Resident Evil 4

The Good
From the first few seconds of this game, you are pulled into a world filled with pure dread. Not so much as what may be lurking around the corner anymore, but above you, below you, and just anything in the general vicinity. Gone are the days of cramped hallways and tight spaces. Leon Kennedy now deal with sprawling woods, expansive lakes, caves, villages.... And if you think these wide open areas diminishes the fright factor in any way, you'd be dead wrong.

The new enemy is not longer slow-witted or sluggish anymore. This new threat will chase you down, screaming to its kind to join in on killing you. Locking yourself in a place doesn't work anymore. They'll throw bombs through the window. Running upstairs doesn't help anymore. They've already put up a ladder outside, and are coming through the windows for you. It's not so much little jumps and scares anymore. It's a swarming, overwhelming "I am totally screwed" attitude that perseveres throughout the game.

Graphically, this is about as good as it gets for Gamecube. Sure, games like Metroid Prime, Final Fantasy, Soul Calibur II, and the other RE games are stunning, but this looks like an interactive movie. The transition between cinematic to gameplay is seamless. It's beautiful. Detailed, disgusting, but just jaw-dropping.

The same goes for sound. The silent ambiance while walking through the woods is creepy. So are the moments of wading through water, or passing a creaky door. The music, when it happens, pushes up the tension as it always has the the previous installments, and it works just as well here. And the voices? No more goofy "Master of Unlocking" comments. The new dialogue is intelligent and well-acted. It keeps the mood with the more "serious" approach to conversations.

Gameplay has been so defined for this, it needs its own paragraph. Gone are the days of stiffly moving troopers who take forever to get through a door or climb a ladder. Same for not being able to climb over something that should be, or pointless puzzles to solve, or even the common sense question of "why doesn't he just shoot the lock off?" It's addressed. And it puts the game on a whole new lever. Game for aiming weapons. So much better done. So more intuitive. Not to mention being able to buy things now, and upgrade weapons. Plus, the knife is no longer a stored item, but a secondary one that can be used at all times.

The Bad
There's not a lot that I can say in this category.

I miss the storage boxes, though you can increase and rearrange items and item space. But there are times that I wished that I had the convenience.

The game is also presented in widescreen. Some people may not like this, but after years of watching DVDs, it wasn't until much later until I realized this.

People may also miss the "zombie" aspect that has always been Resident Evil, but this new alternative is in many ways, much more disturbing. The slow-moving and groaning zombies could send chills, but screaming villagers running full speed at you, especially in packs, gets pretty intense.

The Bottom Line
Resident Evil 4 has taken everything good about the RE series, threw it in a blender, and the results are astonishing. This sequel improves on the entire series in such major ways, that it's very impressive. And yet, it stays true to its roots, which most majorly reworked games have difficulty remaining to. The changes are intelligent, well executed, and long overdue.

If you like RE, the changes are going to keep you involved. If you've had issues with previous RE games, there's enough differences to warrant a look at this game. It's no longer zombies and cramped hallways, or illogical puzzles and bad voice acting. And the main character now moves and reacts sensibly. More than ever before.

It surprises me that people can still criticize Gamecube for having "kids games", or not being able to reach a broader audience. Critics should be silenced after playing this game, and Nintendo fans should rejoice for having such a brilliant game to call their own.

When the dust clears, this will become one of the newer "classic" games, and a high mark on the series as a whole.

Highest possible recommendation, with a few more positive comments thrown in because it deserves it.

The Good
Resident Evil always had this reputation for being terrifying and very bloody. Well I hope you got a strong heart because Resident Evil 4 takes it up to a whole new level in terror and gore.

The thing I noticed immediately when I began to play Resident Evil 4 is that it was no longer 3rd person. It was more over-the-shoulder. The graphics are the same during cut scenes and gameplay which I thought was terrific. Most games use cut scenes with CG and such but Resident Evil 4 doesn't. It proves you don't need CG to make cut scenes.

