Resident Evil 4

I surprised my younger brother with the classic Resident Evil 4 for PlayStation 2, hoping it'd give him that perfect mix of heart-pounding action and creepy vibes to dive into during his gaming marathons. Boy, was I right—this 2005 masterpiece from Capcom is still a beast of a game, even on the aging PS2 hardware. Picked it up for about $20 used (a steal compared to its original $50 launch price), and it's already glued him to the couch for hours. If you're gifting to a teen (or anyone) who loves survival horror with a side of over-the-shoulder shooting, this is pure gold. Five stars—it's not just a game; it's a rite of passage. What I Loved Most Gripping Story and Atmosphere: You step into the boots of Leon S. Kennedy, the wisecracking secret agent on a mission to rescue the president's daughter from a zombie-infested Spanish village. The narrative hooks you from the eerie opening cutscene, blending campy one-liners with genuine dread—think chainsaw-wielding psychos and parasitic monsters that crawl right out of your nightmares. My brother raves about the "Las Plagas" cultists; they're smarter and scarier than the old-school zombies, turning every encounter into a tense standoff. Revolutionary Gameplay: This was the game that ditched clunky fixed cameras for smooth over-the-shoulder aiming, making combat feel modern and intuitive (even by today's standards). The resource management—scavenging for ammo, herbs, and upgrades—keeps you on your toes, while quick-time events and knife finishes add that satisfying "just dodged death" thrill. Boss fights? Epic. My bro's already on his second playthrough for the unlockables like the Chicago Typewriter machine gun. At 20-25 hours for the main story, it's replayable heaven. PS2 Port Perfection: The PS2 version nails the visuals with widescreen support and progressive scan for crisp 480p glory on modern TVs (via component cables). Load times are a hair longer than the GameCube original, but the extra content—like the "Separate Ways" Ada Wong mini-campaign—makes it the definitive edition. Sound design is killer too: that chainsaw rev-up still gives me chills. Any Downsides? It's a 2005 game, so controls can feel a bit tanky if you're used to analog-stick everything (no full 360-degree aiming), and the auto-aim helps but takes getting used to. Controls might frustrate super-modern gamers at first, but that's part of the charm—my brother powered through in a day. Also, no online co-op, but who needs it when the solo tension is this good? Bottom Line Resident Evil 4 on PS2 is a legendary survival horror title that redefined the genre and still holds up as one of the best action-adventures ever made—96/100 on Metacritic isn't hype; it's earned. Gifting this to my brother was spot-on; he's hooked on the adrenaline rush and begging for RE5 next. If you're hunting retro thrills or introducing a young gamer to Capcom's magic, snag this ASAP. It's affordable, immersive, and guaranteed to create some "holy crap, did that just happen?" family stories. (Pro tip: Grab a memory card if you're low on space—the save files and extras eat it up, but it's worth every byte!)

This is without a doubt the best Resident Evil game since RE2. It's got a creative and different setting, it brings back RE's best hero (Leon!), it manages to be spooky while still playable. There's no questions this game has some difficult sections when you play through the first time. As with all survival horror, you start barely armed, have to hoard ammo and use it carefully (no first-person shooter, this, you need to be clever). As the game goes on you gradually get better weapons, but the enemies get stronger. On a re-play, of course, you start with a full boat of weapons, so the game is MUCH easier on successive plays; but here's one of the strengths of RE4. The plot and graphic design make it a pleasure to re-play, and the money element lets you play (in effect) for score, gathering up as much as you can without wasting it on things you don't need. You also have the choice of keeping lesser weapons to challenge yourself (I'm now playing it with the knife as much as I can, just to prove I can beat lower enemies with no gun). This game has something we've never had in RE; the ability to buy and upgrade weapons. Where other games were all about getting away from the enemies in many scenes, this one encourages more fighting because enemies drop items (money or supplies). While this takes away an element that's fun and creepy (run away! run away!), it trades this for a better fighting game where you HAVE TO kill enemies in many cases. The weapons available are all entertaining, and you have choices, selling ones you don't like as much for ones you like better. This lets you choose one of several very good weapons as you main side arm, and lets you change the game on re-plays by working with different sets of weapons. You can also sell a weapon and then buy it back later, so things that are gone are not gone for good. There's a *lot* of shooting in this game, and lots of changes to try out different weapons to find what works best. Gone are the 'magic boxes' that let you stash weapons in one room and get them from another. This is different, but not really better or worse; as you play you can upgrade your carry capacity with bigger cases. So there's a bit more thought required to make sure you have only what you need, but you also can have all your weapons to hand and never have to run back to swap a shotgun for a sniper rifle. One of the main things I like about this game is that it actually has a coherent plot. Many of these games wind up with mystery story lines so convoluted that it makes following them more effort that it's worth. This one plays like an action film, and you could pretty much convert it to a movie with no re-work. It makes watching someone else play the game entertaining, which I find unusual. That the graphics are great goes without saying. Graphics in video games are so sophisticated these days that I don't even notice any more. But what stands out here is some really fabulous graphic design. Some of the settings - castles, mansions, caves, tombs, mines - are brilliantly designed and I find myself stopping in many scenes simply to admire the way a scene looks. All in all it's a great game. If you like RE, this is a must-have. There are down sides of course. If you're a huge puzzle fan, the puzzles are mostly pretty easy. Puzzles are my least-favorite part of survival horror games, so this isn't a big issue for me, but still, they're easy. More annoying to me is that they pulled the game-designer cheat in some scenes of making you character (Leon) slower and clumsier in boss fights. Lots of games do this, but it's cheating as far as I'm concerned. There are several fights against 'El Gigante' bosses where Leon's run speed goes down, and they box you into a small area where it doesn't make sense to fight, and the reaction speed on the controls decreases slightly. It makes the fight harder, but not in a fun way because you can't spin and juke and fire the way you would normally, you wind up under the monster's feet when you mean to be pulling a grenade and then popping a few rounds into him (though these fights get incredibly easy on re-play if you have a big weapon). I've seen a number of games where they do this, making a fight harder by changing your character's behavior or control response time, and it is, IMO, cheating by the game designers. My objections are trivial though. Of all the survival horror games I've played, this is very close to the most fun.

