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This thread has been linked to the game 'Resident Evil 6'.
So here we are, Resident Evil 6. What many expected to be the pinnacle of the series; a game that would cater for everyone whether you were a shooter fan, horror enthusiast or somewhere in between has shockingly failed to deliver. On paper it all sounds fantastic; multiple campaigns, varying gameplay styles, plenty of extras. In practice however things start to unravel. Where has this latest entry in the franchise gone wrong?
Rather than focus on a single narrative, Resident Evil 6 takes you on four separate journeys each offering a different viewpoint on the overall arc as well as a different style of play. I won’t go into detail but the overall idea revolves around a global outbreak, a new Umbrella and revenge (so basically the same craziness you’d expect from a Resident Evil title). Fan favourite Leon Kennedy and newcomer Helena Harper take us on a darker, slower paced mission that feels more in line with Resident Evil of the past. Meathead Chris Redfield and his partner Piers Nivans meanwhile offer the more gun focused gameplay that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Gears of War title. Jake Muller and Raccoon City survivor Sherry Birkin helm the third campaign with a mix of melee combat, shooting and vehicle sections. Finally Ada Wong in the only campaign playable alone with no co-op partner, focuses on puzzle solving in a neat call-back to the original titles.
So four different campaigns to play through. What are they like?
Leon’s campaign is as close to Resident Evil as you’re going to get offering moments of tension, eeriness and believe it or not actual zombies. The opening chapter alone harkens back to Raccoon City of Resident Evil 2 bringing with it a real sense of dread as you search an empty university campus, underground subway and eventually the town itself. Much like previous entries in the series the pace is slower but peaks in excitement at just the right moments leaving more of an impact on the player. It’s by no means a contender for Leon’s previous venture in Europe, but it’s still an entertaining six or seven hours.
Chris’ campaign meanwhile offers a more bullet filled experience with enemies packing machine guns, rocket launchers and plenty of explosives that can prove too much for a control system that offers little in the way of manoeuvrability and precision. This is fine with Leon where his campaign consists of enemies that don’t use guns and instead try to grab and eat you but here it can’t deal with the quick timing required. The cover system for example feels like a gamble at times with a dive resulting in you sticking to the nearby crate or (and more annoyingly) simply standing up ready for the next bullet to find your chest. Even popping in and out of cover feels jarring and difficult – I’d often find myself jittering in and out trying to hold my aim when the game would allow me.
Whereas Leon’s campaign manages to build up the excitement, Chris kicks things off in high gear with little where else to escalate to afterward. Rather than appreciating the payoff, you find yourself getting bored of yet another set piece or action filled shootout as you’ve done it so many times before previously. For every excellent well put together moment such as the tense boss fight with a giant invisible snake that starts picking off Chris’ men one by one, there are just too many more boring shoot-outs with the J’avo. Even basic enemies become an annoyance with a well placed shot often penalising you with a giant tentacle or mutant head popping out making life even more difficult. It feels unfair especially with the limited ammo you’re given.
The worst is yet to come however as newcomer Jake delivers perhaps the most boring/infuriating campaign of the bunch. At its core it plays pretty much like Chris and Leon’s albeit with a focus on melee and a number of odd new ideas whether it be slow-controlling snowmobiles, motorcycles and boats; tedious stealth sections, a lot of running toward the camera or dull as dishwater hunts for keys. The number of times I found myself instantly dying when handling a motorbike for example was too many to count as a simple clip of a parked car would send my skidding to my death. Much like Chris, you’ll find yourself just wanting to get through a section as quickly as possible before boredom begins to settle.
Once the three main stories have been finished a fourth featuring Ada Wong becomes available that luckily falls more in line with the quality of Leon’s eerie campaign than that of the other two. Puzzles, creepy undead creatures and some genuinely impressive environments mean this bonus actually manages to suck you in even after three already lengthy campaigns.
