Monday, September 3, 2012

Resident Evil 6: The Mercenaries - Partial Scoring System (Estimation)

*NOTE: This is all based on my estimations of videos. It could very well be wrong, but I know some of it is right.

Alright, since there are quite a few Mercenaries videos out there for Resident Evil 6, I thought to myself "why not get an early start on my Mercs FAQ for RE6"? So here we go! The following info is all taken from videos for RE6. The combo system for normal enemies is based on my estimations, but I KNOW some of it is correct. If you watch an RE6 Mercenaries video, you should see the "Total Bonus" appear once the combo is lost at the current kill.

The only exception is when a player hits a combo bonus crystal. That will give the player 1,000 points per kill during that period. With RE6, the actual bonus from the combo bonus is included with bonus points awarded after a combo break... so you will see a 2000 points (1000 + 1000) for a combo that is lost at kill 3 instead of the usual 140 (100 + 40) for the normal combo system.

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RE6 Mercenaries Combo System (Standard Combo)

KillsKill BonusTotal Bonus
02+40+40
03+100+140
04+200+340
05+400+740
06+500+1240
07+600+1840
08+700+2540
09+800+3340
10+1000+4340
11+1000+5340
12+1000+6340
13+1000+7340
14+1000+8340
15+1000+9340
16+1000+10340
17+1000+11340
18+1000+12340
19+1000+13340
20+1200+14540
21+1200+15740
22+1200+16940
23+1200+18140
24+1200+19340
25+1200+20540
26+1200+21740
27+1200+22940
28+1200+24140
29+1200+25340
30+1400+26740
31+1400+28140
32+1400+29540
33+1400+30940
34+1400+32340
35+1400+33740
36+1400+35140
37+1400+36540
38+1400+37940
39+1400+39340
40+1700+41040
41+1700+42740
42+1700+4440
43+1700+46140
44+1700+47840
45+1700+49540
46+1700+51240
47+1700+52940
48+1700+54640
49+1700+56340
50+2000+58340

The table above shows an estimation of the way RE6's combo system works up until 50 combo. All of it is just RE5's combo point system x2. If you look at RE5's combo system, it is all just doubled. I went ahead and stopped at 50 since, I'm really not sure what happens there. The combo points will either turn fixed by then (2000 points for all normal enemy kills afterwards) or it will continue to increase in bonus points much like RE5's Mercenaries Reunion. In reality, I think the combo points will continue to rise after 50 combo since the RE.net trailer shows off a 900K solo score. If so, the full combo system of RE6 Mercenaries will be Reunion's combo system doubled most likely. In other words, if you miss the combo at any time... no World Record score for you!

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RE6 Mercenaries Combo System (with Combo Chests included)

KillsNormal BonusBonus w/Combo ChestActual Bonus received
02+40+1000+960
03+100+1000+900
04+200+1000+800
05+400+1000+600
06+500+1000+500
07+600+1000+400
08+700+1000+300
09+800+1000+200
10++1000+1000+0

The table above shows how much a combo bonus crystal will give in point amounts in RE6 Mercenaries. Notice that it cancels out at 10 combo! Basically, if you pick up a combo bonus crystal at 10 combo, it is worthless. In RE5, the combo bonus became useless at 50 combo, now it is much earlier, if RE6 follows the same system for awarding points amounts like I think it does! Long story short, pick up that combo bonus early in RE6 - at 2 combo for sure!

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RE6 Mercenaries Normal Enemy Point Amounts

Enemy TypePoint Amount
Dog100
Zombie300
J'avo300
Crimson Head600
Mutated J'avo600
Fat Zombie1000

The table above shows the point amount for each enemy in each of the stages I have seen so far. There isn't really much to work with for enemies at the moment.

I'll have more info to follow in the next few days, but it's just mainly listing. It's not just all boring Mercenaries stuff either. I'm gathering everything I can find at the moment.

This document Copyright © 2012 Kevin Hall
Resident Evil 6 Copyright 2012 Capcom Ltd.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Poll - Which scenario will you play through first on Resident Evil 6?

This is my first poll in quite a while. I'll try to do more of these since I got quite a few votes on this one.

Which scenario will you play through first on Resident Evil 6?


Leon's scenario
22 (62%)


Chris' scenario
9 (25%)

Jake's scenario
4 (11%)

Total votes = 35


And so Leon's scenario will be the main scenario that many will play first. I voted for him too actually. His scenario really seems to carry the main story of the game from the looks of it, so I really want to see his first.

I actually like Leon a lot in RE6 also. He just seems more human than his RE4 or Degeneration appearance. I didn't mind him in RE2 though. Can't wait to see more of his overall gameplay since the demo is pretty lackluster with his scenario. Haha.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Resident Evil 6 Demo Guide


The Resident Evil 6 demo was released on Tuesday, July 3rd and is available for download now for those that have Dragon's Dogma along with the redemption code to access the Resident Evil 6 demo. The walkthrough portion for this guide was literally done in a day so don't expect much from it at the moment. I'll add several bits of extra info to this guide as the days progress.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012

Resident Evil 6 - E3 2012 gameplay videos

I didn't get around to posting any of this the week of E3 since I've been busy with many things. Here is a list of many videos for the gameplay segments of each character for the RE6 E3 2012 demo.

Thanks to Seitengrate for the links to some of these videos!



Leon Gameplay









Chris Gameplay









Jake Gameplay



Inversion review


Original review link

Player(s): 1
Extra Features: Online Coop (2 players), Online Multiplayer (2-12 players), Leaderboards

Inversion is a cover-based third person shooter developed by Saber Interactive and published by Namco Bandai games. The game features shooter gameplay very similar to Gears of War and tries to distinguish itself with an added control of gravity to manipulate objects and enemies as well as the environment. Your world literally turns upside-down or sideways at times while playing. While the thought of having gravity at your disposal has much promise, Inversion never does truly have any memorable moments that make me think back about using the gravity to my advantage. It never does have any high points throughout its gameplay - the game runs at a constant average from beginning to end.

Inversion follows the story of Davis Russel and his partner Leo Delgado. When Vanguard City is invaded by a group known as the Lutadores, these two cops must work together to find Davis' daughter and save the world. Inversion plays just like the usual cover-based shooter gameplay found in Gears of War from the start. Focus is placed on taking cover to avoid gunfire and returning fire on enemies that blast your character from a distance. The overall shooter gameplay is just as responsive as Gears of War overall and the game has many weapons to choose from.

One very nice part about Inversion is that the game continually gives you access to new weapons as the game progresses. Shotguns, assault rifles, plasma rifles, gatling guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, flamethrowers and a few other weapons will be available as you continue to play. The guns all have an overall satisfying feel to them. The shotguns allow a player to mangle each enemy from up close per shot and assault rifles allow a player to blow off heads or mangle an enemy with constant firepower. The overall gore in the game adds a lot to the overall experience of combat with weapons and gravity controls. It's not overly gory, but it's just enough to give a sense of satisfaction per kill.

The alien invaders can control gravity through the power of their gravlink backpacks. Eventually Davis and Leo get a hold of a gravlink and are able to use gravity to their advantage. They upgrade their gravity powers as the game progress. By the end of the game, both characters will have access to low gravity and high gravity powers. Low gravity allows a player to fire a beam that creates a vortex of gravity in the targeted area. All light objects will float in that vortex and a player can grab floating objects and toss them at enemies. Enemies can also be shot with low gravity to make them float out of their cover areas. They can be grabbed and tossed just like an object as well.

High gravity will also be at a player's disposal later in the game. This allows a player to weight down objects and enemies with a shot from the gravlink. A red vortex will weight down all objects and enemies in the targeted area. Against enemies, this acts as a more of a temporary stun to keep them in one place. Against objects, high gravity is mainly used for puzzle solving by weighting down objects. A shield can also be placed around your character by pressing the left bumper button through the use of high gravity.

The environments of the game have many zero gravity areas where a player can float in air and hop over to floating chunks of debris in the zero gravity zone. A player must take cover from attacking enemies in these zero gravity areas by getting behind floating chunks of debris and firing back at the enemies. Objects in the zero gravity zones can be freely grappled and thrown through the use of the gravlink at any time since the objects are already floating.

In some areas, the characters will have to enter a vector shift by stepping into a portal. When this happens, the wall to the side becomes the floor as the two characters are dropped on the wall and their whole world rotates to the change gravity. After the change, everything goes back to normal as if the characters were back on the normal ground. One unique aspect of this is that you'll have to keep an eye on the walls and ceilings for enemies that will be camping out above your character. While this feature is a nice addition, it is used far too little to ever be really noticed much. It's literally only used near the beginning of the game and then a few times toward the end.

