A fairly combination style video game Resident Evil: The Mercenaries merges the mercenaries from both Resident Evil 4 and 5. This game is a third-person shooter game published by Capcom for Nintendo DS in 2011. The primary premise of the minigames is for players to defeat as many zombies as possible within the prompted timeline. or try to kill as many zombies as possible within a set time limit with a friend. Players can also use the DS’ Wi-Fi capabilities to play with friends around the world, provided you can find a second person who bought it.
Aside From Zombies…
The Resident Evil: The Mercenaries does introduce some interesting new gameplay elements to the franchise. For example, players can now switch between third person and first person at will. They can also move while firing instead of having to remain stationary, as is traditional in the Resident Evil series. So, basically, the new game will be just like any other shooter.
Another fun new feature is the ability to fully customize the chosen character, giving them new skills and weapons as experience is earned through play. So basically, it will be just like any other shooter with RPG elements. Playable characters within Resident Evil: The Mercenaries are Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, Hunk, Claire Redfield, Jack Krauser, and Jill Valentine.
Subpar Gaming Experience
Besides the visuals, it looks like a pretty dull experience. Run up to a monster, shoot it in the face. Run up to the next monster, face. Part of what makes Resident Evil great (or used to, anyway) was the creepy atmosphere, which seems to be lacking in this glorified minigame. Another thing that contributed to the atmosphere was the fact that you had to stop running and stare down the barrel of your gun into the enemy’s face in order to shoot it.
Title Does Not Live Up to Expectations
The Resident Evil series has well over a dozen games that can be played on almost every platform available. Sometimes it seems as though Capcom will jump on any excuse to squeeze another game out of this veteran franchise.
Perhaps the only worthwhile feature to be found in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries is the demo for the 2012 3DS game, Resident Evil: Revelations. Revelations will actually have a story and promises to get back the franchise’s roots with more emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving. It will be a true survival horror game instead of a shooter minigame trying to pass itself off as a full game. In trying to justify the creation of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries, director Koushi Nakanishi cited the fact that not a lot of players got around to playing the minigame on Resident Evil 4 and 5, since players have to finish the game to unlock it.
Final Thoughts
The minigames were a nice distraction in Resident Evil 4 and 5—just the thing to calm you down after a creepy scene or a frustrating boss fight with a guy in ugly sunglasses. It was also a nice bonus challenge for hardcore fans, since the difficulty level on some of those mercenary missions were through the roof. This will be toned down in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries, taking away anything that made it special.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Behaviour Interactive.