Why Is Resident Evil 4 A Masterpiece?! 

My mother, a deaf woman, played this game for years. Over and over and over again… she always hoarded her money, yelled when being chased, and took the same paths each playthrough and had to have beat it well over a dozen times, but always had a good time. Especially when we were watching her play. She didn’t understand the story, or any of the background lore - she just loved this game. It’ll forever be a masterpiece to her and myself. Tried to get her to play RE5 and RE6 with me, but the mechanics were a little different and she wasn’t having it! Lmao RIP Mom.

This game has the most tragic thing in gaming history: Leon loses his sick jacket by mission 2.

After the chief spares Leon, the next scene is not Leon entering the room again. In fact, that second scene is 100% optional and it serves more as another surprise in the game. Kinda like “oh you wanna go back in here do you? Well this is what happens…”

I think RE4 took a cue from Aliens and Terminator 2. When people are familiar with your monster, and thus not so easily frightened by it, make the sequel lean more towards action. That way both the characters and the audience can experience the catharsis of feeling like they're facing their old fears head-on. But don't forget to also up the stakes and make the monsters more powerful, so that the tension remains.

As a kid Leon's jacket was the coolest thing ever, I was so stoked when my mum bought me one just like it, it was so comfy with the inner fur. Then I grew out of it :(

A game made by japanese, with an American protagonist in a Spanish village were everyone talks with Mexican accent. As a Spanish I approve this

You know what I like about this game's story? It's like one of those funnily cheesy 80s action movies without trying too hard to be seen as such. Whereas the other games tried way too hard to be Michael Bay films. This and Persona 4 are the only two games to this day that make me feel melancholy after finishing because of how likeable the characters are.

The Act Man please make a part 2 of this with the remake coming. This shit was awesome and hilarious😂 I love it!

Therapist: “The Acting Leon isn’t real, he can’t hurt you.” The Acting Leon: 0:18

The act man turned out to truly be a man of a acts: gamer, reviewer, journalist, absolute chad, and now even a rapper. Truly an inspiration to act upon

The Japanese version of the base game had the Ashley section use fixed camera angles just like in the classic games which was pretty awesome. Explains how the lamps she throws aim at enemies automatically when throwing.

This is by far the best Resident Evil game. Everything about it was perfect. The M/C. The setting. The storyline. The gameplay. The weapons. The array of enemies. The pacing. The eeriness of hearing the hooded drones whispering in Latin. Omg. I still play it to this day.

Eminem been real quiet after “Bingo” dropped

Yo, Leon rejecting Ashley in the ending scene makes him the biggest Sigma male in RE

I can’t play the resident evil 4 intro without hearing actmans rap.

Finally got around to this masterpiece a month ago. I got so addicted I played 71 hours in 20 days. Beat it once, went straight to Professional and beat it again, beat Separate Ways, and then did another normal run with new outfits. Ashley's knight armor was hilarious xD. I got pretty damn frustrated with Krauser on Professional. I died so many times and I had no clue the knife was the key weapon to use, I had to look it up. Was surprised that I couldn't find one video where someone defeated him without some usage of the knife, but at least now I know.

"Why does this random guy in Spain know about an outbreak in Raccoon city." Uh... an entire city was overrun with zombies and nuked. I'm pretty sure at the time it would be pretty much the single most well known event in living memory.

Re4 is a masterpice. A full game that unlocks two extra game modes, a seperate campaign, some unlockable costumes and it's all in the game! Wow. In todays world, that would be a game, 2 dlcs and 2 season passes.

I never minded the escort mission aspect of the game. Ashley is never TOO much of a nuisance, she can handle herself and when she doesn't, it's not too difficult to rescue her. I say they did escort mission right in this game.

Every modern AAA game owes its existence to RE4. Easily the most masterfully crafted and most complete game ever produced. It stands on a league of its own and I very much doubt the remake will do justice to this absolute masterpiece

"I've sent my right hand to dispose of you." "Your right hand comes off?" - Leon's dialogue in a nutshell

Leon:"Your right hand comes off?" Ethan:" *AHHH* *SHIT* "

I absolutely just love the sound effects. All the enemies sound just perfect, even love their dialogue. And the cultists chants are so creepy. Probably has my favorite sound effects in any game

I remember playing this game when I was like 13-14 years old and feeling this intense sense of dread and despair throughout the entire experience. No other game has ever done that to me. And now they’re releasing a remake. I CANNOT wait.