When Resident Evil 6 manages to find its footing sadly it still fails to reach the dizzying heights of the fourth instalment or even parts of five. Why? For one it lacks heart. Face-offs become nothing more than mindless shooting galleries, set pieces lack that “holy hell” factor and boss encounters themselves are nowhere near as memorable or intimidating as the likes of Dr. Salvador and the sound of his blood chilling chainsaw or the Wolverine-wannabe and his razor sharp claws. Remember in Resident Evil 4 when Leon finds himself barricading in a cabin, Los Ganados breaking in from every window? It was a fantastic set piece that suddenly ramped up the tension as you fend off waves of enemies as best you can before eventually retreating upstairs in a desperate act to survive. Sadly Resident Evil 6 never delivers something of this calibre. Sure there are sections where you’ll hold out until help arrives, but it lacks the urgency or genuine excitement of the former. Overall it feels like CAPCOM have tried too hard to please the wants of many offering a mixture of good and boring campaigns each full of ideas that sometimes work and for the most part don’t. The game lacks focus and as a result the entire package feels uninspired and lacking.
Quick time events play a much larger role than ever with pretty much any action requiring a waggle of the analogue or quick press of a button. Escaping zombies eager to give you a hug or planting explosives is all handled with very out of place button times or waggling. Even moments that could simply be handled via a cutscene play out with more annoying prompts. An early example in Leon’s campaign sees the pair jumping into a car and “frantically” searching for a set of keys. While player one hits the trigger buttons and looks around, player two simply sits there watching. Why is this here?
The camera can become bad to the point where it’s nauseating hanging too close to the character and offering a limited view of the action. This only gets worse when navigating smaller areas as it then becomes prone to getting caught on walls or sometimes not even responding at all. While moving and shooting is something that has been begged for by the fans for many years now, the inclusion of such ability here doesn’t really make the game feel or play much better. It’s improved for sure, but still feels somewhat clunky in execution. Rolling is handled in a weird manner, the aforementioned cover system is hit and miss and shooting feels very underwhelming and inaccurate. It’s these fundamental elements that simply aren’t polished enough and often ruin the game. For a developer like CAPCOM this is downright embarrassing.
On the bright side, environments looks fantastic taking you to some genuinely impressive locations such as a cemetery and cathedral, catacombs and fictional city in China. The lighting in particular is fantastic being used to some brilliant effects. You simply need to watch the shadows of shuffling zombies in the distance; the light illuminating their presence in Leon’s campaign as he wonders the subway to see how amazing this game can look. Character animations are serviceable meanwhile and enemy designs are decent enough looking disgusting and gross. The frame rate can however drop to the point where the game will pause briefly during battles… it’s these basic things that should have been ironed out before release that drag the experience down further.
When you’ve exhausted the four campaigns, you can take to the ever reliable Mercenaries mode or the newly added Agent Hunt mode. The former is still a great distraction especially when playing online with a friend. The ever decreasing time limit and constant worry of keeping a long running combo going is just as addicting as ever. Agent Mode on the other hand is more of a throwaway feature giving you the chance to join a stranger’s campaign and attack them as a zombie/dog/J’avo. In theory it sounds like a cool idea, but in practice you’ll find yourself getting killed countless times due to awkward controls and low health.
Co-op has also been improved allowing easy drop-in and drop-out for online. Thanks to having a partner that can think for itself and communicate with you this helps make the campaigns somewhat more enjoyable. The returning co-op doors that need to be opened together however still irritate appearing way too often and breaking up the pace. Worse with the AI who will at times ignore you, but slightly more tolerable with a friend.
Resident Evil 6 is so heartbreakingly disappointing. For a game that kicked off 2012 with such a fantastic debut trailer and eerie advertising campaign to turn out like this is shocking. Resident Evil 4 remains an all-time favourite action adventure for me and 5 was also a great game in its own right, however 6 manages to lead the series in a worrying direction, one full of flawed fundamentals, boring battles and idiotic design decisions, and if this continues, it’s one I don’t want to follow.
4.5/10
Rather than focus on a single narrative, Resident Evil 6 takes you on four separate journeys each offering a different viewpoint on the overall arc as well as a different style of play. I won’t go into detail but the overall idea revolves around a global outbreak, a new Umbrella and revenge (so basically the same craziness you’d expect from a Resident Evil title). Fan favourite Leon Kennedy and newcomer Helena Harper take us on a darker, slower paced mission that feels more in line with Resident Evil of the past. Meathead Chris Redfield and his partner Piers Nivans meanwhile offer the more gun focused gameplay that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Gears of War title. Jake Muller and Raccoon City survivor Sherry Birkin helm the third campaign with a mix of melee combat, shooting and vehicle sections. Finally Ada Wong in the only campaign playable alone with no co-op partner, focuses on puzzle solving in a neat call-back to the original titles.
So four different campaigns to play through. What are they like?
