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w00t!! got RE4 today and I have to say it's the best game I've played in a long while, it's not a true resident evil though on the surface because of the new type of gaming engine, firstly things like doors and shields can be shot through and the holes and damage will be different depending which gun you've used and you can even knock things off or make them fall down by shooting them!!!!
The first most brilliant difference is the interactivity of the enviroment, you can do things like climb ladders to escape enemies and then kick the ladder down so they can't follow you, kill a few (and always go for the one trying to put the ladder back up!!) and then kick it down again if they've managed to get the ladder up again (poor aim  ) you can also jump and climb over many surfaces that on previous versions of the game you would either have to run around to get past or you would have to climb on a specific portion and climb to the top, then have to walk accross and then have to climb slowly down which to be honest was one of the most annoying points of the Resident Evil series, well in Resident Evil 4 you jump over, slide across or just plain vault over!!! This level of interactivity truly does make the game so believable
The second massive difference is the AI for the enemies, mostly you will fight creatures with quite high intelegence who can speak in their own language and will do things like try to dodge bullets and try to surround you showing very complex behavior when compaired to the previous games. Most of them use some form of weaponry too from what I've seen (I'm still on chapter 3 on the first disk!!) can range from simple things like farming tools to swords and maces, some of them even use explosives (I've only seen dynamite but there's probibly more nasty things to come lol) and the new enemies are all really inovitive for instance if you kill certain zombies by decapitating them their heads explode but unlike normal instead of dying they get up and these strange things come out of their bodies and you have to destroy this new 'head' to kill the damn thing!!
The next difference is the shooting system, instead of the time old 360 shooting angle and simple leg, stomach, head shooting you have full control of exactly where you hit an enemy (which is a skill you will need to learn very quickly as some enemies only have very small weak points which you need to be very precise to hit!!) and you can do things like shoot them in the leg to make them fall over and headshots won't always kill an enemy unless you hit them square in the middle of their eyes!! but when you do you get the time old brain explosion that any resident evil fan will know and love because they know some zombie got pwnd!!!!! Also there is even two sniper weapons to choose from for long range attacks (which you will be needing to make very soon into the game!!)
The last difference is how they've changed the entire structure of the game, for one thing no item chests which were originally disposed of in Resident Evil 0 where characters could leave items in a room and return later to collect them. Instead you have a case which can accomodate several weapons and a few other items (there are oportunities to buy bigger cases later on) so everything you need will be stored in there which is an advantage because you can carry many more items than in any other Resident Evil and key items and treasure items don't take up space here (which is a damn relief lol). Also the only weapon you will find in the game is the bog standard shotgun but in this game you aquire money and ammunition from fallen enemies as well as finding them lying around! And you can use any money or valuble items (which you sell for money) to buy different weapons (more are unlocked as you play the game) which makes for very interesting and personal gaming because you can choose to use the long range weapons and the pistol (cs anyone!) to kill enemies or you can use the medium range SMG or if like me you like fighting close quaters you can buy shotguns!! Wepaons can also be upgraded! This also costs money and gets more expensive as the levels go up and improve your weapons so you can tackle harder foes! There are also different stats with upgrading so some guns are very upgradable so will end up being extreamly powerful if completely upgraded and again you can decide to what degree you upgrade your weapons again personalising it so you can play to your strengths. The last thing about weapons is they take up a lot of item space so I have a tendancy to sell my sniper rifle in closed spaces so I can put upgrades on my shotgun and vice-versa, the need to do this is deffinatly a turn back to it's survival horror routes as you need to chose the weapon which will give you the most likely chance of killing many enemies much quicker to be able to progress easily through the game, it sounds a bit odd now but when you play it and you can only cary one grenade and two herbs you'll see what I mean. The last feature they put in is the dynamic combat and movie sequences for actions performed by pressing A, B, L or R depending on the cirumstances, things associated with A are leg related, pressing A near most windows will allow Leon to jump out of it and roll across the floor, it also allows you to climb ladders and activate things as well! During combat A is used to counter enemy attack usually performing a kick which can either stun or decapitate an enemy, other time you will see A, B L and R together is during a cinematic sequence similar to the ones in Shenmue (sorry I can't remember the name of it!!) and you have to press or tap these buttons to perform a needed action, for example when fighting one boss you have to tap A to swim to your boat and climb in, on another boss you have to tap B to make Leon stab him in the hand and drop him. This style of the game telling you what buttons to press on the screen is a useful reminder to tell you things are there you might have missed at first glance and make gameplay smooth for a very realistic play.
And that's about all I can be bothered to write at this time, but beleive me the game is amazing and well worth playing, if you aren't a fan of reisident evil you will love it because it's a fast moving action packed game that makes you use wits as well as braun, if you are a resident evil fan you will love it because this game is resident evil but with out the restrictions of fixed camera angles and pre-rendered enviroments. If you own a GameCube you would be silly not to buy it and if you have a PS2 or X-BOX....... UL!!!!! It is comming out later this year on both those consoles and possibly on PC if certain romours are true...... but I'd look around for a leaked beta or something because it's an amazing game and well worth playing.
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