The lowdown:
Charged with rescuing the president’s daughter from a mysterious Spanish cult, you control Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 2. Although series regulars like the green health herbs and rubbish dialogue are present almost everything else has changed: there's a completely new 3D environment, few puzzles, no magic chests and not a single repeated monster from the old games. Instead you face a series of supremely cinematic set pieces and boss battles, including an escape from a village filled with Texas Chainsaw Massacre extras. As the Black Eyed Peas once remarked, "pick up your range of deeply unpleasant biological weapons and let's get retarded."

Most exciting moment:
The frantic siege from the villagers in the abandoned cottage has got Evil Dead beat easy.

Since you ask:
Resident Evil 4 won four awards at this year’s Golden Joysticks event, including Editor’s Game of the Year.

The bottom line:
The best game of the year and one of the best action games of all time.
Harrison Dent