All the gravity features sound so great on paper until you realize the way they control. The controls are the worst problem with high and low gravity and zero gravity areas. With high and low gravity, you must constantly push down on the right thumbstick in order to change between the two gravity options. A vortex must always be created with a shot from the gravlink with low gravity before any object or enemy can be snatched. The controls are not near as easy as a game like Psi-Ops with its psi powers. The worst part of the high and low gravity controls are during boss fights or any intense fights where you must react quickly. Having to go through so much button pressing and waiting for gravity shots to kick into gear can lead to frustration in later areas.

Taking cover and moving in the zero gravity areas can be hard due to the controls as well. While jumping from platform to platform, you must target each platform and jump to it. There will be times where your targeting cursor will quickly jump to a distant platform and then your character will slowly leap toward that far away platform and be forced to suffer damage if any enemies are shooting. To move around to the other side of a platform, you must double tap the left analog. Trying to double tap in the way that your character is facing while under heavy firepower can be frustrating when the camera shifts after jumping as new enemies move out and attack.

Inversion's environments are all highly detailed like many other shooters. The gravity effects make debris and other particles float in the air in each vortex. There are a few rooms and buildings early on that can be totally ripped apart with gunfire. Walls will fall and buildings will collapse in many of the early city surroundings. As already mentioned, the gore in the game is quite pleasing as well. You can toss heavy objects at enemies and watch them splatter or perform finishing moves on enemies that are caught in your gravity vortexes.

The game's overall sound is pleasing, especially when it comes to gravity and weapon sound effects. Shotguns carry a big booming noise, which I always enjoy. Voice acting feels very dry and emotionless when it comes to the characters in the game. Inversion's two lead characters feel so very one-dimensional all the way through the game and they never do truly convey much emotion. I honestly never cared for any character in the game because none of them stood out. On top of all of this, the game's story doesn't have any high points. It never did feel climactic at any time. At one point where a major plot event unfolds, the main character's voice acting and dialogue totally ruined the experience. The actual ending had me very unsatisfied as well.

The main story offers online coop play where one player can take control of Leo. The game offers no local play. The online play for campaign has no random search function. You have to know a friend or any other contact that has the game in order to play the main campaign with online coop play. So basically, you can't just freely jump into a game with a random player at any time. The coop campaign game has to be perfectly planned with someone you know or someone you meet online.

The game has 8 online modes as well. It has the standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch along with Hourglass, Assault, King of Gravity, Grav Control, Grav Slaughter and Survival. The majority of these modes are all about killing other players by yourself or in a team. Sometimes gravity powers are focused on like in Grav Slaughter and in Grav Control, by gaining kill streaks, players can activate vector changes to change the overall arena - the wall becomes the floor. The Survival mode is one of the better online modes to me since I prefer coop play as opposed to deathmatch. This mode allows four players to team up and battle waves of AI enemies and bosses.

Inversion has some very solid shooter gameplay, but the gravity controls and overall control of just about any added feature other than the shooter gameplay weight it right back down. The gravity controls can help for making battles easier, but overall shooting can get the job done just as well. The actual shooting still takes front seat to all the gravity controls and the gravity features are never truly recognized as much as they could be with easier controls and more areas that need their uses. There are a few puzzles ever now and then that require high gravity and weaker enemies are taken down faster when in groups with high gravity, but other than that, I never even used high gravity often except to rack up kills for the achievement associated with it. The game has many boss fights in it but many of them are repeated at least once. The boss fights are a nice break from the usual gameplay, but the Slave Driver boss fights gets repetitive after the third time of fighting one as the game progresses.

Inversion is not a bad game, but it's literally turned on its side and one side is good and one side is bad. The good does slightly outweigh the bad, but the game feels so average all the time in the campaign mode. If you're a fan of shooters and looking for a decent shooter, Inversion might be a game that you will enjoy, but for everyone else, this game is easily as forgettable as the two lead character's overall outfits and looks - basically, it's just an Average Joe shooter with gravity controls that could have helped it distinguish itself from other shooters... but the controls bring it down too much.

The Good:

+ Great shooter gameplay
+ Gravity powers
+ Many online multiplayer modes

The Bad:

- The controls for gravity features weight down its usefulness
- The overall story and characters are forgettable
- No real high points in campaign

60%

Inversion has some nice shooter gameplay but when it comes to controlling gravity, it's little world is suddenly turned upside-down.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Guide


No matter what, I'll always do some type of guide for every console Resident Evil game. Through the good and the bad, I'll write for them all, and that is a promise, so long as I have the spare time to do so.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is a true mix of good and bad.  I think the good outweighs the bad when played in multiplayer though.  Honestly, it is not as bad as reviews make it out to be.  That still doesn't change the fact that it's a mediocre game overall to me.  I often tell friends "It's loads of average fun!", mainly trying to pinpoint that I have fun with it, but I can see that the game is far from perfect.  Here is my review for Operation Raccoon City.

But anyway, this guide covers all the USS Wolfpack campaign mission and I'm working on the downloadable Spec Ops (Echo Six) missions as they release.  I'll fix up a full item list with all item locations before too long.  With the Spec Ops campaign, the item locations probably won't be as detailed as they are in the USS campaign walkthrough, but all the intel will be listed in full detail for all campaigns.

This guide is very rushed and I think it's pretty half-assed compared to what I usually do... mainly from lack of motivation to write much for the game, but at least I can say that I did something for ORC.  I can promise you, the RE6 guide will be WAY better than this one.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - Lag Shot

What is "Lag Shot" in Resident Evil 5?

Lag shot is a term associated with performing a gunshot the split second right before a melee attack hits a stunned enemy. Basically, a player fires then melees almost simultaneously. This technique can be done with ANY type of weapon - even a rocket launcher. It can be done with any type of melee as well. This technique can actually be used to play Safari Chris much like BSAA Chris (leg stun only) or it can be used to correct the flaw where Safari Chris' straight might not kill when hitting a Majini from behind after a head stun (straight then lag shot + straight) - when using lag shot before the straight, Safari's straight will always kill if the straight hits!

Around the first year of RE5, lag shot was mainly used while playing off host in duo when a player played with lag. Playing with lag makes a lag shot easier to pull off. When playing with any type of lag, the buttons for performing the lag shot do not have to be pressed as fast! Over the years, players have started to perform lag shot more often without lag. The buttons must be pressed almost instantly one right after the other when lag is not present.

In Mercenaries, most players use lag shot to perform a melee kill more quickly on an enemy after an early stun. It is most useful with Chris and Sheva since their frontal leg melees can both hit grounded enemies. Wesker and Jill can both take advantage of lag shot as well, but the melee will not connect as well in most cases since many of their melees will not hit a grounded enemy (besides arm stun).

Lag shot is best performed with a control type where you can control the camera with the right analog/thumbstick. It's good to tilt the camera toward a stunned Majini before firing the shot right before the melee. With Type C and D controls, a player can only tilt the camera up or down with the right analog/thumbstick, which reduces the amount of control for aiming. With Type A lag shot, you really need all the camera control you can get, so Type C's limited camera control would make that lag shot sequence even harder.

What are the flaws of Lag Shot?

Lag shot does include certain flaws that are caused by trying to perform the lag shot itself.

- When a Majini falls down on both knees for a leg stun, the melee will often miss unless the Majini is uphill or your character is RIGHT NEXT to the Majini. In that case, it is best to perform an instant kill melee from behind or shoot the Majini one more time to cause the Majini to fall. To me, this is the worst flaw of lag shot, simply because, if you had damaged the Majini normally, your character could kill the Majini after the stun, but because you are using lag shot, you need that extra gunshot, but can't get it, so... you are losing time by trying a lag shot when a Majini falls on its knees during a leg stun!

- Never aim toward the head when performing the actual lag shot gunshot or you run the risk of getting a critical shortly before the melee. This can be even worse and you might accidentally activate a scripted Cephalo shortly before a melee.

- Sometimes a Majini will stagger backwards from the lag shot if they are shot in the top half and the melee will miss. This happens VERY rarely, but it will happen eventually. Shooting a Majini in the leg instead of the body will sometimes cause them to fall and the melee will miss as well! It's best to aim toward the body.

