Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition (Part 2)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

We’ve already gone through the basics, so I guess we can focus on the plot starting here – unless we have new gameplay elements coming soon…

Rescuing Ashley

If you need a better look at those... uh... growths,
go back to my title card in Part 1.

While making his way back to the village church, Leon finds Los Illuminados' insignia behind a waterfall. He had to kill a ton of Ganados to get to it, too; but it will let him open the church and save Ashley Graham. This chapter sees our first encounters with enemies who, after their head has been blown off, will have it replaced by a squirming creature popping out of their body with eyes, scythe arms, and limbs moving erratically. Those fucked-up things are the actual Las Plagas. In every crowd of enemies, there’ll always be a few that will pop out. These “heads” have long range due to their tendrils, so it’s best to stay away and shoot them; using the knife means being within stabbing distance, and they freaking hurt.

Las Plagas control their hosts, which is why Ganados have enough intelligence to devise simple plans like taking ladders to sneak into houses from the top floor or sneak behind the hero for an attack. These aren’t “zombies” by the modern definition of a risen undead. They’re zombies in the traditional voodoo meaning of people who've had all their free will ripped out of them. Yikes. I’d argue it’s even darker than zombies who are just undead or diseased.

These things can't even go "Gigante Smash!". 0/10.

Leon uses a boat to get back to the holding area seen before, and follows a different path that leads him to camps surrounded by cliffs. He witnesses a bunch of Ganados pulling out something large using ropes. The thing reveals itself to be an enormous, human-shaped monster, nicknamed El Gigante, which kills every Ganado that brought it out. Wait, how can Las Plagas cause the existence of monsters this fucking big??

Waggle to kill! Waggle! To! Kill!

Dealing enough damage to El Gigante causes its parasite to erupt from its back. Since the monster falls to its knees, Leon can climb on its back and slash at that weak point with his knife! This isn’t an easy battle, but El Gigante is killed. (For bonus points, if you saved a dog in Chapter 1, it comes back to help you in this fight.) Leon follows the trail back to the church, enters using the insignia, solves a color puzzle, and finds the girl’s cell. First mistaking him for her captors, Ashley throws a plank at him, but he explains that he’s there to save her.

I mean, we did know that Los Illuminados was a cult.
We were just waiting for the robes to come out.

Before they can exit the church, they meet Osmund Saddler, the leader of Los Illuminados, who harbors plans of world domination. Ashley was also injected a parasite, and Saddler claims his goal is to infect the President of the U.S. through his daughter, and from there, infect the other world leaders. The cultist asked for a ransom to hide his actual intentions; he’d raise alarm bells if he released the girl for nothing. He reveals that Leon was also injected with one of these Las Plagas eggs. Cornered by cultists wielding arbalests, Leon and Ashley flee through a window.

Cabin Clash

The longplay I use for screenshots is smarter than me; it
always makes Ashley hide whenever possible. However, it
does mean I have fewer options for images with her in them.

From now on, Ashley follows Leon around. He can order her to stay in one spot when you press the + button, and then call her back to him afterwards. She often has her own situational commands, like being able to hide in something when there are threats nearby. However, be very careful: Do not kill her, and do not let any zombies kill or kidnap her. (To avoid hurting her when she’s taken away, you can always shoot her captors’ legs.) Starting now, 30% of the game is an escort mission.

However, since so much of the game relies on it, there was an attempt at making said escort mission as tolerable as possible, with only a few issues tied to it. Ashley’s screams can get annoying, but hey, she’s a normal girl in an insane situation. She stays out of your way when you fight, ducks if you pull out your gun and she’s in range… As far as I’m concerned, I’ve played much worse escort missions. Plus, there are puzzles where she’s necessary, and all she’ll need is to be protected as she does her part.

Good guy Leon! Even she piggybacks off him to open a door,
he never sneaks a peek! (And don't try, either; the game is
coded so you can never look under Ashley's skirt. Excellent
work, devs at Capcom!)

