Resident Evil 4 iPhone confirmed for West

By Tom Bramwell Published 16 July, 2009

End of July Japan, rest of the world soon.

Capcom has updated its Twitter with news that the iPhone version of Resident Evil 4 will be released at the end of this month in Japan.

The rest of the world will get its hands on the game, dubbed Resident Evil 4: Mobile Edition, "shortly thereafter".

The iPhone version of the game appeared on the Japanese iTunes App Store earlier this week, apparently in error as it was quickly removed.

We weren't one of the people lucky enough to grab it while it was available, but YouTube videos suggest you manoeuvre Leon Kennedy around a Spanish village with an on-screen analogue stick and use buttons on the other side of the screen to run, shoot and knife zombies.

Visually it's closer to a PSone game than the wonderfully realised GameCube (and subsequently PS2) original, but the grungy gloom suits the system's relative technical limitations.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ignatius_Cheese #1 3 years ago

    Controls look a bit cumbersome from the video but it certainly looks the part!

    Why did I not hear about this before...?

  • Cyclone #2 3 years ago

    Graphics wise the game looks really well. The gameplay seems a good bit slower than with the original version, probably an effort to accommodate a slightly more awkward control scheme, which in some respects makes it seem closer to the original games than the more arcade styles of IV and V.

  • DFawkes #3 3 years ago

    I might actualy have to get an iPhone now. Resi: Degeneration is one of my favourite mobile games ever, so I'll certainly love this too. Not totally convinced about the controls, but I'd have it in a heartbeat if I had an iPhone.

    Nice to see Capcom support both iPhone and even the admittedly significantly less popular n-gage platfrom, and even some java games so everyone can get in on the Capcom fun :)

    Edited for spelling, months and months after I actually made the mistakes. It was bothering me!
    Edited by 1 at 05/10/09 @ 13:35

  • kangarootoo #4 3 years ago

    That frankly looks terrible. The controls are bad enough on 360 and PS3. Whoever is playing in that YouTube video can barely shoot anything, and any attempt at headshots just looks like a waste of time.

    The population count of zombie town has clearly taken a hit in the move too. What was that, 4 zombies onscreen at once?


    Wow, I think this might be my first genuine troll post. I feel bad, a little.

  • kangarootoo #5 3 years ago

    Now I think on it, why on earth make the player aim a cross hair. ITS A TOUCH SCREEN. What is wrong with turning using tilt (perhaps) and then poking the zombie where you want the shot to land? Placing a touch sensitive control pad in the corner of the screen has to be the most unimaginative approach for any iPhone game.

  • Buenos_Estente #6 3 years ago

    I have yet to come across any touch control pad on the iphone that wasnt complete pants

  • photoboy #7 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    It seems to be the same control system they had in Resident Evil Degeneration on the iPhone, and that actually worked surprisingly well. It was quite easy to get head-shots in it, I think the guy in the video probably just needs some practice. I'm actually quite excited about this assuming the whole of RE4 is in there and it's not just a cut down game with only the village areas.

    I've got Doom Resurrection which uses tilt to aim and personally I find it a pain to use, particularly when lights start reflecting off the screen when tilting. The other alternative I've seen is dragging a crosshair over the screen which usually obscures the screen and makes it hard to see what you're shooting.

  • DFawkes #8 3 years ago

    "That frankly looks terrible. The controls are bad enough on 360 and PS3. "

    Funny, I tried playing Resi 4 on my 360 and it was having none of it. I tried the Wii version, the PS2 one, the Gamecube one, even the PC one, but my 360 wouldn't run any of them! Sorry to nitpick I know you really meant Resi 5, and I can see your point. There's a lot of controls to worry about, I'm concerned it might not feel totally intuitive.

    I'd still give it a shot though. The prospect of shooting zombies in a town I know well is quite tempting. How much of the original game map is it though?

  • kangarootoo #9 3 years ago

    "Funny, I tried playing Resi 4 on my 360 and it was having none of it. I tried the Wii version, the PS2 one, the Gamecube one, even the PC one, but my 360 wouldn't run any of them!"

    Oops. Well spotted sherlock :)


    @photoboy

    So I played Doom on a friend's iPhone bare moments ago, to inform myself as to the alternatives. I only played it for a minute or so, but it seemed ok. I can understand the light reflection being an issue, and I am indoors in a lit office so that wasn't a problem here. I'm not saying it is perfect, but based on what I saw of the Res4 controls (which I have admittedly not laid my hands on), it seemed better.

    I just figure that given a system that has tilt and a touch screen, creating a control system that says loudly "I wish this thing had buttons" just seems a bit weak. Aiming an alaogue system with a digital pad is naff at the best of times (just ask GUN on the PSP), so to replicate the digital pad on a touch screen will surely add a further level of abstraction that could be avoided with a bit more time and thought.

    Anyway, I'm being far too negative about this so I'll stop droning on.

  • GreyScale #10 3 years ago

    I'd bet cash money this will be a really simplified shooter where you just move from area to area shooting zombies. I can't imagine there's much room in there for the complex level design/puzzles/set pieces etc that was in the full game.

  • GreyScale #11 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo, you are right, but tbh both control systems are rubbish. I find the tilty way to be far too floaty and erratic to be accurate. I think the iPhone is just not well suited to this type of game.

  • rodpad #12 3 years ago

    Really makes you think what could have been if the iPhone / iPod Touch had just a few buttons on the front.

  • kangarootoo #13 3 years ago

    @GreyScale

    I really think it depends how broad we want to be with the term "this type of game".

    You know those sections in House of the Dead and the Jurrasic Park arcade game, where the player has to shoot a number of targets? That sort of thing would work a treat on a touch screen. Zombies appear, targets appear (less intrusive targets than in my example), player pokes targets to shoot them and zombie falls over. Another comparison might be the targetting mechanics seen in Red Dead Revolver...

    Obviously this is just off the top of my head, and problems would occur that would need developing out, but the concept seems stronger to me because it is BUILT on having a touch screen rather than trying to ACCOMMODATE having a touch screen.


    .... but then I would say that, 'cos it was my idea :)

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #14 3 years ago

    There's absolutely no reason why a gaming device should be 'button based' , however developers have to not shoe-horn control mechanisms from one platform into another without due care and consideration. There are plenty of games on the iPhone that work brilliantly without buttons: I'm currently playing Let's Golf, Peggle, WordFu, Fieldrunners and Ragdoll Blast and all fit the form of the iPhone.

  • Nithron #15 3 years ago

    To be honest, I actually find that traditional games work perfectly fine on the iphone, without buttons.

    Examples: Isotope and Dropship both use dual-stick, Geometry Wars style controls, using virtual analog sticks, and apart from the occasional mishap, they work perfectly.

    Same thing goes for Wolfenstein 3D... and to be honest, the Resi Evil Degeneration iphone game controlled like that RE4 video does, and that actually worked pretty well too. Try the demo, it's free.

  • craigy Verified Senior Developer, Eurogamer Network #16 3 years ago

    Sounds good! Looking forward to trying the on-screen analogue stick.