. . . is actually pretty hilarious.
I picked up Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition yesterday. I don't know why I'm always surprised to find that extra content is included as a download code instead of being on the disk. No company wants to press a new disc for a re-release. But I figure if they're going through the trouble of making new box art and advertising they might just go through the trouble of making a new disc and save space on my hard drive. Heh. Anyway, most, if not all, of the new content is accessable right from the get go. You can crack open Mercenaries Reunion as soon as you play the game which leads to Excella and her weapon loadout. One of her guns is the AK-74 so she can waste a crowd of Plagas people with a Russian assault rifle while wearing a 5,000 dollar dress and gold high heels. While Resident Evil 4's Mercenary mode was aimed more at being badass (what with Krauser and Hunk as playable characters) RE 5 seems geared more toward "wouldn't it be funny/awesome". If you thought regular RE 5 Mecenaries was too hard or lacking something, Reunion is easy mode with a dose of crazy.
Did you hate Reapers on the mine stage? Pick Heavy Metal Chris and waste that fucker with the infinite ammo gatling gun. Hate Las Plagas heads? Use Excella and her grenade launcher loaded with Flash Rounds. Love shotguns? Rebecca Chambers is here with an impressively upgraded Striker. You can practically shoot buckshot the whole game without worrying about ammo or giant enemies like the Elephant Men or the Executioner. Even Business Sheva's handgun is powerful enough to kill regular enemies with two shots and if you run into something bigger she has a semi-auto magnum for that. It's really cathartic. Reunion is more about having fun and letting loose in RE 5 mercenaries than sweating ammo count or when you're going to be jumped by Lickers or something worse. Your mileage may vary on whether you're impressed by Chris and Sheva in new costumes and new weapon loadouts. But Barry, Josh, Rebecca, and Excella (especially) are pretty amusing to run around and kill things with.
I almost wondered why Irving wasn't a playable mercenary and then I went through the game again and remembered how god damn annoying his character design and voice actor is. When people come out and say they hate RE 5 with every fiber of their being, I like to think it's because of Irving and I totally understand. Never mind Las Plagas on motorcycles and the strange stuff they did with Jill. Irving is the worst of it all. It's a shame you couldn't kill him more. Or worse. Or something.
Also, I know they totally segregate Leon and Chris and the characters they deal with, but I'm still bummed they didn't bring back Hunk. They could have finally given him an MP5. Also, I wanted to snap more necks.
Resident Evil 5
Game » consists of 38 releases. Released Mar 05, 2009
Log in to comment