Resident Evil 4 / Biohazard 4
Developer: Capcom.
Publisher: Capcom.
Release Date: January 11, 2005.
One of the most critically acclaimed of the franchise, Resident Evil 4 brings a lot to the table for hardcore fans. Whether it's a true survival-horror experience, an in-depth story, or just a ton of content, Resident Evil 4 has it all.
The game begins lightly, but only for the first half hour of gameplay. Once you meet the deadly horde of Ganados in the village, the game officially begins to go downhill, in a horrifyingly good way.
You're placed back into the shoes of an ex-cop, Leon S. Kennedy, and this time-- his job is to rescue the president's annoying daughter, Ashley Graham. She gets herself into quite the situations throughout the story, but that's okay. Leon just keeps rescuing her, over and over.
This installment also introduces quick-time events, and if you're a fan of this game, you'll know that they sometimes get annoying. But then again, they're managable, and that's okay. There are plenty of enemies you can fend off with your large selection of weapons. For instance, you can take down one of the game's most horrifying enemies-- the Regenerator, with a high-powered rifle that has a special scope equipped. The game is well-crafted, and simply one of the best in the franchise, and there's a reason that Capcom decided to put it on almost every platform known to man, because the players think that it's one of the greatest in the history of Resident Evil.
Upon completion of the main storyline, you're greeted by a few new game modes: Mercenaries, Assignment Ada, and Seperate Ways. Both Seperate Ways and Assignment Ada are add-ons to the story, in a sense, while The Mercenaries is a minigame that has you playing as different characters that each have different loadouts to accumulate as many points as you can within an allotted time. There are also different stages to the minigame mode as well, with each stage granting a new character if you get over a certain amount of points.
Assignment Ada is a minigame, that has Ada Wong, one of the main characters in the Resident Evil series, collecting all 5 plagas samples. It wasn't really the best of the three unlockable modes, but it's decent enough, and that's good. Once completing that mode, you get a reward for use in your next playthrough of the main story of Resident Evil 4.
Separate Ways has you playing as-- yet again, Ada Wong, and she has numerous missions throughout the five stages. One of the missions, is to kill Saddler and retrieve the sample. There is also another unlockable item for use in the main story of Resident Evil 4, and with both of the unlockables combined, you'll be unstoppable.
The Mercenaries is yet another minigame that has you playing in five different stages, with a set of characters that you can choose from, with each giving you a different loadout. For example: Wesker has a magnum that can take down enemies with ease. Krauser has an overpowered bow along with a TMP. There are plenty of characters to choose from, so take your time and see which one is better for you. Once again, you need to unlock them, so be aware of that. You start off with Leon S. Kennedy, and you can start from there.
Overall, this game packs a ton of content for each player, and right now it's on sale for $4.99 USD. That's basically a steal, considering the amount of content, along with the amount of playtime that's included with this gem.
Should you play?
Definitely. This game is truly one of the best in the Resident Evil franchise, and it deserves all of the attention it garners.
Overall score: 9/10