The story has changed. It doesn't used that same old recycled pattern. Umbrella is history, Raccoon City is history, and zombies are history. It has been 6 years or so and the rookie cop with the funny hairdo is now a special agent working with the government. Yes ladies and gentleman Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 2 is back with a tough look. He must rescue the president's kidnapped daughter Ashley. He stops in a village and is attacked by crazed people. He doesn't know why. Never fear! Leon has weapons. He has a gun with laser targeting. This makes the game more fun as you can shoot of the enemie's head, legs, or arms. The story is something that interested me very much. I just wanted to figure out how the villagers became the way they were.

The gameplay is something that remained the same. However, unlike other games with cut scenes, you need your hands on the controller at all times! During cut scenes you can never relax. You're talking and the next minute you have to hit a button. Beware!

Resident Evil 4 is one of the most scariest and bloodiest games ever. If you shoot somebody (or something), they just bleed. If you shoot a villager in the head, pretty much there goes their head. The bosses in this game are so scary and SOOOOOOOO hard that I actually had to look up how to beat them. (I hardly don't do that at all!) The Village Chief is one of those that scared me. One minute he's human, next minute he looks like a 20 foot centipede sticking out of his bottom half, the next, he's swinging like a monkey. The one that gave me nightmares was the last boss (won't give his name away). He was just terrifying. He looked like a spider except had more legs and was WAAAAYYYY bloodier. Oh yeah, HE HAS EYES ON HIS LEGS!!! Yes people, eyes on his legs. Creeped me out!

This is just one of those games you are so scared of but you can't help but play it until the very end. And believe me, at the end you get a surpirse.

The Bad
The game is great. Action, horror, blood. Sadly, this game had some flaws.

For some reason, whenever Ashley was kidnapped (Believe me it happens more than once) I actually wanted to shoot HER and not her kidnappers. She is kind of weak and she should run. Oh wait, that would take away the extra missions Leon has to do.

Another thing that bugged me was the lack of what Resident Evil made Resident Evil. You don't feel like you're playing Resident Evil. At some points during the game, I just felt like playing a horror game with a guy named Leon Kennedy. It was ONLY Leon who reminded me I was playing Resident Evil. Trust me, if this game was called something different, you'd probably wouldn't even notice the difference except for Leon and the character who makes an appearance at the end.

The Bottom Line
Overall, the ultimate terror game. Scares around every corner and the villagers are downright relentless. They jump out at you and it scares you like I can't even describe. Go out and get Resident Evil 4. But be warned, it is not for the weak at heart.

The Good
It's been mentioned elsewhere, but I'll run through it again: within the first twenty minutes or so, Leon Kennedy, the protagonist formerly of RE2, finds himself struggling to survive in a decaying Spanish village. Murderous (but not undead) locals mass to attack him. They take a lot of punishment. Leon ducks into a house, pushing a bureau against the door. He thinks he's safe. He's not. They break in...his ammo runs low...and then he hears the chainsaw...

This sequence is terrifying in a way that shatters the old RE paradigm. There are very few setpieces in RE4 that generate fear solely through claustrophobia. Instead, the completely rebuilt gameplay, in which the camera is always located directly behind and above Leon's right shoulder, capitalize on the new element of peripheral vision. You're seldom completely sure what is or isn't creeping up on you from behind or to the sides as you deal with nasties rushing you from the front.

The game's still about item management, but you no longer deal with tedious treks to a storage box. Rather, everything must fit in an upgradeable briefcase, and things can be discarded whenever you'd like to make room for new stuff. You still also have to worry about ammo management, but the selection of hardware easily trumps any previous RE. New to the series is a selection of sniper rifles that I found really enjoyable, but there's something in here for everyone's tastes.

The plot, such as it is (more about that below), does barrel along at a fine clip. There are some great boss encounters, absolutely stunning graphics, pretty decent music, some great bonus modes (Mercenaries is a killer, but the reward for 100% completion is a must-have) provides even more reason to pick this game up. Now.

The Bad
Ok, granted, it's not perfect. For starters, the plot pretty much stinks like garbage, and that's too bad. RE games are supposed to be cinematic, and in terms of visuals they always have been. Narrative-wise, however, they usually fail to live up to their promise. I suppose this flaw is made all the more apparent given that I've just recently lived with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a game which delivers certainly one of the finest narratives of all time. True, RE4 is much more about visceral action, but aside from rescuing the President's daughter, there's little sense of having accomplished anything really important, nor do we learn anything really interesting that you couldn't figure out within the first forty minutes or so.

