As a sequence, the mine section has hordes of zombified locals capable of easily overwhelming underprepared players, memorable boss fights in the form of the El Gigante duo; action, explosions, desperation, claustrophobia, and an incredible mine cart ride.
Before we proceed ahead, be aware. There are spoilers ahead.
For real, Resident Evil 4 Remake’s mine cart ride is the most memorable and most exhilarating moment. It’s a joyous thrill ride through an elaborate subterranean network of train tracks and miner’s tunnels. It’s gloriously fun, over the top, Hollywood bombast, with rollercoaster-esque drops, unfathomable, totally unrealistic jumps, and umpteen barrel explosions giving way to statelier moments, to mobile shooting galleries against dynamite equipped – and one chainsaw clad enemy, riding their rickety carts alongside our hero Leon and companion Luis Serra.
Yes, the researcher and biologist turned defector Luis Serra is along for the ride, and alongside the tension breaking mine cart theme park ride his presence encapsulates one of Resident Evil’s principal gameplay designs – that is, one of tension and release. See, the games knows how to build fear through tension, but it also understands when players lose their interest if tension building is never ending. Through his schlocky, banterous interchanges with Leon throughout Resident Evil 4 Remake’s mine section, Luis provides a light-hearted counterpoint to balance the horrors lurking in the game’s mines section.
And once the mine cart joyride is over – which, by the way, its culminating dive and barrel roll out of hurtling, airborne cart is outrageous – then darkness and tension set in once again. Appearing swiftly out of the subterranean black are the Novistadors, the anthropomorphic insect-like enemies who’re amongst the most disturbing of Resident Evil 4 Remake’s cannon fodder. They present themselves in numerous areas throughout the game’s dilapidated Spanish countryside, but it’s deep within the mines that they’re at their most disquieting. Their uncanny ability to blend into surroundings, to camouflage inside the already dimly lit locale of a mineshaft is nothing short of unsettling. Representing Resident Evil 4 Remake’s best jump scares, traipsing through Novistador infested tunnels is a re-grounding… nay, a crash landing back to grim, dank horror after the thrilling mine cart ride. Their puerile acid green explosions on death add a sense of disgust to proceedings too.
Later on, with their escape to the surface blocked by boulders and debris, Leon and Luis go on the hunt for dynamite to blast their way through an otherwise insurmountable tunnel. And here is where chaos ensues once again. Torch wielding, pitchfork grabbing enemies, and more chainsaw swinging maniacs patrol the mine’s workspaces. A surprisingly tall arena is reached through tight arterial tunnels, but its openness does little to reassure players. The infected enemy, not the lurching zombie kind of Resident Evils past, but strategising, intelligent, and altogether swifter enemies are capable of bowling over Leon and Luis in a heartbeat. Thankfully, Resident Evil 4 Remake dishes out plenty of discoverable ammo as these infected village folk soak up bullets like sponges do water. There’s just enough space in this arena to manoeuvre through, which is just as well, as the enemy chucking sticks of dynamite from the skirmish’s side-lines mean players must keep their wits about them, taking frequent evasive action to avoid their limbs being blown off. Of course, the bloodcurdling whir of chainsaw motors keeps players on their toes too, and there’s more than one chainsaw blade for Leon to repel with his trusty pocketknife.
It’s here Luis proves himself as ample and capable companion, he has an excellent AI and he isn’t someone who will drag you along. He’s a decent shot, his bullets routinely stuttering opponents just long enough for Leon to deal the killer blow. Playing through this mine section calls to mind Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar’s interplay in the scorching West African sun of Resident Evil 5, with perhaps Resident Evil 4 Remake’s companion-led gameplay sections crafted in Capcom’s own RE game engine hinting at the possibilities for an entire game’s worth of dual protagonist, co-operative action should Resident Evil 5 be remade in the same vein as Resident Evil’s 2 and 3.
Anyway, later still, and once Leon and Luis blast through the boulder-blocked tunnel to continue on their journey to the Spanish aboveground they’re met with another dead end, a passageway compressing into grate, one in which Leon dutifully kicks through. We garner just a glimpse of the foundry within before one of the two El Gigante monsters – ‘giant’ in Spanish, of course – roars and rears their ugly head, their massive hand shooting through the vent grabbing and hoisting Leon and Luis through and into yet another subterranean arena.
Before the stage is set – Leon and Luis versus two rip-roaring behemoths – there’s yet another playful interchange between the pair; Luis shooting Leon free from the clutches of one Gigante, sarcastically claims Leon owes him, only for Leon to swiftly retort with a warning of the impending giant foot about to stamp Luis into Spanish tortilla. Now they’re even, although Luis proves his worth once again by bravely and intelligently affixing dynamite to the head of the armour clad Gigante. See, whilst one of El Gigante can be despatched with ease by unloading shotgun cartridges into its colossal head to stun it, it then falling to its knees long enough to open the trapdoor to molten metal below, the Gigante covered in armour cannot be so easily dazed. It takes Luis’ foresight to climb above, jump atop, and tie dynamite to its head for Leon to shoot in order to take this beast down; and down into the pit of metal magma it goes.
The El Gigante duo aren’t the most challenging of boss battles but what this fight provides, along with the entire coal mine section, is a fraternal bond between Leon and Luis. Luis is smart, funny, and extremely likeable even if at first he seems untrustworthy due to his humour, and it’s a genuine blast having him along for the subterranean odyssey. Luis has such a presence in Resident Evil 4 Remake; his interactions are fun and his death by the hand of Krauser’s blade no less, the moment is shocking. Not least because it happens suddenly, out of the blue, mid-sentence, but because the awesome coal mine section preceding it has given us players chance to grow emotionally attached to Luis. Yes, the action continues into yet another Resident Evil 4 Remake highlight, the hand-to-hand knife fight between Leon and Krauser, but once the dust settles, with Leon and thus the player able to take stock, they’ll undoubtably lament the loss of Luis.
The mine section in Resident Evil 4 Remake is a memorable, most varied section and alongside the glorious action and unsettling horror, Luis as companion throughout is a big part of its memorability.
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