Capcom from Sony is kind enough to provide gamers with a demo version of its latest survival horror before the launch date of 13th March 2009. For those who find it difficult to play the two demo scenes, here is how I play them.
Of the two scenes, the Public Assembly is the more difficult because of the never ending attack by the wogs. Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar seem to have no time to rest unlike in the Shanty Town scene when the two protagonists can at least stop for a while to exchange items.
Public Assembly: The idea of this scene is to survive until Kirk shows up in his helicopter.
(1) When they are in the first shed, Chris and Sheva should get about equal amount of ammo. One of them should push the cupboard to barricade the door. Leave the square window unbarricaded. Using his knife, Chris should concentrate attacking the wogs as they try to come through the window while Sheva should take potshots at the wogs through the smaller grilled windows or just wait. This tactic saves a lot of ammo. Another good way to slow down the onrush of the wogs is to snipe at the wog leader (the guy with the megaphone)
(2) When the scene cuts to an opening in the roof, both of them should get out and fight in the open, collecting dropped ammos as much as possible. Another good way to save ammos is for Chris to use his fist and Sheva to use her kick to maim or finish off the wogs by firstly shooting the wogs in their faces to get the square prompts.
(2) The big black wog would, by this time, have smashed the main gate with his murderous, serrated axe. Chris and Sheva should just simply run like hell to head to the red gate a distance away. Here, Chris should collect the Uzi machine gun while Sheva should go to collect more ammos from the coconuts and the barrel. Do not attempt to fight the wogs. Simply avoid them and climb the concrete steps and run to the roof and jump to the square roof.
(3) On this roof, is where, I reckon, the best place to survive. For one thing, by sticking close to one another, the wogs can be easily knifed although it takes a longer time to kill them. And for another, grab attacks by the wogs can easily be fended off by Chris or Sheva. And further, the wog with the axe has no access to this area.
In my opinion, this is the best strategy to survive the scene.
If for some reason, by turns of event or deliberation, both protagonists get separated, then the best strategy to adopt is to avoid being badly hurt by running around and shooting. Never stay on the same spot to single-handedly shoot the enemies. You can run around and shoot, climb up the speaker platform, or jump down, collecting dropped ammos as you run, always avoiding the big wog for he can kill with one blow.
By my reckoning, the worst weapon to use is the UZI machine gun which is less effective than the knife. It takes more than 12 rounds to kill a strong wog like the speaker wog or the wogs carrying crude weapons. I use it only to stun the enemy before being prompted to punch him. A frustration is when I can't simply get to the many items from the shed that contains ammos, a couple of herbs, 2 barrels plus a few other things since I get surrounded by the big wog and many lesser wogs. I hope there is a respite in the main game.
Update: On second thought, the best place to survive is to run to the burnt-out bus and fight there. Make sure to collect ammos before entering the bus. In the bus, the wogs can only attack you by entering through only one door, while the big black wog can only walk up and down in front of you. With Sheva beside you, there's no way that the wogs can substantially hurt you.
Update: If you really wish to kill the wog with the axe and easily survive at the same time, then the best place is atop the first house that Chris and Sheva first entered at the start of the game. It is vital that both are together and not separated. It's easy if you play solo since Sheva is always following you or if you play co-op offline since you can tell your partner to follow you.
After the gate has been smashed, the path I take to reach the final area is to weave my way through to the shed with the white door to the left, grab ammos and a herb plus whatever items in the 2 wooden barrel. I usually ignore the machine gun ammo in the drawer. With Sheva tailing me, I jump through the window, run up further to collect ammos and a grenade under the green coconuts. I would not waste my time in collecting the Uzi machine gun and instead I proceed to climb up the steps to atop the bus to smash one crate and atop the square roof to take a herb. During the whole process, I would disregard sharing items with Sheva. I would then jump down, run to the picket fence on the right, jump over it to go to the ladder to reach the floor above the first shed. I would collect as much items as possible and with Sheva behind me, climb up another ladder to reach the second floor to collect 3 fragmentation grenades.
On this second floor is where I finally share my inventories with Sheva and use it to make my last stand. The beauty of this place is that the wogs are slow in coming and that the big bad wog has no access to it. Sheva can snipe at the big wog to kill him if she has enough rifle ammos while Chris can take down the wogs climbing up, at his leisure. The moment the big wog slumps down, both Sheva and Chris should rush down to ground level to the dead wog to collect his huge gold ring just before Kirk's helicopter cut scene.
