I'm still trying to figure out how Capcom was able to come to terms with Nintendo and offer them so many exclusives for the Nintendo GameCube system. Perhaps Nintendo was trying to bolster up its "mature" audience and get more people interested in picking up the system aside from families and hardcore Nintendo-philes. Regardless, the deal worked...at least, for a little while. Games such as Killer 7 and Viewtiful Joe were announced and eventually came to the system, along with re-releases of literally all the titles from the Resident Evil series, alone with the original Resident Evil Zero game. But the biggest part of the deal clearly came with Resident Evil 4, a game that introduced an all new way of play for the series and brought forth a revolutionary leap in a gameplay experience, the first of many for 2005. To this day, it remains an utterly unbelievable product for Nintendo's machine, and everyone who owns a GameCube and loves a good game probably has it in their library.

But the exclusitivity had to run out sometime, and so it did. Viewtiful and Killer both popped up on the PlayStation 2 in a matter of no time, and now, so has Resident Evil 4. So the question is, does this edition hold any merit and deliver on any of the goods its developers had promised, or is it merely a cash-in to try and nab the PlayStation 2 enthusiast crowd, as Capcom had done with the GameCube zealots? Well, this is no cash-in. In fact, consider it a "director's cut" of Resident Evil 4, even if it seems slightly ragged around the edges. Hey, think of it as a prime rib with a couple of scorched edges- you still get the idea of a terrific flavor.

Resident Evil 4 picks up in a different time and place than the previous chapters. It's been six years since the events that plagued Raccoon City took place, and the US Government has delivered a gigantic smack-down to the folks at the Umbrella Corporation, responsible for wreaking havoc on the populace with their mutated monstrosities. Leon Kennedy, the hero from Resident Evil 2 who worked alongside Claire Redfield to stop the threat, has turned in his badge and is now taking on the role of a Secret Service Agent. His current gig has him sent to a small city within Spain, where the president's daughter, Ashley Graham, has mysteriously vanished. Upon his arrival, Leon notices something is wrong, and it's within his first encounter with one of the villagers that he puts himself into action to stop whatever it is.

Of course, who am I to spoil the goods of the story? Part of the fun of Resident Evil 4 is discovering the twists and turns for yourself, and they all remain fully intact for the PlayStation 2 edition. If it isn't about an ambush of angry villagers that you try to get out of with gunfire and quick maneuvers, it's a boss battle that ranges from taking on a vicious giant known as El Gigante or, my personal favorite, a battle against an enormous fish that has every intention of making you its latest snack.

Part of the appeal of Resident Evil 4 is how it shifted gameplay into an all new energetic approach. Gone are the "turn around and walk, press this button to run" tactic, and in its place is a new perspective where you're looking over the shoulder of Leon as he works his way through the dangerous territory, avoiding traps and aiming precisely at villagers or the weapons they may be carrying, ranging from pitchforks to sickles to a chainsaw. There's still exploration to be done to find items, as well as the occasional "rescuing" that needs to be completely in order to save Ashley in spots. But this new focus gives Resident Evil the kind of drive it's always seeked out, and makes it much larger an experience than previous efforts. I don't know if it's the perspective or just the revamped design in general, but whatever it is, it so works.