Leon’s campaign is as close to Resident Evil as you’re going to get offering moments of tension, eeriness and believe it or not actual zombies. The opening chapter alone harkens back to Raccoon City of Resident Evil 2 bringing with it a real sense of dread as you search an empty university campus, underground subway and eventually the town itself. Much like previous entries in the series the pace is slower but peaks in excitement at just the right moments leaving more of an impact on the player. It’s by no means a contender for Leon’s previous venture in Europe, but it’s still an entertaining six or seven hours.
Chris’ campaign meanwhile offers a more bullet filled experience with enemies packing machine guns, rocket launchers and plenty of explosives that can prove too much for a control system that offers little in the way of manoeuvrability and precision. This is fine with Leon where his campaign consists of enemies that don’t use guns and instead try to grab and eat you but here it can’t deal with the quick timing required. The cover system for example feels like a gamble at times with a dive resulting in you sticking to the nearby crate or (and more annoyingly) simply standing up ready for the next bullet to find your chest. Even popping in and out of cover feels jarring and difficult – I’d often find myself jittering in and out trying to hold my aim when the game would allow me.
Whereas Leon’s campaign manages to build up the excitement, Chris kicks things off in high gear with little where else to escalate to afterward. Rather than appreciating the payoff, you find yourself getting bored of yet another set piece or action filled shootout as you’ve done it so many times before previously. For every excellent well put together moment such as the tense boss fight with a giant invisible snake that starts picking off Chris’ men one by one, there are just too many more boring shoot-outs with the J’avo. Even basic enemies become an annoyance with a well placed shot often penalising you with a giant tentacle or mutant head popping out making life even more difficult. It feels unfair especially with the limited ammo you’re given.
The worst is yet to come however as newcomer Jake delivers perhaps the most boring/infuriating campaign of the bunch. At its core it plays pretty much like Chris and Leon’s albeit with a focus on melee and a number of odd new ideas whether it be slow-controlling snowmobiles, motorcycles and boats; tedious stealth sections, a lot of running toward the camera or dull as dishwater hunts for keys. The number of times I found myself instantly dying when handling a motorbike for example was too many to count as a simple clip of a parked car would send my skidding to my death. Much like Chris, you’ll find yourself just wanting to get through a section as quickly as possible before boredom begins to settle.
Once the three main stories have been finished a fourth featuring Ada Wong becomes available that luckily falls more in line with the quality of Leon’s eerie campaign than that of the other two. Puzzles, creepy undead creatures and some genuinely impressive environments mean this bonus actually manages to suck you in even after three already lengthy campaigns.
When Resident Evil 6 manages to find its footing sadly it still fails to reach the dizzying heights of the fourth instalment or even parts of five. Why? For one it lacks heart. Face-offs become nothing more than mindless shooting galleries, set pieces lack that “holy hell” factor and boss encounters themselves are nowhere near as memorable or intimidating as the likes of Dr. Salvador and the sound of his blood chilling chainsaw or the Wolverine-wannabe and his razor sharp claws. Remember in Resident Evil 4 when Leon finds himself barricading in a cabin, Los Ganados breaking in from every window? It was a fantastic set piece that suddenly ramped up the tension as you fend off waves of enemies as best you can before eventually retreating upstairs in a desperate act to survive. Sadly Resident Evil 6 never delivers something of this calibre. Sure there are sections where you’ll hold out until help arrives, but it lacks the urgency or genuine excitement of the former. Overall it feels like CAPCOM have tried too hard to please the wants of many offering a mixture of good and boring campaigns each full of ideas that sometimes work and for the most part don’t. The game lacks focus and as a result the entire package feels uninspired and lacking.
Quick time events play a much larger role than ever with pretty much any action requiring a waggle of the analogue or quick press of a button. Escaping zombies eager to give you a hug or planting explosives is all handled with very out of place button times or waggling. Even moments that could simply be handled via a cutscene play out with more annoying prompts. An early example in Leon’s campaign sees the pair jumping into a car and “frantically” searching for a set of keys. While player one hits the trigger buttons and looks around, player two simply sits there watching. Why is this here?