New mission: Run with Ashley to the pick-up point, where a helicopter will await. Leon fights through the Ganados approaching the church, then through the village. Past another suspended bridge, the two end up surrounded, so they hide in the nearby cabin. Luis is in there, and he exchanges banter with them while the zombies approach. Ashley runs upstairs to hide, and Leon and Luis prepare to fight the onslaught.

One more chapter in my ongoing saga of "the longplay is
better at the game than I am and doesn't show what I would
like to". So, uh, just have Luis' arms in this shot. But
he is a lifesaver in this one, he kicks ass alongside Leon.

This section, I swear – this freaking section. One of the hardest parts in the game, to me. The place is cramped, Ganados come from every window they can find, and you’re quickly swarmed. Luis helps as much as he can. This mission doesn’t end until 40 enemies have been defeated. Personally, I kept getting killed while on the ground floor. It took many tries until I heard Luis tell Leon to go upstairs, where the onslaught is more manageable (fewer windows, plus the Ganados need ladders to get up there, and those from the ground floor only have the staircase). I had assumed that we weren't supposed to go upstairs, since that's bringing the assault closer to Ashley.

Psst. Try to shoot Luis five times during this section. “Accidentally”, of course. See what happens.

The Spanish Chainsaw Massacre, Parte Dos. 'Cause every
horror movie needs a sequel.

After enough Ganados have been killed, the pack gives up. Feeling that it’s safe, Luis leaves, claiming he forgot something. Okay, fine. Leon will just have to keep looking for a different way to leave the area with Ashley. The agent finds papers talking about another escape route that splits in two paths, both protected by monsters. Behind Door A: An army of Ganados, including two who fight as a team, both wielding chainsaws. Cool mini-boss. Behind Door B: A tight ravine, and an El Gigante. If you’re dumb like me, for the challenge (and to see if there’s anything good to pick up), you’ll do both. The paths lead to the same area anyway.

Hey, big guy! How's the weather up there?
Kinda hot right now, I take it?

From there, the two embark on a lift, then follow a path through a cave leading to a barn. Leon tells Ashley to go and hide, a good plan; the American is attacked by Bitores Méndez as soon as he walks into the barn, which the big guy traps them in. Leon tries to burn the dude with gas and a bullet, but it just brings out Méndez’s parasite. Look, I’d say it turns him into a monstrosity, but it's not special, every single boss parasite turns its host into a fucked-up, freaky monster. His top half is only connected to the bottom by a long centipede-like abdomen. Yikes. And if you split the guy in half using enough bullets, his top half has enough agency to keep fighting, hanging on to the ceiling beams using its parasite arms.

Whenever necessary, I'll use other playthroughs, like this
one that uses the HD remake of the original. 'Cause you
couldn't see Méndez's whole "no lower half" from this
part of the fight in the other video.

The imagery in this game, holy shit.

This second form goes down as well, and when it hits the ground, Méndez’s glass eye falls off. After getting out of the barn through a different exit, Leon goes back with Ashley up the lift, and uses the eye on the village exit to head towards the pick-up point.

The Tiny Tyrant’s Huge Castle

If the catapult operators are dead, no more catapulting!

Unfortunately, said point seems to be located beyond an enormous goddamn castle. Guess we’re gonna have to make our way through; don’t ask why there’s such a palace so close to an infected village. Of course, we’ve gotta infiltrate first, and it won’t be easy; the place has more guards than the White House. Good thing these guards aren’t as protected. Most of them are just wearing robes – hey, looks like we’ve found the cultists! Getting into the castle involves evading flaming boulders thrown by catapults, loading up an ancient cannon, and blasting the door open.

Leon and Ashley meet Luis again, who seems to know an awful lot about their situation – the injected Las Plagas, all that. He was bringing them a drug that can repel the nastier effects, but he dropped it elsewhere and needs to run get it back. He remains so mysterious throughout; he doesn’t even want to talk about his intentions!

Oh, Ramón (on the right) looks like the sort of villain I'll be happy to beat up down the line.

After more exploration, they meet the owner of the place: The diminutive Ramón Salazar, last heir of a royal family that once protected the secret of Las Plagas and hid its nefarious abilities from the world… only for this guy to instead be talked into joining Los Illuminados, to take over the planet using the parasites. Salazar blocks the path with a large column with a hole for a chimera-shaped insignia, so we’ll have to look for its pieces.