I honestly love Salazar. Everytime he's on screen the game becomes "Special agent has a dickoff against Zombie Midget". He's small and full of comic villains cliches and then there's Leon being an asshole to him 🤣.

The reason Sadler didn't infect Luis was because of the anti-parasitic drugs he had been taking (that he later hands Leon.) They only hamper larval growth but kill the eggs, so infecting him would have been pointless. A document mentions this in game.

100% one of the best games I’ve ever played. Always hated how you couldn’t run while shooting at the same time, but looking back… that was the entire challenge and most of the moments you feel like you’re about to take damage or die, would be taken away without that part I felt was annoying

The music was so good too. The save room music perfectly captures the vibe of the game while being more relaxed while you take a breather in the typewriter room. I used to be scared to play this as a kid and years later finally beat it and it's always stuck with me ever since.

Love when he talks about Ashley’s AI not being stupid and the dead rising music subtly plays in the background .... I had PTSD of those escort missions.

This game still holds one of my favorite first 15min openings! The sound of that chainsaw starting up, sheesh!

One thing I love about the enemies is how they don't always just rush you full on, they'll run at you but as soon as they get closer they slow down again and at least give a bit of time to react. Just finished my very first playthrough yesterday, almost done with professional mode and then ima replay it again with the prl 412 and typewriter, gonna try to switch between the two so that it doesn't become too boring using just the prl.

The RE4 HD project mod for PC is really good so far. It's like 36 GB of data, but it enhances all the textures, which affects the cutscenes too.

The Regenerators still scare the crap out of me. RE4 is definitely one of my top ten favorite games of all time.

Also, the knife wound that Leon had due to the fight with Krauser, stays on his face even in the ending sequence. That's some attention to detail.

Man this was the first title my dad got me for my ps2. I really enjoyed it so much played it around 7 times with all the extras and dlcs. Ah good times man i would play this game again next month.

A time before DLC you know that if RE4 was released today, "Separate Ways", the Mafia Costume and "Assignment ADA" would totally be DLC, instead at the time you got all that content that made you play the game for longer just by beating it once.

Its incredible how addciting the whole progression system is in this game, the gameplay loop supports itself incredibly which is why i don't think i've EVER beaten a game more times than i've beaten RE4 and i kinda wanna beat it again now

I cant wait for the remake!

One thing They did explain in the game that Luis Sera had taken medication to resist the Plagas infection. There is a note that says they tried to infect him, but to no avail because he took that medicine to kill the plagas before it hatched. They had to wait till the medicine ran through his system completely before they can infect him again. As for the executioner. I just assumed that the infection was taking too long and decided to just end him. I guess they had a plan to have Leon save Ashley, pretend to be the hero, and then help Saddler take over America, but later figured "Hey, why bother? Kill him and make a better plan."

My RE4 story. A while after release me and a friend went to a electronics shop after school. In a bin he found RE4 and was like "guess ill try it" so we jumped on the bus back home and i didnt hear from him for 3 days. Over the weekend he could tell me he'd been playing for 3 days straight. So i went to buy it myself and guess what.. I played it for days on end. Finished it probably 4-5 times straight. One of THE best gaming memories for me. It was truly groundbreaking.

The fact that they're doing a RE4 remake and most probably they wont use Leon's OG voice actor depresses me

Words can barely describe how much I love this game. Back in middle school, I had exactly one friend. That one friend introduced me to this game. It was my first "shooter", my first and only horror game ( as I'm usually too scared to enjoy horror game) and we played this game like there was no tomorrow. On one safe file, I beat the game around 20 times becuase I was so addicted, my friend and I spent days at my place to grind the mercenaries mode or to upgrade every single weapon there was. Few games bring me as much nostalgia as RE4 does, which is why I was so excited for the remake and I am so amazed by how amazing it turned out. So much love goes out to the developers and to you, act man, for putting together this extensive video

And I would say this review is a masterpiece. The intro rap with the cosplay, unexpected sponsor bit, and the whole review. Chef's kiss!

