Reviews// Resident Evil 4 (GameCube)

"Murrrgh! Uh! Argh! Muuuu!" What's that? The sound of a flabby peasant recovering from a shotgun wound to the knee? The sound of a games journalist being physically torn away from his new favourite game in order to write a review? Or the collective despair of a thousand readers as they realise this is going to be another sycophantic boot-licking of a game that's not yet available in this country? Quite possibly, it's all three. Because here is Resi 4 and it's really, really ruddy good. Its US and Jap releases have been universally praised, and rightly so: as it represents an extremely important addition to the somewhat waning GameCube roster.

There has been no small amount of kerfuffle over the exclusivity of Resident Evil 4, and although a PS2 version has now been announced for later in the year, this GameCube version proudly boasts that bit in the corner declaring 'Only For GameCube'. And although technically that is correct, after all, the GC version is only available for Gamecube, it's not really as exclusive as Nintendo would like it to be. However, the GameCube version will be out here in March and as well as being a lot earlier than the PS2 version, it is sure to be the better-looking of the two. It's no huge surprise that Nintendo are launching a RE4 hardware bundle, just shy of £90, to work off the back of its indisputable quality. This game is going to sell GameCubes, there's no doubt about it. It's just a shame that it's taken this long for us to see quite what the console is capable of, a few more third party 'exclusives' like this earlier in the day might have spelt a far more fortunate career for our cuddly cubic friend. Anyhoo.

Capcom's Resident Evil series is quite possibly one of the most important standard-bearers of video-game culture. The original spawned the now well-exploited survival-horror genre, helped define the spirit of the first PlayStation generation and generally cemented itself as a household name - not to mention spawning the excellent movies. With such an enduring reputation, it would have been understandable if RE4 had just followed the same lines as its predecessors, but instead this game feels completely new and fresh. The evolution undergone is far more significant than the usual sequel-to-sequel transition, and that makes it all the more satisfying. There's no complacency or conceit here, there's just evidence of extreme talent, effort and devotion by the bucket load. Hence Resident Evil 4 is an instant classic, already in line for Game of the Year 2005 - even if that will include next-gen contenders.