I bought this game a few months ago, but I've been playing a rental of it for a couple of years! I really love the resident evil series, such a moving, terrifying, action-packed storyline with awesome characters~! although, it is pretty different from the other games (1, 2, 3, outbreak 1 & 2, code veronica). the fighting style is different-you get a handgun, a knife, some bullets and a first-aid spray at the beginning, not much. not only that...It's VERY HARD to get a plentiful load of bullets and health items. it's hard to find them, and if you already have too much in your inventory, you may not even be able to carry it! O_o; also, in this game for the first time...you only get HALF of your health (what?!) at the start of the game. to get more health in your health bar, you need to gather yellow herbs and mix them with green herbs. BUT, don't just eat the herbs right away...you HAVE TO SAVE THEM! when you run out of health, THEN eat the mix. you just can't afford to waste herbs.... another thing...this RE game doesn't have zombies, just villagers with a mind-control parasite that makes them crazy. however, they it DOES have pretty creepy/violent and hard-to-beat monsters! (chainsaw guy, Verdugo, lake monster, ect.) for me...this game is pretty hard, even on the EASY level. X_X (yeah yeah, I KNOW people have mastered the harder levels, so?) this is more of a action-packed, survival (lack of health/ammo), strategy game...it's not like the other RE games. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* this game really makes you think, what can you do? where will you go? how much supplies do you have left?!?! not only that...although some people think that this game isn't very scary, believe it or not. IT IS! O_O; in this game, you really have to LOOK at your surroundings...you can SEE THE HORROR, but you have to find it. like for example, in the beginning-when you're in the villagers house, you can see some skulls in a box. out by the farms, you can find bodies in a haystack cart, CREEPY! at night, the villagers' eyes glow RED! Capcom was pretty smart to not allow all the horrors and gimmicks show up so easily like in the other RE games. but...it's pretty hard, and you may get frustrated ALOT. Leon is definitely one of my most favorite characters, to see him in action (a new, better look than in RE 2) in his own game and personal storyline, I wish they'd make another game with him in it. the scenery, music, sound effects and visuals are amazing! this is definitely a great buy for anyone who is a fan of resident evil (I'm working on completing my RE game collection) however, I reccomend that ANYONE WHO HASN'T played the resident evil games before...should play them now, first. because this game kinda requires that you know SOME experiance from the other games' gameplay. this was the first RE game I've played (then came code veronica, then 3, then 2...), so when I played RE 4 for the first time it was almost IMPOSSIBLE! it's a near-perfect game, and it's hard to stop playing once you start!

God dam this the wrost product i ever got takes years load up.