The camera can become bad to the point where it’s nauseating hanging too close to the character and offering a limited view of the action. This only gets worse when navigating smaller areas as it then becomes prone to getting caught on walls or sometimes not even responding at all. While moving and shooting is something that has been begged for by the fans for many years now, the inclusion of such ability here doesn’t really make the game feel or play much better. It’s improved for sure, but still feels somewhat clunky in execution. Rolling is handled in a weird manner, the aforementioned cover system is hit and miss and shooting feels very underwhelming and inaccurate. It’s these fundamental elements that simply aren’t polished enough and often ruin the game. For a developer like CAPCOM this is downright embarrassing.
On the bright side, environments looks fantastic taking you to some genuinely impressive locations such as a cemetery and cathedral, catacombs and fictional city in China. The lighting in particular is fantastic being used to some brilliant effects. You simply need to watch the shadows of shuffling zombies in the distance; the light illuminating their presence in Leon’s campaign as he wonders the subway to see how amazing this game can look. Character animations are serviceable meanwhile and enemy designs are decent enough looking disgusting and gross. The frame rate can however drop to the point where the game will pause briefly during battles… it’s these basic things that should have been ironed out before release that drag the experience down further.
When you’ve exhausted the four campaigns, you can take to the ever reliable Mercenaries mode or the newly added Agent Hunt mode. The former is still a great distraction especially when playing online with a friend. The ever decreasing time limit and constant worry of keeping a long running combo going is just as addicting as ever. Agent Mode on the other hand is more of a throwaway feature giving you the chance to join a stranger’s campaign and attack them as a zombie/dog/J’avo. In theory it sounds like a cool idea, but in practice you’ll find yourself getting killed countless times due to awkward controls and low health.
Co-op has also been improved allowing easy drop-in and drop-out for online. Thanks to having a partner that can think for itself and communicate with you this helps make the campaigns somewhat more enjoyable. The returning co-op doors that need to be opened together however still irritate appearing way too often and breaking up the pace. Worse with the AI who will at times ignore you, but slightly more tolerable with a friend.
Resident Evil 6 is so heartbreakingly disappointing. For a game that kicked off 2012 with such a fantastic debut trailer and eerie advertising campaign to turn out like this is shocking. Resident Evil 4 remains an all-time favourite action adventure for me and 5 was also a great game in its own right, however 6 manages to lead the series in a worrying direction, one full of flawed fundamentals, boring battles and idiotic design decisions, and if this continues, it’s one I don’t want to follow.
4.5/10
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So here we are, Resident Evil 6. What many expected to be the pinnacle of the series; a game that would cater for everyone whether you were a shooter fan, horror enthusiast or somewhere in between has shockingly failed to deliver. On paper it all sounds fantastic; multiple campaigns, varying gameplay styles, plenty of extras. In practice however things start to unravel. Where has this latest entry in the franchise gone wrong?
Rather than focus on a single narrative, Resident Evil 6 takes you on four separate journeys each offering a different viewpoint on the overall arc as well as a different style of play. I won’t go into detail but the overall idea revolves around a global outbreak, a new Umbrella and revenge (so basically the same craziness you’d expect from a Resident Evil title). Fan favourite Leon Kennedy and newcomer Helena Harper take us on a darker, slower paced mission that feels more in line with Resident Evil of the past. Meathead Chris Redfield and his partner Piers Nivans meanwhile offer the more gun focused gameplay that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Gears of War title. Jake Muller and Raccoon City survivor Sherry Birkin helm the third campaign with a mix of melee combat, shooting and vehicle sections. Finally Ada Wong in the only campaign playable alone with no co-op partner, focuses on puzzle solving in a neat call-back to the original titles.
So four different campaigns to play through. What are they like?
Leon’s campaign is as close to Resident Evil as you’re going to get offering moments of tension, eeriness and believe it or not actual zombies. The opening chapter alone harkens back to Raccoon City of Resident Evil 2 bringing with it a real sense of dread as you search an empty university campus, underground subway and eventually the town itself. Much like previous entries in the series the pace is slower but peaks in excitement at just the right moments leaving more of an impact on the player. It’s by no means a contender for Leon’s previous venture in Europe, but it’s still an entertaining six or seven hours.
Chris’ campaign meanwhile offers a more bullet filled experience with enemies packing machine guns, rocket launchers and plenty of explosives that can prove too much for a control system that offers little in the way of manoeuvrability and precision. This is fine with Leon where his campaign consists of enemies that don’t use guns and instead try to grab and eat you but here it can’t deal with the quick timing required. The cover system for example feels like a gamble at times with a dive resulting in you sticking to the nearby crate or (and more annoyingly) simply standing up ready for the next bullet to find your chest. Even popping in and out of cover feels jarring and difficult – I’d often find myself jittering in and out trying to hold my aim when the game would allow me.
