please repost this in the UT2K4 forums as well.
I highly disagree, part of the panic in the earlier games, for me, was due to the fact that the character controlled like shit. I would play RE2 and keep running into walls with all the shitty camera angles, I often would be doing it without knowing!
But really though, I do think that a slower paced control scheme, is what Capcom considers pacing the action a little bit back, because people don't want RE the action game, they want RE the survival horror, and like I said, the poor control schemes of the previous game really helped to create that air of panic when there were two or three zombies in one room. Now with RE4 you've got 10-20 crazy infected people who can run, communicate, and use weapons, and instead of shaking in your boots you're all "pop, pop! this is easy!" Also, another feature of the previous games, is that the zombies wouldn't just hit you, but they'd grab on to you, causing the ATE (active time event) panic, which would cause players to mash the A button over and over..
Anyway, I think a slower pace is a step in the right direction.
for more info on why early RE is superior to current RE check this video. I hate gametrailers, but this video supposedly does a good job, I can't watch it from work though.