Hey, at least the dialog is good, and peppered with the odd, amusing swear word to boot.

The Bottom Line
Forget Code Veronica - THIS is cutting-edge Resident Evil.

The Good
Never before have I been so totally immersed in a game before, so utterly sucked into the whole experience that I have willingly played through the same scenario time and time again in successive play throughs. The amazing thing is, I never get sick of it. I have never looked at my copy of Resident Evil 4 and said “Meh, I’ll play something else.” The only other game I can say does this to me is Sonic Adventure, but for completely different reasons. No, there is something amazingly indescribable about Resident Evil 4 that transcends genre and established conventions. It’s the experience on a whole that is so addictive, so masterfully executed.

Playing Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 2 you must infiltrate a small European village that is supposed to be harboring the kidnapped daughter of the US President. From here, the rollercoaster begins and Leon is subjected to all manner of physically demanding endeavors to save his, and Ashley’s lives. From the village you travel to the castle of a local tyrant, the sewers beneath it and even a military installation on a far island. Each location is so unique in its atmosphere and presentation that you never tire of anything, no environments or scenarios are every re-used, you’ll only ever see puzzles once and each indescribably awesome act of heroism performed by Leon is always unique and exciting. It’s this sense of driving pace and rapid transitions between environments that keeps the game feeling fresh even if you have beaten it several hundred times, like myself. Leon controls exquisitely. His movements are slick and he turns on a dime, his basic move set is pure survival horror. His weapon is readied with the a depression of the R button and it is fired when A is pressed. Holding down the L button readies Leon’s knife which can be a last minute form of defense or a method of saving ammunition or breaking boxes and barrels to collect items.

The enemies Leon encounters all have different reactions to being attacked on specific areas of their bodies. For instance shooting a standard Ganado (Basic sort of zombie like enemy) in the knee will cause his leg to buckle, allowing you to follow up with a swift kick to send him flying into a crowd giving you time to retreat. If you shoot him in the face you will get the same reaction however this will not work on all enemies and some like the Novistadors (flying, insect like things that kind of resemble Drain Demons from Resident Evil 3) cannot be staggered and must simple be overpowered. They can however be counterattacked at certain times. The way the enemies move, act and work together to block you and crowd you is claustrophobic and panic enducing. In lieu of traditional horror effects this method of panicking the player works perfectly.

From regular old enemies to cinematic boss encounters the action in Resident Evil 4 rarely slows down and just when you think you’ve got everything figured out you get burdened with Ashley; The President’s daughter. She is dead weight, but forces you to modify how you play, trying not to harm her and protect her simultaneously from the crowds of enemies that are often just as intimidating as the ones when Ashley isn’t hanging off you like a clingy girlfriend.

Graphically Resident Evil 4 is by far the most beautiful game on the Gamecube. Character’s move fluidly and realistically, there is no ghosting and very few frame rate problems. I was very, very impressed with the way Leon looked and animated from his swaying hair to his immaculately detailed jacket. There is no faulting the aesthetics of Resident Evil 4, nit pick if you must however you will come up with nothing. The only graphical trick the game seems to lack is bump mapping.

The sound design in the game is to be applauded. The enemies don’t speak English with forced European accents, they speak Spanish. They actually speak Spanish. The acting is very competent and the music is exciting, chilling and works seamlessly with the action onscreen to work you into a fevered panic.

The best part about Resident Evil 4 however is the various little extras that are bestowed upon you for finishing the game. When you’ve finished the main scenario which can take anywhere from 7 to 12 hours you are then able to play Ada’s little side story wherein you are tasked with finding 5 Plaga samples on the Island. When this is over you unlock yet another weapon which can be bought and used in successive play throughs of the main scenario. After buying all of the extra weapons and trying out all of the costumes you can then play through Mercenaries Mode, unlock yet another hidden weapon and then go back to the main scenario, buy it, play around with it and then simply poke around and try and find everything the game has to offer. You will NOT find everything in the game the first time through, unless you’ve already watched someone play it or you‘re incredibly meticulous. I’m still finding things I’ve missed in the past. Even if these things are small like treasures or little cache’s of ammunition or money, the point is the game is packed with these little surprises to encourage to keep playing. Which you will, for many, many hours.

