"Resident Evil 4 was the true peak of the series, but it also marked the start of its inevitable downfall."
Resident Evil 4 was the true peak of the series, but it also marked the start of its downfall. Shinji Mikami, the genius behind the entire series left after his work with RE4 to pursue other projects (and since has worked on games such as God Hand, Vanquish, and the TBA 2013 game Project Zwei), and it was when he left that things started to take a turn for the worst. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed Resident Evil 5 it was clearly aiming for the wrong type of audience, too much "bang bang" and not enough "holy s***?!". Not only that, but they seemed to follow this on with RE6 and violate it even more. Gone is the glory days of fixed camera angles and eerie atmosphere, bring forth the age of clunky third person controls that make even the protagonist from QWOP seem rather comfortable with his bodily functions. Not only gameplay controls but most fights and action sequences (and in some cases, even 5 minute cutscenes) seem to consist of mundane quick time events which involve either mashing a button, waiting until a cursor reaches a certain point before pressing a button, or just pressing a certain button when prompted. Now in both Resident Evil's 4 & 5 quick time events were still prominent, but used to good effect and during appropriate situations. In RE6 however they're overused, become repetitive almost instantly, offer no additional 'fun factor' to the game at all, and are used in the stupidest situations imaginable. The development team seemed to think holding the left analog stick up to climb a rope or ladder wasn't enough, so start mashing those L2 and R2 buttons, but make sure you do it in a strange pattern that you are forced to use so it looks like your character is reminiscent of a robotic cyborg. How about instead of shooting this zombie that's attacking my co-op partner in a Helicopter, why don't I wait until this cursor reaches the highlighted area before pressing R1? Oh and no need to aim during these sequences since we've got all that covered for you! Now not all the of the functions of the control scheme are all that bad. Infact, some of them are rather useful. The biggest being you can now shoot whilst moving which comes in handy when you're faced with a horde of the flesh eating undead. Some other neat additions include diving backwards, rolling forwards, crawling and rolling sideways. In other words the characters are much more acrobatic this time around which makes sense considering they're supposed to be the president's bodyguard, a highly trained BSAA officer and a trained mercenary. Most of these are hardly necessary during firefights however since you're rarely in a situation in which you'll need to use them, unless the path is designed in such way that you need to use it.
The way the campaign is structured is intriguing and originally makes the game seem pretty meaty in terms of content, however when you overlook the fact that there's 4 separate campaigns to choose from the actual story spans over a 5 hour time period. That's even less than a lot of modern FPS games that are notoriously criticised for story length, which is just unacceptable. The content within each story is different enough to satisfy, but the parts that should be exciting for example the interlinking story sections, are the most boring and mundane parts both the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time round. Since you've most likely played through the exact same sequence but with a choice of different characters it makes you feel forced into playing through the same content multiple times. In each campaign this usually happens around two or three times and spans about 20 minutes worth each time. That's 200+ minutes (over 3 hours) of recycled content overall. You make the judgement. The storyline itself, though rather generic for a Resident Evil plot line, is still rather interesting. At the beginning of Leon's campaign you begin right in the heart of Tall Oaks, the 'Raccoon City' of RE6. You immediately see "Adam", the fictional president of which Leon is a bodyguard. However he's become a zombie, go figure. Once Leon has shot the brains out of the political figure he was in charge of protecting (rather hesitantly may I add for someone who usually acts so cool and calm in the face of a zombie apocalypse) and he then goes off along with the aid of Helena Harper to try to save the world from yet another bio terrorist attack. In Chris' campaign you find the iconic Mr. Redfield getting wasted in some lowly suburban pub drinking away his problems. In comes Piers Nivans, a BSAA agent on Chris' squad who knocks Chris back into shape and then they both set off to find Ada Wong who they believe to be behind the outbreak of the new C-Virus and their team mate's deaths. Penultimately we have Jake Muller, a hired Mercenary who has the worlds cure to the virus contained within his blood thanks to his newly discovered lineage, and a now grown up Sherry Birkin who we last met in RE2, who is tasked with escorting Jake back to the USSS. And then finally there's Ada, a fan favourite character who has her own solo campaign which crosses paths with all 3 of the protagonists at certain points in the timeline. As you can see, all of these interweaving plot lines have the potential to make a rather exciting plot in the sense that generic doesn't always mean bad, just similar. It worked for the most part when put into practise but the ending (don't worry, no spoilers) leaves much to be desired, and multiple story arcs are left wide open and unexplored resulting in an anti-climactic finish to an already vague and cognate story. My biggest worry is that they've intentionally left open endings to leave room for any upcoming DLC they may have planned or, worse case scenario, ripped from the finished product already.
