4/5 ★ – THRILLSON's review of Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways.

Separate Ways is somewhere between a B story and RE3. It has different content than Leon’s story, but is largely unrelated from his plot except when they cross paths. We get to see what Ada was up to, and the writers get to redeem her a little bit. The combat is easier, and the pace is quickened, but there is only one new weapon, (and one new variant) and Ada has a smaller arsenal than Leon. Enemies die a lot faster, Ada has to buy everything but there is less choice, no shooting range, less enemy variety, and fewer boss fights. She has better melee moves and her knife is better. I was a bit irked when they dropped this from the original release; I went into RE4R blind so I expected to unlock this after. But after playing through it I think I got my money’s worth. I enjoyed the quicker pace, and having already had a handle on the combat, I blasted through. The boss fights felt easy again too, and one of them is just a lackluster QTE, but it serves to increase tension during a certain set piece. They also saved the U-3 Fight for Ada, which kind of makes sense. It wasn’t that great of a fight however. Ada’s gear has a lot of power creep as there is only a handful of weapons. She doesn’t get a Magnum, but her shotgun is insanely powerful, and the cross-bow is also great. The short runtime, and access to treasure map almost immediately means you will be swimming in cash. There is also very little back-tracking, and the side quests are quite simple. All of this reinforces the action focus. Ada’s voice actress sounds like she recorded her lines on a cellphone in a broom closet. Some say there was a contract issue with the VA from RE2R, or that Capcom won’t work with Union members. others say it was because they wanted to do the “woke” thing and get an Asian VA. (Ada has never confirmed her nationality or ethnicity, she could be biracial.) I don’t care either way, just get someone who can do Voice acting. I get that the new Amactress voiced Ada in a movie, but she just sucks. Her lines are hollow and have no effort in them. She just sounds bored the whole time. Not in a mysterious Femme Fatale way, just in an “i’m only recording my lines for the paycheque” way. I didn’t mention this in my review for the base game as she is barely in it, but here it was grating after 5 hours. If you want more RE4R get it, but I wouldn’t call it essential if you’re not a huge fan. The ending again tells us Capcom is intending an RE5 remake, which is a disappointment. Just remake 6 and Code veronica. 5 is fine the way it is.