Whereas Leon’s campaign manages to build up the excitement, Chris kicks things off in high gear with little where else to escalate to afterward. Rather than appreciating the payoff, you find yourself getting bored of yet another set piece or action filled shootout as you’ve done it so many times before previously. For every excellent well put together moment such as the tense boss fight with a giant invisible snake that starts picking off Chris’ men one by one, there are just too many more boring shoot-outs with the J’avo. Even basic enemies become an annoyance with a well placed shot often penalising you with a giant tentacle or mutant head popping out making life even more difficult. It feels unfair especially with the limited ammo you’re given.
The worst is yet to come however as newcomer Jake delivers perhaps the most boring/infuriating campaign of the bunch. At its core it plays pretty much like Chris and Leon’s albeit with a focus on melee and a number of odd new ideas whether it be slow-controlling snowmobiles, motorcycles and boats; tedious stealth sections, a lot of running toward the camera or dull as dishwater hunts for keys. The number of times I found myself instantly dying when handling a motorbike for example was too many to count as a simple clip of a parked car would send my skidding to my death. Much like Chris, you’ll find yourself just wanting to get through a section as quickly as possible before boredom begins to settle.
Once the three main stories have been finished a fourth featuring Ada Wong becomes available that luckily falls more in line with the quality of Leon’s eerie campaign than that of the other two. Puzzles, creepy undead creatures and some genuinely impressive environments mean this bonus actually manages to suck you in even after three already lengthy campaigns.
When Resident Evil 6 manages to find its footing sadly it still fails to reach the dizzying heights of the fourth instalment or even parts of five. Why? For one it lacks heart. Face-offs become nothing more than mindless shooting galleries, set pieces lack that “holy hell” factor and boss encounters themselves are nowhere near as memorable or intimidating as the likes of Dr. Salvador and the sound of his blood chilling chainsaw or the Wolverine-wannabe and his razor sharp claws. Remember in Resident Evil 4 when Leon finds himself barricading in a cabin, Los Ganados breaking in from every window? It was a fantastic set piece that suddenly ramped up the tension as you fend off waves of enemies as best you can before eventually retreating upstairs in a desperate act to survive. Sadly Resident Evil 6 never delivers something of this calibre. Sure there are sections where you’ll hold out until help arrives, but it lacks the urgency or genuine excitement of the former. Overall it feels like CAPCOM have tried too hard to please the wants of many offering a mixture of good and boring campaigns each full of ideas that sometimes work and for the most part don’t. The game lacks focus and as a result the entire package feels uninspired and lacking.
Quick time events play a much larger role than ever with pretty much any action requiring a waggle of the analogue or quick press of a button. Escaping zombies eager to give you a hug or planting explosives is all handled with very out of place button times or waggling. Even moments that could simply be handled via a cutscene play out with more annoying prompts. An early example in Leon’s campaign sees the pair jumping into a car and “frantically” searching for a set of keys. While player one hits the trigger buttons and looks around, player two simply sits there watching. Why is this here?
The camera can become bad to the point where it’s nauseating hanging too close to the character and offering a limited view of the action. This only gets worse when navigating smaller areas as it then becomes prone to getting caught on walls or sometimes not even responding at all. While moving and shooting is something that has been begged for by the fans for many years now, the inclusion of such ability here doesn’t really make the game feel or play much better. It’s improved for sure, but still feels somewhat clunky in execution. Rolling is handled in a weird manner, the aforementioned cover system is hit and miss and shooting feels very underwhelming and inaccurate. It’s these fundamental elements that simply aren’t polished enough and often ruin the game. For a developer like CAPCOM this is downright embarrassing.
On the bright side, environments looks fantastic taking you to some genuinely impressive locations such as a cemetery and cathedral, catacombs and fictional city in China. The lighting in particular is fantastic being used to some brilliant effects. You simply need to watch the shadows of shuffling zombies in the distance; the light illuminating their presence in Leon’s campaign as he wonders the subway to see how amazing this game can look. Character animations are serviceable meanwhile and enemy designs are decent enough looking disgusting and gross. The frame rate can however drop to the point where the game will pause briefly during battles… it’s these basic things that should have been ironed out before release that drag the experience down further.