- With Safari Chris, if you do a lag shot right after a head stun (lag shot + straight), the Majini might fall and roll to the ground and the straight will miss the rolling Majini. The melee can usually be saved through a stomp when this happens, but this can cause a missed combo!


Type B and D Lag Shot



Player: Berserker Kev

NOTE: Safari Chris is normally a head stun character when trying to melee kill with him. His usual melee kill combination is headshot + straight. When played with lag shot like in the video above, he can be played as a leg stun character since all leg stuns can give you a melee kill. Playing Safari Chris as a leg stun character with the help of lag shot reduces the chances for criticals and random Cephalos in stages where they are both common like Missile Area. I use control type B in the video up above.

The method to perform a lag shot with Type B and D is the easiest, so I will explain it first. With Type B and D, get a stun on an enemy then rush up to the enemy and aim then fire and perform the melee DIRECTLY after firing. The melee button must be pressed between the time period where the gun is fired and the bullet actually hits the enemy.

Here is a full explanation of how to perform a melee from a leg stun with Type B or D:

1) Stun an enemy by shooting the enemy in a leg to get a leg stun
2) Rush toward the stunned enemy to where the melee prompt appears while standing near it
3) Aim at a portion of the enemy with the L1/LT button
4) While aiming press the R1/RT button to fire then QUICKLY tap the Square/X button to perform the melee

The actual shot + melee combination has to be performed one tap right after the other. It's much like Tekken where two button taps must be pressed one right after the other very quickly! Sort of like... R1 ~ Square or RT ~ X.


Type A and C Lag Shot



Player: RAGIA-2-RAGI_

NOTE: The player in the video above is a Type A player. Type A lag shot looks no different from Type B lag shot, but, as you can see, he does it a lot less than in my video - aka. lag shot is harder with Type A and C controls.

Type A and C players have a similar method for lag shot, but, since the melee button and the fire button are both the same, the fire button must be held before stepping in front of the enemy and the gunshot must be triggered by aiming with the aim button. Basically, you have to keep in mind that after you hold the fire button then tap the R1/RT button while holding the fire button, your character will shoot!

Here is a full explanation of how to perform a melee from a leg stun with Type A or C:

1) Stun an enemy by shooting the enemy in a leg to get a leg stun
2) Hold down the fire button (Square/X) then rush toward the stunned enemy to where the melee prompt appears while standing near it
3) While the Square/X button is still being held, aim at a portion of the enemy with the right analog (tilt the camera toward the enemy). The MOMENT you press and hold the R1/RT button to aim your weapon, your character will fire.
4) Right after pressing the R1/RT button to fire, release the Square/X button then quickly tap the Square/X button once again to perform the melee

Just like with Type B and D controls, the melee button press must be tapped in between the time the gunshot is fired and when the gunshot actually hits the enemy in order to perform the melee.


NOTE: If you have any problems performing lag shot with either method, try playing in duo and allowing another player to host - play off host. While playing off host, you will get a bit of lag depending on the connection and the lag shot will be much easier to pull off since you will not need to press the fire and melee button as quickly in sequence.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - Scoring System

The following tables list all point amounts for Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries. The only point amount not in a table is the point amount for leftover time. Each leftover second at the end of a run is worth 1000 points in The Mercenaries (1 second = 1000 points).

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RE5 Mercenaries Normal Enemy Point Amounts

Enemy TypePoint Amount
Majini (Town)300
Majini (Wetland)400
Majini (Base)400
Bui Kichwa400
Kipepeo700
Cephalo800
Licker Beta900
Duvalia900
Big Man Majini1000
Chicken2000


RE5 Mercenaries Boss Enemy Point Amounts

Enemy TypePoint Amount
Executioner Majini5000
Giant Majini5000
Reaper6000
Chainsaw Majini (Red and Blue)7000
Gatling Gun Majini10000
Executioner Majini (Red)15000


The tables above show the point amount per normal enemy and boss enemy in Resident Evil 5 Mercenaries. Once an enemy is killed, the full point amount that the enemy is worth will be received the moment that all of its HP total has been consumed - some enemies (such as the Blue Chainsaw Majini) do not even have to be performing a death animation for the player to receive the points for their kill. Keep in mind that the Blue Chainsaw Majini is not truly defeated until all of his HP is taken while he is in his berserk mode state.

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RE5 Mercenaries Combo System (Standard Combo)

KillsNormal BonusBoss Bonus
02+20+500
03+50+1000
04+100+1500
05+200+2000
06+250+2500
07+300+3000
08+350+3500
09+400+4000
10 - 19+500+4500
20 - 29+600+5000
30 - 39+700+5500
40 - 49+850+6000
50++1000+7000


The table above shows the standard combo system for Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries. Starting from kill 2, a player will receive bonus points per enemy that is killed so long as the combo chain is kept going through enemy kills. The current combo will appear on the right hand side of the screen. Each kill must be chained within 10 seconds of the next in order to continue the combo chain. Normal enemies and boss enemies both give a player a specific amount of bonus points depending on the current kills that have been chained.

The bonus received from chaining kills gives a player a fixed rate of 1000 points per normal enemy and 7000 points per boss enemy starting at 50 combo all the way until 150 combo. The bonus points for the combo are not added up until the combo is broken or until the run ends at 150 combo.

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RE5 Mercenaries Combo System (with Combo Chests included)

KillsNormal BonusBonus w/Combo ChestActual Bonus received
02+20+1000+980
03+50+1000+950
04+100+1000+900
05+200+1000+800
06+250+1000+750
07+300+1000+700
08+350+1000+650
09+400+1000+600
10 - 19+500+1000+500
20 - 29+600+1000+400
30 - 39+700+1000+300
40 - 49+850+1000+150
50++1000+1000+0


This second table deals with the bonus received once a combo chest is activated. It needs to be explained thoroughly to understand it, so let's start with kill 2 and explain it:
Starting at kill 2, a player normally receives a bonus of 20 points. When a combo chest is activated, starting at kill 2, a player receives 1000 points in place of the 20 points that would be given for kill 2. So, a player is actually receiving 980 points extra by activating the combo chest at kill 2 (1000 points - 20 points = 980 points).

As you can see, the bonus received is much higher between kills 2-9. Kills 2-9 are the most vital kills for activating a combo chest. Kills after 10, up to 19, award a fixed rate of 500 points per kill. Kills 20-29 give 400 points. From 30 kills to 39 kills, the combo chests are only giving a fixed rate of 300 bonus points extra per kill, so a player might start to question if they are really needed by then. At 40 kills up to 49 kills a player is only receiving 150 bonus points, which is practically worthless. After 50 kills, combo chests become absolutely pointless since you are already receiving 1000 bonus points per enemy kill.

Obviously, ALL of these points can add up, but after 30 combo, if you have enemies to kill in the area, taking the time to grab a combo chest is not really in your best interest. Think about it, you could have quickly killed the enemies in the area faster to get more enemies to spawn and have a higher time instead of running to the nearest combo chest and allowing the current enemies to stay in the stage longer, reducing time, for a measly 300 points extra per kill. That doesn't sound good when each leftover second is worth 1000 points and you could have possibly finished the stage faster with not grabbing the combo chest after 30 kills.

Long story short, after 30 combo, only grab a combo bonus from a combo chest if there are no nearby enemies in the area to kill. Don't go running toward a chest at 30 combo while a crowd of 5 enemies follow behind and wait for your character to grab the combo bonus - in the end, you're losing by doing stuff such as this.

Overall, how you collect combo chests, is all based on your opinion really since Mercs runs can be so random. The current enemy spawns on the screen are the main deciding factor after 30 combo. Just... don't grab a combo bonus after 50 combo - there is no point to that.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Resident Evil: Revelations Guide


I've been working on this guide ever since a week and half before the US release. Just about every section is done on it now. The only section that isn't finished so far is the Raid Mode section. I'd like to make a sort of mini walkthrough per stage... maybe per difficulty, so this will take some major time to fully complete. Therefore, as of February 23, 2012, I now consider this guide "complete" since the walkthrough for the main campaign is fully done and so is the majority of everything else.

I'll get to the rest of Raid Mode throughout the remainder of the month and try to finish that section up. I might add a Hell mode section as well. Honestly, there are only a few parts of Hell mode that I deem truly harder than the normal mode once you get used to it. The final boss in Hell mode is pretty ridiculous if you ask me, but he's not so bad if you remember to bring the rocket launcher to the fight with him.


