In 2005, Resident Evil 4 on the Nintendo GameCube was rightfully lauded as one of the best action adventure games ever released, thanks to stunning visuals and white-knuckle action sequences that ranked amongst the best in gaming. Later that year, PlayStation 2 owners were blessed with their own version of the game, featuring more missions and some other unlockable goodies. And now you can play Resident Evil 4 on your PC for a mere $20. It's too bad that PC gamers have been inflicted with a lazy port that does as little as possible to cater to the platform. Forget mouse support, forget tailoring the visuals to your own preferences, and don't even think about any PC-only goodies: this is a direct transfer of the PlayStation 2 version. If you can get past all these problems, RE4 is still an intense, thrilling ride that will keep your heart pounding. But if you still haven't played Resident Evil 4, this version should be your last resort.
In case you haven't gotten wind of what the game is all about, you play as Leon S. Kennedy, a secret agent in charge of recovering the president's kidnapped daughter. His search leads to a creepy Spanish village where the residents are, well, not quite lucid. The story drops the occasional cliché, but for the most part, it avoids the usual horror pratfalls to deliver an interesting and intense narrative with a number of fascinating characters. It's also genuinely creepy, leading you through abandoned farmhouses, dank churches, and dripping caves, all the while throwing progressively weirder and stronger enemies at you. Like the PS2 version, it also includes a side story called Separate Ways, where you take control of spy Ada Wong and explore some of the same storyline from her perspective.