Resident evil 4 for the ps2 is downscaled to say the least compared to its GameCube counterpart, however your still left with a well ported rendition of RE4. I will be going over the goods and the bads of this version. Pros: - It’s still resident evil 4 even if downscaled it’s still the same great game we know and love! - The separate ways dlc makes its debut on this edition. In Separate Ways you play as Ada Wong, the woman in the red dress that was assisting Leon during the main campaign. Basically it shows what was happening with her during the main campaign and why some events are more than just pure coincidence, church bell ringing at just the right time as Leon’s getting attacked by villagers ring a bell? - The graphics especially for the ps2 look good! Cons: - I said the graphics are good HOWEVER they are a noticeable drop from the GameCube or wii edition. I didn’t even have to compare them side by side in order to tell I literally just popped it in started playing and thought “Wow this looks worse.” The frame rate dips at times too although it not too frequent and it doesn’t hinder the gameplay all that much but it is there and you will notice it. - The sound also takes a hit. Everything in general sounds muffled almost like the sounds are coming on the other side of the wall! Again nothing that breaks the game but again worth pointing out and is noticeable! So if your looking at buying the ps2 version of RE4 your basically going to have one of two reasons for getting it. First one is your a collector and want all copies of RE4 which in that case you’re probably going to buy it anyways regardless of the reviews lol. The second is you want an “old” RE4 that’s non hd and your wondering if this is the copy to get. It depends. If you have a wii I DEFINITELY recommend getting that copy instead mainly because it supports the good graphics and sound of the GC copy as well as the Seperate Ways dlc in this copy. If you don’t have a wii but have a GC and Ps2 it really boils down to how bad you want to play the extra content. If you NEED the extra campaign then you can’t go wrong with the Ps2 copy even with its flaws that I mentioned it’s still the same great game. If the extra dlc doesn’t matter then go with the GameCube copy for a smoother better sounding experience!

After looking at previews when it was first released, I wasn't so drawn to it. A Family member of mines bought it and i immediately got into it. i would say in a span of only a week, i played the whole game more than 4 to 6 times. If it had not been bought, i don't think i would know it to this day. I know i may be a little late in doing a preview of a game thats been out for a LONG time, but not everybody has it. First of all, this Resident Evil marks a new beginning for future resident evils. the game-play is not really the same anymore. The camera angle is always behind your back, maybe a little to left side of Leon's shoulder. It provides decent exposure, so there's nothing bad about it. Of Course enemies will be around you, so the camera angle can't show you Leon's blind sides. But Leon will turn his head to the nearest enemy to warn you that one is near, so thats the time to run and create distance. When he enters a building or any other area, the camera is not going to be in varies places like in previous REs, unless it's trying to show you your next obstacle/assignment. Like Claire's last game, you're pretty much far away from Raccoon city. Leon is somewhere in Spain, on a secret mission to find the president's daughter who's been kidnapped. On the way, he'll meet a new Character name Luis who will help you. You'll see some familiar faces like Ada Wong (who looks REALLY good by the way) and Wesker. There are no zombies, or at least the same KIND of zombies. They can speak and are very quick. Something is making the villagers sick. and you'll learn about a ugly bug that is injected into people's bodies, sticks to your ribcage and spreads the virus all through the body. Aiming can be a little tricky because it is not automatic. you have to ACTUALLY AIM accurately as best you can, but its not really a big deal. The player is just not lazy this time. If you aim at the knee caps or in the face, the Enemy will be stunned for a few seconds. thats your time to run up to them and Leon will perform an assault. this will save you loads of bullets. You can also upgrade your weapons from a creepy merchant who will be waiting for you in various places. This merchant offers a load of goodies, such as inventory room, first aid spray, new weapons, weapon pieces. He also accepts any jewels or treasure that Leon will find in exchange for more money. You can also sale anything you have back to the Merchant. You do have the option of killing the merchant with a VERY simple attack. But i am pretty much unaware of how the relationship between he and Leon will be once you find the merchant in another area. You'll have to read on that. The Merchant also has a aiming range room. I'm not really sure about this either because i don't play it much. Leon's attitude in this story is much manlier but he still has a big heart. He's not a rookie anymore and he'll show you why. lol. But he's serious this time. He'll have to babysit Ashley, which is the girl he's come to rescue. You have to watch out for her because enemies will pick her up or go to the nearest exit, and when that happens, the game is over. Be careful on where you shoot the enemy that's holding Ashley. i usually aim for the feet and they will drop her. There are three commands you can give to Ashley, You can either go anywhere and tell her to wait there, you can run up to a garbage dumpster and tell her to hide in it, or you let her stay with you if you're really good at dodging enemies when she's by your side. You can't go through an exit or to the next area without her, though. Like the merchant, Ashley is extremely vulnerable, so make sure not to throw a bomb near her, or accidentally shoot her. she's just a girl. XD There are tons of boss battles, so you'll be pretty busy, but you'll also have fun. these aren't really phony boss fights. the bosses look really yucky but they also look awesome. you can tell the creators put ALOT of thought and time into making this game. The game is also extremely long. it surprised me. After you complete a game, some goodies will be unlocked at the Title screen. An option called "extra" will appear at the bottom. its kind of hard to see, but its there. pick that option and you'll see that you now have a Theater, you get to play Ada and experience HER side of the story, but her's is a little shorter. you also get to play another story as Ada, but this is more of a challenge game where you have to find specific items that Wesker wants her to get. Both Characters will get to keep everything that they've found in the first round of the game, that includes weapons, ammo, treasure and money. the only thing Leon doesn't keep is his jacket, which is what he wore to start the game off. that was pretty weird. maybe a glitch? Leon and Ashley will both have two extra outfits. One outfit is his old S.T.A.Rs outfit which looks awful on him in my opinion (he looks like he has a bunch of belly-roles) and the other is....lol well it looks like a pimp outfit, but he looks REALLY good in it. Ashley on the other hand, looks kinda weird. One is called a pop-star outfit if i'm correct and the other is a knight armor. THIS will come in handle for Ashley because if an enemy is near her they can't touch her at all. she's invincible to any damages with that armor on, even to a rocket launcher. The only downfall about it, is that every time Ashley moves, the armor makes some annoying noises too. They don't let you mix the outfits in combinations either. Before you start a game, they will ask which outfits you want, you can either pick, Normal, Outfit 1 Or Outfit 2. so its not like you can pick outfit 2 for Leon and then outfit 1 for Ashley. They both get the same. You will also unlock an Infinite Rocket Launcher which is something i love using, but costs alot!! NOw that the price is really low, i would urge anyone who hasn't bought it yet, to give it a shot. I do believe it is worth the money and it has ALOT of action in it!!

