 Resident Evil 4 , a survival horror third @-@ person shooter , had its North American premiere on January 11 , 2005 , and its Japanese release on January 27 . Players take on the role of Leon S. Kennedy , a United States Secret Service agent who has been ordered to rescue the daughter of the President of the United States from a cult in rural <unk> Europe . The cult has been using a mind @-@ controlling parasite to turn local villagers into violent drones . The game went through numerous changes during its long development — the team created and discarded four prototypes before settling on the final product . Among these was a version directed by Hideki Kamiya that would be turned into the first Devil May Cry game . Taking over directorial duties , Mikami made the fifth and final version very different compared to previous Resident Evil games , with an over @-@ the @-@ shoulder perspective and an increased emphasis on action and combat . Resident Evil 4 was the only game of the five to remain confirmed as a GameCube exclusive ; Mikami claimed that he would " cut his own head off " ( a Japanese colloquialism for quitting his job ) if it were to be released on another platform . However , just two months before the game 's January 2005 release , Capcom revealed that a PlayStation 2 port would be published nine months after the GameCube version in response to pressure from users and shareholders . This surprise announcement undercut the title 's GameCube sales , which totaled 1 @.@ 6 million , compared to the sales of the PlayStation 2 version , which exceeded 2 million . Mikami apologized to GameCube fans for failing to uphold his promise of console exclusivity . Despite these corporate conflicts , the game received an overwhelmingly positive critical response with Metacritic scores of 96 for both versions . It went on to sweep many Game of the Year awards for 2005 and is consistently listed among the greatest games of all time . 
