I've thought long and hard about it and this game gets my Game of the Year award.
User Rating: 9.6 | BioHazard 4 GC
Simply put, this is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played in my life. Seriously. You may have noticed that this review is a little late. You didn’t know it, but I bought the game when it first came out (January 05). It’s now September 05 and I’ve just got around to finishing it. Why the delay? It’s a crazy story but in many ways it’s important to this review so I’ll explain… To be honest, at first I was intimidated by the game. It starts off incredibly intense. I had a love/hate relationship with this since I’m used to blasting my way through a game without the slightest hesitation. This game did for me something that no other game has done before it. It made my heart pound. And not in an adrenaline inducing frenetic sort of way. But in a real edge-of-my-seat, apprehensive manner. Seriously. I’m not joking. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t fanning the cold sweat from my face with my clammy hands or anything, but I was left genuinely nervous about what might happen next. I loved it. And as I said, I somewhat hated it because my normal videogame bravado was pushed to the curb, which left me wondering how to approach the game. I’ve tried to play some of the other Resident Evil games and frankly I never cared for the game-management approach I was forced to use. Would this game be the same? Would I find myself with only a few rounds of ammo, facing a dozen eerily possessed villagers all lunging for my throat? I truly wasn’t prepared for what to expect. So, I dabbled. I played through the beginning, moved on, died a lot, saved my game, moved on some more until I couldn’t take it any longer and popped in a more secure, known quantity like, say Jak 3. This went on for a month or two. However, the more I dabbled with this game, the more I felt compelled to spend more time with it. And so, as the months progressed and I found myself getting used to the techniques required to succeed and such, I eventually got to the point where I felt proficient enough to tackle the game head on. Once this happened the intimidation I had experienced waned and I found myself thinking about this game more than any other. And so…I started over. You heard me right. I began a new game from scratch and plunged forth. Though this happened a few months after I bought it, I still found myself desirous of taking my time. This time wasn’t so much out of trepidation, but frankly, out of fear of ending the experience. I truly didn’t want the game to end, because regardless of how much replayability this game may possess, I knew I would simply never have the same experience the second time around. Therefore, as my dabbling ways came to an end, my savoring ways began. I sipped this game slowly, like a fine Pinot Gris or Cabernet. It should be mentioned that it took me nearly forty hours to finish this game because I took it so gradually. And where the game management aspects of the other RE games were a chore, the one’s I chose to perform in this game were flat out fun. I’d play a level, check my ammo usage and say, “You know what? I could have done it better.” And then I’d go back, re-play the level conserving my ammo or using one less health pack. It got to the point towards the end that by using this approach I had nearly twenty health packs and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Yes, I was more than a bit anal retentive about the whole thing. But don’t you see? This is a huge testament to the excellence of this game. Because, regardless of your opinion of game management techniques, the most important thing here is that the action in this game is so intense and superior to most other games out there that playing through the levels two or three times was just as intense as it was the first time through!! Seriously, my nerves were on edge regardless of how many times I played through a level. It’s that friggin’ exhilarating. Am I coming across as oddly over zealous to you right now? If you haven’t played the game I’d imagine that I am. But once you get your hands on this game I think you’ll understand what I mean. I’ll repeat myself. This game got my heart racing, folks – like no other game ever has. I loved it!! Still do. Okay, enough about me. Onto why this game was such a special experience for me… Strangely, it has nothing to do with its horror theme. Other games like Fatal Frame: Crimson Butterfly were all about creepy tension that got me going. And don’t get me wrong. This game is definitely creepy. It’s just that it’s a different sort of creepy. The first thing that drew me into this game was the artwork. The amazing professionalism of its design is nearly unmatched. While a town in many other games might come across as thrown together in a cookie-cutter sort of way, the first town you enter in RE 4 is unbelievably realistic. There’s so much dreary disorder and chaotic randomness to how things are put together that it perfectly mirrors what a real town left derelict should look like. Additionally, the forests seem incredibly natural as if each tree and shrub were created individually. Most times in games you’ll have only a couple of trees to look at that are copied and pasted into different places. Yes, if you don’t look closely enough it’ll look like a forest, but you can always tell. Conversely, in RE 4, as I’ve said, it all looks amazingly diverse. Why am I emphasizing this point? Because, for me, this was the very first thing to draw me in and allow me to suspend disbelief. The design of the artwork was so perfectly rendered that I was able to completely engulf myself into the experience. Though the village and the forest were my favorite (visual) parts of the game, the level of quality NEVER waned in later stages. The lake you’ll navigate a boat through is amazingly realistic. The castle you’ll explore is incredibly rich and nearly cavernous at times. The graphics are as good as it gets right now. The same for the sound. I played this game exclusively with headphones on and I never heard a flaw. It was simply perfect. And because of all this, once the action began it made it soooo much more intense. Which finally gets me to the part about my heart pounding. The action in this game is exceptionally well executed. It’s not all that fast, you won’t ever find yourself running and gunning through a level, but that’s good. This isn’t that sort of game. In fact, you can’t fire a single shot while on the move. Instead, you’ll have to find a good position to hunker yourself down within and take your enemies out as they come after you. And once they gang up on you successfully, and they WILL gang up on you successfully, you’ll have to quickly dash out and find a new spot to reload your ammo and continue until they’re all dead. Reading these words doesn’t even begin to convey the urgency that the action in this game demands of you. Seriously. You’ll have to experience it for yourself to truly understand. The point is, this game is so freakishly well executed holistically that I nearly have no criticisms at all. The only jab I can take is that the dialogue at times is pretty mundane and generic. The protagonist’s audacious quips seem more fitting of a character in a Bruckheimer blockbuster than a tense game like this. And I felt some of the boss battles were a bit too difficult (causing me to die a few more times than I would have liked). But, really that’s it. I can’t think of another negative thing to say about it. And with all the strengths this game possesses…who cares? Look, I could gush on and on about this game forever, highlighting all the minutia of surprising excellence that this game has achieved, but what’s the point? I think I’ve stated my case. The bottom line is this – If you’ve ever tried to like the other Resident Evil games and couldn’t, or even (and especially) if you could…for that matter, regardless of whether you’ve ever even played any of the previous games in the series at all…and you think you’re able to stomach a very mature and intense experience that is nearly incomparable, I truly can’t recommend this game highly enough. But keep in mind, it’s probably not something you’ll want to rent. More than likely you’ll want this one in your collection to keep. Therefore, my humblest apologies to God of War and all the other great games that have come out recently, but I simply have to put this one on top of the pile. Game of the Year. Without hesitation. Period. PS – I realize the year’s not over, but it would take one hell of a game to outdo what this one has achieved. If this somehow miraculously happens…I’ll amend this review. 
