Albert Wesker is perhaps one of the most recognizable characters in the Resident Evil series, if not one of the most recognizable in Capcom’s extensive catalogue of IPs in general. Despite the character’s storyline effectively coming to a close in 2009’s Resident Evil 5, Wesker is back as Capcom works through remaking games in the series to incredible effect. It comes as a surprise to no one that played the original Resident Evil 4 that Wesker would appear in some capacity given his previous role, or that he would potentially be added to the The Mercenaries in the remake. So when he was eventually added, I absolutely had to see how he handled.
Wesker was my “main” in the original Mercenaries mode. I loved his loadout and his melee moves looked slick, outside of being extremely powerful. Playing as Wesker felt good, and Capcom nailed what it meant to embody him. I could dash from enemy to enemy with ease, and with a snappier precision than how he played in Resident Evil 5.
There is even a “new” melee attack for Wesker that references a cutscene in Resident Evil 5. His melee attacks were powerful, and extremely well motion captured. Much like his melee attacks in the original Resident Evil 4 The Mercenaries, Wesker’s melee attacks are probably some of the strongest attacks in the game.
But what made this somehow even better is Wesker’s Mayhem Mode was handled. Mayhem Mode in this game specifically is a power unique to a character. For example, Luis can throw dynamite at enemies while his Mayhem Mode is active. With Wesker, it’s channeled through his melee attacks. Entering Mayhem Mode allows him to use melee skills freely so long as Mayhem Mode is active. This encourages you to play perfectly. In general, that’s what playing Wesker requires. Some kind of precision and perfect execution.
While The Mercenaries in the remake does make some characters to specific characters, and even adds in a new one with Luis, Capcom only improved on what made Wesker fun in Resident Evil 4. Yeah he doesn’t have the same load-out, and that might bother some. But would you really be playing Wesker if you weren’t using an egregious amount of melee attacks?
The Resident Evil 4 remake, and Separate Ways DLC, is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC
