Resident Evil 4

Reviewed by Marc Golding (April 20, 2007)

In RE4, you are armed to the teeth, but your enemies’ insistence, their thirst for your pain, and their sheer numbers create more compelling and dire circumstances than a few zombies or “nurses” after an unfortunate pipe-bearing player ever could.

Reviewed by Rob Hamilton (May 29, 2008)

Those early-game villagers utilize all sorts of farming implements, such as pitchforks, sickles and hatchets, in their attempts to end Leon's mission prematurely. And they're the patsies. Just wait until one of their heads explodes to release a tentacle-flailing parasite seemingly crafted in the darkest recesses of H.P. Lovecraft's imagination. Or a gigantic ogre lumbers into the fray, rips a gnarled tree out of the ground and starts swinging it around like it was light as a feather. Or a monstrous semi-invisible bug pounces, spraying Leon with acidic secretions.

Reviewed by harvester (April 13, 2006)

The Resident Evil games never really changed that dramatically over the course of the series (up to recently). They never ventured very far beyond the boundaries of standard survival horror, even if the series had itself invented a lot of what now defines the genre. However, as the games progressed, they appeared to become more and more monotonous. There's only so many moaning zombies and skinless dogs a person can take before they begin to ask for something a little different. In the fourth gam...

Reviewed by timrod (November 18, 2005)

To most people, Resident Evil 4's very existence is surprising, even moreso that it came out for PS2. Coming in at the tail end of what had so far been a consistent series of flops (except for possibly the remake of Resident Evil 1 on the GCN), no one really expected Resident Evil 4 to be that great - until they actually played it and saw that Capcom finally learned from their previous mistakes.

Reviewed by True (January 14, 2006)

Call it astonishing. Call it mind blowing. Call it the game of the week, the year or maybe even the decade. Call it the best Resident Evil yet; no one is going to argue. While Capcom may have only clawed at the face of the survival horror genre with its previous installments, RE 4 full on drives a nail into its heart. This isn’t a sequel that dabbles in what previously worked or a sequel that smothers you with irrelevant new ideas. This game is evolution—disturbing, haunting, brill...

Reviewed by wolfqueen001 (February 29, 2008)

Resident Evil 4 has effectively left me stunned, frightened, appalled, thrilled, and happy all in one. It was perhaps the most exciting game I have played in ages, not because of interesting plot twists (which in this game are more clichés anyway), but because of the sheer volume of opportunities and challenges, the endless swathe of action and gore, the undeniable gloomy atmosphere, and the downright grittiness that make such horror games fun.