While the game is older, it has aged extremely well. It controls fine despite the tank controls(assuming you're using a controller as intended). The pacing is great aside from the backtracking at the beginning. Every location is interesting, and although more leaning on the action side, Resident Evil 4 can be genuinely terrifying the first time though at some points(I'm looking at you, Regenerators). The game can be a bit difficult at first, but once you learn how everything works, I really recommend a second playthrough on Professional difficulty. All of this combined makes it such a good game.

Now, allow me to talk about something that in my opinion takes the game from great to fantastic, the Resident Evil 4 HD Project. [https://www.re4hd.com]. The effort this one guy put into this game is incredible and makes the game look so much better. Even if it's your first time playing, It may be worth setting this up first. It also adds re4_tweaks which adds more options and fixes to the game. Almost like an unofficial community patch.

If you have not played it, you really should at some point.