I’m probably in the minority, but I didn’t enjoy RE4 as much as others when I played it. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great game. Just not to the standards people hyped it up to.
I think my main issue with it is that it has a masterful opening sequence, but then it never really builds on it after.
First fight in the village was truly ahead of its time. It gives not only the player lots of options, but the enemies have lots of options to counter you. It puts the player into many unpredictable situations. It’s a very dynamic fight and really sets a unique mood for the game.
Then the rest of the game turns more and more into a corridor shooter, especially after the village act. Still a good corridor shooter, but I hoped to see it build more on the open combat we saw in the opening section.
It was a great while ago I played it, but that was the impression I had back then.