6 years after the Umbrella incident in Racoon City, the president's daughter was kidnapped in Spain, and Leon Kennedy alone was tasked to get her back. The president trusts him, and he is now part of an anti-bioweapon group.

After using fixed camera view for years, the series has changed and the devs went with the over the shoulder pov. RE4 also become a linear game, and instead of gradually open up a place via puzzles, like in the other games before in the series.

These changes are not making a game better or worse, but there are things that the devs have to compromise naturally.

The game also has an aweful lot of quick time events, where you have to push a pair of buttons, to do an action successfully. This is usually LT + RT or X + A on controller. I really don't like those, and many instances it would be better just make it a cutscene.

For most people playing with controller comes natural. I however grew up with keyboard and mouse, and I have a terrible aim with controller. I had to switch because the game has atricious controls with PC controls. Either the devs forgot about it, or they didn't care, or this is the best they could do. Not even - the otherwise very useful - RE4 tweak software could save it.

I reluctantly switched to controller, and prepared myself for suffering. Little did I know, the game has excellent controls with the controller. I just got myself a new device as well, and after finishing Arkham Origins with it, I had a little bit more confidence. Just a little. :)

So when I switched to controller, my verdict was like this: RE4 is 3/10 with keyboard and mouse (if you are a dev, and you make a PC port, please make the kbm controls at least decent). Otherwise the game starts well, and I enjoyed the welcome change of the scenery…

Even with controller however there are problems, like you can't adjust the sensitivity. This is where RE4 tweak comes in. A fan made mod, to make the game better on modern machines. It has ton of options, including for controllers. Hats of to the modders!

What's also nice that you can use it on Linux as well, since you only need to copy some files in your install directory, then in game press F1 any time, to check options. Oh and don't forget to press save.

I played with the regular graphics on my first playthrough on normal. At first I had trouble activating the HD mod, but then I realized what was the problem. I tried to use the RE4 tweak that comes with the HD Project, however it looks like it is outdated. So I just used the fresh one.

On Linux I used the innoextract utility that will help you extract the files from the setup files.

$ innoextract re4HDProject-setup.exe

Then delete this directory in your Steam folder:

/whereveryoursis/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Resident Evil 4/BIO4

And move or copy the BIO4 folder from the HD Project one, to the Steam directory above.

Add this to your launch options in Steam (right click on game and properties), without this, it won't start probably. The game will ask you about patching the exe for more than 4 GB memory usage. I said yes of course.

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8=n,b" %command%

Personally I consider the HD Project, a must have, and a quality fan made remaster, which rivals with some of the latest commercial remasters in the gaming industry.

It took me a while to warm up to playing this with controller. But after it, I had great fun! We are in the Spanish countryside, very far away from any civilization, and a great contrast with Racoon City. Two local policemen escorts us to the place where they last saw Ashley Graham, the president's daughter.

After the first meet of a village person, we realize they are not zombies. Thank god! No, as it turns out, they are mindcontrolled people. That's better, right?

Enemies are varied from melee with pitchforks and throwing dynamites and axes. While they are not challenging if one or two appears, their real strenght is in their numbers, so make sure you are not getting cornered by 4+ guys.

What I like about the intro section that how open that village section is. You can run around, evading enemies, climb onto roof then ditch the ladder, or climb through windows, etc.

The big changes of RE4 is the introduction of the Merchant. A mysterious guy, who seemingly has access of space in front of us, despite hundreds of villagers and cultists along the way. He sells weapons, storage space and first aid spray (heals you fully). During the playthrough we can find gems, and other treasures that we can sell. Also, don't sell eggs. I made a mistake, without examining them, and I sold them, instead of eating them so it would have healed me. Which is funny because I love eating eggs, but I saw that merchant can buy them. Silly me…

This is Ada's side of the story. I always wondered why she didn't get her own games, since she is fairly popular among the player base. Maybe if we get more of her, the mystery surrounding her would disappear?

The story is short, and I liked the difference compared to Leon's campaign. There are some pretty cool set pieces, and a nice addition to weekend in Spain.

Plus, if you complete it, you will get the ultra troll outfit for Leon & Ashley. Leon will have a stylish suit with a hat, and Ashley get's to be a heavy knight. That also means, she won't be harmed or picked up by the enemy. Doing Leon Professional, is now probably possible for me.

As a PC gamer I always wondered why devs putting in these button mashing periods. I found an interview where the RE4 director talks about, how he wanted a more interactive experience during cutscenes, that he found it too passive to just watch a cutscene.

Personally I prefer cutscenes over QTE sections, because sometimes they are doing QTEs for very little things, which makes sense more with a few seconds or 1-2 minute cutscenes. Like a certain knife fight during RE4. Cool and everthing, but I would like to see it as a continuous take.

I am not an achievement hunter on Steam, but we only have 12 achievement for this game, which I find very few. There should be like 66, or something. Collecting weapons, outfits, getting blown up by your own grenade, etc.

Compared to RE remake, which has 44 achievements, that many of them are hidden. Resident Evil VII - as much as I dislike that one - has 58 achievements.

I think there are too many QTEs. There is literally a fight with a later boss, which is a personal fight for Leon, yet it's just QTE.

I also didn't like the bossfights, if I can do it, other people will breeze through them. I had more problem with the chainsaw guys than any of the bosses.

Other than this, I don't remember anything from my first playthrough that bothered me much. Ashley is OK, she is not as annoying as I heard. And playing as her is a nice change of pace for me.

I think it's a well made game with an aim to be more action orianted than previous titles in the series. The combat is addicting, and I love that most places act as a combat puzzle, although some of them can be infuriating, like a certain cage.

Enemies have great variety, and can be challenging in packs. I love using shotguns or grenades against them. As I mentioned, single big boss = rocket launcher. I think treasure maps well worth money for first use, but maybe later we can memorize it, or just cheat in a modern way. xD

The story is cheese - sometimes a one -, but Leon is likable and Ashley is nice to look at. There are tons of bosses, although most of them are just, like "shoot the hightlighted or weak bodypart with the biggest damage gun you have". Puzzles can be moderatly hard, some are youtube worthy, others are laughable.

Shooting is satisfying, guns are punchy, and enemies react really well. You can shoot their legs and kick them, or knife them to death. I usually don't play shooters on hard or hardest difficulty, but I like RE4 that I at least I will try to go as far as I can do.

Many times I stuck, but after a few minutes I come back to the game, because I wanted to know what's next, and sometimes I felt I just need to play a little bit different and I can continue. I rarely do that. There are games for me that are on hiatus not just for months, but for years. Not this time. Even when I was away, most of the time I was thinking about, how can I solve that room, or how can I kill that guy next. If a game can make you think about it, outside of the game, that game is a winner in my book.

I picked up Resident Evil 4 in a cheap bundle, and I absolutely recommend it to anyone. I don't have nostalgia googles, and I really like it.