The Bad
The bad things about this game are small and piddling, however there are issues related to the fundamentals of the Resident Evil series which cannot be skirted around.

I’ll get all of the specific things out of the way first.

To begin with Resident Evil 4 is letterboxed and if you’re playing on a small CRT, forget about it. Also if you’re playing without component cables on a High Definition television this game is going to look muddy and horrible. Playing it in 480p or on a wide screen CRT TV are your only options to enjoy the visual fidelity as it was intended.

There are many moments in Resident Evil 4 that you will probably hate. I know there are certain parts of the game I’d rather weren’t there at all, they won’t completely spoil your run of the game, but they will frustrate you greatly. Expect Ashley to die a lot and expect to spend a while on the slider puzzle in the Castle.

At first the bosses in the game are intimidating and often times gargantuan struggles that you will just scrape out of in the harder difficulties. However, once you learn that the Rocket Launcher kills everything in one shot, including bosses then you won’t be able to resist the temptation to simply buy one before the fight and blow the boss to hell in the opening moments.

Then there is the elephant in the room. What the hell happened to the Zombies? I was one of the people asking that very same question when this game came out. Sure, it is fantastic however it also has next to nothing to do with the well established Resident Evil mythos. I love the characters but the characters don’t mean anything if the other elements us Resident Evil fan boys and girls love so much are completely missing. The horror is gone, the zombies are gone and the T-Virus is a total no show. I have a big problem with this. It is all well and good having a sort of reboot of your franchise, but completely omitting every single element that was popular with the fans in the first place is akin to spitting in their face. Would it have been so hard to make this game, but with Zombies? Replace the Ganado’s with Zombies and no one would be able to tell the difference. Is it the speed you’re worried about? You introduced Crimson Heads in the remake back in 2002 for crying out loud. To me, the remake of Resident Evil back in 2002 had enough of a contemporary edge to make the series relevant again. It introduced strategic elements like burning bodies, gave us a fluid control scheme and the fantastic defensive weapons system.

The Bottom Line
I hate Resident Evil 4 as much as I love it. I hate it because it ended the franchise I loved so dearly and openly mocks me every single time I turn on the game by calling itself Resident Evil 4. As masterful and technically solid this game is, it still isn’t Resident Evil.

The Good
So I finally played Resident Evil 4 last Memorial Day Weekend what took me so long you ask? Well I had my initial doubts while this game did surprise me with its quality it still isn’t as good as some have said some would have you believe this game has no flaws however as you know(or at least should know) there is no such thing as a perfect game as a matter of fact this game is by far the best Resident Evil Ever!!! So much so that I don’t care if RE5 ever comes out they could stop making these games with this one, but then again this was doesn’t conclude much of anything so there still is story to be told Now on to actual features of the game.

As you must likely know by know the plot of this game revolves around Leon Kennedy being assigned to rescue the president’s daughter which I don’t care for it sound like the plot of a 80’s action movie but it gets better upon his arrival Leon finds that a cult is responsible for Ashley’s capture the enemies are very much in the vein of something pulled from H.P. Lovecraft at least they borrowed from something good and these new enemies are all smart, ruthless, and relentless very different from the zombies of previous entries Considering the fact that many reviews told me how this game was really hard only a few parts were difficult and none of them were bosses all the bosses were easy and the hardest one wasn’t the final boss or even the biggest boss the hardest boss was one of the earliest. Although it does seem out of place I like the new shopkeeper where you buy and upgrade items and sell treasure items for cash.

Alike past Resident Evil this one does an excellent job of presenting the atmosphere and making you think quickly to deal with the chainsaw men coming at you while still not scary it does a good job making you jump or when a chainsaw man takes off your head I was heard to remark “Oh Shit” the game also has better integrated puzzles less ones that would be impossible to figure out yourself This game also keeps you on your toes even during cut scenes if you’re not paying attention during a cut scene you might end up dead like with a knife in your chest, or falling in a pit full of spikes.

