If I were found to be having a skeleton in my gaming cupboard, the fact that I never really played – let alone liked – the majority of the Resident Evil games until I was almost 21 years old would be it. An early experiment with the second game back just after its release saw me frustrated by the agonising rotate-and-run control system and my own memories of trudging around endlessly in Alone In The Dark when I was younger. I had my Final Fantasies, Gran Turismos and Metal Gear Solids to play, and for the better part of half a decade the Resident Evil series slipped completely off my radar.

Yet here we all are, sitting happily at the top of the second paragraph of a Resident Evil review penned by me. What’s changed? A heck of a lot. Luckily for you I am paid to talk about games rather than the depressingly confusing and rather boring explanation on why I am suddenly more interested in the survival horror genre now than I was back then, so we’ll focus purely on Capcom’s latest instalment and why it means you have to buy a GameCube. In fact, if you’re a little short on cash right now you might want to do yourself a favour and skip this one altogether.

This point is pretty much obvious to anyone who has followed the hype about the game up to this date: Resident Evil 4 is a masterpiece. A beautiful, beautiful masterpiece that should be remembered as one of gaming’s finest moments. Taking a few elements from previous titles but revamping itself into something completely different in terms of feel and setting, the game sees you cast as Resident Evil 2 hero Leon Kennedy, who’s been dispatched to Europe to rescue the President’s Daughter who has been kidnapped. Things start off hauntingly quiet, and the feeling that something rather bad is about to happen is difficult to shake off.

It’s a feeling that is completely justified, too. Leon is suddenly presented with a series of what initially seem to be perfectly normal villagers, but on closer inspection appear to be possessed and with an urge to kill, leaving him with no option but to raise the sights of his trusty pistol and proceed on foot. From these early seeds, it’s quite clear that your path will not be without significant bloodshed. The sheer amount of it is almost unnerving at times; often you’ll find yourself backed into corners or pursued by a dozen shambling villagers at once, most of them carrying some sort of nasty weapon. You’re left no option but to take the most direct, brutal route through.

The most immediately apparent change to the series is the way in which the action is viewed and controlled. Doing away with the entirely third-person viewpoint, Resi 4 fixes the camera just over Leon’s right shoulder, giving you a clear vantage point to view all the action unfolding ahead. Raising your gun will see the camera zoom in closer in, making it easy to pinpoint those crucial ammo-saving headshots or disabling kneecapping opportunities. Controlling your character is also by far and away more intuitive and precise than any Resident Evil game has managed to date, with it possible to carefully aim Leon’s gun via a laser pointer.

In general, the way you deal with enemies has also been expanded upon. Going for the head is a nifty way of saving the bullets, but the game also allows you to stun and knife your enemies should you wish to do away with the firepower completely for a while. In reality this isn’t needed nearly as much as it would have been in previous titles; ammos drops are comparatively frequent and unless you decide to spray bullets like you would water out of a hose then you should find yourself with enough to carefully deal with any enemies you encounter.

That most certainly doesn’t count for the numerous boss battles you’ll be thrown up against. Each requires a good dose of thought and usually requires a bit of melee action to be spliced into your gun-toting assault. Some of them, such as your battle with the huge monstrosity Del Lago, put you in unusual situations such as floating around a lake with a bunch of harpoons to hand and make you think about the way in which you are going to take your hulking foe down.

In the quieter moments between these rather epic struggles, you are allowed the opportunity of upgrading or purchasing weapons via a rather shady cloaked man who appears at various points around the map. Exploring and battling earns you cash which you can spend on scopes, better power or quicker reloads for pretty much every gun in the game, although you are limited to what you carry by each weapon requiring a certain amount of slots in your items case. Anything which doesn’t fit either has to be discarded or have something else used to allow it to be slotted in, although you also get the option to upgrade your case as you progress.

It’s not all about ploughing through numerous fierce battles as you go, too. A healthy dose of puzzling is slotted neatly in between the scrapping. It seems to have been toned down a little from previous titles, with most problems requiring only a slight bit of thought, but they do break up the action rather nicely and allow you to relax a little before dumping you back into the gun slinging.

Whilst it’s pretty clear that the core of Resi 4 is restructured, the layers of detail and the nature of the horror have both been intensified many times over. The villagers in the game that replace the zombies as your main cannon fodder are a lot quicker and a heck of a lot more intelligent, meaning you’ll have to dodge, weave and run to allow yourself space to get in those crucial shots. Some enemies have weapons that can end Leon’s life in one blow, and the chill that judders down your neck and along your spine when you see one dashing towards you is as real the fourth or fifth time around as it was the first.

This is helped no end by the amount of graphical loveliness that the game throws at you. If you’re used to the remade Resident Evil game and Resident Evil 0 you will have an inkling what to expect, but the latest instalment tops even that, with fantastic lighting effects and some truly grotesque monster modelling. The sounds accompanying this are used brilliantly to tighten the atmosphere even further, with periods of silenced shattered by the gurgling and screaming of the locals as they try to batter you in some rather nasty manner.

It all feels slicker and more polished. Without the constraints of clunky controls and with an upgraded pace, Resident Evil 4 has managed to provide a hectic, terrifying experience that’ll make you think, scream and gasp in relief. The way the map slots together and allows progression is finely judged, and the weapon upgrading system allows people to choose their own personal favourite gun and improve it. Rolled into a package with some extremely accomplished visuals and a haunting, creepy sound track and you not only have one of the best games this year, but you have one of the best games full stop. It fills every tick box that a system-selling title should. If you haven’t yet got a GameCube, this is your reason.