Resident Evil 4 is a great game, with scary ambience and just darn good gameplay, but there is some drawbacks.
User Rating: 9 | BioHazard 4 GC
Resident Evil 4 is simply, one of the best games of 2005 right off the bat, and probably the best January game ever. Well crafted gameplay, graphics, sound design, and just scary ambience makes this a very well done game. It probably shouldn't be called Resident Evil, cause the distinction between the rest of the series and RE4 are very minimal. The game goes like this, Leon S. Kennedy, the main character of Resident Evil 2, now works for the President. The presidents daughter gets kidnapped, so Leon has to go to Europe to try to find her. Then he will discover, that the hell he experienced in Resident Evil 2 will be maximized, because the village that the presidents daughter is in, has bloodthristy villagers who are similar to zombies, except think, plan, and wield chainsaws. The gameplay in the game is in third person, but other than the other Resident Evil game, the camera is not fixed in a very annoying manner, but in the way of a third person game normally, in this camera, you can kick, jump and do other forms of combat. The shooting aspect is kind of a rip from Splinter Cell, except then Resident Evil 4 completely exceeds it. Another cool thing about the gameplay is how the A button can do so many things. Such as jump through a window, sprint like hell, and to climb down a ladder. As it seems like a bail-out, it isnt, the game is still plenty hard and this adds more freedom to the game, since a controller only has a little bit of buttons. A drawback about the gameplay is Ashley. Simply put, she is annoying, annoying to control, annoying to hear, annoying in every aspect. Sure, the whole point of the game is to save her, and that is the only reason you are there, but screw it. Change the story, put zombies, and not worrying about some gay little teenage spoiled brat, blows there heads off! Also, the inventory system is still a drag. Not one survival horror game has fixed that, and while Resident Evil 4 fixes most of the past ones drawbacks, this is one it has not. Also, El Gigante is hard. And to beat him easily, you jeprodize your game by trading everything for a rocket launcher. These problems are pretty much the only 3 problems, but it does wreck some of the game for you. The graphics in this game are top notch, and the best on the Gamecube. Capcom knew what they were doing, pushing everything to the limit that the Gamecube can do, and sometimes, doing more. The lighting, textures, facial animations, everything, is detailed enough that even on the Xbox or PC, it would be a 9 or a 10. The sound design and music in the game are thrilling, and no longer do the voices suck. The horror of the sound of a chainsaw is so absorbent, its like underwear, which if you cant hold it in when you get the crap scared out of ya, both will absorb. The sound and graphics are so good to make it the 2nd scariest game ever. This is probably the main reason why it is good, and why Capcom forced themselves to do it, they had to. One thing that is dissapointing is no multiplayer, after the 25 hour story is over, thats it. I have played the game 2 times through, and have gotten the same ending, but there might be alternate endings, I dont know. Sure, survival horror games dont have multiplayer, but how maps, and the gameplay aspects are involved, they could of had simple deathmatch with villagers, ashley, leon, the mexican guy(dont remember his name, sorry that I sound racist, so sorry) and other people. It would of worked, the maps are well designed and the gameplay is vastly different from other survival horror games. I like this game, it is the best or 2nd best survival horror game on Gamecube, next to Eternal Darkness. It is great, and it would be one of the best games of all time, if these drawbacks werent so gaping. Maybe it is because I am biased to Xbox, I dont know. Get Resident Evil 4, get a Gamecube if you dont have one. Buy Super Smash Bros. Melee and this, cause it is all you need to make the Gamecube a worthy purchase, and the other stuff is footnotes. Here are my Pros and Cons for Resident Evil 4. Pros: Excellent game design Great action combat Tons of freeform gameplay Cons: Ashley is annoying El Gigante! Bad Inventory System 
