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
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
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.