After some practise, both styles of play are manageable enough. However, it's when you play co-op online that becomes a problem for your online partner may have other ideas on how he plays the game. If only Chris is atop the house, and Sheva is elsewhere on the ground or even on top of the bus or within it, then most likely she gets overwhelmed by the wogs. Chris is too far away up to rescue Sheva and the scene ends. On the other hand, if Sheva is atop the house alone, she would not have enough ammos to handle the wogs and would probably be killed if she does not run away while Chris can barely survive without killing the executioner wog.
Shanty Town: Unlike the above scene, the object is to kill the wog with the chainsaw.
Unlike the fast-paced action in the Assembly scene, the Shanty Town scene allows some breather for Chris and Sheva to swap items and even rest for some time before they decide to proceed with the game.
(1) As the scene opens, Chris runs to the end of the corridor to take the item if its an ammo or a herb. He may ignore if the item is gold. Again to save ammo, both Chris and Sheva should kill the wogs by knifing, punching or kicking as they come out through the window. Collect whatever ammo they can find before breaking the door to fetch the herb and proceed further to break the crates for items. Here as the scene breaks with Kirk's helicopter being attacked by flying BOWs, the best way to kill the BOWs and use less ammo is for both heroes to run back to the shed's awning and shoot the BOW. The BOW cannot directly hurt both of them.
(2) Swap items before proceeding to the next activity. When Sheva is on the roof, she should collect as many items as she can before engaging the enemy. Only after Chris has collected the item in the barrel and waited under the ladder should Sheva began attacking. The idea is for Chris to take on the 3 wogs before they can climb the ladder. By shooting the wogs in their faces, Chris can save ammos by punching and/or stomping the wogs. Sheva on her own should be able to kill the wog that spews out a flying BOW plaga as he dies. If somehow the BOW attacks Chris instead of Sheva, then Chris should run back to under the awning and shoot the BOW down. As a rule, don't engage the BOWs when exposed.
(3) Before proceeding to the fight scene on the steps, stop to swap items. Fight the wogs together on the steps using knives, punches or kicks to save ammo. Once done, Chris takes the red herb to mix with a green herb while Sheva or Chris or both of them can take on the wog having a shit and the wog hiding under the staircase. Again exchange items before the next fight scene.
(4) Here in the fight scene, allow the wogs to descend the steps, one by one, and shoot them in the legs before punching, knifing or kicking them. On the first floor, allow Sheva to collect the 2 grenades. Then both of them proceed to the second floor to collect and swap items before the next fight scene.
(5) The fight scene involves Sheva being lifted up and hurled across to the next building by the muscled Chris (who must have taken up bodybuilding since Veonica days). Sheva has to make sure that Chris has jumped down to the lower floor with sniper rifle at the ready before jumping down herself.
(6) Sheva should not be near the red drum when shooting at the wogs and Chris should be able to kill the wogs if they are near the drum when it blows up by a bullet from Chris's rifle. Here Sheva can make use of the grenades as Chris can also help her by sniping at the wogs. Sheva should collect as many ammos as possible. After this, the initiative rests with Sheva to open the double red door for Chris to join the fray. When fighting what's left of the wogs, avoid blowing up the drums for they can be used more effectively later on when confronting the chainsaw wog. When done, both heroes should look for ammos or other useful items such as green herbs before confronting the chainsaw wog.
(7) Shoot at the hanging electric transformer to drop it down and, before going up the steps to confront the chainsaw wog, make sure to re-check the items in the respective inventories.
(8) The next fight scene with the chainsaw wog is a long one for the wog is not easily killed and that other wogs with sickels and hammers as weapons keep on getting in your way. A good plan is for Sheva to draw the chainsaw wog to her while Chris runs up the steps to shoot the head of wog. Then, with all the wogs chasing her, Sheva should run to Chris who will then be able to pick the wog's head who should die with 7-8 rounds to the head. Make use of the transformer to stun the wogs when they are nearby.
(9) In this fight scene, if anything else fail, simply run away to avoid being near the tough chainsaw wog or the other wogs who are relentlessly chasing you and are out to whack you. Sheva, by using her machine-gun deftly coupled with timed kicks and blowing up the red drums can kill the chainsaw wog on her own. But it's best for Chris to snipe at the chainsaw wog.
(10) Once killed, the other wogs can be easily killed. The key dropped by the chainsaw wog opens the door to the closing scene where a box of treasure awaits the two heroes.
A bit of advice: To those who wish to play online, please make sure you have played the scenes several times to gain experience in solo mode. If not, all you do is to frustrate your partner.
