The Island is, understandably, a much-maligned segment of Resident Evil 4. It comes after the exceptionally long Castle section, which really wears out its welcome by the end. Then you get to the Island, and the whole thing feels like it's over before it even begins. Nothing that happens feels new or inventive, and the only big moment, other than the showdown with Saddler, is the fight with Krauser - one of the worst boss fights in Resident Evil history. Do not argue with me on this, it is a fact.
Capcom promised the Island would be expanded in the remake, but until I played it I still didn't expect much. For as groundbreaking and important as Resident Evil 4 is, it's a game that steadily gets worse the longer it goes on. Some may even argue it peaks at the opening fight in the village, and I'd have a hard time arguing that point. But while the remake maintains the structure of the original, the pace of the entire game has been restributed too. Not only is the Island vastly improved, it's become the strongest section of the entire game.
The remake has a fascinating flow from one section to the next. The Village starts out with a terrifying encounter that overwhelms you with enemies you have almost no choice but to run and hide from, and the entire act keeps that energy. You're trying to find your footing as you get a handle on the controls and combat mechanics, which makes your trek through the quarry, across the lake, and back to the church tense and occasionally overwhelming. It all culminates in the cabin barricade, the iconic sequence that mirrors the intro by forcing you to confront the horde up close and personal instead of running away. By the time you get through this fight, you have a strong grasp of the fundamental, and are provided your first real sense of accomplishment.
Then, in the Castle, you turn the tables on the baddies. As you move from room to room solving puzzles and disposing of cultists, it starts to feel like you have a real handle on the situation. Your aim become sharper, ammo conservation becomes more manageable, and you learn all the little combat tricks that help you get through the challenges. It still throws a lot of curve balls and surprises at you, but it never feels like you're running scared anymore. When you take down Ramon at the end, it feels like you’ve accomplished something beyond surviving - which is all you can really say for the Village.
But then you get to the Island, and the game totally rips the carpet out from under you. As soon as you step foot on the rock it clear that you're completely out of your depth. Suddenly, there aren't villagers with pickaxes or torch-weilding cultists standing in your way - there's an army of heavily-armored, high-tech lunatics with laser turrets standing between you and your goals. The very first encounter here throws a dozen super soldiers and a pigman with a machine gun arm at you, and if you barely manage to limp your way through this battle, the next room is even worse.
The genius of this section is the way the entire game has built you up only to completely tear you down in the final stretch. If you're not able to utilize all of the combat tools available to you - stealth, staggering, attack parrying, precision shots, effective weapon selection - you have no hope of surviving here. This is a gauntlet that puts everything you've learned through the entire game to the test.
It's oppressively difficult to the point of being unfair at times. You first encounter the Regeneradors here, RE4s most dangerous enemies. The first ones you see you're meant to run from because they're so dangerous. When you finally find the tool you need to take one on, it takes everything youve got to beat it. Not long after that, you fight another one. It's just as scary as the first, and when you defeat it it transforms into something even more dangerous, just to remind you how f***ed you are.
The Island also features Mike and his helicopter, which was one of the most frustrating sections in the original, but now it's the remake's most action packed set piece. The utter destruction Mike causes is incredible, and as you dash across the compound, Mike turning a sea of soldiers into a fine mist, you finally feel like you've reached the peak of your power. Ammo through this section is plentiful so you can blast away the horde with reckless abandon. This is the big pay-off for all the struggle, and it works perfectly.
The crown jewel of the Island is the final Krauser fight, which has been totally reimagined for the remake. Krauser's inclusion in the original never felt fully formed, and his history of Leon was confusing. The remake takes a lot more time to explore his background and restructures the boss fight to better align with the themes and history he shares with Leon. Instead of an awkward chase around an arena, the battle is broken up into several sections where Krauser 'tests' his former protege. The final showdown still has some awkward mechanics left over from the original, but I overall design of the fight is much stronger.
The Island has been transformed from a forgettable coda into a worthy final act that puts your skills to the test and delivers some much needed pay off. In past playthroughs I would sometimes stop at the Island instead of finishing the game, but now I can't wait to get back there again. Next time I just know me and Mike are going to have those shots when we get back to the States.