1. Resident Evil 4

Most of the time the original is the best. Dumb and Dumber and Homeward Bound didn't need seconds! Give me a break Nickleback...you made Silver Side Up, quit "remaking" it. They recently released Titanic 2. Now, perhaps I didn't quite grasp the first one but I'm fairly certain the damage was catastrophic. However, as Scream 2 is kind enough to point out, there are the occasional blips in the radar that make certainties impossible. ALIENS and T2 are both better than the original (in my well researched aka I've seen them both opinion). Maybe James Cameron takes what is good from the originals, splices in what is missing slaps some new computer graphics on it and BAM, the conundrum of the superior sequel is born. Or maybe people just steal ideas and make lesser versions to scrape up some cash or recognition. JET took Iggy Pop's riff from Lust For Life and altered it enough to make it Are You Gonna Be My Girl. And Vanilla Ice was like "I added a DA" to Queens Under Pressure to make Ice Ice Baby. Why are they suing me? Didn't they here the extra DA? Sure, JET and Vanilla Ice's songs are catchy but are they as good? Are seconds or thirds really ever better? Yes, they are. Resident Evil 4 makes this point playable!

From Raccoon city and a mansion with more puzzles than an Indiana Jones movie to mowing through Africans with molotov's (apparently zombies have come a long way, remember when they couldn't figure out stairs?) Resident Evil has kept moving forward. Every new addition in the series sharpened the gameplay and pushed the story and the suspense and action. Resident Evil 4 is no different, except it took a leap into making the zombies more modern "infected". While many fans may have considered this sacrilege I came at the series from a new perspective. I grew up with a blue hedgehog and world war 2 games so when I played Resident Evil 4 on gamecube I was blown away. I had no bias about the series being raped or a jaded view of where I thought Capcom should take the game; I just played. The laser site of my pistol took that first zombies head off in the cabin. BLAM. Eat shit you undead farming bitch. Bear traps outside in the woods scaring the hell out of me when they chomped on my leg. Resident Evil 4 took the horror aspects from the first 3 games, vamped up the boss battles, dropped the ink ribbons (we will prolly have to find thumb drives in 6) and had a weird cloaked guy sell you guns and ammo. Welcome, Straaaaanger. Dude, we just met like and hour ago. I was the one who bought the rocket launcher. How do you not recall that?

In my eyes, 4 has everything I want in a game; it has violence, story, simple puzzles, collecting, upgrading and of course the undead...er...infected. It's not too hard but not too easy. I love being able to upgrade my guns so when I hear the cry of "erustedo!" from these Grapes Of Wrath zombies, I can blow two of them away at once.

I support open world games like Borderlands and Fallout. I will give Mass Effect props even though I don't care for it. But my ideal game is one that pushes me forward, hints at doors but doesn't open them. Points to enemies but doesn't tell me how to kill them. Has cut scenes but doesn't lose me. I don't need to wander all over the goddam desert or Liberty City to get my kicks. Just give me a gun and some zombies and an extra clip.