The game is really good. Graphics, gameplay, audio, pretty much everything holds up to date; the game has really aged well. Controls worried me at first but they actually work very well. The controls are robust, yet the controls provide a unique experience that you just don't get anymore.

The graphics are amazing for a 2005 game. The motion capture is extremely fluid; complemented with the lively facial expressions that are almost as good as modern games (and better in the case of games like Assassin's Creed). The environments are well designed with intricate detail everywhere you look, although I didn't like how almost everything in the village was brown. The environmental designers could have gone for a bit of orange and yellow if they wanted the game set in Autumn.

Resident Evil 4's audio design isn't easy on the ears, and that's a good thing for the most part. Getting into combat gives this eerie rumbling that makes you feel unwelcome, but it is played too much to the point of being annoying. The voice acting as heart and soul poured into it, and not just the main cast. The Ganados, Zealots and Soldiers all have pretty good voice lines. I especially like when the Zealots perform their zombified chants (my personal fav is 'Cogedlo'). All the guns have good audio direction. Big guns and good guns are beefy, small guns and weak guns have sound that is respective to their status. Ambient noise wasn't noticeable, which is what I like. The only audio that I hated was the Attaché Case's selecting of an item. I hate the metallic sound it makes.

I love all the characters. The Merchant is the best; his awesome voice and his epic lines getting me pumped to continue playing the game. Everyone is funny in their own way. Chief Mendez who doesn't even talk is still funny yet intimidating with how he just stares blankly. Salazar and Leon's beef is actually treasure as is Leon's beef with Saddler. The cheesy dialogue is really what I like to see in villains, especially the anti-American rhetoric. It manages to be funny constantly without overstaying its welcome.

It might seem odd with this game having tank control, but it really is a unique experience that you don't really get anymore. You have three speeds: walk, backwalk, sprint. It allows for really consistent, well-thought-out moments of evasion. While baiting out and dodging an attack might not be deeper than walking forwards then walking backwards, it still feels satisfying when you pull it off correctly, i.e., in the right situations. The Merchant system works superbly, especially as it is intertwined with the exploration. You explore to find resources and treasure/money. You can sell anything you own that isn't a key item. As you progress, money is easier to come by, allowing you to purchase the goodies that pack a punch. This includes guns as well as upgrades. The system is paced in a way that fits so well with the difficulty. You get progress just as the game does, no need to grind for a stupid amount of money or to get a high enough level. You earn enough money as you go along and exploration isn't necessary, it just gives those with a 'lack of skill' a boost. Guns are great. You've got your pistols which are weak 90% of the time but are useful for stunning and performing melee attacks. Knife helps you save ammo (not that you need to) and is vital in some parts of the game. Shotgun destroys at close range and provides easy area clearance. Rifle is for long range high damage. TMP is crowd control - good for stunning lots of enemies who are overwhelming you. Magnums have a kick and RPG is the boss killer. You can't go wrong with that, mate. Ashley controls surprisingly well; never really had a problem with her. The enemy variety is big and it's really good. This game always manages to shake things up with different enemy types. Even the island which has a bad flow has great enemy variety and placements.

Unfortunately, there are a few criticisms, but they are pretty minor and few in quantity. Firstly, ammo is just way too abundant. I was never running out of ammo unless I exclusively used a single weapon for a long period of time. It really hurts the resource management in the game. On the other hand, healing items are relatively scarce, which is a good thing in my opinion. There was also this one cutscene that really annoyed me. When Leon and Luis are tied up, a guy with an axe (that we never see in-game) attempts to murder them. Leon and Luis were tied up for a reason and Leon was injected with las Plagas. They weren't even attempting to escape, they were just talking. I also think the island section drags on for a bit too long, making the flow feel a bit incoherent.

9/10

Avoid second half of review cause spoilers.

