Resident Evil 4 Episode 1 - Resident Kinevil

@Mogan: Indeed.

@gameroutlawzz: I don't agree. I think the fixed camera angles and tank controls of the originals only serve as an artificial feeling way to create tension by crippling the player, rather than creating monsters that are actually dangerous. I can appreciate the mysterious and cinematic quality of the some of the shots in the original three RE games, but I always felt like those games needed more open levels and the player needed the ability to actually see and move more naturally in order to make the fight or flight decisions meaningful.

I also never thought the RE games were particularly scary or atmospheric (with the possible exceptions of REmake and the first third of RE4), so the kind of weak gameplay of the original games left me feeling pretty ambivalent towards them. They were Alone in the Dark, but they'd replaced the Lovecraft with B Movie camp. Not terrible, just ... flawed.

RE4 is still my favorite; I felt like the series finally kind of figured itself out there, and finally ditched the dated mechanics of fixed cameras and tank controls. RE5 kind of lost the plot though, and shackled the player to a terrible AI partner, so it was only fun in co-op. And RE6 ... was just a bad idea all the way around.

RE7 looks promising though.