When you’ve exhausted the four campaigns, you can take to the ever reliable Mercenaries mode or the newly added Agent Hunt mode. The former is still a great distraction especially when playing online with a friend. The ever decreasing time limit and constant worry of keeping a long running combo going is just as addicting as ever. Agent Mode on the other hand is more of a throwaway feature giving you the chance to join a stranger’s campaign and attack them as a zombie/dog/J’avo. In theory it sounds like a cool idea, but in practice you’ll find yourself getting killed countless times due to awkward controls and low health.
Co-op has also been improved allowing easy drop-in and drop-out for online. Thanks to having a partner that can think for itself and communicate with you this helps make the campaigns somewhat more enjoyable. The returning co-op doors that need to be opened together however still irritate appearing way too often and breaking up the pace. Worse with the AI who will at times ignore you, but slightly more tolerable with a friend.
Resident Evil 6 is so heartbreakingly disappointing. For a game that kicked off 2012 with such a fantastic debut trailer and eerie advertising campaign to turn out like this is shocking. Resident Evil 4 remains an all-time favourite action adventure for me and 5 was also a great game in its own right, however 6 manages to lead the series in a worrying direction, one full of flawed fundamentals, boring battles and idiotic design decisions, and if this continues, it’s one I don’t want to follow.
4.5/10
Rather than focus on a single narrative, Resident Evil 6 takes you on four separate journeys each offering a different viewpoint on the overall arc as well as a different style of play. I won’t go into detail but the overall idea revolves around a global outbreak, a new Umbrella and revenge (so basically the same craziness you’d expect from a Resident Evil title). Fan favourite Leon Kennedy and newcomer Helena Harper take us on a darker, slower paced mission that feels more in line with Resident Evil of the past. Meathead Chris Redfield and his partner Piers Nivans meanwhile offer the more gun focused gameplay that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Gears of War title. Jake Muller and Raccoon City survivor Sherry Birkin helm the third campaign with a mix of melee combat, shooting and vehicle sections. Finally Ada Wong in the only campaign playable alone with no co-op partner, focuses on puzzle solving in a neat call-back to the original titles.
So four different campaigns to play through. What are they like?
Leon’s campaign is as close to Resident Evil as you’re going to get offering moments of tension, eeriness and believe it or not actual zombies. The opening chapter alone harkens back to Raccoon City of Resident Evil 2 bringing with it a real sense of dread as you search an empty university campus, underground subway and eventually the town itself. Much like previous entries in the series the pace is slower but peaks in excitement at just the right moments leaving more of an impact on the player. It’s by no means a contender for Leon’s previous venture in Europe, but it’s still an entertaining six or seven hours.
Chris’ campaign meanwhile offers a more bullet filled experience with enemies packing machine guns, rocket launchers and plenty of explosives that can prove too much for a control system that offers little in the way of manoeuvrability and precision. This is fine with Leon where his campaign consists of enemies that don’t use guns and instead try to grab and eat you but here it can’t deal with the quick timing required. The cover system for example feels like a gamble at times with a dive resulting in you sticking to the nearby crate or (and more annoyingly) simply standing up ready for the next bullet to find your chest. Even popping in and out of cover feels jarring and difficult – I’d often find myself jittering in and out trying to hold my aim when the game would allow me.
Whereas Leon’s campaign manages to build up the excitement, Chris kicks things off in high gear with little where else to escalate to afterward. Rather than appreciating the payoff, you find yourself getting bored of yet another set piece or action filled shootout as you’ve done it so many times before previously. For every excellent well put together moment such as the tense boss fight with a giant invisible snake that starts picking off Chris’ men one by one, there are just too many more boring shoot-outs with the J’avo. Even basic enemies become an annoyance with a well placed shot often penalising you with a giant tentacle or mutant head popping out making life even more difficult. It feels unfair especially with the limited ammo you’re given.
The worst is yet to come however as newcomer Jake delivers perhaps the most boring/infuriating campaign of the bunch. At its core it plays pretty much like Chris and Leon’s albeit with a focus on melee and a number of odd new ideas whether it be slow-controlling snowmobiles, motorcycles and boats; tedious stealth sections, a lot of running toward the camera or dull as dishwater hunts for keys. The number of times I found myself instantly dying when handling a motorbike for example was too many to count as a simple clip of a parked car would send my skidding to my death. Much like Chris, you’ll find yourself just wanting to get through a section as quickly as possible before boredom begins to settle.
