One of the "Desert Island Games"....
User Rating: 10 | BioHazard 4 GC
"Marc, you already have PS2 and Xbox, what do you need a gamecube for?"- this is a question that i was asked several times after plunking down $200 of my hard earned cash on one of nintendo's cubes. At the time my answer was "the remakes of the PS1 Resident Evil and Metal Gear games"...now my answer is a strong, confident "Resident Evil 4". To call RE4 a good game is selling it short. This is not simply another "survival horror" game, nor is it simply a sequel to Resident Evil 3. This game strips down the formula of the genre to its very basics, and rebuilds it with what seems to be the perfect amount of tweaks to the gameplay. The attractive, yet limiting "cinematic camera angles" that have been the series' hallmark in every game are now gone. They are replaced by a locked behind-the-back camera that works so well, it's almost scary. The controls remain largely unchanged, but this new perspective makes the controls feel as if they are completely new. You still walk either forward or backwards and turn slowly (or excecute a quick 180 be pressing down and B, which has been a series staple since RE3) but having the camera follow behind your back gives you a great sense of peripheral vision. This is aided by the fact that RE4 is presented in cinematic widescreen, although it is not true anamorphic widesceen, which means if you have a widesceen TV [like i do], things appear a little stretched. This doesn't change the fact that RE4 has the best graphics i have ever seen on a home console. That's right i said it- while Xbox is known for having the best graphics in general, the single best looking game i have ever seen is a gamecube title. Everything has a very realistic look to it, particularly the blood and the fire (which looks PERFECTLY real). With graphics like that, things get more scary than they ever have been, luckily, the game gives you a great feeling of being tough enough to survive the odds, but never to the point that you think you are tougher than anything the game will throw at you (like in Devil May Cry). You certainly feel more up to the task than in any other RE game, if for no other reason than the fact you can aim in all directions. RE4 takes a cue from Splinter Cell, moving the camera directly over your shoulder line when your weapon is raised- with the aid of either a laser sight or a sniper scope (depending on the weapon) you can then target individual body parts of your enemies- if you shoot them in the knee, they will fall realistically. Now if you shoot them in the head, their head may explode. This presents a new problem for the player, because after a point in the game, the parasite within the enemy will emerge if they are shot in the head. These creatures, called "Las Plagas" replace the slow moving, stupid zombies of the other RE games. The enemies in resident evil 4 are fast, smart and use weapons- they do not simply lurk toward you slowly. The new enemies kick the pace of RE4 WAY up. The Resident Evil series has made a full transition from being a horror game with action elements to being an extremely scary, fast paced action game. The beauty of it is, it is not simply an action game either. You still need to ration your ammo and healing items and solve the occasional puzzle. While the puzzles always slowed the previous games down, you will thank god every time you come across one in Resident Evil 4, because it means you have a few minutes to breath before your next big fight. While taking the enemies and the pace in new directions has dramatically changed the definition of Resident Evil, there are still a few things that keep the series in its roots, that long time fans (like me) will appreciate. The main character is none other than Leon S. Kennedy who was the hero in Resident Evil 2 (and longtime fan favorite). There is also run-ins with femme-fatale Ada Wong, who stole Leon's heart in RE2 and was presumed dead...until now. After completing the main story, two other game modes are unlocked- "Assignment Ada" which is an additional story-mission that follows Ada Wong and "The Mercenaries", which is a mini-game that has 5 playable characters and can be used to unlock a special weapon in the main story mode. I could go on about this game for a lot longer, but it looks as if this review is getting to the point that most people will have stopped reading by now- so i will end with saying that Resident Evil 4 is officially one of my "Desert Island" games. Along with Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, GTA: Vice City and Knights of the Old Republic, if i was stuck on a desert island, this is one of the 5 games i would bring. 
