Hey now everybody, hope you're having a great day, and welcome to my review of Resident Evil 6! Back when I was young and first getting into videogames one of the first games I loved was the original Resident Evil. As the years went on sequel after sequel was released and I couldn't get enough of the creepiness each new title brought with it. But eventually the developers felt they needed to change things up to keep the franchise relevant, and when Resident Evil 4 came out it completely changed the entire formula of the series. Even though I really enjoy part 4, to me it marked the beginning of the end for my beloved Resident Evil, and it never went back to the way it was. That doesn't necessarily mean that the newer ones aren't any good, it's just not what I consider a Resident Evil game. When part 6 was released it tried a lot of new things, some that worked and some that didn't, so let's get into it.
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By the time this game came out the series was pretty much unrecognizable from what it started out as. Gone was the slow pace and creepy atmosphere, you no longer had to worry about conserving ammo, and the story of a small town being overrun by zombies had turned into a worldwide global pandemic. It resembled something like Gears of War far more than it did Resident Evil. You basically run from set piece to set piece mowing down anything that gets in your way. The whole series got so out of control that it was just weird seeing the characters from previous games performing stunts from an action movie, instead of trying to survive by the skin of their teeth. The survival horror elements have been stripped away in favor of over the top action, but I have to admit it's pretty fun to play regardless.
Resident Evil 6 is a third person action shooter game developed by Capcom. It was released for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 back in October of 2012. At the start of the game it gives you the option to choose from one of four main campaigns. It tells you one overall story, but does it through the four different overlapping campaigns that all weave together eventually at the big climax. This is actually a very inventive way of letting the players experience the game, and with all the content you get spanning all four separate playthroughs you definitely get your moneys worth out of it. On paper this all sounded great and this game had the potential to be the best of the modern Resident Evil trilogy.
Each campaign had a main character from the franchise's history, but paired them up with a newcomer so that the game was played in teams of two. With the only exception being the Ada Wong campaign in which she is alone the whole time. The other three you can choose from are Leon Kennedy, who is paired up with a woman named Helena Harper who's a U.S. secret service agent. Chris Redfield who is teamed up with someone named Piers Nivans are both members of the BSAA, an anti bio-terrorism strike team. And lastly there's Sherry Birkin, the little girl from Resident Evil 2 now grown up, who is paired up with Jake Muller. Jake is actually Albert Wesker's son, and he's working with Sherry to create a cure for the C-Virus.
Each of the four campaigns play different from one another, and you could tell that Capcom was trying very hard to please all of their fans. Leon's campaign is by far the most like a Resident Evil game, it has you exploring dark spooky environments, while building up the tension and trying to create a creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately it eventually turns into an over the top action game by the end of it, and it didn't do a great job of giving fans like me the survival horror experience I was looking for. Although there are a lot of positives to be found in Leon's mission, they get overshadowed by all the cutscenes and quick time button prompts to really have any impact.
Chris Redfield's scenario is more like a military shooter than the others. You usually run around with a squad of BSAA personnel moving through war torn streets. The infected you fight are not like zombies at all, they are quick, agile, and can operate guns with no problem. There are some parts of the Chris campaign that have you fighting a huge mutated monster that topples buildings and chases you around. This was a welcome addition, but for the most part I wasn't a huge fan of this one, and it also is full of cutscenes and quick time events. I don't really know what Capcom were thinking by including so many of these quick time events and such, all they do is take you out of the moment you were enjoying. At best they're a minor annoyance, at worst they ruin the whole experience.
Sherry and Jake's scenario is a strange one that is especially full of set pieces and cutscenes. I like the idea of playing as Sherry all grown up, and playing as Albert Wesker's son could have been very interesting, but it all gets so bogged down by these bizarre game mechanics that it sucks all the fun out of it. In this campaign they tried to make it like Resident Evil 3 where this menacing creature chases you around from place to place, popping out at any given moment. But it doesn't even come close to replicating the feeling of being pursued by Nemesis from the third game. This scenario is the most forgettable in my opinion and it lacks the cohesion of the others, not sure what it wants to be.
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Ada Wong's scenario is the only one you play solo, and there are some pretty atmospheric places you get to visit, sort of giving this one the feel of the older games. Her playthrough is full of puzzles and it features slower moving enemies more akin to the classic zombie. At first she is portrayed as the villain of Resident Evil 6, but after playing her campaign and sorting through the convoluted story you realize that's not the case. Unfortunately there are plenty of quick time events in her missions just like all the rest and even though this is one of the better scenarios of the game it's still not that great. The plot is so messy and everything is so full of distractions that it's hard to become invested in any of the characters or what they're doing.
This game tried to include something for everyone, but nothing really works that well and everyone leaves the experience feeling let down. It could have greatly benefitted from a more concise plot, as well as smoother simpler gameplay mechanics instead of the constant distractions that they went with. Capcom seemed more interested in making an action movie than a game, and although it can be a wild ride at times I mostly just wanted to get off. What makes this experience a lot more fun is the fact that you can play co-operatively with a friend, each of you controlling one of the characters in the pair. This adds another layer to the game that you don't get by playing alone.
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If you're a big fan of action shooters then you might find something to like about this, but if you're hoping for a classic Resident Evil style of game you probably shouldn't even bother. If you do want to try it I highly recommend playing it co-op with a friend, that's definitely the best way to go, but even that might not make it worth your time. There's just too much going on here, too many ideas not fleshed out or implemented correctly that drag the whole thing down. For me personally this is the low point of the series and is the only game in the entire franchise that I haven't revisited since beating it the first time. I give Resident Evil 6 a grade of............................................
C
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed it!
