The Mercenaries is one of two minigames that you'll unlock upon beating the regular game. It's an update to a bonus game from Resident Evil 2 which had you plow through a ton of enemies to reach an objective. The object is to get a high score. You do this by killing as many Ganados as possible, and in killing them close enough to each other so you get a hit (combo) counter going. This is another throwback, this time to Capcom's own P.N. 03. Depending upon what map you're in, there will be 30, 50 or even 90 second extensions (you only start with 2 minutes or so), and possibly some bonus pickups as well in treasure chests (these give you a multiplier of 1000 by the number of kills you get in the 30 seconds, very nice to have). Any time you get 50,000 points (a four star ranking) or more, you unlock a new character, unless you've already unlocked a character for that map.

I'd rank the characters like this:

WeSkEr
Ada
Krauser
Leon
Hunk

Wesker is the best choice by far. He starts out with a silenced (!) pistol that has a huge 25 round clip, and that's the weakest of his weapons. He's got the fully upgraded semiautomatic rifle that'll do 15 damage, has 24 rounds to a clip, and fires once every 4/10 of a second. This is his combo-chaining weapon of choice. When a boss shows up (such as the blind claw fellow), Wesker can simply blast through its armor with his Killer 7 magnum. As if all that isn't enough, Wesker also has a tremendous thrust punch that sends enemies flying.

A good tactic with Wesker is to run about killing the occasional enemy with your rifle, collecting ammo and time pickups, and then settle into a combo. I've already gotten two five star rankings with him (over 60,000 points; and one was over 70,000).

Ada is much the same as Wesker, but with a TMP instead of the magnum (it's not as useful, sadly). She does have a Punisher pistol, but I've been hard pressed to get much use out of it because the semiautomatic rifle she carries also punches clean through heads...and kills the target to boot. The TMP has a 100 round clip but isn't that effective against bosses. She's usually the first character unlocked (and the one I recommend getting first), since the first area is the Village, where she is unlocked, and Leon might not be quite good enough for a novice player to unlock Wesker with Leon. She doesn't have a knife.

Krauser is a tremendously powerful character, but he's difficult to use. His bow can kill a regular enemy in two shots (and throw them backwards), but fires at a slow rate and uses pistol-style targeting, which drives me crazy. His main feature is his arm, which you can morph with the X button. When morphed, his arm will let you execute a dashing attack that cuts anything in front of you to shreds - including bosses. You can use this at least a few times per round, (haven't quite figured it out yet). He tends to accumulate flash grenades.

Leon isn't even average, thanks to a lousy selection of weapons. He's simply got a Blacktail pistol and a Riot Gun (the second-level shotgun), meaning that he's out of ammo quickly. What he does have isn't too powerful, so he also has a difficult time with bosses. He'll need to make the most of grenades and his environment to rack up kills. Leon has his knife.

Hunk is the last character I unlocked. He sounds a bit like Mike, the helicopter pilot (I should check that out...) His only gun is a TMP with the standard Mercenaries 100 round clip. You can imagine he has no chance against bosses and must make the most use out of controlled headshots, his environment, the flash (and other) grenades he always seems to pick up, and his nifty one-hit kill attack on stunned enemies (which unfortunately is a wee bit slow and doesn't knock back any enemies, it's a neck snap). Incredibly hard to use, but I haven't explored the possibility of a knife or even really tried the things I've mentioned. He tends to run out of ammunition quick and the TMP makes combo chaining insanely difficult (without draining your ammo, and you can't kill that many people with the two hundred or so rounds he starts off with total).

Maps:

The Village is pretty much just as you left it, but with a few differences. The fire in the center has burned down (or hasn't started?) while the shed in view from the main entrance to this area has had the bundle of beams or poles hauled off, and the short series of steps going up to the side has been restored. This small shack has a loft inside and is important to anybody's strategy for this area, but shouldn't be overemphasized. It's good to start or end your round by going in here. You'll want to go in, get the 90 second time extension, and at some point you'll want to go up the ladder, throw it down, open the chest in back (don't get the bonus yet) and wait for the room below to fill with enemies (watch out for the guys who like burying hatchets in your head from a distance). Then, simply pick up the bonus, trigger the blast barrel (a Ganados with dynamite might do this faster than you like. Jump down and duke it out at ground level (collecting item drops), and haul ass outta there when it gets too hot to handle.

Beware the chainsaw Sisters; more than one will attack at a time and they're very hard to kil. Leon's shotgun can knock then down easily but they'll absorb tons of shots to the head. There's a lot of time extensions and a few bonuses around; don't miss them. Stay out of the open village commons area; stay in back alleys or near an open window (you can jump through windows even if an enemy's in them, which is helpful for escapes).

The next area is the Castle's entrance area; the part where you see the first catapults. The circular room where the cannon originally rests is there, but the second level of this area has been shortened to just a wide ledge under the wall you destroy with the cannon rests. This is a great area for sniping with two main long areas connected by a staircase; you can jump off the higher one. Lower down is the short overlooking balcony leading to the cannon (and two barrels with pickups inside; usually ammo and an herb). Don't get stuck there. The blind claw guy makes an appearance; he's hard to kill if you're anybody but Wesker or Krauser, sadly, but probably worth the trouble.

Next is the last section of the desert miltary base where you're helped by Mike, the pilot in a gunship-configuration Huey chopper, heavily remixed. The swing is still there, but the place is as hard to get around as ever and has a highly intricate plan. Lots of small time pickups here. There's a lot of ladders to escape on; I don't recommend waiting at the top for enemies (unless you're Hunk, maybe?) because it takes a long time to get kills that way. J.J., the minigun toting guy, is the boss here; he's easy to take out with a sniper rifle.

Finally is 'waterworld,' a section with some weathered wooden shacks and towers. The boss here is like the "Biggy Man" ripoffs throughout the main game, except about two feet taller, faster, with a long attack sequence that carries him along (just like the blind claw guy's), a double bladed chainsaw, and a lot of health. You can take him out in a hurry if you have the sniper rifle, but guns like the TMP won't faze him unless you score a head shot (or a few). A very similar map to the military base, except much easier to get around (there's another set of handlebars here, as well).

When I started playing, I could've sworn Leon's Blacktail pistol was going up in ranks (it seemed to have more ammo after a few rounds). I've yet to find out what's going on here, exactly, but weapons that upgrade would definitely make my day in this game.

Overall, The Mercenaries is a darn fine unlockable, and gives the main game a good deal more replay value for those who like challenges. It's hard - you either end up with a four or five star ranking or headless, even playing as Wesker - and it'll take a very good player to clear 5-star ranks as Hunk, I imagine.