The Greatest Game on the PS2, but on the PC the porting plays spoilsport.........
I have played RE4 after all these games, and according to me its By Far the Best Playstation 2 game and could have been one of the Best PC Games if not for the porting.
Resident Evil 4 unlike God Of War (the so called best playstation 2 game and my third favorite game on the PS2) has a much better protagonist and its not all about combat, gore and puzzle solving. One of the few reasons why its better than GOW for me.
On top Resident Evil 4 is a damn realistic game. Makes you feel as if you are playing the game, a feature which the old SNES and DOS games(Prince Of Persia, Flashback) had but which is missing in most of the games today. The next gen games are simply too pathetic and incomparable to Resident Evil 4 and that i think mostly includes even its sequel Resident Evil 5.
The Story is amazing right from the start and the game sucks you in. A parasite called Las Plagas is spread among the people in different parts of the world. The US gov sterlizes the parasite thus eliminating the virus. Someone called Lord Saddler in Spain is not happy with it. BTW Saddler is the guy who starts this all. While excavating the Las Plagas, the villagers who excavate it also get it.
So Saddler kidnaps the US President's daughter. You play as LEON who according to me is one of the most charming and coolest attitude protagonist in any game.
LEON is hired by the president to provide security to his daughter. But since she is kidnapped, the task of finding her also is given to Leon.
The first level itself is pretty spooky. You are heading to this village which has infected Villagers. They have different weapons such as Pix Axe, Axe. One of them has a Chain saw and is known as Dr.Salvator.
Thus the story is very well told. There are almost no loop holes in the story. The background of every character is well told. Characters from the previous Resident Evil games also make an appearance. Few examples include the sexy Ada and her boss Wesker.
The Gameplay of RE4 is absolutely amazing. This is one of the very first games that introduced Quick time events but on a very small scale but a feature which was implemented by later games like God Of War on a very Large scale.
Anyways this game has very few QTEs. They only appear when needed and not in excess. For example - QTEs appear when you have to dodge an attack. Most of the gameplay involves using your inventory to select different weapons like Handguns, shotguns, Rifles etc. to use. Every gun has a Red Laser which is nothing but a substitute for cross-hair. Apart from that, when you make an enemy groggy by shooting and go near him, you also get a QTE option for pressing a button and Leon perfoms some cool moves like Super Kicks and Belly To Belly Suplex.
There are various other items you get on your Long journey like Treasures, gems which you can combine. You get Herbal Plants * First Aid Spray for health. The currency for this game is PESOS. This game takes place in Spain and so it has the old Spanish currency which was Pesos. Oh btw! By now you must have known that you can buy and sell stuffs. That's the beauty of this game. You combine various treasures and rack up their Selling Price and thus sell them. You get to buy new weapons or Tune up existing weapons.
The gore in this game is really nice and in correct proportions and not overly done.
The enemies are superb. They never get boring and all play differently in Easy, normal and professional modes.
Bosses are one the best features in this game. They are pretty intimidating and well done. You need a different strategy for each one.
The Presentation or Intro for each enemy and Boss is Impressive. One of the best features of Capcom's very own Devil May Cry, put to great use in Resident Evil 4.
Graphics - Graphics of this game are Excellent. The environments of every area is made with lots of effort and really looks live. The water graphics in this game is by far the best Water Graphics among all the PS2 games. The environments all give a very feel good factor.
The Sound and the Music is impressive. Voice Acting Excellent. The Spanish narration is also done well. Several words such as Un Forestero, Muere, muiris is vivir etc. are some which i remember. Overall the english dialogs, the words used are simply impeccable and make you feel as if you are playing a high class movie like Shawshank Redemption.
Even after playing the MAIN Game, the game doesn't get over. You unlock modes like Separate Ways in which you play from the perspective of Ada. This mode fills up even the little loops holes that were left in the Main Game. Ada Assignment is also another mode in which you have to collect Las Plagas Samples.
Mercenaries mode is by far the most addicting mode and regarded as some as even better than the main game. The reason is simple - You get to choose what map you want to play. You get to play not only as Leon, but also as Wesker, Krauser, Ada, Hunk. And you can kill as many enemies you want under a variable time(variable as you can open chests for bonus time).
It is small features like these that make this such an Epic Masterpiece and made it get High Scores.
Overall, Resident Evil 4 is a MUST PLAY for any action-adventure fan. It is quite truly one of the Greatest Games ever made in my opinion.
The PC port is not good. I played on the PC using joysticks. So i would suggest that to get the complete satisfaction from this game play it in your Gamecube(it has all features) or your Playstation 2. If you have PC, better get a Joystick else RE4 is gonna suck. Its pretty evident from the ratings. 9.6 for GC, 9.4 for PS2 and 7.9 for PC.......
But 9.6, infact 10 is a true score for this game. When MGS 4 or GTA 4 can get it, why can't this.
The graphics in PC were really amazing and the joystick allowed for smooth gameplay. I never encountered a single glitch. Never felt bored. This game has HIGH REPLAY VALUE. I am currently going through my 3rd run in this game - Normal Mode. This game is Perfect. Hope i don't end up hating Resident Evil 5.
This has become one of my favorite games of all time and i give it a rating of PERFECTION - 100/100.