Resident Evil 4 (2005), Part 2: “Exploding Barrels and an Interdimensional OSHA”

Resident Evil 4 + summer in the Western Hemisphere = Hot Zombie Summer is in full swing! We’re back with episode two on RE4 (2005), and this time, we’re actually talking about gameplay in this playthrough of the village.After chatting about RE4’s initial scene setting, namely what happened to Umbrella and why Leon is in rural Spain, we talk through the major areas of the village—ranging from the first, iconic set piece to Del Lago to the end-chapter Bitores Méndez fight.Shenanigans ensue as Keith and Logan not only praise the game’s aesthetics and more action-oriented tone but also break down why arms dealer plushies would be bad, reflect on the Shinzo Abe assassination, and examine the place of socialist wellness coordinators and infinite harpoon technology in the world of Resident Evil. Just as critically, the hosts make the case for why the ESRB should’ve rated RE4 “M for Mature” on account of smoking and giant dongs.**Time Stamps:0:00-3:40 – Introduction and how Resident Evil 4 is kind of like The Fast and the Furious3:41-25:18 – Opening cinematic and narrative; first encounter with the Ganados; RE4 control scheme; aesthetics and atmosphere of village25:19-49:10 – Village Ch. 1-1: First set piece, casting Leonardo DiCaprio as Leon and Matt Damon as Sadler, and meeting Luis and Méndez49:11-1:15:26 – Village Ch. 1-2 and 1-3: “What are you buying?”, Ganado hierarchies and politics, Del Lago boss fight, and RE4’s memo problem1:15:27-1:52:59 – Village Ch. 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3: El Gigante’s Hulk jorts, rescuing Ashley, why Sadler probably turned to Kickstarter in the 2023 Remake, siege defense sequence with Luis and Ashley, and the Méndez boss fight1:53:00-End – Wrapping up and previewing the castle for next episode**Shoutout to Alex Aniel, whose book Itchy, Tasty: An Unofficial History of Resident Evil, we consulted during this podcast. Another shoutout to Michael Everette Hensley, the composer of our podcast theme music.This is our second of six episodes about Resident Evil 4 (2005). New episodes will be released Wednesdays—every two weeks.Feel free to give us a like, share, or review; thanks for listening!