Speaking of game play, well, let us just say that the quality of the game play in RE4 is the best reason to buy it for the PC, if you do not own any of the consoles on which RE4 is currently available. If you thought the zombie blasting in the previous games was fun, brother you ain't seen nothing yet. You just will not find a more satisfying degree of zombie squishing gunplay anywhere else.

This is due to a number of different factors. We already mentioned the quality of motion capture. Another great game play element is the range of different ways that zombies will eventually buy the farm. You never get tired of watching heads explode, flesh burn, bodies writhe in agony, and so on. And then there are the number of different weapons Leon has at his disposal to make all this carnage a reality.

These means to an end range from basic handguns to rocket launchers. Should you get tired of one weapon, there are several gypsy arms dealers loitering on most maps that will happily increase your arsenal of zombie doom, provided you have found enough gold coinage and bling hidden inside breakable boxes and fallen zombie bodies. Despite the numerous weapons on hand, you never seem to have enough ammo. This adds a level of tension to combat, as you strategize your killing to preserve as much ammo as possible, even as waves of zombie hordes literally pour out of the walls.

Then there are the many different environs in which all this killing takes place. You can expect to wipe out zombie villagers in medieval hamlets, destroy creepy chanting zombie monks in ancient fortresses, take on zombie knights in full regalia inside baroque palaces, battle mutated zombie monsters in dank sewers, and so on. The range of locales and their accompanying zombie inhabitants always keeps the game play varied and enjoyable.

All this remains true, despite the game's control problems, which center on a conspicuous lack of mouse support. That, combined with the mostly useless keyboard interface, means that PC gamers without gamepads are up the creek, so to speak.