I had not played this game at all before, but decided to pick it up after seeing so many people say this is their favorite game of all time. The game came in 2 days and the packaging was relatively good. The disc is brand new or mint condition. The instructional book is brand new as well. I have to note this too because I did not just pick this game up to play it but I also picked it up to have it in my collection, the game cover came ripped and it bugged me. Overall the quality of the disc and case is good. Now for the game, I never had much fun playing another Resident Evil. If you enjoy the elements from RE 1,2 & 3 but want a faster-paced action game then this is the game for you! Recommend this product to anyone who's a fan of the franchise.

Man, are all games like this or have I just set the bar really high by making Resident Evil 4 my first adult video game? This game is fun, scary, exhilarating....It's awesome. I finally got my first gaming system (PS3) last month. The only cool looking adult PS3 game is Resistance: Fall of Man. So before I crack that open, I'm thinking: "I liked the movies, the movies are based on the games, so why not try out RE4 to get started?" So, I pop open a cold one, sit down with my new RE4 game and proceed to have a heart attack from the terror it causes. No, not really. I'm old, but hopefully not that old. The game starts you (Leon) out in the woods in front of an old house on the outskirts of a Spanish speaking European village. You're a third person controlling Leon. The graphics are 3D and there's Dolby sound. As you walk through the spooky woods towards the house your footsteps in the leaves are clear. Upon entering the house you are immediately attacked by a crazed local that doesn't seem to be a zombie. Based on the movies (and previous games from what I hear) you expect zombies. As you exit the house you are attacked by more locals (that will viciously kill you unless either you do them in first or safely make your way past). Zombies would have been a welcome adversary versus this unexpected enemy. A map is provided for you to follow to your chapter destinations. There are typewriters scattered sparsely through the game where you can save progress. As you make your way to the target destinations, you are introduced to a variety of enemies that will try to stop you at every turn. As you are successful in doing so you are rewarded with the opportunity to explore areas that have a barrage of items that will be useful for you to take. A word to the wise, however, clear any area of enemies (if possible) before going exploring! The main objective is to rescue the daughter of the President of the United States. But I'm miles away from that at this point. After 3 total hours of play I just got through the main village and the farm to chapter 2. And that's a good thing. Because this is dog-gone fun. The day I finish--if I ever finish--this game...it will be a bittersweet moment. Combine some red herb with some green herb for better health, then sell a Dirty Pearl Necklace and some Spinals to the Merchant so that you have enough pesetas to add Resident Evil 4 to your Amazon cart. P.S.--Is there a rule about writing game reviews prior to actually finishing the game? Certainly that's not something I'd do with DVD or my other item reviews. This is my first real game review, and the rules just seem a little different. If I had to wait to finish a game before I reviewed it...well, I question whether I'll ever be able to "beat" a game. Your comment would be greatly appreciated.