The Visuals are some of the best seen on the Gamecube it really sets the mood for the game and the controls allow for even better immersion I also liked the new behind the back view while it was awkward to get used to at first once I started playing I couldn’t imagine it any other way and the new targeting system makes this game blast who doesn’t like exploding heads with your shotgun?

The Bad
Now the bad mostly its little stuff like how for some reason in the boxes that you see around sometimes have snakes in them and even though the new inventory system is good I do have a gripe all the same type of ammo should take up only one space instead of taking up a different space each time you pick one up.

The Bottom Line
All in all this is a great new entry and is so good that even if you do not like the past Resident Evils this is worth a play. In the immortal words of the Shopkeeper “What are You Buying?”

The Good
The first thing you notice about the game is the graphics. The immense detail on everything is astounding, and you'll just simply love the game for it. Voice acting is good, although some moments 'lacking' (that's the only way I can explain it), however, this only seemed to occur on one occasion so it didn't really affect the overall acting. Thank god.

The nest thing (which is hard to miss, considering that it's the main focus of the game) is the horror, action and survival. It takes everything good from the past games, makes them better then adds more. The scare and horror aspects are great, with things that create a lasting effect. For instance, the village. I play the game numerous times just for that segment of the game. It's great how you can go around blasting the locals, or make a stand and line them up like a shooting range, or you can lock yourself in a house and let them all invade from the doors and windows using ladders and various weapons which really will make your heart pound as they all seek your blood. Oh yeah, be sure to stay away from that chainsaw maniac (the main reason your heart starts to speed up).

The story is simplistic, but more than enough for you to still be interested and play right up to the end. For extra replay value, there is a mini-game in which you go around as any character and fight for survival, in an addicting and exciting way. After completion of the game, there's also a side-quest from the view of a different character which will add a few minutes to its game life.

For further in-game extras to keep you interested, you can kill for money and buy, sell and upgrade your items. Also, the shooting range mini-game is quite fun with collectible rewards for your efforts.

The Bad
The only thing I felt lacking was the fact that, whilst the Resident Evil remake released before this had smooth dark graphics, this installment seems to have some things 'rough'. For instance, the ground, the trees and some other things seem to be rough, whereas the previous game had its things more smooth. You tend not to notice though as only a few buildings and items have this 'rough look'.

Whether this 'rough' look was intentional or not, I don't know, but I though I'd state it anyway.

The Bottom Line
This is a huge step forward for horror games, and especially the Resident Evil series. Although there is a distinct lack of the undead foe, the villagers and the mutant creatures make fair replacements. This game is probably the killer app of the Game Cube (killer app = best game of the console / best game of its time / a game that made the console stand out). This game, simply put, deserved all of "the game of the year" awards that it won and was nominated for. If you love horror, or action games, you WILL buy this game.

The Good
The game looks absolutely gorgeous, I didn't even know the GameCube was capable of producing anything that looks like this, hell I didn't even know the Wii could handle these graphics. Everything just looks insanely awesome and it was during a boss-fight with a giant fish that I was halfway expecting the system to just explode because of all the awesomeness on the screen. Yes, everything is brown and a lot of character models are recycled, but I don't give a damn, it's great.

The best part about this game is its variety, you never solve the same puzzle twice or encounter the same scenario more then once. I was always filled with glee once a certain section was finished, just because it meant I could discover what the game had in store for me next. The earlier mentioned fight with the giant fish is a great example, but there was also a great scene in which you and a support character hide in an abandoned building while dozens of angry peasants try to enter it from all sides.

I also really love the characters, while the story is what you expect from Capcom (it's absolutely retarded, but that's why we all love the company so much). The mysterious Luis felt like a true friend and Ashley was much more enjoyable to have along then I expected. Salazar was also just a barrel of fun, but I won't spoil him because that might rob you off the biggest "rofl" you'll ever have.

The inventory screen is revolutionary; the idea is that you have a suitcase and every item (bullets, weapons, herbs etc.) takes up a certain amount of spaces. A herb is only two spaces, but a pistol already takes up four and if you want a rocket launcher (or some other big weapon) you'll have to cut corners. Items can also be stacked and combined in order to save space and you can also destroy anything in your inventory at any time you wish. It's also interesting to spend a few minutes puzzling around with all the items in an attempt to still fit another gun somewhere.

