Pushing Forward

While I'm here, I might as well talk about some Resident Evil 4. I couldn't put it down for long, so I played a little further after my post last night. When I last left off, I had just arrived in the village for the third and final time. And with the exception of all those pesky bear traps, the village was a piece of cake. Goodbye, village; you shall be missed.

After the village was the farm. I had Ashley hide, then I sought out to take out all the freaks. The really crappy thing is that not only are the freaks harder to kill in Professional mode, they're even tougher when those tentacle monsters pop out of their necks. If flash grenades were a little more plentiful, I could get by a little easier. I guess this isn't the hard mode for nothing.

From the farm, Ashley and I headed to the cabin that Libby has compared to the house from Night of the Living Dead. This portion of the game is tough under the Normal setting, but it's insane in Professional mode. It's like they decided to send every single villager freak in the game after me. But after three tries, I got out of the cabin. At this point, it was time for a big choice. Do I go left and fight an army of freaks and the chainsaw twins? Or do I go right and pray I don't get squished by El Gigante #2? Hmm... decisions, decisions. Let's try the right path.

Now I could stand my ground and fight El Gigante, but I've got two things stopping me. One, I'm dreadfully short on heavy ammunition. Two, I'm not completely stupid. I'd knock him down a peg or two if I had the Chicago Typewriter or the Handcannon, but since all I have is a handgun and a rifle with limited ammo, I decided to employ the same game plan I used with the helldogs outside of the church. I ran as fast as Leon's legs could carry me. I got slowed down at the second locked door, and that gave the big guy enough time to pick up Ashley and squeeze the life out of her. The second time, though, I managed to completely avoid El Gigante and got through with nary a scratch.

From there was the ski lift, which was almost too easy. I saved at Trader Joe's post just past there, then headed for Rasputin's barn. And he kicked the everloving crap out of me. The guy even grabbed me by the head, threw me in the air, and bounced me off the rafters, for sobbin' out loud! I'm a man who realizes when I'm out of my league, so I decided to pack it in and call it a night.

Overall, I'm satisfied with my progress thus far. I've let myself grow used to high-powered guns with infinite ammo, so this presents a major challenge. It's hard as a rock, but I'll make it. Ain't no game gonna hold me down.