Resident Evil: Revelations is a total blast of an RE game. I seriously feel this game offers a better RE experience for the main campaign than RE4 and RE5. It has many more elements from a survival horror game and less emphasis on action. I'm so very pleased with this game. The mini game portion, Raid Mode, is really good too. The three difficulties in the mini game really help out in the replay value department - there is so much to complete in Raid Mode. It's good to see Capcom trying out a new type of mini game instead of Mercs once again.


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Oh, and here is one bit of extra info for the post below. Here's another reason why I will never say "I quit" with RE5 Mercenaries:



Because of the great friends that I have made from RE5!

RE5 Mercs Partner - A player that will help you try to achieve a great score.
RE5 Mercs Friend - A player that will help you try to achieve a great score and still stay in contact with you once RE5 has been turned off for the day.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - Prison SOLO strategy

This is a post for archive information for strategies of Prison SOLO in Resident Evil 5 - The Mercenaries.

-- Prison SOLO Strategy 1





Player: combattmagnum

Video Link 1
Video Link 2


-- Prison SOLO Strategy 2



Player: ChabesuObama


-- Prison SOLO Strategy 3



Player: kirin

NOTE: Take a look at the spawning regions for Prison by clicking on the map below.

Here is a breakdown of all the regions:

Region A = 134 enemies (entire Prison)

Yes, Prison only has one spawning region! So, no matter where you stand in the stage, enemies will spawn. There is no need to worry about moving to another portion of the stage. This is really the way all stages should be...

All other enemies are the 5 Executioner Majini boss enemies (2 Black and 3 Red) and the 11 enemies that start in the stage (including the chicken and EXCLUDING the first Red Executioner Majini - I count him along with the boss total).

134 + 5 Executioner Majini enemies + 11 beginning (normal) enemies = 150 enemies total!

Learn the spawning region boundaries! (all one of them!)




NOTE: The map should say "134 enemies" for Region A. I'm not redoing it though.

Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - Ship Deck SOLO strategy

This is a post for archive information for strategies of Ship Deck SOLO in Resident Evil 5 - The Mercenaries.

-- Ship Deck SOLO Strategy (grab grenade launcher)



Player: Kayu_uma

Chainsaw Majini spawn times:

Chainsaw Majini 1 (blue) - spawns at beginning
Chainsaw Majini 2 & 3 (blue and red) - 20 combo
Chainsaw Majini 4 (red) - 30 combo
Chainsaw Majini 5 (red) - 40 combo
Chainsaw Majini 6 & 7 (blue and red) - 50 combo


Always start from the south side of Ship Deck, near the two flash grenade pickups. There is no point in starting on the north end.

NOTE: Take a look at the second video. The player shoots the cocktail Majini on the tower in the distance from the beginning. Keep in mind that you need to get the attention of this Majini or he will stay there until your character moves near him. In the Safari video, the player waits to get his attention at 1:17 in the video by hopping over toward him. Notice how the Majini yells at that time - there is no need for the Safari player to shoot him.

Turn around and pick up the two flash grenades from the start. Move down the stairs and hit the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS then move down the second set of stairs and clear the area of Majini by melee killing them. The FIRST BLUE CHAINSAW MAJINI SPAWNS RIGHT WHEN THE STAGE STARTS and he will drop from the crane tower shortly. He actually spawns as soon as the stage begins, so he will take a while to get to your character. It's best to bear down on him with your most powerful weapon as soon as he drops and knock him out. Like all blue chainsaw Majini, he won't count as a kill on the first knockout and he will revive then go into berserk mode after a few seconds.

After the blue chainsaw Majini falls, run toward the ladder on the north crate and climb it then fall down the other side of the crate. Run toward the second ladder off to the left and climb it then hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS above the crate tunnel.

OPTIONAL: Fall off the side of the crate with the 60 second timer and hop over the crates to the west of it then climb the ladder off to the left at the end. Fall down to the crate below then climb the ladder up ahead to the right. Hop across the crates then hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS and fall to the lower set of crates then pick up the grenade launcher. This is all done in the first video. Obviously, STARS Chris and Tribal Sheva do not need to do this since they already have a grenade launcher. This is completely optional.

Hit the 90 SECOND TIME BONUS in the west before moving up the stairs. Go up the stairs and climb the ladder in the center of the walkway to reach the lower part of the north tower. Climb the middle ladder to reach the top of the tower. Break the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS and take the rocket launcher. Safari Chris does not need the rocket launcher since he already carries two!

Second video, 1:35

The player places a proximity bomb near the side of the top portion of the tower. Why? Because there are a total of 4 Majini that will spawn in the north spawning region that will climb to the top of the tower and camp there if they are not stopped. 3 bowgun Majini and 1 dynamite Majini will spawn from the north crate and try to climb up to the top of the tower. The STARS Chris player in the video is taking a precaution by placing the proximity bomb just in case one of those Majini gets by him.

Hop back down the tower then fall off the north end. The CHICKEN should be running around either above the ladder or below the ladder. Climb the ladder in the far north then break the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS. Run over to the combo chest containing the combo bonus then take the combo bonus. Start melee killing the Majini and be sure to kill the chicken. Sometimes it's best to kill the chicken first to make sure it doesn't get away from your character. Toss a flash grenade at the chicken if it is ever much trouble.

The first blue chainsaw Majini will attack soon, so be sure to be on the lookout for him. The FIRST RED CHAINSAW AND SECOND BLUE CHAINSAW MAJINI WILL SPAWN AT 20 COMBO from the the crane in the middle of the stage then they will run to the north to attack your character. It is up to you whether you use the rocket launcher to kill them both at that time or not. By killing the first pair of chainsaw Majini with the rocket launcher, you'll have to fight the second pair with some other powered weapon... unless you are Safari Chris!

First video, 3:05

A flash grenade can be used to stun a berserking chainsaw Majini. Always keep this in mind if you get tied up in melee killing and one is very close to your character.

NOTE: A total of 4 Majini (3 bowgun and 1 dynamite Majini) will spawn from the north crate and try to climb the tower. They will instantly move toward the tower and try to climb it. DO NOT LET THEM CLIMB! Bullet kill them to make sure that they do not reach the top if you have to. If one of them reaches the top, they will camp on top of the tower for the rest of the run! This can easily screw up the entire run for a player by having them still on the tower when the final enemy is killed. They can spawn AT ANY TIME BEFORE 40 KILLS. They spawn randomly within the 40 kill spawning cycle of the north set of enemies, so you'll just have to WATCH CLOSELY!

First video, 3:47

The only scripted Cephalos that spawn while in the north area is a red wrench Majini and a long pipe Majini. The red wrench Majini is very easy to spot. They both spawn from a crate on the west side of the middle portion of the Ship Deck, so they won't get to your character until a bit later after the killing has started. The player in the Safari video just activated the Cephalo and went for a melee kill on the actual Cephalo... and got it! He activates the long pipe scripted Cephalo at 4:58 in the video.

The player in the video constantly turns back toward the crate where the Majini spawn and you should too! DO NOT allow the 3 bowgun and dynamite Majini to climb the tower ladder or they will camp up there until the end of the run!

First video, 4:03

The player notices the bowgun Majini racing toward the ladder and shoots him in the foot to keep him from climbing. This is one of the 3 bowgun Majini that will try to climb and camp on top of the tower (3 bowgun and 1 dynamite).

NOTE: At around 20 combo, you need to take precaution in how fast you kill. The only nearby spawn point is the crate spawn point and the north region's enemies mainly spawn in the middle portion of the stage, so the majority will take a while to get to your character. There may be times where you'll have to keep the combo with a powered weapon! Both players in both videos kill slow. Some of the neck breaks are used to slow down the killing process intentionally!

The SECOND RED CHAINSAW MAJINI WILL SPAWN AT 30 COMBO from the crate tower and he will make his way toward your character. At 40 combo, it should be safe to leave the area. Run up the stairs to the left and break the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS along the way. The combo needs to be kept by killing the Majini that move toward your character along the way. Kill them with a powered weapon if you have to. The second red Chainsaw Majini will likely be met while leaving the area at 40+ kills.

Fall from the ladder in the south. You're main goal is to keep the combo and reach the middle path in between the crates for now. Once your character steps into the corridor that leads to the middle path from the north, enemies will begin to spawn again. The THIRD RED CHAINSAW MAJINI SPAWNS AT 40 COMBO from the crane tower and he will likely be met along the way to the middle area.

