Chapter 2

Chapter 2-1

All you can do after waking up from your "dream" is head out of the cabin (after checking for items, natch), and enter the nearby zone. You can't cross back across the lake, but hey - would you even want to?

Acne is a serious problem for the ganados.

After entering the dam area, you'll run up against one of your first new enemies; they appear to be normal zombie villagers, but can spontaneously explode their heads off to reveal a multi-tentacled extra appendage that'll slash at you from a fairly good distance away. Shotgunning these guys is the best way to deal with them, as you can likely kill them in as few as two shots. Whatever weapon you want to use, you'll have to stay well away from them if you want to avoid taking damage. Note that the second guy you see, although apparently normal, can also sprout a tentacle if you blast his head off.

After moving down to the dam, you'll have to shoot down three suspended crates in order to make a passable path to the lever that'll shut down the flow of water. You can also find an Amber Ring on a rafter near the waterfall, and a Spinel. The Spinel is tough to track down; you'll have to be standing on one of the elevated platforms and look back towards where you climbed the rope down to spot it. It'll be tough to hit without a rifle.

When you have your little crate bridge made, climb the far tower and pull the lever there to reveal a cavern behind the waterfall. After moving towards it, though, more ganados will spawn in. It's best to backtrack towards the lever-tower before taking them on; you can shoot them as they jump across the crates, if you wish, but it's better to wait until they're on the same little spit of land as you are, as this'll let you pick up any items that they drop after they die. If you shoot them on the crates, they're likely to fall into the water.

Head into the cave to grab the Round Insignia. The path beyond will lead you back to the merchant in the cavern before the lake, so save your game and upgrade your weapons before heading back to the church. Or, at least, part of the way back to the church; you're going to have another boss fight before you can get there.

Boss Fight: El Gigante

Video Walk-through

During the first fight with El Gigante, you're going to be spending most of your time running away like a true champion.

• Watch
• Download

Although the little trap the villagers set for you doesn't go off quite as planned - they all get killed before the troll even notices you. But notice you it will, and you'll be forced to take it down. Luckily, though, there aren't any silly little tricks you have to perform; this is a fairly straightforward run-n-gun battle. Before you enter the pit here, try to make sure that all of your weapons are fully loaded, especially your shotgun and TMP, if you have one. If you have the scratch to buy an ammo capacity expansion for the TMP, this would also be a good time to get it.

El Gigante is, well, a giant biped, possessed of preternatural strength and an inhuman ability to take damage. As mentioned, all you're going to have at your disposal here are your normal weapons; your pistol and TMP will be useful for forcing the giant to its knees, while your shotgun will be best used for dealing the really damaging blows while your foe is vulnerable.

Attacks

First, though, the various attacks that the giant will use, and there are a few. Its most common attacks are simple punches and kicks; as you maneuver your way around the little pit, the giant will continually follow you. If it manages to catch up to you, it'll either punch you into the pavement for severe damage, or kick you down; sometimes it'll actually punch you, then kick you as you're getting up, which is no fun at all. In order to dodge these attacks, you'll just have to stay away from the beast. A large part of this is not attempting to use your shotgun or rifle unless you're well away from it, as the ejecting-shells animation will usually give it enough time to close in from medium range and hit you. Your handguns and TMP won't have this problem; you can fire away with them, then let go of your R trigger and start running almost immediately.

If you see El Gigante's charge coming towards you, get ready to dodge.

Next up is the grab; if the giant closes in and manages to pick you up, you'll have to slash at its wrists before it squeezes the life out of you. If you manage to rotate the left analog stick quickly in a clockwise motion, you should be able to avoid severe damage here; we've managed to get out of the grip with only a couple of life bars gone. If you're not adept at rotating, though, you can expect a bit more damage from this. After you do escape, you'll be standing right next to El Gigante, so don't try to fire off any shots; just get your distance.

Last up are the dodgeable attacks. El Gigante has three of these. The first involves him picking up a rock from the northern end of the quarry and chucking it at you. This doesn't appear to be something that you have to press a button to dodge; you just have to maneuver out of the way. We really wouldn't know, because we always ran for the shelter afforded by the small wooden hut on the eastern wall; if you hide behind that, the rock will never impact you.

The other dodgeables are avoidable by using the L+R trigger buttons in unison. In the first, El Gigante will raise its arms above its head and charge forward headfirst; it can be difficult to tell when this is coming your way, since you'll usually be running away from it and will have your back turned. If you do spot it coming, you can either move left or right out of the way, or just wait for the trigger buttons to appear on the screen and dodge it. The second involves the giant picking up a tree and coming at you; he'll slow down a bit when he's carrying a tree, so whip out your TMP or Pistol and get your headshots in while you can. When he stops, drop your weapon and wait for the L+R prompt to come up, then dodge it. The timing on this is tricky, but after you experience it a couple of times, you'll get it down.

Damage here is pretty much unavoidable, unless you're some kind of RE4 genius. Don't worry too much about using restorative items here, but try to save them until you're in the red zone on health to maximize their effects.