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Resident Evil 6 Review

Occasional glimpses of a great game are ultimately marred by numerous frustrating flaws

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Resident Evil is one of the few franchises that can't be accused of jumping on the zombie bandwagon - it’s now a 12 year old series spanning three hardware generations. It has come a long way, with the ups and downs of countless spinoffs of varying quality. The main games, however, have been largely well-received, perhaps with the exception of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. With Resident Evil 4 being an incredible high-point, it could be considered the series is on a downward spiral as it moves further away from its survival-horror roots, and into the third-person action genre. So how does Resident Evil 6 stack up in the grand scheme of the series, and does it do anything to buck this trend?

Well, it’s immediately apparent that the answer is no. The game is more action-heavy than ever. In fact, you could be forgiven for double checking the name on the disc after the first 10 minutes or so. The 'tutorial' is more akin to your average Call of Duty set-piece than the creepy scene-setting you might expect. It really is the most absurd, ridiculous tutorial you could imagine, and actually does very little in the way of tutoring besides 'run this way'. It does give a clear indication of what's to come though - explosions, running, shooting, completing endless quicktime events, and more explosions.

Resident Evil 6

Remaining primarily an action game might not necessarily be an inherently bad thing - many people enjoyed RE 5, including myself, and it sold very well. Unfortunately, there is more here to upset long-standing fans than the intensive running and gunning alone.

But before we get into that, I should mention the campaign structure is a little different this time round. There are now three campaigns to get stuck in to, each following the escapades of Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield and, new boy, Jake Muller. Each campaign travels the world as the characters cope with, you guessed it, a zombie-fueled virus outbreak. Every campaign has its own distinctive tone and style, and though it keeps things fresh, some characters suffer more than others from the scattered focus.

Not Leon though, whose campaign was a pleasant surprise - creepy, gripping and mostly fun. It covers most of what you might expect from a Resident Evil game, namely graveyards, sewers and dark corridors. It’s more fun than it sounds, and made me jump in shock on more than one occasion, something RE 5 lacked. It harks back to times gone by more than anything else in the game, and it’s, mostly, a thoughtful and gripping ride.

Resident Evil 6

Jake's campaign, on the other hand, is rather more bombastic. He’ll be facing mountainous enemies with bullet spewing turrets, so there’s little room for a tactful approach. Many of the campaign’s mechanics revolve around avoiding the ‘Ustanak’, a Nemesis-style enemy reminiscent of Resident Evil 3. This guy is scary, and again, a welcome change from shooting things in the face.

Finally, Chris’ plot is full on running and gunning, and the least compelling of the three campaigns as a result. It plays like a poor-man’s Gears of War and, frankly, it was grinding. It's good that the story is rather involving then, at least for a Resident Evil game. The one-liners are as cheesy as ever, but the way the story intertwines with each campaign is often enjoyable, making for some eyebrow-raising revelations. Considering that another final campaign (featuring a certain familiar female character) is unlocked after the initial three are completed, RE 6 gives you a lot of bang for your buck, which is great, as long as bang is what you’re after.

So far, it’s a mixed bag, and that’s how things tend to go in Resident Evil 6. For example, the core gameplay, still born of Resident Evil 4, remains fairly satisfying. While I would claim it has lost some of its weighty feel in this sequel, perhaps due to the new control system, negotiating groups of stumbling enemies with a limited arsenal is tense and popping zombie skulls is suitably gory.

Plus, the online co-op is a welcome addition, and mostly handled well. The game is designed for two players - gone are the days of being a lone survivor. The AI has improved since RE 5's fairly shambling sidekicks, and your computer friend will take a more of an active, and therefore helpful, role in shooting the baddies around you. On the other hand, I still found myself reaching points where I had to die five times before I waited for my computerized partner to casually stroll up to the checkpoint. This was not a particularly rare event, so to save frustration, a human partner is preferable.

Resident Evil 6

You can either team up with a friend from the outset, or have random players drop in at certain points in the story. It’s easy to customize what kind of online experience you want, and it’s great to have the option of local co-op too. You can even unlock the option to play as an enemy, appearing in another player’s campaign in real-time. Though a very neat idea, it’s unfortunately not as much fun as it sounds, and only worth a look for the curious.

A major gripe is the truly awkward menu system - the inventory is unclear and confusing. Gone are the days when you could quite happily sit for 10 minutes organizing your items, prioritizing which weapons to keep and which to sell. This strategic element has disappeared completely (there’s no upgrading your weapons either) and now it's a chore to even replenish your health. Get this - the game refuses to pause when you're flicking through menus. And not just the inventory menu, which understandably may have been implemented in order to increase the tension as you scramble for the first aid spray. Even if you just want to alter the game's brightness, put up subtitles or change the analogue sensitivity, THE GAME KEEPS GOING. This seems a bizarre and frustrating decision, supposedly to improve immersion, but immersion is not what you need when trying to configure your controller settings. God forbid you want a cup of tea, or the phone rings - when playing on a server, even if no one is in your game, you can’t stop the game at all, even with the Xbox guide.