Because of all the different weapons in the game you are able to decide your own style, you don't have as much choice as in an RPG, but you can still throw away all your weapons in favor of an SMG if you really want. Personally I stuck to the always reliable pistol and shotgun with a sniper and rocket launcher as back-up. Here is a little hint though: Always have a sniper on you, if you don't, you will not make it past the sections in the military base.

I don't get why this game is filed under the horror category, there were maybe two sections that made me feel afraid were that one part where you have no weapons and one moment very early on when a farmer I presumed to be dead placed a pitchfork in my throat while I was looking for secret coins. The crowning moment of this game is in a boss-fight with the village elder that looks like a scary enemy at first, but after a few shots his lower body will drop off and he will swing around the barn like a hyperactive monkey on Red Bull.

This game was a gift from a good friend, so it will always be a cherished part of my collection.

The Bad
Every once in a while this game will pull a dick move extraordinaire and randomly throw a Quick-time event at you. There are the standard ones like spam a button to free yourself from a grip and kicking a stunned enemy, but during some cutscenes you will also have to quickly press a button combination in order to avoid an instant kill. However not all cutscenes do this, even if Leon is in danger, so you never know when to be ready for it. The game also cheeky habit of placing a snake in like six boxes spread across the entire game, so if you are low on health and hoping a box will have herbs in it, you'll get to eat shit.

The controls are horrendous, is there any other game out there where you use the right-trigger to aim your weapon and A to fire? If so, then that means that more then one developers needs to start making sense. The now free left-trigger is used to ready your knife instead which is also fired by tapping A, can we leave the A button alone for mercies sake? The A button is for performing actions like jumping and crawling, that's what it's comfortable with! Aside from that there is also the slow movement, the fact that you need to arse Leon to open the door faster even if a mad Spaniard is throwing axes at him and the lack of precision when trying to navigate past traps.

Talking about traps, why the hell can enemies walk over them without hilariously screaming as the sharpened metal chops off their feet? When they walk over them nothing happens, even if you join them it still doesn't work (the metal only hurts you). You can cause some traps to explode and that will hurt enemies, but it still doesn't make much sense.

The game has no autosave, so if you start playing this game at night and get stuck halfway through the chapter, I hope you weren't planning on going to work the next day. There are typewriters which can be used to save progress mid-chapter, just like the radios in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, but they are hidden (oddly enough also like in MoH). You can see them on your map, but I forgot I had the map because finding the right way to go on your own is much more fun than opening your inventory every ten seconds. Also, this is the kind of game where a boss-fight can be around every corner, so don't ever skip on a chance to safe.

The game kind of collapses when you arrive at the military complex, the problem is that from that point onward you won't see any of the peasants and cultists anymore and you'll just end up fighting lots of armed soldiers like every other damned shooter. At this point I was ten hours into the game, but it felt like freaking thirty and then there were the regenarators... oh Christ. Here is the deal, these bastards have parasites in them that regenerate all their damage, so in order to kill them you have to kill the parasites (not the parasites doing the actual healing work, those are somehow unrelated). The only way to see the parasites however is to use a scope that turns the game into a blurry episodes of "My Little Pony", but the damned scope only fucks ON SNIPERS! If you were planning to go through this game without using once, well too bad, you won't. After running into yet another one (I checked his body, no parasites, but he still activated when I opened a nearby door) I officially quit this game.

The Bottom Line
I don't know why everybody is complaining about Ashley, throughout the game she was only captured twice. There was one time when my Viking background got to her and she suddenly attempted to block an incoming boulder fired from a catapult with her face, but it was well comically timed, so I didn't hold it against the game. I am the only one who doesn't seem to love this game, which places me in an awkward position as a reviewer, but I think it is because I have so many games I'd much rather play waiting to be reviewed (Majora's Mask OMG!!!!).

The bad timing aside though: Resident Evil is without a doubt one of the best shooters you can possibly find. There are lots of flaws. but it's also completely unique and the amount of variety will guarantee you a good time. The game also looks spectacular, so if graphics are a big deal to you, you won't have to miss out on this game (as opposed to say... Psychonauts).

