Mercenaries

The Mercenaries is an incredibly fun mini-game that, like Assignment Ada, becomes playable only after you beat the main single-player game at least once. In it, you'll have to take one of five characters out for a bit of a stroll, a walk in the park, a jog by the beach…only, you know, with zombies and stuff.

At the outset, only Leon is selectable as a character, but he'll be able to play all four of the maps available for the game right away. You can unlock more characters by getting a score of more than 30,000 points on each of the maps; each map will unlock a new playable character. If you manage to get a score of 60,000 with each character on each map (i.e. get 20 five-star ratings), you'll unlock the Handcannon in the single-player game. The Handcannon uses a unique type of ammo, so although it's very powerful, it's not going to be immediately useful to you. If you manage to upgrade it completely, though, and then purchase its Exclusive upgrade, it will turn into a monster of a weapon, with 100 firepower and infinite ammo. Getting five stars on every map will be a chore, though, especially with HUNK.

Clock Management

Grab these time extenders to increase your shot at a high score.

Mercenaries isn't so much a game of fighting against enemies, although you do need to survive to win, but rather a game where you play against the clock. You only have two minutes initially in which to kill as many enemies as possible; at the end of this time your round will be over. You can extend this time by picking up time bonuses (big orange pillars of light) that are scattered around the level. These will add anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds to your clock. Some players might want to try running around a level grabbing all of the time bonuses as soon as a round begins - they show up on your map as stars - while others might want to try grabbing them as they go; try each method and see how it works for you. Either way, you'll need to get these things: more time equals more kills, and more kills equals more points.

Scoring

You gain points for killing enemies, obviously enough; the tougher the enemy, the more points you get. The bulk of your points, however, will come from killing a lot of enemies in a very short period of time; as you kill multiple foes, you'll notice a counter in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting up. Each time you kill an opponent, you'll have around five seconds to kill another one before this counter goes away. When you do finally run out of people to kill, bonus points will be awarded to you based on the number of successive kills that you pulled off. At low numbers, the benefit isn't all that great, but when you start bypassing 20 successive kills, it can start to be many thousands of points.

All of the maps will also have treasure chests scattered around; when you open these, you'll be able to obtain an hourglass treasure. These will net you 1,000 bonus points for each kill that you make for the next 30 seconds, so try to get a large group of enemies together before you open the chest, then take them out with a grenade or a special move. It's best to save these items for times when you're not facing off against a boss enemy, as it's much easier to get large numbers of quick kills when you're facing off against normal ganados.

Techniques

Group Enemies Together: Most characters will have an easier time dealing with enemies when they're in a large group; if you have room to maneuver, try to run around and get a bunch of enemies on your tail. When they're all about to nab you, whip out whatever mass-attack weapon you have and take them all out in one fell swoop. Every character has some way to deal damage to groups of foes, whether it's via a weapon like Leon's shotgun or Wesker's rifle, a grenade, or a special move like Krauzer's arm-blade-killy thing. This will also have the side benefit of giving you a big bonus to your combat multiplier.

Scoring: After completing a round, you'll be awarded a rank of one to five stars. Getting four stars or higher (i.e. 30,000 points or more) on a map will unlock another character; getting five stars (60,000 points or more) with each character (on any map) will unlock a new weapon, the Handcannon, for the main game.