Since 1996 Capcom's Resident Evil series has reigned as king of horror gaming. Now the biggest name in survival horror is back, and \Resident Evil 4"" gives the series the reinvention it sorely needs.
Leon Kennedy, a survivor of the ""Resident Evil 2,"" now a government agent, is tasked with locating the president's daughter, Ashley, who's gone missing in Europe. As he travels to the village where Ashley was last seen, he becomes convinced that this will be just another routine assignment. He could not be more mistaken, as only minutes after arriving a disturbing conspiracy sweeps him up-one rife with mad cultists, aspiring dictators, and otherworldly creatures. Forgoing the throwaway characters and convoluted conspiracy theories of its predecessors, ""RE 4's"" plot is easily the best in the series and keeps you hooked until the conclusion.
Graphically, ""RE 4"" is groundbreaking. Easily the best looking game on the GameCube, the stunning graphics pull the player straight into the game. ""RE 4"" even surpasses most of the big name titles out for the graphically superior Xbox.
The ambience and realism the graphics convey is astounding. Trees sway in the wind, character's faces show emotion while they speak, and enemies grimace in pain each time they are shot.
The sloppy controls that marred the previous Resident Evils have thankfully been greatly revamped. In the previous games, players had to press up on the control pad to make their character move forward and right and left to turn. This seems simple enough, but the static camera angles of the previous games kept the control system from being intuitive, as players had to mentally reorient themselves each time the camera angle changed.
""RE 4"" keeps the same controls as its predecessors, but because the camera now sits just behind Leon's shoulder, and dynamically follows him as he moves through the game, the controls feel much more natural.
Leon moves and shoots fluidly, the only minor flaw being that Leon cannot do both at the same time. This may have been a conscious choice on the programmers' parts, possibly to enhance the tense feeling of the game's action sequences, but overall it only leads to frustration as enemies repeatedly overrun the player, who, trying to repel them is unable to flee.
Make no mistake-""Resident Evil 4"" deserves every bit of its mature rating. The game revolves almost entirely around large, set piece style gun battles. Keeping murderous cultists from overrunning him inside an old house, blowing holes in hellish monstrosities seeking to dismember him, and slashing his way to victory in knife fights are all tasks for Leon as he tries to survive the game.
The game's incredible graphics make all of these occurrences gruesomely lifelike. Blood sprays like Tarantino directed the game, as bullets explode enemies' heads, people mutate into horrific creatures, and Leon is horribly murdered onscreen each time the player fails to achieve victory.
""RE 4"" is by no means a perfect ride. At several points, the player encounters cinema sequences with an interactive twist; they must hit button sequences at lightning-quick speed to help Leon survive. While this seems like an interesting addition at first, it quickly becomes tiresome as the player is forced to repeat each sequence over and over until they have it memorized well enough to complete it. Thankfully, these sequences are few and far between and do little to mar what overall is a shining example of gaming excellence.
