RE6 is not the best in the series, but despite its stumbles it's still entertaining.
For the first time in the main series since Resident Evil 2 you have multiple scenarios to play, each starring a different character. Each scenario takes you on a different journey within the story that ties all the campaigns together. The fact that all the campaigns weave in and out of each other leaves you replaying scenes occasionally, but with a fresh perspective each time. This makes for a very innovative, albeit convoluted, approach at storytelling.
The way the story is presented in high-quality cut-scenes along with the good voice acting make the story of RE6 hands-down the best in the series. This doesn't always translate to the way the story is presented to you during gameplay, however. You will find yourself thrust from one cut-scene into gameplay and back into a cut-scene a few seconds later. For example, there's one scene where you are chasing after a character. It shows the start of the chase in a cut-scene, then drops you into gameplay where you run straight down a hallway for a few seconds before it shows the conclusion of the chase in another cut-scene. This seemed like cheap gameplay filler, and I didn't appreciate it.
The control layout is nearly identical to RE5's except for some adjustments to the inventory system, melee combat and healing, and I found it very easy to pick up. The new inventory is slick, allowing you to seamlessly scroll through weapons and equipment on-the-fly. Melee combat has been revamped to allow players to pull off powerful attacks at the push of a button. To balance this, however, players are forced to string together weak attacks first, building up to powerful combos. The addition of a stamina gauge, which limits your number of melee attacks, also balances this. Finally, healing has been made as easy as a push of a button. You transfer healing items like herbs into "tablets" which can be used on the go, eliminating the need to muck around in your inventory while being attacked.
Maybe my only problems with the controls are, for one, the subtle nuances that take some time to master and, two, the camera can be a bit squirrely at times, but these two things don't add up to having bad controls overall.
One big problem I have is the return of quick time events. This was an issue in the last two games of the series too, where you were forced to replay scenes again and again due to missing a single button command (yes, I'm talking to you Leon vs. Krauser knife fight scene in RE4). I finds QTEs to be more of the cheap gameplay filler I spoke of earlier and, except for a select few heavily interactive games, I don't think they have a place in modern gaming at all.
After you've completed the main game there are a few things on the side for you to do. The popular "Mercenaries" mode is back, but I felt like there were too few levels to hold your interest indefinitely. Capcom is saying they will release more mercenaries levels in the form of a DLC, but that makes you wonder why they didn't just slap those on the disc when there's so little mercenaries content in the first place.
There is also a new mode called "Agent Hunt" that lets you invade online players' games as an enemy with the goal of defeating them. I haven't messed with this mode yet, but it sounds reminiscent of Demon's Soul's multiplayer and kind of intriguing.
Overall, Resident Evil 6 is not like the games you grew up playing in the 90s, but did you really expect it to be? No games are like the old ones anymore. Does it make me less of a Resident Evil fan because I had fun playing RE6 despite it's problems? No, I love the old games, but things need to change and evolve, it's just the nature of the industry. Yes, that means some of our favorite game franchises will take some missteps along the way, but hopefully the mistakes of this game will be remembered and culminate in a really perfect Resident Evil game some time down the road.