Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

Pros:
-Great graphics
-Lot's of content
-Co-op is fun
-Improved shooting mechanics
-Great boss battles

Cons:
-Game's lighting is too dark, even at max brightness
-Agent Hunt is awkward
-Lack of pause while playing online
-Some Quick Time Events are cheap and annoying
-Bad cover system
-A bit too focused on action and not survival horror

The Resident Evil series has long been a staple in the survival horror series, and it has constantly been adding and evolving it's gameplay elements over the years. And while change can be good, it's not always necessary, especially at the cost of your original roots. And this is exactly the mistake that Resident Evil 6 makes.

Resident Evil 6 gives you 3 different campaigns to choose from (including an unlockable 4th), each one consists of two different characters that have their own unique storyline and gameplay style. Leon's campaign is more focused on surviving and it's the more "classic" Resident Evil style that you are more familiar with, Chris's campaign is all action focused and is arguably the weaker of the three, and Jake's campaign is a mix of various types. Each campaign can be played with a friend (except for Ada Wong's which is unlockable) and they're all of pretty decent length, making Resident Evil 6 quite a lengthy experience overall. It also features some amazing boss fights that the series is well known for.

However more content is not always better, as quality is more important than quality, and when it comes to this concept Resident Evil 6 is a hit-and-miss experience. On the one hand the shooting mechanics have been much improved, for starters you can now aim, shoot, and move all at the same time, melee combat is also much more improved which consists of merely pressing the "fire" button while not aiming to let out a variety of different brutal hand-to-hand attacks. Each gun feels powerful to shoot and it's an overall smooth gameplay experience as far as shooting and melee combat is concerned.

However on the other hand Resident Evil 6's other mechanics leave much to be desired. The cover system is terribly weak and clumsy compared to other games on the market, and the game is far too liberal with it's use of QTE (Quick Time Events), many of which feel like cheap ways to kill players and at times can feel tedious and annoying. Another odd design flaw is the lack of ability to pause while in online co-op, Resident Evil 6 often has some long moments and not being able to pause it and take a quick break every now and then is more than a bit annoying to say the least. But the biggest flaw in Resident Evil 6 is it's design direction, it seems like Capcom threw out most of the key fundamental elements that made past Resident Evil games so great, and instead took a turn towards over the top action set pieces.

It feels a bit out of place in Resident Evil 6 to have zombies firing machine guns and rocket launchers, or popping in and out of cover as a tank fires at you. And while there are still some survival elements there such as scrounging for limited ammo (though you can turn infinite ammo on if you wish) and mixing herbs, for the most part Resident Evil 6 is all about the action and not the survival horror. Resident Evil 6 does give you a lot of content however, outside of the 3 different campaigns you have the return of The Mercenaries (though it has less characters than previous installments), an unlockable campaign where you play as Ada Wong, Agent Hunt which sounds cooler than it actually is, you play as a zombie but the controls are slow and clumsy, resulting in an awkward experience. And you have various different difficulties to tackle, blue medallions to find, skill sets to buy and improve, and more. Resident Evil 6 is definitely feature rich.

From a visual standpoint, Resident Evil 6 is very impressive. The graphics and character models are top notch and extremely detailed, which makes Resident Evil 6 one of the better looking games around. However it does have a problem with it's use of lighting, in a word it's dark. Too dark. Even at max brightness it's still difficult to see where you are going at times and you'll often bump into objects and enemies without knowing it. Capcom went a bit overboard on the dynamic lighting it seems.

Overall though Resident Evil 6 is a good game with enjoyable aspects, and it certainly provides a great co-op experience. However compared to past installments Resident Evil 6 is a bit of a let down and not worth a full price purchase. Wait for a price drop.

Resident Evil 6 get's a 7.5/10