My dad even knows who The Merchant is, he may only know him for his laugh and quotes, but it's good enough.

If I’m ever bored or don’t have anything else to play, I play Resident Evil 4. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played it over the years, it’s literally just a perfect video game

Rewatching this a year later because I was just so happy The Act Man covered this but now I'm even happier knowing he remembers The Donkey Kong Country Show.

Y'know I'm actually gonna back up Acting Mail Man in defense of Ashley, because there are times where having her stand behind you while you're slaying Ganados can really stroke your ego. If you land a headshot with a sniper rifle from long distance, there's an animation where she does like a little fist pump. Don't even tell me that ain't satisfying lol.

I have been waiting patiently for this for a very long time…

You might have to do an update with re4vr. That's right, this game holds up so well they took a 3rd person survival shooter and turned it into a first person interactive Mega Chad Simulator and it worked!

That dialogue at 19:53 was my sentiment when I wasn’t paying attention to the very first QTE in resident evil 4 😂😂😭😭

Why Is THIS VIDEO A Masterpiece?!

Leon in RE4 is literally the biggest chad in gaming history.

I like the intro rap way more than I should. Thank you for rubbing my nostalgia bone.

When I was younger, playing this game gave me nightmares. Never have I turned off my wii gaming console before (it was due to the regenerator part).

I realized one neat detail. The game started in the morning After Leon passed out, it became night time for majority for the game. When Leon and Ashley escaped in a Ski boat, it became morning again. This means that the game take place within 24 hours. This game established that time does exist.

The Act Man: "For the first time, Resident Evil was rendered in three dimensions." Code Veronica: "Am I a joke to you?" Edit: Just realized, Code Veronica wasn't even the first 3D Resident Evil game. Resident Evil Survivor beat Code Veronica by 7 days.

This is my favourite act man video, so rewatchable, so enjoyable, and the bingo song was straight 🔥 🔥 🔥

I remember when playing this game when it was new on the Gamecube back in 2005. I remember doing a 10 hours session almost non-stop I was hooked. Rarely has a game since ever captivated me like that. RE4 really was a special game. Mechanically and graphically games have surpassed it but it still holds up well almost 20 years later.

RE4 is quite possibly the best marriage of mechanics, enemy design, and level design in a game to date. The core "stagger-melee" combat loop is consistently satisfying, providing mechanical (i-frames, crowd control, massive damage) and kinetic (cinematic presentation, momentary lull in tension) rewards every single time. Enemies are always visually reactive to what the player does. Adversaries change over the course of the game, and things like shields, invisible foes, helmets, and crossbows force the player to mix up their tactics, and push them to discover every element of the game's rich toolset. RE4 also rewards experimentation with a variety of weapons and a rich upgrade system. It's an absolute masterpiece of design, which makes it delightful to play.

I'm born blind, I'm interacting here using a screen reader. And I admire your work, I really like your content, I'm very happy that it's growing so fast! Congratulations for work and dedication. Motivated by my interest in the computer field, together with my friends I created a project called Blind Center, our goal is to bring information and show how blind people use RU-vid and other digital platforms! Hope you like it! As we speak the Portuguese language, you can use RU-vid subtitles to understand the content of the videos.

Re4 has gained massive respect in the RE community. Ask any fan and they will rank it in the top 3

Love this video. Watched multiple times. Intro is so good. Great content.

Resident Evil 4 touches on both crime, gothic-horror, dungeon-styled fantasy & military fiction. No other game has touched on so many themes and still stayed consistent in tone. THAT is my primary reason for loving this game.

A cult of thousands of heavily armed monsters, in a nightmareland riddled with traps and fortresses vs a sexy boy with a pistol. Los Illuminados never stood a chance.

You playing Leon in the opening skit made my day because RU-vid was just starting when Resident Evil 4 (and Dead Rising) were exploding and the earliest fan made content I saw was people in bad Leon, Ashley, Merchant and so on costumes doing whacky skits with no budget.

This game was masterful. The first game I 100% and actually tried challenges like pistol only, knife only, etc. The mercenaries are just fun, side stories great, and always going back to the og campaign to find every possible treasure.