A fan of the Resident Evil franchise may dislike the lack of zombies or the distance from the original plot (Wesker is only briefly mentioned and Leon and Ada are the only characters in the game that appeared in other RE games). This is however the perfect game for new people like me who want to give the long-running Horror series a try. Just remember, you will have to pay for the privilege and I didn't :D.

The Good
What's not to like in this game, it's taken one step forward in all elements, including the story timeline. You're playing Leon S. Kennedy who we all know as an RPD rookie cop from Resident Evil 2. He didn't change much, still not knowing what's happening around him, yet equally skilled at kicking butts. Sent in to recover Ashley (huh, I sound as if talking about an object, but on the contrary, she's a cute little package that will give you nothing but troubles in return), Leon will face the strange looking villagers who alas don't speak english but spanish. That of course doesn't present any problem for Leon since he's familiar with the universal language of a high caliber gun and hence the dark overture was about to start for him... nor dark enough as promised, though.

The graphic is something unspeakable, with even more surprises for being for GameCube. I didn't know it can look that good, definitely on par with fanciest MGS game, and gameplay is great (kinda believe mouse would help me much more at aiming at the parasites, though). Furthermore, cinematic scenes are great, direction was fantastic and I've never seen anything so cool as Leon and Ada facing each other. Heh, believe it or not, I liked Ada a lot for the short time she appeared in RE2, and am kinda glad to see she survived (assuming she's something alive, that is, lol) the big fall.

This game is not short as the most of early Biohazard games, and is more on par with Code: Veronica, not just by its length but by the various boss battles and tricks required to dispose of them, by the direction of action sequences, and by the richness of the world to explore. Although, I gotta say that Umbrella Corp. seemed much more menacing, I'm still looking forward to where this story will lead us next. Maybe we'll get a game that will feel the gap one of these days.

Wesker!!! The coolest badguy's here, not that we see it but we hear him alright. I can't wait to see what'll be when he appears next time around. Rumours say he might in the PS2 version of this game, guess time will tell but I'm hoping for the best ;)

Oh yeah, and quick-time events on par with Shenmue games are here, and they're fantastic. This works so well with cutscenes, almost better than just watching them. The game is generally very dynamic, the creatures are smart as suicidal, and the action is something you won't miss a bit.

The Bad
Soundtrack is nowhere near as good as in the rest of Resident Evil games, this one seemed way too atmospheric and oftenly created sounds you couldn't tell if it's the music or sound effects you're hearing. Keeping you on your toes, that's okay, but they could add some cool BGM someplace in the game, God knows they're capable of it, Capcom did plenty of awesome soundtracks (Needless to say I'm more than happy with my Biohazard Sound Chronicle box).

And what's with the smugglers? Looks like they exist only to help Leon, they'd be out of the business otherwise, huh?

Probably the most disappointing thing is that we all knew Leon is going to be infected with the virus from the trailers. Furthermore, we knew he's going to feel something due to being exposed and that something will alter his vision of reality. Well, we thought we knew that because Capcom suckered us big time. What you see on the trailers and making of disc is nowhere in the game's actual story. Yes, Leon does get infected, but it gives very little to influence to actual player. Discarding all this concept of altered vision makes this game that less scary and I'm glad for it, but it sure looked like an interesting and original concept to experience. I felt a bit cheated like when Kojima-san pulled that joke with all of us regarding MGS2 title and surprised us with Raiden as the main character. Like, what the heck!!??? :))

The Bottom Line
What a fine game this one is, ya got tha'?

The Good
I liked the button press sequences, the use of the action feature, the stunning visuals are enough to make you drool. I loved the weapon selection and the really cool unlockables.

The Bad
The game was a bit too short, the story gap between RE4 and past Resident Evil games is frustrating, and the game has some questionable enemy designs.

The Bottom Line
RE4 is a fantastic survival horror ride about a special agent (Leon s Kennedy) on a top secret mission to save the presidents daughter, after a short investigation Leon discovers some very disturbing facts that get darker as the game progresses. Its a fresh start for RE with lots of action, puzzle solving and an arsenal of weapons fit for an army. Be sure to check this game out!