A must for all Resident Evil fans.
You once again take control of ex-Raccoon City PD member Leon Scott Kennedy, now a freelancer of some sort, headed to a weird Spanish village to save the president's daughter from the evil clutches of some dark cult.
So what does this Resident Evil do to separate it from all the others? Well, that's quite a lot of things.
Now... I haven't mentioned Umbrella anywhere, nor the word "zombie". That's because they don't play a role here. That's right, a non-zombie Resident Evil... that's weird, right?
Yes, actually, but it doesn't make the game any worse. In fact, it's a breeze of fresh air to face enemies that have... well... a bit more intellect than zombies. At the very least they can carry different weapons or elaborate a plan of attack, and while that's not so hot for Leon, it's great for us players.
Another difference is the shooting system. While on other R.E. games you had to press a button and the player automatically located the nearest enemy, Resident Evil 4 now uses a new system: you press the aim button and a crosshair appears onscreen, and you have to use your keyboard to make Leon aim properly. This is a pretty cool new shooting way, and I know you'll receive it with arms wide open, even when you get really pissed because you need a lot of bullets to take a man down.
As I said earlier, your enemies are not zombies, but brainwashed farmers from somewhere around Spain. Spanish speaker as I am (though not from Spain but from Argentina), I was truly delighted to hear civilians speak flawless spanish all the way, so that was another thumbs up for me. If you're not familiar with spanish, you pretty much need to know that they curse you (a lot), threaten you to chop you to pieces, and call the other fanatics if one spots you. Needless to say, spanish knowledge is not mandatory on this game.
One very important feature that this game has is the length. It is, by far, the longest Resident Evil game ever. Even with the coolest weapons, it will still take you around 4 hours to re-complete the game. And it took me about 12 hours to finish it the first time. This is great, as it also has A LOT of replay goodies, hidden weapons, new scenarios and players, and all the hot stuff Capcom is used to spoil us (thanks Capcom!!).
Another new thing that really moved me: weapon acquiring. You hardly ever find weapons lying around, but there is one strange man that you'll find once in a while that sells these weapons. How do you get money? Well, enemies throw Pesetas (Spain's currency and also the money in the game), you'll usually find treasures in hidden places (some treasures are incomplete, and you have to find all the pieces to sell it for a higher price), or you can sell your old weapons. How do you get bullets? That's easy: find them throughout the game. The Merchant doesn't sell weapons, and you'll find yourself plenty of times out of handgun ammo. Do the weapons have anything special? Yes they do: you can mod them!!!! That's right!! The Merchant offers you, let's say, a handgun. Then you can mod it for better accuracy, greater bullet capacity, higher damage ratio and faster reload time. This is a VERY cool addition.
Another new thing: Leon can die. Easily. Not just by letting civilians poke his guts with farm equipment, but there are certain times in the game where you'll be forced to follow a series of button sequences to keep Leon from, say, getting crushed by a giant boulder. Should you miss, it's going back to the nearest checkpoint. This can be annoying, but at the same time gives you a new edge on the game's dynamics, and I, for one, welcome it.
How do you keep your stuff? He's got luggage. And it can be upgraded, thank God, because weapons use a lot of space, and so does ammo and healing equipment. This is well designed and you'll scarcely be forced to throw some ammo to keep a First Aid Spray. Oh, no big-box-connected-to-a-dark-hole here, like other R.E. Too bad.
One more thing: sometimes, Leon is not alone, but very well accompanied by the beautiful Ashley, the president's daughter he is meant to rescue. While she obviously doesn't fire weapons but rather make you worry about her not being killed (you can kill her with a weapon, she can be hurt by enemies, or they'll try to steal her from you), I also welcomed this addition.
Now, let's go to the real deal. Let's see how does this game score in every aspect, shall we?
PLAYABILITY: awesome. The new aiming system and the improved intelligence of the enemies make this game absolutely interesting from beginning to end. Enemies also rotate regularly, so you'll never find yourself fighting against the same psycho for too long. There are enough enemies and enough new ways of fighting them to keep you stuck to your chair for a long time.
LENGTH: I said it earlier, this is the longest R.E. game I ever played. Even longer than the 2-story Resident Evil 2. Don't worry, your money is very well spent here.
REPLAY VALUE: excellent. Capcom stuck a lot of goodies here. Some of them are a somehow long and very interesting side story of Ada Wong (we all remember her from R.E.2), that can last about 2 hours or so. You also have a mode that puts you in a map, fills your behind with enemies and you have a period of time to kill as many of them as you can. There's another Ada mode where you have to infiltrate a militar facility of some sort. This one is short, but very complicated, so it will keep you entertained for long. Also, once you finish the game, you'll unlock two AMAZIIIIIIIIING!!!! secret weapons that you have to buy for a whole lot of money but have infinite ammo. I will not spoil you which weapons they are but believe me, you'll want them. You also have new suits, for Leon and for Ashley.
SOUND: excellent. Every sound and every music in the game fits perfectly with the place you're visiting, and music is displayed loud enough to be heard but faint enough to keep the mistery and fear on your behind. Weapon sounds, civilian sounds, voice acting, it all adds up flawlessly.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: for people like me that have a rather old processor and only 512 MB RAM, I was pleased to see that the game didn't need any more to run smoothly. You don't have much to configure in video options, but that's ok, the game looks great anyway.
GRAPHICS: speaking of that, graphics are awesome; maybe a bit too pixelated for a 2007 game, but no complaints. Buffer memory is very well used, and this results in extensive maps, with lots of places to go before you have to walk through another door and wait for loading time. I loved that; felt like San Andreas in a way.
I really don't know what else to say about this masterpiece. I installed it and replayed it about five times, also doing all the sidegames and viewing all the extras, buying all hidden weapons and trying all 2 costumes (loooooved Ashley's costumes). I can't reccomend it enough. I'm a big big big fan of Resident Evil, and to say that this one is the best really should give you an idea of how amazing it is. I wouldn't buy a PS2 or XBOX just to play this one. Even though it doesn't fare well against those versions, this one is just great enough.