Once the three main stories have been finished a fourth featuring Ada Wong becomes available that luckily falls more in line with the quality of Leon’s eerie campaign than that of the other two. Puzzles, creepy undead creatures and some genuinely impressive environments mean this bonus actually manages to suck you in even after three already lengthy campaigns.
When Resident Evil 6 manages to find its footing sadly it still fails to reach the dizzying heights of the fourth instalment or even parts of five. Why? For one it lacks heart. Face-offs become nothing more than mindless shooting galleries, set pieces lack that “holy hell” factor and boss encounters themselves are nowhere near as memorable or intimidating as the likes of Dr. Salvador and the sound of his blood chilling chainsaw or the Wolverine-wannabe and his razor sharp claws. Remember in Resident Evil 4 when Leon finds himself barricading in a cabin, Los Ganados breaking in from every window? It was a fantastic set piece that suddenly ramped up the tension as you fend off waves of enemies as best you can before eventually retreating upstairs in a desperate act to survive. Sadly Resident Evil 6 never delivers something of this calibre. Sure there are sections where you’ll hold out until help arrives, but it lacks the urgency or genuine excitement of the former. Overall it feels like CAPCOM have tried too hard to please the wants of many offering a mixture of good and boring campaigns each full of ideas that sometimes work and for the most part don’t. The game lacks focus and as a result the entire package feels uninspired and lacking.
Quick time events play a much larger role than ever with pretty much any action requiring a waggle of the analogue or quick press of a button. Escaping zombies eager to give you a hug or planting explosives is all handled with very out of place button times or waggling. Even moments that could simply be handled via a cutscene play out with more annoying prompts. An early example in Leon’s campaign sees the pair jumping into a car and “frantically” searching for a set of keys. While player one hits the trigger buttons and looks around, player two simply sits there watching. Why is this here?
The camera can become bad to the point where it’s nauseating hanging too close to the character and offering a limited view of the action. This only gets worse when navigating smaller areas as it then becomes prone to getting caught on walls or sometimes not even responding at all. While moving and shooting is something that has been begged for by the fans for many years now, the inclusion of such ability here doesn’t really make the game feel or play much better. It’s improved for sure, but still feels somewhat clunky in execution. Rolling is handled in a weird manner, the aforementioned cover system is hit and miss and shooting feels very underwhelming and inaccurate. It’s these fundamental elements that simply aren’t polished enough and often ruin the game. For a developer like CAPCOM this is downright embarrassing.
On the bright side, environments looks fantastic taking you to some genuinely impressive locations such as a cemetery and cathedral, catacombs and fictional city in China. The lighting in particular is fantastic being used to some brilliant effects. You simply need to watch the shadows of shuffling zombies in the distance; the light illuminating their presence in Leon’s campaign as he wonders the subway to see how amazing this game can look. Character animations are serviceable meanwhile and enemy designs are decent enough looking disgusting and gross. The frame rate can however drop to the point where the game will pause briefly during battles… it’s these basic things that should have been ironed out before release that drag the experience down further.
When you’ve exhausted the four campaigns, you can take to the ever reliable Mercenaries mode or the newly added Agent Hunt mode. The former is still a great distraction especially when playing online with a friend. The ever decreasing time limit and constant worry of keeping a long running combo going is just as addicting as ever. Agent Mode on the other hand is more of a throwaway feature giving you the chance to join a stranger’s campaign and attack them as a zombie/dog/J’avo. In theory it sounds like a cool idea, but in practice you’ll find yourself getting killed countless times due to awkward controls and low health.
Co-op has also been improved allowing easy drop-in and drop-out for online. Thanks to having a partner that can think for itself and communicate with you this helps make the campaigns somewhat more enjoyable. The returning co-op doors that need to be opened together however still irritate appearing way too often and breaking up the pace. Worse with the AI who will at times ignore you, but slightly more tolerable with a friend.
Resident Evil 6 is so heartbreakingly disappointing. For a game that kicked off 2012 with such a fantastic debut trailer and eerie advertising campaign to turn out like this is shocking. Resident Evil 4 remains an all-time favourite action adventure for me and 5 was also a great game in its own right, however 6 manages to lead the series in a worrying direction, one full of flawed fundamentals, boring battles and idiotic design decisions, and if this continues, it’s one I don’t want to follow.
4.5/10