Last year I bought a Nintendo GameCube. I didn't really sink my teeth into a game until the summer, when I played Twilight Princess. It was my first Zelda game, my first Nintendo game played to completion, and ended up being one of the greatest and most inspiring games I've ever played in my life.

Fast forward to, uh, last week. I've been playing through Resident Evil 4. My first time with the game. I've played countless games released in the years since RE4 that I was aware ripped off many elements of the game. I assumed when I picked it up finally that there was no way it could have aged well. Too many have done the "same thing", right? I don't even know if I'm halfway through the game yet, but I don't feel it's premature to say this: I think this is the best game I've ever played. It rewards (and occasionally punishes) every single idea I have. It's alive and unpredictable, and forces me to rely on intelligence and cunning I wasn't even aware I had. There's nothing else like it that I've ever encountered.

So, has anybody else ever been "late to the party"? Good or bad experiences welcome.