Hello Stranger! Welcome to the world of Resident Evil 4 for the PS2 (aka: one of the best games I have ever played).
The gameplay was excellent. My only complaints is that the final boss battle was VERY anti-climatic. Ever since a certain character was killed by Saddler, I looked forward to our epic battle in which I could gloriously avenge his death. Sadly, the battle was not nearly as epic as I had anticipated. In fact, it was sort of lame.
In my opinion, everything other than that final boss fight was great. Some say that the story is lacking, and perhaps compared to the other Resident Evil games it is. But I haven't played those and I am fully satisfied with the story. I feel that the characters are the most important part of a story, and these characters seem to be well developed. I especially liked finding those little notes that gave me more insight into the characters of Luis, Salazar, Saddler, and the others.
The controls handled well. It would have been nice to have a strafe feature, but then again, that might have been just enough to push this game over into the action genre rather than survival horror. Although, my best friend, back + square, more than made up for the lack of strafing.
As for the graphics, all I can say is: These glorious graphics make a great game greater. It's not quite up to God of War level, and there are a few blemishes, but I'm going to admit it: graphics are the least important aspect of a game to me. Even if the graphics were bad, I would still recommend this game. Fortunately though, we were gifted with beautiful graphics to compliment great gameplay.
Graphics may not be that important to me, but sound is, so I'm going to be picky about it. This game was good in the sound department, but not great. The voice acting was good, even if the dialogue was a bit...silly...at times.
The enemies sounded good as well. I was also pleased to hear the villagers speaking some phrases in Spanish. I did, however, quickly tire of hearing "Morir es vivir" while in the castle (is hearing it every three seconds too much?)
One aspect of the sound that disappointed me were the guns' reports. If you go to a shooting range, you wear ear plugs. There's a reason for that: guns are loud. I suppose that this game's guns just sounded a little too weak for me. When I shoot my Killer 7, I want to hear a *BOOM, not a *pop.
The music was fair, and although it was timed well, it just didn't draw me in as much as I would have liked. Other ambient sounds were excellent. They always had a creepy feel and never seemed out of place. Great sound is essential for a totally immersive experience and, although it's no Silent Hill, Resident Evil 4 hit the target...but just a little off center.
As for value, this game is definitely worth the money. I have played through twice on the normal difficulty and am just starting on hard. Just the main game would be enough, but there are also the Ada missions and the Mercenary mini-game. I definitely will be able to milk many more hours out of this one.
So, to summarize: Resident Evil 4 is an amazing game. Go buy it. Now.