Resident evil 4, is not only the best in the Resident evils eries, it is one of the best games of the past 30 years.
But enough priase for this aweosme game, let me get into what it is about. You play as resident evil 2 veteran Leon S. Kennedy.Several years have now passed since his adventures in the undead raccoon city, and now he is sent to a village in europe, where the rpesidents daughter is being held. Your objective is to save her at any cost. However, when Leon arrives to this village, he finds out that the villagers are posessed and out for his blood. But they seem to be smaerter then the zombies he faced in raccoon city. Are they undead or...are they human? Leon must fend off from these villagers, and save the presidents daughter all at once. However, once you sav her..you're journey is very far from over.
If you are walking into this game thinking ti will be the typical zombie formula, think again. As I said before, these aren't the typical zombies..they're actual people, and they do things actual people would whenout for osmeones blood. Some of these villagers have nothing but their bare fists, then others have scythes and axes, which they will hurl at you. Some have dynamite which they'l try and kill you with,a nd even if you dispose of this villager, the dynamite will still ignite. Over tiem the villagers change to hooded cult members wielding shields and maces, soldiers with electric weapons,a mong others. The worst of it all is, you're also facing differant breeds of mosnters which resident evil is known for.
There are the typical cerberus dogs which will bite you ons ight. Then there are some villagers that are posessed by a parasite, in which will sprout from their head after they are killed, and can only die if it is shot directly (body shots wont work after the creature is showing). There are many other creatures in this new resident evil world, which I will not get into detail about. Judt knwo surprises are awaiting you.
Then come the bosses of this new resident evil world. First come the sub bosses which attack along with the villagers. First there's my favorite, the chainsaw villager. It is a man with a burlap sack overhsi head, wielding a murderous chainsaw. If you're not careful, its off with your head. This is a great add in tot he RE series, because it brings in a new sense of horror. You mainly hear the chainsaw villagers running weapon, and soemtiems when in a large crowd of cillagers, its hard to see him. Then comes the gatlin gun soldier. Which is a large man, wielding a huge a** gatlin gun. This is a very dangerous villager, but not as fearing as the chainsaw villager.
Then come the boss characters. There is the village cheif (a fairly large man, who kidn of resembles nemesis when you think about it), Calazar (a short napoleon type chat who lives in a fairly large mansion), A blinded prisoner with wolverine claws, A beast which lurks near a near future use elevator, and finally saddler (the leader of the cult which posesses all of these villagers) among others of course.
Then finally the main cast of characters. Of course there's leon, but then theres other characters. Such as ashley (the presidents daughter whom you must protect through most of the game, She can get a bit irritating at times). Tehn comes Louise (a tpical pretty boy you meet during your quest, who helps you out along the way). Kraouser (an enemy who is own the military island. He is a very dangerous foe). Then comes Ada wong (my favorite character) a umbrella operative who was in RE2 And is very affiliated with leon. All of these are the main cast of RE4.
Now to get right into gameplay. Resident evil 4 delivers astoudningly with gameplay. It is the typicals hoot to kill, except its done so much better. The control scheme feels comfortable, and beign able to always have a knife in one hand, and your weapon in theother, is a nice plus to past RE titles. There is a aiming laser beneath each gun to help pin point your target. Shooting them in the head is most effective for a quick kill, and other body shots are effective.
There are multiple weapons in Resident evil 4. You get these weapons by collecting items that vilagers drop (money, eggs, etc) and sell them to a merchant whom pops up all the time in the game. He sells items from Punishers (a type of handgun) to shotguns,w hich you can come back and spend more moeny on to upgrade. You can upgrade speed, power ammo capacity and more.
The villagers attack in hordes, just like in zombie movies. Therefore, it is important to look around for elements to use agaisnt them. Luckily this is where rgenades come in. Grenades are important for eliminating large crowds of villagers, and you should use them when you get the chance. There are 3 types of grenades (hand, flash and incedinary) and each has their own specific duty. All but flash are effective offense wise, flash being good defense only. But back to elements of the stages. There are some elements that stop villagers, and others that kill them. Therre are explosive barrels which can kill a mass horde of villagers if nearby. Then there are ladders which you can kick down, to temporarily stop villagers form coming up to the roofs to kill you (they eventually can put them back up) which is very helpfulw hen running form a psycho villager with a chainsaw. There are also breakable barrells in RE4, which sometiems contain importanthealing tiems (which are herbs, first aid spray,a nd chicken eggs) and ammo, or they contain somethign that will jump out and attack you.
Like shenmue, resident evil 4 uses a quick time rechnique. Like if during a cutscene when krouser is tryign to stab you, they have you press a button to dodge it, or if a boudler is about to make you a kennedy sandwich, you press a button to keepr unning and so on. Also, you must press specific buttons to knock down ladders, and perform other enviromental techniques. Also, at times these quick time events make you rotate the thumbstick whichever direction. IMO the quick time technique is a very fresh technique that freshens up the series (like it needs to be after so many thigns ahve been changed to amke the series better).
As you recieve mroe items itn he game the more room you run out of. You can luckily expand your pack to hold more items, but it wont't be forever you can expand it. Also, item boxes have been eliminated formt he series, so you only have your pack to rely on. So, it is important to constantly reorganize. Sell items if you have to (the important ones aren't kept in your pack) and do some serious tetris style reorganizing to have all of your items fit into the pack.
The only thing I can find idssapointing baout resident evil 4 is its voice acting. It jsut...delievers kind of meh, but overall its okay. The story also isn't the best ever, but its still good. Botht he action and the story keep you going,w hich is something survival horror games alwyas miss out on (usually one being strong in one field, but it lacks in the other).
Overall resident evil 4 is truly a flawless game. There are no gameplay flaws, and the graphics are absolutely beautiful. It is a lengthy game which is loaded with tons of action and blod to keep any die hard survival horror fan going. If you're looking for one of the most compelling titles ot ever exist in the history of video games, pick up this game as soon as you can. The extras are also goignt o keep anyone playing just to unlock them. Don't think the game is over once you complete its 2 discs of incredible length.
Most memorable RE4 Moment: Fighting the first boss in the lake, and trying to harpoon it. It is a very difficult boss battle and is worth it just t o complete
Advice for RE4: Buy a rocket launcher before difficult boss fights. You are able to, which is a life saver when it comes to RE4