First video, 5:51

The player runs to the middle then stops and turns to fight. He is running to the area in front of the middle path to activate enemies for the east area (east spawning region). If he would have stayed outside of that area, the enemies would have not been activated on the east side. Always rush toward the middle portion to activate enemies since there are 12 or fewer enemies in the stage the entire time before your character reaches the middle portion when coming from the north.

Your main goal is to stay in between the crate corridor in the middle of the stage and fight the enemies until 85 combo. Make your way toward the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS in the middle portion of the crates and hit that timer while fighting. The FOURTH RED AND THIRD BLUE CHAINSAW MAJINI WILL SPAWN AT 50 COMBO from the overhead crane. It's a good idea to fight them in the corridor area, especially if you have a magnum - you can literally shoot both at the same time with piercing if they stand in a line. It's best to stand with your back to the north end since Majini will often hop across the crates instead of hopping down. Majini will have to hop down and move around the side of the crates to come toward your character, so overall, it will take them longer to reach your character.

NOTE: While fighting in the middle area, two green bottle Majini and two dynamite Majini scripted Cephalos will spawn from the crate above the hopping crates near the middle. The dynamite Majini often spawn later and the green bottle Majini can spawn at any time. There will also be two red wrench scripted Cephalo Majini - one will spawn from the same crate as the other Majini mentioned above and one will drop from the overhead crane tower.

Starting at 85 kills, begin to leave the middle area. Make sure you keep the combo with enemies that are in front of your character or enemies that try to follow your character. Try to always keep an enemy in your line of vision while leaving. Move to the west area. Once you pass middle portion of the stack of crates, enemies will start to spawn from the west area.

Stay on the current side of the tunnel and fight any enemies that appear while in the west area and gradually work your way through the tunnel toward the area in front of the gate and then below the crane tower. It's very important to fight enemies a bit before going through the tunnel to make sure that enemies spawn on the other side of the tunnel once your character moves through it. Just running through the tunnel from the get go will mean that you'll likely have to turn around and keep the combo by blasting an enemy that follows.

NOTE: While in the west area, scripted Cephalos will spawn from all over the place. The first two red wrench Majini that spawn will not be scripted Cephalos, but all the rest of the red wrench Majini (around 8) will be scripted Cephalos, so it's very important that you prepare for them by shooting them in the legs and performing an instant kill melee from behind or by preparing to blast the Cephalo with a powered weapon or kill it with a flash explosive. There is a bow gun scripted Cephalo that will spawn from the beginning of the west spawning region from the north crate below the crane tower and there are three spiked club scripted Cephalos that will spawn from the south crate below the crane tower (near the 60 seconds) - the spiked club Majini will spawn toward the end of the spawning cycle. Keep in mind that the green bottle, red wrench and dynamite Majini Cephalos from the other area can follow you from the last area - basically like a surprise appearance.
First video, 8:44

The player sets off one of the dynamite Majini scripted Cephalos from the east spawning region. This dynamite Majini spawned while the player was in the east and followed him to the west!

First video, 8:55 and 9:05

The first two red wrench Majini that spawn in the west area are not scripted Cephalos. If you get a scripted Cephalo from the beginning, that is one of the red wrench scripted Cephalos from the east area!

First video, 9:19

The player fails to get a leg stun on a bowgun Majini then instantly moves to another Majini to kill it. He leaves the bowgun Majini for a possible leg stun later (which he gets) since it has a high chance of being the scripted Cephalo bowgun Majini from the north crate. The player later takes the same precaution with another bowgun Majini - the bowgun can be the sneakiest scripted Cephalo of them all since he will appear from the beginning to the middle spawning cycle of the west spawning region.

Be on the lookout for scripted Cephalos and work your way to the area with the 60 second timer below the crane tower. Starting at about 140 combo, hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS and get ready to leave. If you didn't hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS on the other side of the hopping crates (near the grenade launcher) then climb the nearby ladders and hop over the crates and hit that timer after 140 combo. Kick open the gate and hit the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS near the explosive barrel and then move up the stairs and follow the path to the crane tower.

Climb the ladder to the top of the crane tower. Four camping bowgun Majini will be at the top of the crane. Run over to the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS on top of the crane tower and hit it then quickly melee kill the last four bowgun Majini to end the run!

NOTE: If the run does not end once all of the bowgun Majini are killed on the tower, look over at the north tower. If there is a Majini on top of the tower, you let a camping bowgun or dynamite Majini get by your character and climb the north tower somewhere in between 1-40 combo. If a Majini is on the north tower, you can take your chances with sniping him from long range, or use the nearby zipline to ride over to the rocket launchers on the east suspended platform then fall and climb the crate to the north and then blast him with a rocket. Either way, you're going to lose time because of him. Ship Deck ALWAYS has this type of risk no matter how careful a player is at times.


-- Ship Deck SOLO Strategy (do not grab grenade launcher)



Player: ChabesuObama

Specific Stage Details for Ship Deck:


NOTE: Take a look at the spawning regions for Ship Deck by clicking on the map below.

Here is a breakdown of all the regions:

Region A = 52 enemies (southwest region)
Region B = 40 enemies (southeast region)
Region C = 40 enemies (north region)

All other enemies are the 7 Chainsaw Majini boss enemies and the 11 enemies that start in the stage (including the chicken and EXCLUDING the first blue Chainsaw Majini - I count him along with the boss total).

52 + 40 + 40 + 7 Chainsaw Majini enemies + 11 beginning (normal) enemies = 150 enemies total!

NOTE: If you look closely at the spawning region map below, there is an area of no spawning in between regions A and B. While standing in the south in between regions A and B, no enemies will spawn! That is a complete dead zone where no enemies can be activated. To test it, kill all current 12 enemies in the stage and stand in that area - no enemies will spawn after each of the 12 current enemies are killed! You'll have to step out of the dead zone to make enemies spawn again.

Learn the spawning region boundaries!


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - One Reason Why I'll Never Say "I quit"

For the past year, I've gotten to where I just get lazy with my email and allow emails to build up quite a bit in my inbox before I answer them. I literally just leave emails hanging for a month or two at times. I was just looking through my emails a few moments ago and ran across this one. This kind of email means a lot to me and I wanted to share it:

I've just been getting back into playing RE5 mercs again. I love it but, I suck at it. Right now, my highest solo score on PA with BSAA chris is around 80k. A string of youtube and google searches for ideas on tactics and I found out that I've been playing using old info. Picking it up again and learning how to play it all over again, especially using Type B controls over Type D controls is going to take a lot of getting used to but I like it for that very reason. It is like playing a whole new mercenaries. I never had any problems getting SS scores in duo, but I like to attribute that to me and my partner just having insane persistence for getting a good run and a pretty tight teamwork game as well. After I get my game right and I conquer solo, I'm going to go back to duo and bust the scores that we previously set, and I'm going to use your guides to help me do it.

Anyway I guess that was a really long winded and unnecessary way of saying thanks for your guides, I share your enthusiasm for RE5 mercs (but not the skill), and keep up the good work. I'm always willing to support people that put a lot of effort into being good at something everyone can share.


I've also got a few messages in my guestbook much like this one. They mean a lot to me. The overall RE5 Mercs community is really annoying to me now and has been for over the past year making it hard to continue to enjoy and still write out info for the game. "It's not the game that is bad, it's the community surrounding it that makes it bad" so says a certain friend. That's all very true, but I won't even get into that.

At times, I think to myself, it would be so easy to move on from RE5 and just stay gone, but it's emails like this and certain friends that I play with that will keep me involved for a while longer. I will take many breaks from it from now on and work on other games (Revelations and ORC), but I'll always return eventually.

Aside from messing around with Missile Area, getting high scores has been thrown out the window for over a year now from lack of motivation. Documenting info for RE5 Mercs is much more important to me now. I hate leaving things unfinished and there are still more solo stages left to write some info about so I'll continue with that eventually.

Just last night, I had a brainstorm on one more project for Mercs 3D since I'm sort of back to playing handhelds once again. No one is going to really care, but it wouldn't take that long and it's something I want to do! I think it should give me some variety away from Revelations and RE5 Mercs also. I'll get to the ROOT of that problem later. Yuck! Yuck!

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Resident Evil: Revelations review

Resident Evil: Revelations

Original review link

Player(s): 1
Extra Features: online multiplayer (1-2 players)

If you're like me, you enjoyed Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 greatly for their fast pace action, but after playing them, you sort of had this feeling that they didn't have the same elements of a survival horror unlike past Resident Evil games - both games seemed too focused on action while the usual horror and suspense found in past RE titles was give much less emphasis. Both RE4 and RE5 were really great for their intense gameplay, but when compared to the older RE games, they were sort of lacking in a more traditional survival horror feel that a more hardcore RE fan that has been with the series from the beginning would hope to find in them.

