You're not the only one who feels that way. Pretty much all the critics and the majority of gamers felt that way. The sales reflected that too. Starting with Resident Evil 3, the sales for the series started to slide and they picked up again with Resident Evil 4. It was the best selling Resident Evil on the GameCube and the best selling Resident Evil game right behind the first two (prior to Resident Evil 5). Also, for those of you who hate Resident Evil 4 ONLY because it led to what we got with the 5th and 6th game, keep in mind that Shinji mIkami had nothing to do with those games and had he stuck around, the series would probably be in a better place today.

Anyway, here are my arguments for why the RE4 is the best game in the series.

- The Resident Evil series aged badly after a few years. By the time the remake of the first game was released in 2002, the graphics were highly priased but it's dated gameplay, awkward camera angles, and clunky controls were becoming bothersome. Resident Evil 4 fixed all of this. Yes, the tank controls remined but at least they made sense and at least you had more than three direction to aim when you used a gun.

- The gameplay of the past games were built around the PS1's limitations. Why were there so many convoluted puzzles that made no sense? Because the developers chose productions values over gameplay which meant that disc space was extremely limited and because of that, the developers had to find ways to keep the player in one general area for a long period of time. This worked for a while but after a few games, it became stale. When Resident Evil 4 was made, gameplay became the center focus since realtime graphics had gotten good enough to where FMV's and pre-rendered graphics were no longer necessary. In RE4, most of the puzzle-like elements felt more natural and didn't mess with the pace of the game. Action was more of a focus but it wasn't mindless action. A lot of it required strategy. Also, Resident Evil 4 took longer to beat than any previous game in the series.

- Despite the focus on action, Resident Evil 4 was still very much a horror game. Shinji Mikami did his best to balance what we recognize as survival horror and action.

- The new enemies gave us a greater perspective of the RE universe. Zombies were not the center of that universe. They seemed like it because they were the enemy that blocked your path. They were chosen as the throwaway enemy. In reality, bio weapons in general were the main antagonist in the RE games. Even in the story's canon, it was confirmed that zombies were actually a side effect of the T-Virus, not the intended effect. So zombies were in effect a mistake. So why should this mistake be the center of every game in the series? You figure that after a while, a different virus that produces different results would come along.

The only criticism I have about the game is it's story. I don't think it's that bad. Don't get me wrong, the Resident Evil series in general has a pretty bad story but for RE4, the story in itself wasn't so bad. It was how the story was told. Everything that happened in RE4 was because of Wesker's manipulation. They specified this a little more in the later versions of the game but I think the story would have been more liked had it focused on that instead of feeling like a side story in the series, because it really wasn't. Some people complain about the escort missions but I don't because it wasn't that bad. You didn't have to deal with Ashley for most of the game and when you did, it was easy to hide her.

So that's how I feel. I had more fun with Resident Evil 4 than any other game in the series and the game in itself wasn't the cause of the downfall of the series. The fact that marketing executives took the place of RE4's visionary is what caused the series to drift off course. Trust me, had they kept exactly how it was before, the series would have fallen off the radar a long time ago.

There is a TLOU/RE4-mod here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLT66JRd4kY

Resi 4 is one of the best games off all time, the series has been in decline ever since.

In all honesty, personal tastes aside, Code Veronica was the last RE game that stuck true to the original spirit of the series, and they should have just ended it there. RE4 really went more with the vibe of the (awful) movies, and in general the series became an action series that became of lesser and lesser quality. It became a third person shooter. RE before that had been survival horror. Granted, the gameplay mechanics needed to improve, as the movement and aiming in particular were never good. But Eternal Darkness on GC showed a far better example of how to improve those kinds of gameplay mechanics, while still retaining that Survival Horror style of gameplay, instead of just going straight up action.

It's fine is some people like RE4 (or even 5 or......6), but really.....the series stopped being itself, in a manner of speaking, when 4 hit shelves. It would be like if they had taken that great Jak & Daxter gameplay, and transformed it instead into a lame GTA clone for the sequels..........oh wait.

RE 4,5,6, first Revelations are perfect from gameplay wise. It also have the best co-op in vidiya industry.

Not worse than 5 and 6. RE4 is a great game. The problem with it is the fact that it's NOT Resident Evil. It's basically a new IP with the RE universe slapped on for sales. It's the SMB2 of RE games. Resident Evil ended with Code Veronica. Yes, RE0 exists but it really felt like a bastard child that didn't know what it wanted to be. 

The fact that Capcom has never gone back to the roots of RE (1-CV) is telling and it's probably because they can't get a group of people together with the talent to make it happen again. 

It's awesome but I didn't finish it because of 1080p/60fps LOL because QTCs were too fast and I could not do them, and by the time I learned that I could set fps to 30 in settings I was too annoyed and lost interest.

RE4 is a masterpiece. Even if it is more action adventure than survival horror. It's still brilliant and they desperately need to achieve that again.

Hell no as I know a lot of my friends and other people really like it. As for me, i freakin love it. For me it's the best in the series, and one of my fav game on gen 6 era. The gameplay, the settings the atmosphere. I remember the part where you have to go to the cabin at the start of the game and I was like what the hell is this eerie atmosphere it's giving me the creeps. Though the series go downhill for me after RE4.

When you go inside and Leon questions the Las Plagas dude about the girl and he says: "¿Qué carajo estás haciendo aquí? ¡Lárgate, cabrón!"

I was like: "¡Ven aquí y sácame canto de hijo 'e puta!" and I gun down his ass.