Review: Ada Wong, Resident Evil 6

Originally introduced in the 1998 sequel to the first Resident Evil game, Ada Wong has long been a fixture in the zombie smashing franchise as a supporting character. With the release of Resident Evil 6, Ada was given a much-deserved spotlight and played an integral role in the narrative.

Despite the fact that she's considered one of the most popular characters from the Resident Evil franchise, Ada Wong had been no more than an accessory to the games she'd appeared in. While she may have had two mini-games in Resident Evil 4, Ada had never been placed on an equal standing with fan-favourites like Claire Redfield or Leon S. Kennedy. Resident Evil 6 addressed this head-on by building the narrative of the game around Ada and the producers are to be commended for that. Ada is finally given her own campaign within the main game and it is a major selling point for this particular entry. Her campaign is unique in that it combines the pulse-pounding thrills of espionage with the chills of zombie hunting. Ada's segment emphasizes stealth and encourages players to carefully analyse each situation. There is a sense of urgency and imminent danger in much of her campaign as well and, unlike the other campaigns, Ada does not have a partner to rely on when playing independently offline. That said, she does get to pilot a helicopter at one point and pwns just about everything in her crosshairs. It's also worth mentioning that Ada's campaign is essentially the linchpin that holds everything else together as it fills in all the holes in the other campaigns.

Upon beating Ada's campaign, she becomes available for play in The Mercenaries. Unfortunately, Ada's default has one of the most infuriating inventories in the game. While her crossbow was tons of fun in the campaign, it is now a burden. Its need to be reloaded after every shot is a pain-in-the-neck and the fact that it knocks singular enemies back is counter-productive to building up combos. That said, the pipe bomb arrows are useful for crowd control and for firing at boss-level baddies. Her Ammo Box 50 serves as her primary weapon and is more practical than the crossbow. It fires bullets like a machine gun but has the strength of a handgun. As such, there is the tendency to run out of ammo rather quickly so gamers need to be extra careful while using it since Ada doesn't have a good back-up weapon. The incendiary grenades she carries are ideal for tossing at the stronger bad guys when things get hairy. After achieving an A-rank with Ada's default, her alternate is unlocked. It is marginally better than the default. The MP-AF is her primary weapon and is a low-level machine gun that can be set to single or multiple fire modes. The latter mode is more powerful but tends to eat up ammo. Her secondary weapon is a snipe rifle. While the rifle may be high-powered and ideal for inflicting tons of damage, the reload speed is killer and places Ada in danger after each shot. The rest of her inventory contains hand grenades, flash grenades and two always-useful red herbs. The hand grenades will come in handy but the flash grenades should probably be discarded to open up her inventory for more helpful offensive items.

In many ways, Ada Wong is Resident Evil 6's greatest achievement and biggest disappointment. Her campaign is spectacular and serves as a major standout aspect of the game. It blends action perfectly with stealth and problem-solving puzzles. It's a diverse campaign and finally gives Ada the respect and attention she deserves. Conversely, she is one of the most poorly-stocked characters in The Mercenaries. It takes a lot of work to achieve high scores with Ada due to her counter-productive weapons that lack power and devour ammo. However, it's better to have a poorly-stocked Ada than have no Ada at all. After all, what is Resident Evil without its resident femme fatale?

Campaign Grade: A-

The Mercenaries Grade: C