Resident Evil: Revelations brings back more of a classic survival horror feel found in the older Resident Evil games - puzzle solving, suspense, horror atmosphere, exploration, ammo conserving among other elements no longer take a backseat to the action gameplay like in RE4 and RE5. It's the perfect blend of the newer style of RE gameplay mixed with the older RE games' survival horror feel!

The majority of Revelations takes place aboard a large boat (Queen Zenobia) in the Mediterranean Sea. Jill Valentine has been dispatched along with her partner Parker to search for Chris Redfield and his partner after they have failed to make contact with the BSAA on there whereabouts aboard the vessel. Jill is the main character of the game and the action will switch focus to other characters such as Chris quite often as the story unfolds. The enemies fought in Revelations are all infected with the T-Abyss virus and they all have aquatic features.

The gameplay for Revelations plays much like RE5, but there is much less emphasis on melee attacks. Melee attacks only serve as more of a finishing blow. The stuns leading to the melee attack can actually be quite hard to activate since it takes several shots to a certain portion of an enemy instead of a single shot. If you've played the Lost in Nightmares mini game in RE5, then you'll find that Revelations carries that same overall focus of a horror atmosphere. Revelations places more of a focus on shooting enemies rather than conserving ammo by setting up constant stuns that lead to a melee attack. You're going to be bullet-killing enemies the majority of the time just like in RE4 and the older RE games.

Revelations once again places all ammo and items in the environments. No longer will enemies drop items once they are defeated! You are given a set amount of ammo and healing items per area so you'll have to conserve at times. Weapons are upgradeable with various upgrade items that can be found throughout the ship. Each weapon has a certain amount of slots that can hold upgrades. A weapon's damage, rate of fire, capacity, among other properties can all be upgraded with upgrade items. Upgrades can be placed on weapons at green weapon crates - they look like item boxes. Only Jill can upgrade since the game mainly follows her story. Side characters are stuck with their default weapons and current weapon stats.

The overall weapon variety for Revelations is mainly composed of weapons from RE4 and RE5 and there are some new weapons added to the mix. Players will have a variety of handguns, shotguns, rifles, machine guns, and magnums to choose from. There is also a rocket launcher weapon (one time use). Each character can only hold three weapons. Jill is the only character that can switch weapons in the main game.

Revelations encourages exploration. A player will have to find items and backtrack to many areas of the ship in order to solve puzzles or unlock doors. RE4 and RE5 placed more of a focus on forward progression through rooms and areas, but Revelations brings back some backtracking. The backtracking never did come across as repetitive to me - it was actually quite good to see it back so I could return to older areas like in previous RE titles once again and explore. Revelations' puzzles are all touch screen puzzles. Many of them have a player using the touch screen to remove screws from a control box then rearrange several plugs on a circuit board. There are some welding touch screen puzzles and actual fingerprint puzzles much later into the game as well.

Revelations' overall gameplay has much variety in it. A player will be busy shooting, puzzle solving, exploring and switching to a new character quite often throughout the main story. The game also allows a player to swim through many of the later areas. The swimming is such a nice break from the constant running and walking throughout the ship. Swimming controls are much like you would expect - one button to dive and one button to swim while maneuvering with the left circle pad.

The game is overall very cinematic and story driven. Cutscenes are quite frequent and the game is constantly switching back and forth between characters. Between episodes, the game will have a recap of previous events much like a movie! Sometimes a player will have to progress through a flashback mission. Boss battles are very epic and enjoyable. Each boss and normal enemy has some sort of weak area or weakness that can be used against them. Enemies in Revelations can be quite tough at times. Just normal enemies seem to carry quite a bit of health and are aggressive at times and bosses take a tremendous amount of firepower to bring down.

Each controlled character will almost always have a CPU controlled partner with them. This can be both good and bad. The CPU partner is invincible and has infinite ammo, so you never have to worry about them. The CPU partner will help in shooting enemies and damaging enemies, but they can also interrupt stun and stagger animations. There were many times where I was shooting the legs of an enemy to make it fall and my CPU partner would start shooting the body of the same enemy and cause the enemy to not fall down because the stun was interrupted by the partner's shooting. The main story mode has no co-op play in it - it's all single player.

The overall graphical look to Revelations is quite amazing. It's literally the best-looking 3DS game I have seen. The character models are all just as detailed as in RE5. Environments are dripping with horror atmosphere. There are many closed in areas with blood and guts stripped all over the walls to get your nerves on edge and many huge rooms much like you would expect on a luxury ship. The only bad aspect I could really find about the graphics are jagged edges on the character models at times.

Enemies will go through certain stun or stagger animations while shooting them, but the animations appear to be delayed with some enemies. There were many times where I would waste ammo from shooting an enemy that was already considered "dead" yet the death animation had not kicked in just yet - basically, my shots would start to go right through the targeted enemy then seconds later, the enemy would begin to crumple and fall. Delayed reaction happens quite often in Revelations. The majority of the time, I stand back and wait for reactions after shooting an enemy a few times just to make sure that I don't overshoot.

The sound can really add to the horror atmosphere in Revelations. While walking through corridors, I would sometimes hear voices whispering from an enemy that was up ahead or hear some type of enemy yell in the distance. The overall soundtrack is quite fitting for the many areas as well. It has several quiet tunes that play during normal gameplay and loud tracks for big boss battles. The character voices are all very well done also, much like in RE5.

Revelations controls exactly like Mercenaries 3D for the most part. If you've played that game, you'll be right at home with Revelations. There is not much difference at all. Revelations has a newly added dodge feature similar to the dodge found in RE3. Like in RE3, the dodge will seem kind of random at times. It is done by pressing the left circle pad up or pressing the left circle pad down along with the B button the second an enemy attack, but sometimes it will not activate when you really need it.

Raid mode is unlocked as a player progresses through the main story of Revelations. Raid mode is a survival mode with several stages where a player must fight through waves of enemies in order to clear a stage. Unlike the unlockable Mercenaries mode in past RE games, there is no time limit. Players will have to fight a set amount of enemies in order to finish a stage. As a player shoots each enemy, damage is displayed based on where the enemy is shot. Raid mode is an excellent way to learn the different weaknesses of each enemy since the damage delivered per shot is actually showed on the screen. Weak areas will be showed in a red color to signify the greater amount of damage delivered per shot.

Raid mode has a slight RPG feel to it. Besides displaying enemy health and weak points, some enemies have upgrades on them that will make them have a higher defense, move faster or attack more aggressively among many other enhances. Some enemies have icons near their life bar that display their current status enhancement. Enemies can be larger than others too. I ran across some huge Hunters and Ooze Mutants in one stage of the game.

Battle Points can be collected by playing the main game and by playing Raid mode. There points can be used to buy extra weapons or customization parts for Raid mode. Weapons and customization parts are also unlocked by finishing stages. All characters from the main game can be unlocked for use in Raid mode. Each character can carry three weapons at a time and all characters have their own unique abilities such as reloading certain weapons faster or taking off more damage with knife attacks. Players gain levels from completing stages, which allows new weapons to be equipped.

Raid mode can be played solo or with a partner in all stages. A partner can join locally or through wireless internet play. In duo games, both players fight a stage's enemies and progress through the stage together. It's much like duo RE5 Mercenaries. Battle Points are awarded to both players just about equally. Raid mode has a total of 21 stages and a bonus stage. The stages rise in difficulty pretty quickly and there are multiple difficulties per stage. Raid mode will last a player quite a while if you want to try to get everything in it.

The main campaign took me a total of 12 hours to complete. The game has several unlockables that can be obtained by completing missions in the mission selection menu. Missions are basically just like Mercenaries 3D's medals - they are a list of objectives that must be performed to gain an unlockable. Both the main game and Raid mode have their own lists of missions.

If you were let down by how much priority the action gameplay of RE4 and RE5 took over many of the more established RE survival horror elements, you should really give Revelations a try. It plays much more like Lost in Nightmares rather than RE5. It truly is the best blend of RE5 gameplay and classical RE gameplay that I have played so far. A fan of both the newer action horror gameplay and the classical survival horror gameplay should find something to enjoy in Revelations.

