The Resident Evil 4 remake launched with one key function lacking, set to be restored two weeks after launch: The Mercenaries (opens in new tab). When you’re unfamiliar, Mercenaries is likely one of the OGs of shooter horde survival modes, standing tall with the likes of Name of Obligation Zombies because the type of bonus mode you may simply spend as a lot time in as the complete sport. My hope was that the additional time Capcom took meant it was cooking up one thing actually particular, however whereas the basics are completely there, RE4’s Mercenaries feels anemic, with a sloppy reward system that cheapened the expertise for me.
It feels a bit peevish to complain when Capcom actually does stay the king of the videogame worth proposition: you’ve got received a wholesome 12-hour marketing campaign, a bevy of unlockables, ample replay worth, and they’re throwing in a sick rating assault mode? Nonetheless, I examine REM4KE’s providing to earlier Mercenaries modes and it simply does not sit proper with me.
First, what’s lacking: MIA character Ada Wong has been changed with lovable Spanish rogue, Luis Sera, a change that is sensible to me, and my guess is that Ada will return to the mercenaries with the almost-inevitable remake of the Separate Methods gaiden marketing campaign. Wesker, in the meantime, has no such alternative, however datamining cited by the Resident Evil (opens in new tab) wiki suggests each characters have been both minimize near launch, or are due for a return.
The larger omission to my eye is Waterworld. The unique ’05 Mercenaries had 4 maps, three repurposed from the primary sport and yet one more completely distinctive to The Mercenaries. This fourth map, Waterworld, was rad as hell, a group of rickety shacks floating on the open ocean, with tons of verticality and neat touches like a sequence of zip traces for fast getaways. It was purpose-built for this mode, not like the opposite maps, and it reveals. Within the remake, you solely get the three maps that already appeared in the primary marketing campaign.
This discount in scope is compounded by some baffling missteps in how the Mercenaries doles out rewards. You begin with one character, Leon, and unlock the remainder of the roster by assembly minimal scores on every map. Within the authentic Mercenaries, you needed to survive to extraction to your rating to depend, including a definite risk-reward aspect. Do you gather time pickups to elongate your keep, killing extra ganados and reaching the next rating, or do you chop your losses and get out of there, securing what you’ve gotten and doubtlessly guaranteeing an unlock?
The RE4 remake bowls over that advantageous distinction, awarding you a rating whether or not you survive to the tip or not. This undercut the stress of the mode for me, and I used to be capable of tear by means of and unlock the whole lot inside an hour or two, the place I used to be saved busy for an entire week the final time I replayed the unique sport. Additional, the mega-secret unlockable magnum, the Handcannon, virtually falls into your lap now. Do you purchase it by gutting by means of RE4 on its hardest issue, becoming a member of the illustrious ranks of Skilled Mode completers, or simply tooling round in Mercenaries for a short time?
The mode feels tacked on like an afterthought this time round, an obligation on the a part of Capcom, versus the shocking and even beneficiant Mercenaries of yore. I am glad it is right here, however even with out extra content material, it may have used extra tweaking to verify it slotted in snugly. My guess is that this is not the final we have heard of RE4 Remake’s Mercenaries, although. Resident Evil 5 noticed a free, launch model of the mode adopted by a extra definitive “Reunion” DLC that added bonus characters and maps, and one thing like that might be an important match for the RE4 remake. With RE4 being the sequence’ greatest fight system thus far (opens in new tab), I wish to see what Capcom can carry to the mode with extra time and house to get it proper.
