Is it a 10.0 or is it a 1.0? Resident Evil 6 Review

 

PRELUDE

To start with, Resident Evil has been one of my favorite franchises; with that being said the series has evolved to something that can hardly be called “Survival Horror”. Yes it’s still a good game, but it’s also unrecognizable from what it used to be. For this reason it’s hard to say what Resident Evil 6 should be on the rating scale. Some view it as a 4 others as a 9. Hopefully after this review you’ll at least see my view on why I gave it the rating it has.

There are games that define generations, bring back memories and make you feel good. There are games that you come to count on for quality and a good story. Resident Evil is a franchise that covers most of those areas. Over the years the series has become like a lost puppy and you find yourself wishing desperately that it finds it’s way home safely. With Resident Evil 6 I’m sorry to say that puppy is still not only lost, but somehow it’s morphed into a kitten. I’ll make sense of this, but if you’ve played the game I probably won’t have to.

After playing the demo, and seeing tons of other reviews on this game I didn’t want to believe what was going on. RE6 is an excellent game, but it can hardly be called “Resident Evil” anymore. In fact it’s not “resident” — as it’s a global affair now, and it isn’t evil, as you never feel threatened. It’s a great action game, but a far cry from survival horror.

 

 

Graphically speaking this game shines, but not when compared to games like: Gears of War, God of War, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, or Metal Gear Solid 4. With that being said don’t expect your eyes to be blown to the back of your head, but do expect the game to be impressive in it’s own right. Players show sweat, dirt and grime, but not in an active way like other games.

The cinematics are at the heart of the game and do a fine job of telling the jaded story that’s on display here. Characters move with realism, but aren’t always on cue like you’d want them to be. The animation is smooth, but frames per rate could be a lot better. The gameplay engine itself needs some work. You often hit a Zombie or J’avo as some of them are called, but your hit is misaligned with the target. So while you ARE hitting them it doesn’t look like it. You get a wide array of actions as you role, run, dive and all the like with good motion capture.

At the end it just isn’t all there somehow. The graphics will satisfy some but will leave others wanting more.

 

This is where things get “OH SO CRAZY”. To properly tell the story one would have to cover the whole series. I will attempt to put things in a nut shell and then bring it to present.

Resident Evil began with my favorite characters in the series: Chris, Jill, Wesker and Barry. A bio research group called Umbrella has come up with a virus (‘T’) that has the potential to make Super Soldiers of a sort. They test it in a small town called Raccoon city. Things go crazy as an Alpha squad has been sent to investigate an old mansion where weird things have been going on. The aforementioned characters are part of S.T.A.R.S. — the bravo team of a special tactics group are sent to look for the first team and if possible rescue them. No need to say that things go wrong and only a few survive. Years later here we are at the tail end of what happened there.

Chris is back along with some other characters to try and wrap things up once and for all. Somehow things have become global. Also a “T”, “C”, and “G” virus all exist now; as if they couldn’t go in order and get the virus right the first time.

At it’s heart Resident Evil was suppose to be about being scared and surviving a horrible threat. Somehow in RE6 you never feel threatened or scared in the least.

Therein lies the biggest problem. You have to play through four different campaigns with several main characters to choose from. The main story comes together as a total package over all these mini stories. Albeit there are a few surprises, there is nothing overall original or shocking about any of it. Long time fans have every right to be angry with this game. As in the words of a fellow gamer it has become “Call of Duty” more so than returning to its original roots.

 

In my humble opinion the gameplay is better than most action games, but this is supposed to be survival horror. You never feel at a disadvantage when dealing with the undead or the monstrous beings standing in your way.You can shoot, run, slide and even throw mean combos and melee moves on your foes. The only problem here is some parts of the game have you playing Soldier and give you less than enough ammo. Which makes no sense because you need it to defeat the enemy, but oddly enough the game expects you to play like you have enough. If it sounds confusing then it is trust me I know. It’s as if the game wants to be action, but still tries to be survival horror. It’s a terrible mix to say the least.

It seems rather tedious to split the game up into separate chapters like they did as you will play multiple parts twice and not because you want to, but more because you will have to. You will just do it from different player views.They also try to differ each campaign with a different play style with Leon S Kennedy’s being the closest to RE 1-3, Chris being like RE4 and 5 and the new guy Jake’s encompassing both (styles) with a twist of part three’s Nemesis character. It’s done rather sloppy if you ask me and I don’t know what they hoped to achieve by doing it.

It is fun if you forget what the game once was and just pretend that it’s an action game. It’s a mixed bag indeed. You also have extras like the popular Mercenaries missions and the Agent mode, which lets you play as a zombie in someone else’s game. Why you’d want to do that is beyond me as you are at a huge disadvantage.

 

 

The sounds hit their mark as they should. Groans, yells, moans and the like are all there. The weapons sound authentic; overall the sound effects are on point. The voice acting is also done in a great manner. If you listen to part 1 compared to this it will seem academy award winning to say the least. The music is rather forgettable; put on your own tracks and silence them when cut scenes come on and you won’t miss a thing. Standard fare in this department.

 

 

Playing online is a dream as you can drop in and drop out at will. Although you do have to set up the option before you start a stage. It’s way better than part 5 where you had to play from beginning and to the end of the stage, because if you didn’t the session would end causing one player to lose hard earned data.

On top of all that it’s a blast to play with a friend online although at times it seems like co-op in this game is just for show. Does it really take two people to kick down a door? Other times the co-op shines, like when the characters cross paths with others in their story: hint Leon and Sherry have to work together to jump start a bus at a crucial moment of the story and you can feel the tension if your buddy isn’t doing the part giving to them.

This is a good social game to play as you and a friend can sit back and enjoy the action. Saving a buddy is easy and implemented in a good way. The game does seem that much easier when you have two human players. The game doesn’t suffer from slow down if two players have similar connection ratings. Mercenaries’ mode is a blast to play with someone online. The game is a fun, action packed, and a great way to experience things.

 

 

The replay is definitely there as you will have to play through all of the campaigns in order to get the fourth and even then again to collect files, serpent symbols, secret guns and skills.

You can enjoy all that this game has to offer…..if you put your mind to it and once again forget what this game should be and not what is.

 

 

I am definitely a fan of the series, but it pains me to say that this game doesn’t live up to the heritage of past entries. RE4 was a brilliant change in what was beginning to be a stale franchise. RE5 gave it some flair and revitalized the Mercenaries mode. Sadly RE6 does nothing significant for the series. It adds more of things, but the wrong things. More action, more guns, more characters, more story, but in this case more isn’t better.

In trying to achieve big things this entry goes back to that puppy that turned into a kitten that I talked about in the beginning. I’m sure true fans of the series would have chosen that CAPCOM focused on the survivor horror part of the game rather than the action they seem to have put in.

Like I said a great game, but it misses it’s mark to me. I give RE6 a 7.5 out 10and that is just giving you the honest to God truth of the matter. PEACE!