Both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro are understandably the talk of the town. At time of writing, both of Apple’s latest smartphones are due out in less than a week on September 22. Oh how I wish I hadn’t bought an iPhone 14 Pro a little over two months ago.
As ever, my timing sucks.
Although I’m thirsting for Apple’s upcoming high-end phone and its A17 Pro performance chip, there’s one thing I can say categorically: I have zero interest in playing the Resident Evil 4 remake on the iPhone 15 Pro.
To make it clear, this has got nothing to do with the quality of Capcom’s masterful redux, which was announced for iPhone 15 at the recent Apple Event. Rather, I simply can’t muster up much enthusiasm for replaying a modern horror classic on a smartphone via touchscreen controls.
Not that both iPhone models won’t be well equipped to tackle Leon S. Kennedy’s undead shooter from a technical perspective. The A17 Pro silicon that powers the iPhone 15 Pro has enough grunt behind it to render ray tracing in games. That’s mightily impressive.
The A17 Pro silicon that powers the iPhone 15 Pro has enough grunt to render ray tracing in games.
The results are unlikely to “challenge high-end desktop PCs” like Apple claims, but the potential brute performance of this chipset is something to admire.
For context, ray tracing (RT) is an advanced graphical lighting technique that’s so demanding, even the best Xbox Series X and best PS5 games can struggle to handle the effect without frame rates being seriously impacted.
The fact we could potentially see RT in the likes of Death Stranding, Assassin’s Creed Mirage and both Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 (all of which are set to launch on both iPhone 15 models over the next 12 months), is mind-blowing.
Dead on arrival
But here’s the rub: why on Earth would I want to play my beloved Resident Evil 4 on either model of iPhone 15? You might be able to connect classic-style controllers to your iPhone to make your Apple gaming experiences feel more like you’re playing one of the best Switch games, yet that still doesn’t make me want to experience Resi 4 on one of Apple's smartphones.
To be perfectly frank, I don’t want to play any game on an iPhone 15 Pro, despite its pumped-up chipset. And why would I? If you’re into handheld gaming, you’re ridiculously well catered for by the current market. I recently became obsessed with the Steam Deck, while the Asus ROG Ally is a creditable rival to Valve’s portable device and the upcoming Lenovo Legion Go looks like a hugely exciting piece of gaming hardware.
Crucially, these are all actual gaming machines, rather than a premium pro model phone (which starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,849), that’s been designed to serve a whole variety of masters.
I’d much rather play Resident Evil 4 through any number of alternative avenues I currently have at my disposal, than attempt to tackle those chaotic Gando battles on an iPhone 15 Pro just as I’m getting a dozen WhatsApp messages about the latest Arsenal score.
Not so Evil intentions
As a tech writer and computing editor on Tom’s Guide, I’m lucky enough to own a number of gaming gizmos and high-end displays that can squeeze the best out of my favorite titles.
Seeing as I clearly have no regard for my credit score, I recently picked up the incredible LG G3 OLED. And let me tell you, Resident Evil 4 on PS5 looks un-freaking-believable on the brightest and best OLED TV I’ve ever owned. The results above don’t look half bad, right?
Yet my options don’t stop there. If I’m in the mood to play the survival horror remake at an immersive 21:9 aspect ratio at 120 fps on my gaming desktop, my Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED monitor has me covered.
But hey, maybe I don’t want to shoot El Gigante to shreds on my rig because my humid home office is proving to be especially skin-melting. No problem. I can just fire up Resi 4 on Valve's handheld PC…
Part of this narrative I’m cooking up in my mind that I have no bandwidth to replay Resident Evil 4 on an iPhone 15 is probably colored by the fact I finished the PS5 version seven times to unlock its Platinum trophy. Yes: SEVEN.
I also agree without the thought that’s probably swirling around in your mind right about now.. this dude needs to get out more. Point duly taken.
I sincerely hope Capcom’s upcoming mobile port delivers the goods"
I say all of the above when no one outside of Capcom or Apple has probably seen Resident Evil 4 running on an iPhone 15 Pro or its powerhouse A17 Pro chip. For all you iPhone fans out there who enjoy being served up spine-tingling slices of horror, I sincerely hope Capcom’s upcoming mobile port delivers the goods.
All I know is I won’t be playing the incredible, zombie-slaying remake on an iPhone anytime soon. For me, triple-A games and smartphones are two streams that simply shouldn’t be crossed.
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