Helping the wolf isn't an essential part of the game. It just makes the El Gigante fight easier.
Resi 4 was the first game in the series I extensively played, and the first I owned, so I wasn't alienated by how different it was to the earlier games. My only prior experience had been a couple of goes at Resi 2, which had controls so unusual to me I kept getting killed before I even reached the RPD. Still, after I'd played Resi 4 to death (along with Deadly Silence on the DS), I soon bought every other game in the series.
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