. Beside scoped weapons like sniper rifles, normal weapons do not have scoped aim. It increases the immersion and sense of emergency because in this situation it conveys the sense that the player is not in a situation to have the patience to carefully aim the weapon therefore counting with a convenient laser sight for aiming. This mechanic, as said before, adds dynamic to the combat, increasing the pace of the game. The dynamic of changing from one weapon to another could be more agile. The player has to enter the inventory mid battle and change weapons and proceed. This mechanic breaks the immersion.

The feedback provided in combat is usually by the body reaction of the enemy being hit. The enemy body responds to where it was hit providing a great reward by being visually remembered that the hits really had an effect on the enemy while it twists and turns. This adds greatly to the immersion and reward of well placed hits.