Resident Evil 4 - a gaming masterpiece
You are introduced to the game with the story of the events that proceeded it and after some interaction with the two police offers assigned to escort you you begin the long and challenging mission to rescue the president's daughter from the cluthes of evil.
Your first encounter with an enemy in a game quickly alerts you to the fact that you are not dealing with zombies as has been the case in previous resident evil titles but analysis can wait until later because when they attempt to attack you there is no other choice but to use lethal force or risk your own life being brought to a premature halt.
The enemies in this game are not as restricted as those in previous titles,they can move quickly and work together when necessary with a good example of this being a scene in the village area where you barricade yourself inside a hut thinking you have brought yourself some time but then hear the upstairs window smash only for you to discover your enemies setting up a ladder outside to climb up and through the window!
The average enemy in the game can be disposed of without any real finesse if you so choose to but others require precise shots to take them out and this especially applies to boss characters such as the El Gigante whose only weakness is the parasite on it's back which is only exposed after you inflict enough damage for the monster to go down onto one knee thus exposing it's vulnerably point for you to either shoot or stab repeatedly.
One of the best things about this game is that you can be ambushed at any time by your enemies which means that you are rarely going to go without some action.
The puzzles in the game vary in difficulty but most of them you will remember the trick to completing when you start a new game which means it is highly unlikely you will be stuck in one place for long.
The weapons in this game come directly from the survival-horror handbook and thanks to a merchant character who appears frequently during the game you can purchase or upgrade weapons using money obtained during the game via killing enemies,destroying objects or selling treasures.
The upgradable features gives the game another reason to be played again because it will take more than one sitting to unlock every available weapon.
Playstation owners had to wait for this to come out but are ultimately rewarded with features that the Gamecube version was not lucky enough to include such as the Mercenaries mode in which you can play as Leon and 4 special characters who can be unlocked through achieving high scores in various settings seen during the game,these mercenary games are timed and rely on you picking up time bonuses to prolong your game and in order to get the best scores you really need to get the hang of combination kills.
The music in the game is very good and very atmospheric though it never outshadows what is going on at that moment which to me is an important thing.
The graphics are easily the best I have seen on the Playstation 2 and more often than not you will be blown away by just how good this game looks even when put up against Playstation 3 rivals.
Overall a brilliant game which nobody should miss out on.