Probably the most controversial entry in the series after RE6 as it is the one that marked the shift from survival-horror to third person shooter with horror elements, this is to me the best entry and easily one of the best games I've ever played. Resident Evil 4 changes core gameplay to over the shoulder camera with tank controls. Inventory management is replaced with a grid based system where items can be rotated and the game throws enough ammo at you to kill every enemy in the game contrarily to previous installments. It also introduces what would be the focus of Resident Evil 5, 6 and Revelations which is mixing shooting and melee attacks both as a means to ammo conservation and crowd control.
Besides all this, the level design of every area is amazing, the boss fights are great, enemies are fun to fight and new variants are frequently introduced. It completely embraces the B-movie feel underlying to RE1-3 both in plot, tone and characters.

In short, it nails everything that's important for a third person shooter, has a lot of content despite being a linear solo game, can be replayed again and again and manages to stay incredibly satisfying despite the tank controls.
Played it first in 2004, more than 10 years later and my enjoyment while playing this didn't dampen at all. A timeless and cult classic.

Probably the most controversial entry in the series after RE6 as it is the one that marked the shift from survival-horror to third person shooter with horror elements, this is to me the best entry and easily one of the best games I've ever played. Resident Evil 4 changes core gameplay to over the shoulder camera with tank controls. Inventory management is replaced with a grid based system where items can be rotated and the game throws enough ammo at you to kill every enemy in the game contrarily to previous installments. It also introduces what would be the focus of Resident Evil 5, 6 and Revelations which is mixing shooting and melee attacks both as a means to ammo conservation and crowd control. Besides all this, the level design of every area is amazing, the boss fights are great, enemies are fun to fight and new variants are frequently introduced. It completely embraces the B-movie feel underlying to RE1-3 both in plot, tone and characters. In short, it nails everything that's important for a third person shooter, has a lot of content despite being a linear solo game, can be replayed again and again and manages to stay incredibly satisfying despite the tank controls. Played it first in 2004, more than 10 years later and my enjoyment while playing this didn't dampen at all. A timeless and cult classic.