Haven't played it, but the pinnacle of the series for me was Resident Evil 4. That game introduced a bit more action orientated survival horror, and it was frankly one of the best games ever made.
Unfortunately Capcom took the formula too far and have tried to capitalise on the Gears marketbase. I'm not sure its paid off. The series could've evolved past RE4, if you look at Dead Space, it is much better than anything Capcom have done with RE, because Dead Space is doing its own thing rather than trying to force elements from other games into itself. Which is why I think this series has degraded, it dosen't feel like Resident Evil anymore, it feels like a game with Resident Evil elements superimposed over mechanics from games that dont compliment the Resident Evil formula.
