Resident Evil 4

After thoroughly playing through Resident Evil 4, I still think that Resident Evil 4 is one of the best from of the Resident Evil series. It's nice to see Capcom taking a step away from the regular zombies which they regularly use.

You play as Leon S. Kennedy. You'll probably recognize the name from Resident Evil 2. Your assignment is to rescue the daughter of the President of the United States. After which, Leon travels to Spain to search for Ashley. The odds of success are strictly stacked against Leon.

You'll encounter many scenarios similar to the Resident Evil series, including the infamous "Avoid the Lasers" from Resident Evil the Movie. You'll have to get through several puzzles, dodging several obstacles and events within the cut scenes to avoid a gruesome death.

There's more to this game than just shooting enemies, there is a fantastic storyline to this game, but I wouldn't recommend it to younger audiences.

I got this game yesterday, and already it is kicking a lot of ass. The action is already intense, and I know I'm am NO WHERE near the halfway point of the game.

Pros: Just about everything! Graphics, action, and enemy AI have never been better in the resident evil titles. Very few games out there can match the AI and action. The game even has a decent sense of humor, and the game challenges you from the start.

Cons: Saving is still not that easy. Though those annoying, horrendous ink ribbons are finally gone, you still need to find a typewriter to save the game. However, there are several located throughout the game. Like I said, the game challenges you... A LOT. This is one of the hardest games I have, and I own more than my fair share.

Overall, this game is easily the 2005 game of the year. If you have a gamecube and not this game, why? What are you waiting for? If you have a PS2, go out and get this NOW. I said the game was hard, but I, like many others, love a challenge. Though it may seem hasty to submit a comment the day after I get this game and haven't beaten it, this should give you the idea of how great it is.

10/10. Brilliant.

There's one standard that I always use to judge the quality of a game: If my girlfriend actually encourages me to play so she can watch, I know it's good. Very few games have passed this test - the original Silent Hill, Blood Omen, Resident Evil 1 and 2, and now Resident Evil 4. Not only is it totally immerse to play, but it's even fun to watch.

I'll admit that when I first played the demo (for about five minutes) I was a little nervous: The new over-the-shoulder camera setup was a little "un-Resident Evil," and the crazed hillbillies weren't comfortably familiar, like the lumbering zombies in the previous games. And some of the new moves (like diving through windows) seemed cheesy and over-the-top. However, after hearing from so many places that the game was great, and seeing so many reviews that had to rely on principle or nitpicking to find a problem with the game, I forked over fifty bucks.

And all I can say is, daaaamn. The only problem I've found with this game is that it'll make all the previous Resident Evil games suffer by comparison. This is what I really wanted - and just about got - from all of them. Who hasn't watched Dawn of the Dead and wanted to run around blasting the undead with a hunting rifle? Well, here's your chance, and you can even watch their heads explode in glorious 3-D. Ever wanted to shoot a monster in the knees, then mow it with an automatic weapon while it's down? Step right up.

Yes, lots of changes have been made to the game. Some of them seem like natural outgrowths of one another: It would be too easy to pinpoint aim and kill slow-witted, slow-moving zombies, so the enemies here are a little sharper and quicker. The camera no longer obstructs your view of a scene, which was frustrating but also a familiar hallmark of the previous games. And there are some RPG elements added that make the whole thing more "game-like," like a merchant who sells weapons and gun upgrades, and who buys treasures you find around the game. Enemies drop money, ammo, or health items when they die; the new "yellow herb" increases your maximum health. But all of these work to make the game a little more open-ended and a little more engaging (it's so much fun seeing in numbers just how powerful your magnum is). One mini-game, the shooting gallery, is unbelievably addictive, but well worth it: As a reward for completing each set of cheesy wooden targets you get money and a collection of "bottle caps" - little action figure-like models of enemies and allies from the game, who play low-fi recordings of their character sounds. It's downright hilarious.