The Garradors are fucking powerful, but it is funny to
see them run off thinking you're in their path.

Are we sure these aren't just aliens who stepped into
the wrong video game? No?

There are new enemies here, starting with the Garradors, hulking brutes that barely feel bullets, had their eyes sewn shut, and thus attack based on sound. Oh, and they have big Wolverine-like claws on their hands. Don’t run around them. On the plus side, their parasites are exposed on their backs, so they're an easy targets, if you can make them look away. Another new threat awaits in the sewers: Novistadors, giant insects that can turn invisible and spew corrosive acid in your face. Good thing they make noise in the water, and raise the dust wherever they go! Oh, and they have variants that fly, but those versions are very weak to bullets. Either way, do yourself a favor, even though it’s explained in the RE4 remake, don’t go look up how those insects are created…

Seeking Ashley… Again

The swinging blades hall is a ground or second floor
commodity, come on now.

Ashley begins coughing up blood, and in a panic despite Leon’s worries, she runs off… only to get captured and taken away. We’re gonna have to rescue her again. To top it off, Leon's transmission with Hunnigan is overtaken by Los Illuminados; good thing he's snarkier than Salazar. So it’s a trip through the castle’s sewer system, and… okay, who put a hallway with swinging pendulum blades down here??

Fighting his way through several rooms packed with Ganado zealots, Leon eventually finds himself in a hedge maze. When Salazar contacts him to gloat, shorty says he has two more rats to deal with. So, Luis, and…? This hedge maze has more surprises in store, like wolves infected with Las Plagas.

Careful there, Ada. He's been using that knife a lot tonight.

After getting back into the castle through a bedroom window, Leon is stopped by a gun pointed at his back and a woman's sultry voice. Leon has a very short fight with the woman, that ends with his blade near her neck. The woman, Ada Wong, is a character of Leon’s past; he met her during the incident at Raccoon City. Her motivations and faction seem to shift depending on whatever her current mission is. Aside from Leon stating that she’s currently working for Wesker (a name Resident Evil fans know very well; me? I had to do some research), we don’t learn about her goals right away. A paper found afterwards reveals that she's trying to obtain a Plagas sample from Luis Sera.

I have a girl to rescue, and no amount of Parasyte heads
will stop me, you hear?!

Nooooo! Luis! We knew so much about you!

In his search for Ashley, Leon is joined by Luis in a large room. However, before he can come closer, Luis is stabbed from behind by a giant fucking scorpion tail. That thing came out of the robes of Osmund Saddler himself, the cult leader at the same time stealing back the Las Plagas sample that the Spaniard was carrying. After Saddler has left, a dying Luis hands Leon a bottle of pills that can suppress the parasitic infection, and asks the agent to retrieve the sample.

We should care about Luis since he just died, but the truth is, we haven’t learned enough about him yet. The only hint of something more is found in a few documents, most of them in later chapters, indicating that he was a researcher for Los Illuminados and may have had a hand in creating the virus strain that we’ve been dealing with, and was atoning for his actions. (I know I said I wasn’t discussing the remake, but Luis’ role and backstory are vastly expanded there, with him helping out a lot more and getting killed much later.)

You all stay away from her! I have a Broken Butterfly
and I will not hesitate to put caps in asses!

Like a true action survivor!

Exploring the room, Leon seess Ashley a floor below, still pinned against a wall by heavy steel restraints, which he shoots off her. And then, he defends her from more cultists. When she's safe, we proceed to a unique section playing as Ashley alone, who must venture the castle to get back to Leon. She has no weapons, and must find other ways to occupy enemies or lead them away while she solves the puzzles and opens the path. I didn’t consider this part difficult, but I loved the different tone and challenge. During this trip, she gets her hands on one of the pieces of the chimera ornament, and encounters suits of armor animated by Plaga parasites from within (Gee, I thought those things could only control living organisms!). When she reaches Leon, he congratulates her on succeeding. Daaaw.

Well, that concludes Chapters 2 and 3. I’ll try to contain Chapters 4 and 5 into Part 3…