10 Video Games You Hated Before You Even Played Them
4. Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 represented a major, major shake-up for the hit survival horror series, and tough though it might be to imagine today, the initial fan response was borderline vitriolic.
The game was finally revealed after years of laboured development, with persistent rumours suggesting Resident Evil 4 was a troubled, even doomed project.
The last numbered game in the series, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, was released a whole six years earlier, and the skepticism was massively furthered by drastic changes Resident Evil 4 made to the signature gameplay.
Ditching the signature fixed camera angles and slower pace for an over-the-shoulder camera, refined tank controls, a new inventory system, laser-targeted weapons, and a more frantic, urgent tempo, Resident Evil 4 felt like the sort of game that gets made when a publisher is desperate to keep a franchise relevant.
Additions like QTE sequences and a recurring merchant character were met with particular disdain from players, who felt they betrayed the more stark purity of the earlier games.
And yet, when Resident Evil 4 was finally released, Capcom was entirely vindicated, because it earned by far the best reviews of the entire series and is still generally accepted to be the best game in the franchise.
The unfortunate by-product, though, was that Capcom doubled down on this approach with the next two sequels, amping the action up to unbearably silly levels at the cost of most all suspense.