For all its changes, though, Resident Evil 4 still FEELS like a Resident Evil game. It contains elements obviously important from the ultra-slick movie franchise - like slow-motion fight scenes and a challenging laser-dodge sequence - and other fun, over-the-top action movie tropes (pressing the action button near a second-floor window causes you to dive through the window, roll, and get to your feet), but it also contains the Resident Evil trademarks. The monsters are all weird perversions of real creatures - from humans to insects - the environments are atmospheric and creepy. the ever-more-powerful weapons are too much fun to play with, the characters interact in melodramatic shouts and cheesy one-liners, and, most importantly, you get the feeling that the enemy plans to win by sheer numbers.

It took me exactly twenty hours to beat the game: at the end my kills tallied up at just over 1,000: this game is huge. My girlfriend asked near the end of one chapter, "Is this the end?" and I said, "No, there's still another disk left." The graphics are so lush and beautiful that at least once I actually stopped between slayings to admire the backgrounds. The water effects and superb and the fire effects even better (the scene even wavers with heat); the environment is beautifully textured and some new elements - like destructible barrels and boxes and the ability to hop over obtrusive railings or fences - add an unprecedented (for a RE game) level of interactivity. When a beast dies its blood flies out in all directions; if your decapitate an enemy with your shotgun the bony stump spews blood with graphic detail.

After finishing the game you get a harder difficulty setting, and two mini-games become available: Assignment Ada, in which you play as Ada Wong through the final portion of the game, and The Mercenaries, a timed endurance round with four super-cool unlockable characters. I can't wait to play through it again.

There's also one other thing that, for me, really made the game. At one point you are in a run-down chapel inside a demonic castle, and you see an elaborate chest inside a glass case. Inside the chest is a (holy) hand grenade. I laughed out loud.

Resident evil 4 is a masterpiece, it's easily one of the most recognizable games in the series and for a good reason. The game is insanely fun and replayble, aged pretty well and it's almost on every platform possible.

This game, not just horror games at the time but it literally ruined the franchise because of how amazing it was and the two games following it's formula, were nowhere near as good as this. It took capcom more than a decade to figure out how to do it right again and RE7 though flawed, definitely was the best thing that came out ever since 4.

The only minor annoyance i have with this game is ashley, the girl you have to rescue... talk about one of the most annoying npc's ever, you won't forget her screaming (leon heeeelp) anytime soon after playing but technically speaking at least she's smart enough to get behind you while you're shooting so not a big issue and thankfully she's not around you for majority of the game.

It has charming characters (the game not taking itself too seriously) amazing villains, great action (not as over the top as RE6) horrific atmosphere and of course, the iconic merchant, makes this game among the very best in the series and a complete revolution when it comes to over the shoulder, 3rd person action games.

10/10 one of the greatest games of all time.

I'd be lying if I said that I've always been a big Resident Evil fan, but upon hearing so damn much about the fourth installment, I decided to see what the fuss was about. I was not disappointed.

I figured that the game would be enjoyable for a while, but I wasn't sure about longevity; I didn't think it would hold my interest. I assumed that once I'd played it for ten minutes, I'd basically seen all it had to offer. I couldn't have been further from the truth. The game's strongest point (there are many, believe me) is its sense of horror. While this may seem obvious, many games (Alone in the Dark, Eternal Darkness etc) fail to accomplish this. No zombies in RE4; you'll be up against fast, smart humans (not to mention some seriously creepy monsters). The sense that you are constantly battling for your life is unrivalled, yet the rewards are also great. The feeling you get from defeating one of the spectacular bosses is reward enough, but there are several unlockables to hold your interest for a LONG time.

Even if there was nothing to unlock, it wouldn't be important; I found that as soon as I completed the game, I wanted to start again. The game's length is superb too. At roughly 20 hours long, it provides days of entertainment without being overly long.

How can I go this far without mentioning the graphics? I'm sure you've heard all about them already; the best fire ever seen in a video game, along with excellent water and outstanding character models and locations make RE4 the best looking console game ever.

What more can I say? The voice acting is much better than we're used to from videogames, helping the narrative involvement. But the best thing to do is go out there and play it yourself: although I don't think I could make myself recommend it to squeamish gamers...