The thing I appreciate the most about RE4 is the pacing, it's extremely well crafted in every part of the game, it's like the devs knew exactly when to slow things down or step up the action in just the right amounts. Considering it's a fairly long game for a third person shooter the puzzles and enemy encounters are placed with consideration to the player's mindset, I never got the feeling of getting bored or annoyed by any segments.

you know a game is legendary if its still being talked about more than 15 years later

Just completed resident evil 4 in VR, if you haven’t played it from that perspective I would definitely recommend trying it. Loved every minute of it.

ive watched this video 12 times so far and its revived my love for RE, I've never played for so with my next paycheck I plan to get it imso exited!!!!

The developers of this game did a phenomenal job all around, but one touch in particular that's easy to miss is in the credits after the end of the game. The scenes they show there depict the villagers living decent lives before being infected with las plagas, and the town becoming a nightmarish place before Leon arrives there.

Ahh yes the time where companies really care about their games.

Best resident evil game ever! The mercenaries mode after you complete it adds to it even more.

I swear the first 15 minutes of this game is just iconic. From the drive listening to cumbaya, to the first enemy, to the dog you save, & just to top it all off the big faceoff in the village… perfection

I feel like if the President's daughter went missing in Spain that'd be a massive international incident. Better send just Leon Kennedy to find her.

RE4 seemed like the perfect storm. It just nailed all the elements that make a great action-horror third person shooter title. I think it all just comes down to great design and amazing vision, not necessarily one particular aspect. The first thing is that the shooting feels psychologically satisfying. It was as if Mikami and his team decided to start making a game just based on the idea of making shooting as satisfying and fun as possible. And damn, how they succeeded. Everything from the laser reticle, to reloading animations, enemy hit reactions, poping sound of a headshot, even the intensity and moments of time at which the gamepad vibrates. Top that with the aspect of crowd control, which takes some time getting used to, and which makes you always be on your toes. Then there's the excellent level design, insane cinematography of all the action, fun campy story, and incredible sound design. Also, the game has masterful pacing. The ebb and flow of the game is superb. The high intensity action and big set-pieces are mixed with periods of exploration, treasure hunting, inventory management, light enemy encounters, light puzzle solving, It's all here. There's plenty of opportunity to really take in the experience and absorb the world that it creates. All of the explosive set-pieces were earned. For every cabin fight or military island attack, you had a half dozen 'catch your breath' and tension building areas, and these areas never outstayed their welcome. The other thing is that the enemies, and the enemy encounters are so well done. Every battle feels like a scenario that has been planned out meticulously, the way the enemies seem to hem you in and force you on the back foot, the way they escalate and have you on the edge of your seat, the way the environments are used to create a unique encounter each time. It perfectly utilizes each combat arena with specific gimmicks and creative hazards. The game is so good at creating this environment for player freedom and experimentation, while also making the enemies capable enough to push new combat experiences through their varied actions. And all of this is done with the same basic mechanics that you had since the beginning. Then of course the game has memorable boss battles as well. I still can't decide whether RE4 is the game of that generation or Metroid Prime. RE4 was also the game that basically graduated Mikami and his team into the hall of the game design gods.

At 6:57 why does it look like Leon’s saying the exact words your saying💀

well said and presented. it really is a masterpiece. i knew it when it released as a teen, and its been solidified in my mind with all the backround info about its development

RE4 is one of the very few considered "best game ever" that I think it's actually good and not just "it was technically advanced for a year".

When he said "This is the story I wanted to see continued", I realized that we never really got a proper sequel to Leon's journey, he appears in RE6 but not as the protagonist, sharing the stage with another 7 or so main characters and we could say RE6 was more about Ada and Jake than everybody else. Then Leon leads the 3D movies which was cool but they arent a main entry. Then he gets RE2R which was amazing but takes his story backwards instead, and now we will get him in RE4R, which again its cool but takes his journey backwards. Capcom needs to give him his solo main entry game again, RE9 or RE10, but a solo game, not this all over the place 7 protags game like RE6 where there was so much going on to follow or care. Its crazy how he is the posterboy of the franchise, and yet in 17 years his story has hardly advanced, if at all. This is the story I want to see continued too.