Multiplayer:
Dear Lord is this the biggest disappointment of the year. The multiplayer gameplay is so good. It's probably third best in the series. The super strong SBMM and PBMM completely ♥♥♥♥ you over in this game, all in the name of corporate greed. Everyone gets a gold medal, 1.0KD and an equal chance to get an unfriggenbelievable. It's not a true testament to a player's skill. Everyone gets the same weekly challenges, so when you get a challenge like 'Get 5 kills with the worst weapon in the game' you get two reactions. n00b: "This seems fun!" Anyone with a shred of skill: -12 KDA. So you have to progress through the (extremely tedious) battle pass in order to get more challenge swaps so you can get easy challenges to complete so you can upgrade the battle pass more. And if you ever hear some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ defend SBMM, just know their argument is completely invalidated by the fact that a Ranked playlist exists. Literally no point on playing Quick Play when Ranked is less sweaty and cancer-inducing. 'It's to stop you pubstomping n00bs!!!' No, it's to retain newer players by making them think they're good at the game. They don't actually get better, and when they fight people who aren't complete brainlets, they're already too invested by the game and have probably spent money on it. So if you're half decent like me and are in anything above Gold VI, get ready, because in Quick Play you're gonna have to match up against exclusively 4 stack Onyx players where everyone is a cracked psycho enraged by the fact that they haven't snorted their 5th line of cocaine for the day. You are discouraged from doing anything that isn't the meta. What's the point on using the Sentinel Beam if everyone is using a BR? 'If you really just want to chill, then chill. If you play badly then you'll go into easier lobbies.' How am I supposed to chill when I am getting perfected across the map by some kid with a Sidekick, just because I wanted to use the grapplehook in a casual manner? And when I get into easy lobbies, then what? If I play well, because God forbid I can't forget how to aim, then I'm back to playing sweats. This system will be abused by smurfs because the game is F2P. You also can't play with friends who are at a different skill level than you. If you're in Onyx and your friend is in Gold, your friend isn't gonna wanna play with you because he's going 9 and 21 even at his A game. Why can't they just have mixed lobbies with team balancing? Put in persistent lobbies and you've actually got a decent system. It's not always fun to have to sweat your balls off just so you don't get the world's worst KDA seen in a Quick Play match. I don't have fun because every match feels like an MLG tournament. And saying 'just play bad to get a lower MMR' isn't a fix. I shouldn't have to get 0 kills for 10 matches just so I can get into slightly easier lobbies where I will go 30-3 and be pushed back up into the high MMR matches. It's like the people who defend MMR aren't actually good at the game and just like having a 1.0KDR because they know they'll do worse when pitted up against the game's average player. And why do 3 stacks or 4 stacks not have the option for input restriction in Ranked? SBMM isn't a true testament to your skill because you are only going up against clones of yourself. When everyone plays like you do every single match, the game gets boring. It's so much more fun when one of the teams has a Sniper god and he's destroying people with it like he did in Reach, but you don't get that anymore. And when everyone plays against themselves, everyone gets a 1.0KDR. So the game's biggest n00b will have a similar or the same KDR as the game's biggest champion. The XP system sucks because some challenges are locked behind certain game modes and even maps, so bad luck if you're not getting the game modes you want. You don't get any XP based on how you performed, and I've heard the argument 'XP is just an illusion, you're still progressing at the same pace'. No you aren't. If I get a challenge to get 20 kills and I get 19 kills, I get no XP. 'Well get the last kill next match.' So then you get 30 kills in BTB and you get your 200 XPs worth for 20 kills. So that means you aren't rewarded for the extra 29 kills. And what if I get challenges like getting 5 kills with the Disruptor, winning Stockpile matches, capturing 10 flags, and playing Stronghold matches? Like, say I get slayer 7 times in a row? I only get 50XP every match if I've played my first 6 matches of the day. And what if I get a match with Stockpile? I'm not guaranteed to win so I get no challenge XP even if I got 10 Power Seeds secured and a +20KDA with a variety of medals. What if I get a match that doesn't have the Disruptor? Oh well, better luck next time. Then say you get a map that has the POTENTIAL to spawn the Disruptor. For whatever reason, the spawns for some (if not all) of the weapons are completely randomised. So what happens when I don't get the proper map + the proper variant + the proper game mode? Controller is OP for BR BTW, so if you're using MnK you're putting yourself at a HUGE disadvantage due to the strong aim assist. And again, there's no input matchmaking apart from solo/duo Ranked. Melee is completely broken in this game. For some inconceivable reason, meleeing an enemy knocks you back. I've seen myself, teammates and enemies melee someone, make the sound and it just doesn't do any damage. Sometimes I've been on no shields, been meleed by an enemy only to not take any damage. But it also happens in the enemy's favour sometimes. And it's also happened when teammates fight enemies in favour of either or. The servers are completely desynced and if you're wondering how you're getting shot behind walls you can thank the awful server-client relationship. One of the main problems with this game is the body types. They've swapped out male and female for 3 near-identical androgynous body types, labelled 1, 2 and 3. The only difference between them is that there is a minuscule waist size difference. Here's a list of the things we're missing:
- FFA
- Infection
- Grifball
- Juggernaut
- KotH (we got Strongholds which is just a poor man's KotH)
- Snipers
- Shotty Snipers
- Settings-specific playlists (Precision and Auto Slayer are kind of just separated by Ranked and Quick Play)
- Race
- Invasion
- 1v1
- 2v2
- Hardcore gamemodes
- Collision
- Free colour white or pink
- Magnum
- M90 Shotgun
- Firefight
- Co-op Campaign
- Colours
- Forge
- A working Theatre
- Permanent Fiesta
- Mode-specific playlists or MCC matchmaking
- Performance based experience points
- Player levels (like General or Commander from Reach)
- Persistent lobbies
- Veto
- Server browser
- Input restriction apart from solo/duo Ranked
- Playable Elites
- Samurai helmet like from the trailer
- Fun

Campaign:
The story is so meh. By the end of the campaign, I'm left wondering what actually happened and what half of the terminology in the game meant. But the half that I understood was pretty cool. You can't replay missions and people defend it by saying 'well it's hard to implement it in an open world game cause of valour'. First of all, GTA, AC and RDR2 have all done this and valour doesn't even work as a currency and can be adjusted for by allowing only certain things to be called in at an FOB or just let players use everything they've unlocked. Hunters are on steroids again and are still way too hard to fight when you have Thruster and Grapplehook. Seriously, they should not have lock-on, rapid fire, explosive shots. And they aren't afraid to shoot when you're right next to them. Sometimes they rush you only to shoot you instead of melee. Melee on Hunters is too fast, would've been better if they had Reach speed melee to make the Thruster better.

Honestly, just buy Vanguard or 2042, because this game is utter garbage.