The Good:

+ It's a great blend of RE5 gameplay with the more classic RE feel
+ Much gameplay variety
+ Raid mode

The Bad:

- The dodge feature will not always activate
- Enemy reaction and overall stuns seem delayed

92%

Resident Evil: Revelations is a combination of RE5 gameplay mixed with classical horror elements from past RE games that will please both new and old RE fans.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - Missile Area SOLO strategy

This is a post for archive information for strategies of Missile Area SOLO in Resident Evil 5 - The Mercenaries.

-- Missile Area SOLO Strategy 1 (140+ combo)



Player: Berserker Kev

NOTE: The video above is made mainly just to show off a strategy that I made for Missile Area. Whether you discard the grenade launcher or not is up to you with STARS Chris. Flash rounds and nitrogen rounds can ruin melee kills just as much as they can help you gain more on Missile Area thanks to the dynamite and cocktail Majini.

NOTE: Always avoid any type of melees that hit the head of a Majini. Any type of hit to the head can cause a random Cephalo on just about every Majini in Missile Area. Green bottle Majini are the only Majini that will not spawn a random Cephalo. Try to aim your melees away from the head by stepping to the side or in front of a Majini so your character does not hit the Majini directly in the head.

It's best to choose the office as the starting for Missile Area Solo. Grab the flash grenade on the control panel then hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS in the office room. From the start, a player can exit either door and run to the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS along the walkway then hit it. In the video, I exited from the left door and shot the chicken below then ran toward the timer. Some players like to exit from the right office door then melee kill the dynamite Majini outside the office and kill the chicken below then run to the timer. It's all up to you.

NOTE: If you DON'T move along the left side of the walkway, after you hop on the conveyor belt from the stairway, you MUST shoot the camping Majini near the platform with the 60 seconds in the background. The platform will be in front of your character as the character drops onto the conveyor belt. The Majini will be to the left. You MUST shoot him or he will remain there until your character moves next to him. With the way I move out the left office door in the video, that got his attention since I was above him.

Fall below to where the chicken was killed. Grab the chicken egg if needed then move up the stairs to the right then fall on the conveyor belt. Run to the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS on the conveyor belt then hit it. Shoot the two explosive canisters up ahead since your character will be fighting in that area later. Drop from the ladder at the end of the conveyor belt.

Run over to the first ladder that leads to the walkway above the bottom conveyor belt then climb it. Move across the walkway then drop. Run to the 90 SECOND TIME BONUS then hit it. Walk over to the ladder near the 90 second timer then climb it and fall off the dropoff in the middle of the walkway to land on the conveyor belt. Hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS at the end of the conveyor belt then get on the platform below the stairs then move up the stairs. Kick through the door at the top then grab the 2 flash grenade and combo bonus from the combo chest off to the side (grab them in that order to make the combo bonus last longer).

Start to kill the Majini. They should be all on the conveyor belt for the most part. If one of them hops up onto the platform that you are on, quickly shoot him to make him drop then fall along with him. There will be a crowd of 12 Majini at the beginning, so kill very quickly from the start. More Majini will begin to spawn. Sometimes, it is hard to keep the combo because the Majini spawn so far away - that's just all bad luck! You might have to keep the combo with the magnum at times. Never know.

3:15
The axe Majini that is killed is a scripted critical that spawns from the 90 second area. His head will always explode upon death if he isn't killed with an instant kill melee. Never shoot him in the head or his head will explode! He is also a random Cephalo, so he could go all Cephalo on your ass for hitting him in the head.

4:37
The Majini with the megaphone that dropped from the overhead walkway was a scripted Cephalo. I neck break him in the video to avoid the Cephalo. With Wesker, you'll have to be ready to activate then kill the Cephalo. This Majini can drop from the overhead walkway like in the video or he can climb up the ladder on the conveyor belt or come through the nearby door on the platform.

NOTE: DO NOT move under the storage room walkway. While standing on the north portion of the conveyor at the start, you are in between two spawning regions. If you move under the storage room walkway, you just crossed over into another spawning region and that region's enemies will spawn, which will cause you to have to stay longer in the current one.

NOTE: MAKE SURE you are behind the ladder (to the side of the conveyor belt) at 50 combo. If you move out from behind that ladder before 50 combo BE SURE to step back behind the ladder. IF YOU DO NOT, YOU RISK LEAVING ENEMIES BEHIND. The ladder is the boundary for the bottom spawning region - when you step past the ladder, you leave the bottom spawn area (Region F on the map). Both spawning regions F and E have a total of 45 enemies altogether and you have 12 starting enemies, so... you will have a full 57 enemies (58 counting the yellow Gatling Gun Majini) as long as you do not move to region D (past the portion under the storage room walkway or near the middle shaft).

NOTE: Basically what I'm trying to say with the first portion is that... if you step out from behind the ladder at 47 combo, you MUST move back behind the ladder at or after 50 combo to make sure that all enemies spawn from the bottom spawning region.

The FIRST YELLOW GATLING GUN MAJINI WILL SPAWN AT 20 COMBO from the spawn point above the top walkway and 90 second area. He will be able to shoot your character from the high walkway. You might have to run along the conveyor belt to avoid him at times. Try to stay underneath the walkway across from the ladder as much as you can to avoid the Gatling Gun Majini's fire and any cocktails from cocktail Majini that spawn from the spawn point up above.

Once the Gatling Gun Majini falls, kill him immediately and try to use the deathblow melee on him to multi kill the surrounding Majini. After 50 combo (make sure that your last standing place was behind the conveyor belt ladder), move to the center shaft area. Keep the combo by bullet killing with a powered weapon if needed. If you have enemies along the way to the central shaft after, luck is on your side!

5:19
Once the combo reaches 50 kills, my character is still in the area behind the ladder (north of the ladder), to ensure that all Majini spawn from region F. If I had been to the south of the ladder, before 50 and not gone back to it, I would have had to return to it after 50 - literally just step in and out to make sure enemies from region F all spawn.

NOTE: While standing in the middle portion of the bottom floor of Missile Area (Region D), two Scripted Cephalo axe Majini will spawn from the storage room up above.

Once you make it to the center shaft area, it's really up to you when you climb the center shaft ladder. You can climb whenever you want up until a certain number of kills. You can do like I did in the video and wait for the second Gatling Gun Majini to fall then kill him or you can climb immediately. The SECOND YELLOW GATLING GUN MAJINI SPAWNS AT 60 COMBO from the overhead doorway in the central shaft. Either way, make sure you make one kill before climbing. Be ready to keep the combo with a powered weapon when you first climb.

NOTE: After climbing, you can run toward the railing across from the ladder and shoot the explosive canister on the table below the walkway to possibly hit Majini below you and keep the combo. This works VERY well for characters that do not have a magnum!

NOTE: When you first climb, any axe Majini that is moving down the walkway from the office will be a scripted Cephalo. Keep this in mind so it isn't a surprise if you shoot it with the magnum. While standing in the middle area below the ladder, two axe Majini scripted Cephalos will spawn from the storage room - they might be exiting the storage room after you climb. Keep in mind that they will NOT spawn AFTER you have climbed... they will have spawned before climbing!

Alright, so now you're up above. There are two spawning regions while on the top middle walkways - Region A and Region B. Both of the regions have 20 enemies each, so a total of 40 enemies will spawn while a player is up top! Keep that thought in mind!

Run to the storage room and try to make sure an enemy is in view or on the other side of the storage room door then kick open the door and hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS inside the storage room. If luck is not on your side (Majini are not in your path) then you'll have to keep the combo with a powered weapon here. Kick back open the door and continue to kill enemies.

A player NEEDS to move over toward region B in the spawning region map. Region B starts as soon as a player steps past the central shaft framework while up top. You can stand in front of the framework across from the platform, on the platform, or on the bridge next to the platform and still be in region B. Region A overlaps region B, so you can't avoid region A. A total of 40 enemies will spawn while standing in between regions. If you stand only in region A (say... on the storage room walkway), only 20 enemies will spawn then they will stop. It's important that you get to the region B area shortly after exiting the storage room! Try not to get held up with melee kills too often.

8:34
I equip a flash grenade before stomping the long pipe Majini. This is just in case it turns out to be the scripted Cephalo long pipe Majini. When up above, there is no way to tell the difference between scripted Cephalos. Just be careful about killing long pipe and weaponless Majini since one of them will be a scripted Cephalo.

8:45
Notice the difficulty that I have in trying to keep the combo while up top. There are literally no Majini in the immediate area. There will sometimes be times like this while above. You just have to look around and watch carefully. One thing I didn't do was look toward the office.