The additional content offers more fun and enjoyment than the actual campaign. Mercenaries mode is back for its third outing after being introduced in RE4. It's basically no different from the ones you've previously played on the last two games in the series, which is a good thing in my books. Mercenaries is also the place in which the new control system shines brightest. It allows for some interesting situations and dramatic run and gun sequences, sliding across the streets to turn round onto your back and blast the gas canisters off of that fireman zombies back is oh so satisfying, and managing to maneuver your way out of a Bloodshot's pounce whilst simultaneously taking out a horde of flesh eating undead has never been so much fun. I praise the action and fast paced sequences in Mercenaries because that is what this mode is designed to be, whereas the campaign is not, hence the cynical view towards the lack of horror in that area. Whilst the concept is the same, the fun factor of Mercenaries this time around is a wild step up from previous entries due to the faster paced, however still clunky, control system and possibly the fact that the campaign content was so underwhelming contributes to that as well. If you also have a http://residentevil.net account you can access new ways to unlock content for mercenaries such as exclusive costumes and colours which is a neat bonus for those looking to add some hilarity to your experience, Leon's purple pirate suit being a personal highlight. Aside from Mercenaries we also have Agent Hunt mode, a game type in which you jump into others peoples games that have agent hunt enabled, and play as the j'avo. Concept sounds great right? Well unfortunately I have zero to say about this because it doesn't even work. I've heard others with the same problem. My agent hunt mode displays the same error everytime I try to connect, 'can't find any games'. Thanks for the incomplete game Capcom! I took the liberty of asking a few people who have played agent hunt what it's like, and most of them gave the same response. "It's an interesting twist, almost like a L4D style infected mode. The novelty wears off after a few rounds though".
Customizability was key in RE4 and RE5. You had the ability to upgrade your weapons and guns for a price and choosing the correct weapons and supplies for each particular scenario was essential and strategic. In RE6 however they've added a new layer in regards to customization, but removed what they already had. There is no longer any option to upgrade your guns at all, and instead it has been replaced with a skill system. The skill system allows you to have a certain number of loadouts all of which can contain 3 different skills that you purchase with in game currency. These skills have different level tiers which improve their effectiveness and can range from increasing your melee attack power to making your attacks on j'avo enemies stronger. The level of customization is limited, as you only really need one different loadout during each of the campaigns. For all you budding trophy hunters however you'll be tasked with collecting all the skills if you want that precious platinum trophy, which can be a pain seeing as you probably won't use around 80% of the skills you purchase. The skill system is very similar to the perks system you see in many other modern games so it feels more like a modernisation of the series rather than a fresh new input, but they really didn't have to remove what was already there. The gun upgrading system worked perfectly and offered you an incentive to hunt for coins rather than turn it into a chore, and where are all the different styles of weapons? In previous games you would have 3 or 4 different guns within each weapon class, but in RE6 you're limited to a basic handgun, a basic shotgun, a basic assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a magnum, and then usually a special weapon or character specific skill. Dog tags are also a new thing although I still fail to see where they actually come into play. The dog tag puts across your persona, showing an emblem (usually a trophy image once you've earned it) and a title which you earn through achieving feats within the game such as getting a certain amount of headshots or getting 1,000 or so kills with a certain weapon. None of this is really necessary though.
Visually the game is nothing to be praised. There are some glaringly bad textures on a lot of lesser important environmental objects that reflect the quality of even the original games (I don't think that's what the fans meant when they wanted a 'return to the roots of the series'), however character models at least are incredibly detailed and some environmental effects on the characters really add a sense of depth, such as your clothes being soaked in water after swimming and the rustling of clothes during heavy winds or fast sprints. The HUD system is customizable to the point in which you can choose whether it disappears when you aim, whether it's fixed to a certain side of the screen and so on, allowing it to suit your needs and not get in the way of the experience. Each character in the campaign also has there unique visual style to the HUD which is a nice touch.
In conclusion, RE6 is a shambles. Coming from a long time Resi fan it really pains me to be so cynical towards this game. They tried changing what didn't need to be changed, adding what didn't need to be added, improving what didn't need to be improved, and worst of all, taken out what really did not need taking out. I hope the critical views of the majority of the industry are taken into account by the development team over at Capcom to make sure nothing like this happens again the next time round. Stick to what you do best and don't try to please an audience you shouldn't be aiming for by alienating the ones you've lovingly nurtured since the days of the PS1.
+ Mercenaries mode is better than ever
+ Some interesting new movement mechanisms
- Clunky control system
- Weak storytelling and customization
- Outdated visuals