Resident Evil 6

These are some of the many things that go unexplained within the game’s rushed tutorial, only to be discovered halfway through the game via a tip in the loading screening. The game feels like a confused mesh of ideas, some implemented well, but most lacking the polish that we’ve come to expect from Capcom’s headline games.

Visually, the game does feel like a triple-A title, as it can be impressively beautiful when it’s not too busy being dark and shadowy. The swooping mountains and sprawling landscapes are breathtaking, with most of the locations being detailed enough to be a believable part of the Resident Evil universe. It's clear that a lot of effort has been put into making the environments detailed, but, yet again, there are noticeable dips in quality. Take one of Jake’s areas - he’s stuck up a mountain and needs to go on an unexplained treasure hunt to find three keys to open the door and continue. Fine, sounds like a normal game progression mechanic. Except the developers thought that was too easy, and decided to add a raging snow storm into the mix, thus partially blinding your camera view. Playing any game while severely obscured from seeing the environment around you isn’t going to be fun, let alone when all you have to guide you around the confusing slopes are a vague distance counter and a misleading mini map. It really is a chore.

It’s a real shame that these moments are so prominently below par, as they pull you sharply out of the absorbing periods of the game. There are some terrifically gruesome events, and a lot of really badass cutscenes that flesh out the overall adventure considerably. Sometimes, the game presents you with moments that cause you to just sit back and go 'wow'. Then you encounter one of the games’ numerous niggles, many of which I have neglected to mention in this review, from the poor checkpoint system to the unfair deaths from scripted events. Unfortunately, most the time you'll be more inclined to sigh as you plough through more darkened areas shooting down more generic foes. Only in Leon’s campaign do occasional puzzles, though not massively taxing, break up the relentless pace.

Resident Evil 6

It's kind of sad to think that one of the finest survival horror games ever made seems to have been banished to the past, a relic in these fast-paced action-hungry times. Still, all hope should not be lost - just look at Resident Evil 4 and how it changed everything. It's entirely possible Capcom still have it in them to do the same again. Just not now, and not here.

Resident Evil 6 is not a bad game, but it’s certainly not a very good one. Perhaps the very fact that it is a Resident Evil game is its saving grace. To travel alongside the characters and their uniquely absurd situations once again, at times, it still feels like a classic Resident Evil game. But, ultimately, Resident Evil 6 is sprinkled with faults that really suck you out of a well-realized world. There's an underlying feeling that this could have been something wonderfully epic, but, instead, it feels like something fundamentally frustrating, only peppered with moments of brilliance.

Our ratings for Resident Evil 6 on Xbox 360 out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Presentation
74
Huge production values are very apparent, and this is a highly polished audio-visual affair. However, menus are fiddly and the inventory system is awful, really hindering your interaction with the world.
Gameplay
73
Aside from finally having the ability to move and shoot at the same time, there's very little new to the series. The game is more action-heavy than ever, so if you weren't keen on Resident Evil 5, this won't appeal.
Single Player
69
Having a choice between three campaigns helps to mix things up, though the entertainment gained from each chapter varies wildly. There's a lot of content here to get through, though it's often a case of quantity over quality.
Multiplayer
72
As you would hope, the game improves when playing alongside a reliable partner. Nothing beats fighting off a hoard of angry undead, and sharing the experience with a friend.
Performance
67
The atmospheric lighting and detailed environments clearly impact on the frame-rate, plus your AI partner can still be a thorn in your side.
Overall
69
Fans of the series will probably be able to overlook many of the game's faults, as long as they accept the heavy focus on adrenaline-fueled gameplay. Otherwise, there are many action games out there that are quite simply better than Resident Evil 6.
Comments
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil 6 box art Platform:
Xbox 360
Our Review of Resident Evil 6
69%
Adequate
The Verdict:
Game Ranking
Resident Evil 6 is ranked #1293 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #104 out of 145 games reviewed in 2012.
1292. The Invincible
PlayStation 5
1293. Resident Evil 6
1294. McPixel
PC
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Screenshots

Resident Evil 6
16 images added Jun 9, 2012 00:48
Videos
Resident Evil 6 - Debut Trailer
Posted: Jan 19, 2012 18:28
Resident Evil 6 - Captivate 2012 Trailer
Posted: Apr 10, 2012 21:37
Resident Evil 6 - E3 2012 trailer
Posted: Jun 6, 2012 00:42
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