Yep. It lost its way and ended up somewhere absolutely wonderful. Seriously. Resident Evil 4 absolutely shits on the previous three in terms of enjoyment factor. And RE5 was pretty conserved, passing on most of what made RE4 great and adding awesome co-op.
No idea why people clamour for the style of the first 3 games. Ok, the survival horror format was entertaining, but the gameplay was pretty ridiculous. Gathering up random objects of the floor and constantly backtracking to the room where you're supposed to use it as well as awkward movement mechanics, terrible voice acting and annoying door loading.
I think it's a case of rose-tinted glasses if you think the series has got worse, tbh.