The THIRD RED GATLING GUN MAJINI WILL SPAWN AT 90 COMBO from the office ceiling spawn point. He will move down the walkway in front of the office then walk toward your character. You will either fight him on the walkway or below the walkway in the 30 second timer area most likely.

9:22
The red Gatling Gun Majini arrives up top and falls right into my trap. When he hops up the ladder, you can blast him and keep the combo by killing the Majini that climb up the ladder behind him. Keeping the combo this way can be luck based though. If I had climbed the middle shaft ladder sooner, I could have dropped sooner to fight him below.

NOTE: While standing in region B a long pipe scripted Cephalo Majini and a weaponless scripted Cephalo Majini will spawn from the office area on the walkway across from your character. Because of your current position, you'll just have to guess at which one is scripted or not out of the many other weaponless and long pipe Majini.
10:02
A random Cephalo spawns from an uppercut to the head. There are no scripted Cephalo sickle Majini on Missile Area. This one is random.

10:11
The long pipe Majini that I shot is a scripted Cephalo. I shot him with the magnum to help keep the combo since both Majini were next to the ladder and would have fallen otherwise. I chose the Majini with the long pipe to bullet kill since he might have been the scripted Cephalo... and he was!

Hit the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS on the platform while fighting. Be ready to keep the combo with a powered weapon such a magnum while in region B (around the platform). There will often be periods with dry enemy spawning where you will have to bullet kill from a distance. If you don't see enemies in view look toward the storage room door, on the conveyor belt below the bridge or on the walkway outside the office. There will almost always be enemies on the walkway outside the office since all of the spawn points there will be active.

NOTE: When you drop from the top area depends on when you climbed the central shaft ladder. You MUST stay above for 46 kills no matter what. So... if you climbed the middle ladder at 50 kills, you must stay above until 96 kills. If you climbed the middle ladder at 60 kills, you must stay above until 106 kills. If you drop before 46 kills have passed, you risk leaving behind Majini. In the video, I climb at 65 kills and I drop from the ladder at 112. I could have dropped at 111.

Fall below the ladder on the bridge near the platform. Hit the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS near the explosive barrel. Be sure to keep the combo by melee killing enemies on the way to the time bonus. Now you need to run along either walkway then hit the 30 SECOND TIME BONUS in the middle area.

The remainder of region D's enemies will start to spawn the moment a player falls from the ladder. Keep in mind that there are only 30 enemies in that region. You need to quickly get to region C as shown in the spawning region map. Region C's north boundary is passed after stepping past the stairs in front of the platform with the 60 second timer. You need to get to region C as quickly as possible since this region take a while to activate at times and sometimes enemies will slowly spawn above!

NOTE: There is a strip of Region C in the area with the 30 second timer near the explosive barrel. If you look at the spawning region map, notice that the strip of floor behind the stack of crates near the 30 second timer is just barely in region C. You can literally stand in that area make enemies from region C spawn. This can help to save the combo for you if you are late at times!

NOTE: While in Region C, a cocktail scripted Cephalo Majini will drop from the ceiling spawn point above the 30 second timer near the missiles and a scripted Cephalo Majini with a machete will spawn from the ceiling spawn point above the walkway where the 30 second timer was positioned above. Both of them can be picked out pretty well. There are only two machete Majini that will drop from above and the first cocktail Majini that spawns from the middle is always the scripted Cephalo.

While in Region C fight off the remainder of the enemies and try to hit the 60 SECOND TIME BONUS on the platform while fighting. The enemies will run out before 150 since you had to kill at least about one or two before the main combo kill chaining. It's best to stop the combo then run and hit the last 60 SECOND TIME BONUS in front of the south conveyor belt furnace directly after 145 kills. You might actually want to play it safe and hit the timer before then. It's VERY risky to run for the timer after 145 kills. All it takes is one dynamite explosion to kill the final few enemies to end the run before you hit the timer!

-- Missile Area SOLO Strategy 2 (140+ combo) [alternate - mainly for Wesker]



Player: JohnnyBigK

-- Missile Area SOLO Strategy 3 (120+ combo)



Player: Jorez0

These are the most popular strategies for Missile Area SOLO.


Specific Stage Details for Missile Area:


NOTE: Take a look at the spawning regions for Missile Area by clicking on the map below.

Here is a breakdown of all the regions:

Region A = 20 enemies (most of the top floor)
Region B = 20 enemies (middle portion of the top floor)
Region C = 20 enemies (south bottom floor)
Region D = 30 enemies (middle south bottom floor)
Region E = 25 enemies (middle north bottom floor)
Region F = 20 enemies (north bottom floor)

NOTE: Keep in mind that Region A and B are on the top floor. You can stand on just about any portion of the top floor and be in Region A. Region B is smaller. You can't stand in Region B without standing in Region A - Region A constantly overlaps Region B. Both the Region A and Region B spawn points can be activated by standing on either of the two walkways in Missile Area. Enemies will spawn from certain spawn points while standing on the walkways. You literally have to stand on the walkways to make enemies spawn below and throughout the Missile Area for at least 40 kills (more like 46 kills actually)!

All other enemies are the 3 Gatling Gun Majini boss enemies and the 12 enemies that start in the stage (including the chicken).

20 + 20 + 20 + 30 + 25 + 20 + 3 Gatling Gun Majini enemies + 12 beginning enemies = 150 enemies total!

Learn the spawning region boundaries!


Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - Experimental Facility Scripted Majini (Duvalias)

Game (Mini game): Resident Evil 5 "The Mercenaries"
Info: Scripted Majini (Experimental Facility)
Stage: Experimental Facility



Link to page on youtube

This is the second video in a series of scripted Majini videos by that special Chris player that puts the "Chris" in "Merry Christmas" and shotgun blasts all the "Bah! Humbug!" scrooges that deny that phrase. This video showcases ALL of the scripted Majini that will spawn a Duvalia if the event is not cancelled.

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TERMINOLOGY

Scripted Duvalia - a Majini that will always become a Duvalia unless the Duvalia spawn is cancelled.

Ways to cancel a scripted duvalia:

NOTE: A scripted Duvalia Majini will mutate after it has received over 250 damage. (Sheva and Chris BSAA's handgun is exactly 250 damage)

- Perform an instant kill melee on the Cephalo with Chris, Sheva or Jill (leg shot must take 250 damage or less. [aka. Safari Chris cannot get a leg stun]).
- Kill the Majini with a rotten egg.
- Make the Majini die from hitting the floor after it falls from a ledge.
- Kill the Majini with a critical head explosion.
- Kill the Majini with a direct hand grenade explosion.
- Kill the Majini while it is grounded (attack must take over 250 damage).
- Kill the Majini while it is in the middle of a dash.
- Kill the Majini while it is hopping, climbing or in mid-air.

(Basically, if the Majini is killed while it is in the air, on the ground or during the middle of a run, it's head will explode and the Duvalia mutation will be cancelled)

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SCRIPTED DUVALIA LIST

Refer to the following map for spawning region locations:




Scripted Duvalias:

-- Random Base Majini 1

Spawn Point: Spawns from upper ledge near bottom oil canisters.
Region: Spawns when a player is in Region A on the map.
Appearance: Random Base Majini.
Solo Appearance Time: Anytime before the Licker wave on the bottom.
Duo Appearance Time: Anytime before the Licker wave on the bottom.

-- Random Base Majini 2

Spawn Point: Spawns from upper ledge near bottom railings.
Region: Spawns when a player is in Region A on the map.
Appearance: Random Base Majini.
Solo Appearance Time: Anytime before the Licker wave on the bottom.
Duo Appearance Time: Anytime before the Licker wave on the bottom.

-- Armored Base Majini

Spawn Point: N/A (starts in the stage)
Region: N/A (Starts in the stage)
Appearance: Base Majini with body armor.
Solo Appearance Time: Starts in the stage.
Duo Appearance Time: Starts in the stage.

-- Gas Mask Majini

Spawn Point: Spawns from upper ledge near garden in the top area.
Region: Spawns when a player is in Region B on the map.
Appearance: Majini with iron gas mask. He wears brown overalls and green pants. Always the same!
Solo Appearance Time: Anytime before the Licker wave on the bottom.
Duo Appearance Time: Anytime before the Licker wave on the bottom.

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Special thanks to:

Spades408 - for the help with locating all the EF scripted Duvalias and ways in cancelling them.
TMac - for helping me find all the scripted Majini per stage.
Chris x STARS - for helping me in recording their locations.