I’ve given this video about 100 views just to enjoy that opening rap, such a good intro and the review is dope too!! Can’t wait for REmake 4

I like your song at the beginning. That was really well done actually. Are you a freaking professional music producer? Lol

Pacing is a key part of this game. It's pitch perfect. Highly influential on me as an indie dev. The progression system, level design and encounter structure are all excellent and fit together just right.

This guy need more recognition. Jack of all trades. Very detailed and passionate about what he does. Almost like a voice or reminder of why we all love video games. Keep up the good work man!

The inventory case was the best ever

The way the game was created is what's so special. It's simplicity makes it easy to emulate as well but the graphics and game play was way ahead of its time.

This game simply did action, terror, comedy and difficulty perfectly simply perfect.

Why is Resident Evil 4 A Masterpiece? Because it is. End of story.

Currently my ...5th? time watching this video. Can't get enough RE4 love especially with the remake right around the corner. 💜

Absolutely loved this game in every single possible way, and have 100 percented it at least 10 different times since it first came out back in 2005. Awesome review here of one truly epic Resident Evil game here for sure!!!

Jack Krauser gets even better when you find out he's voiced by the same guy that does Doug Dimmadome

I've started Resident Evil 4 recently, and am about 6 hours into the game, and so far I feel that the gameplay is very satisfying and well-designed. I already feel the urge to start a NG+ run after I beat it.

Did resident evil4 change the gaming landscape? In a lot of respects yes. Are there still companies to this day too lazy to animate lips and facial gestures? Yeah and I think it’s very sad that a game from 2005 still has better facial animations that show compassion anger and in some cases annoyance better than most triple A modern video games that make hundreds of millions of dollars… Re4 is one of the goat.

I had this game on Wii. All my training came from beating this game over and over again with shit motion controls. When I played this in VR and regular PC it feels so much easier my god LMAO. I will say I also got practice for this game from RE5 played the shit outta that on ps3

As an spanish fan of The Act Man, hearing you speak my language purifies my soul from the hordes of the undead.

Act man, settle this once and for all: Blacktail or Red9?

For the village section make sure you got the grenade from the crow at the beginning area of the game. Then once you go into the village take the left path where you'll break open the crate kill the woman wait a couple seconds then keep walking forward and right into the house where once the cutscene is over you'll move the shelf to block the boarded window break the barrels and grab the handgun ammo under the stairs before going up, once up the stairs grab the shotgun and break the glass to get the grenade and get the ammo off the bed before pushing down the ladder and jumping out the unbroken window the Ganados are banging on. Once out grab the ammo on the chimney and jump down and head into the house across from the one you was in before barricading the door and breaking the lock off the metal door and heading inside to grab the ammo of the bed, equip the shotgun and turn aiming at the metal door while standing nearby to it and when they bust it open shoot them. For this part make sure to put a few shells into the downed Dr Salvador (chainsaw guy) and use one or both of your grenades to kill of the Ganados after you knock them down with the shotgun. This will get you enough kills to end the village sequence (works on even professional) then you go through the village breaking every box getting the ammo from the tower and especially the 10k Ptas you got from Dr Salvador before moving on.

Awesome vid Act Man. This was my first M-rated game and my introduction to the RE franchise. This game is an achievement the likes of which we may never see again. It’s closest spiritual successor (in my opinion) is Dead Space. It really does feel like RE4 in space. In fact, it took the sadistic step of taking away the one security blanket RE4 gave you: pausing the action when you open your inventory. That one change increases your paranoia by a factor of ten and made you second guess randomly checking your items.

Hearing about the sound mechanics in this game reminded me of something; this may be a well-known fact by the great majority of people who've played this game before by now, but this goes for people who didn't know. Whenever the Ganados say "Detrás de ti, imbécil" during the village section of the game, that's Spanish for "Behind you, idiot". It DOES help a lot to avoid unnecessary hits; and personally as a native Spanish speaking person it does often scare the crap out of me when I'm not expecting it lol

I just re-played this a few months back; it is almost shocking how well it holds up. In fact, if it were released today as-is aside from some updated graphics, it would still be one of - if not THE - game(s) of the year