VideoGame The bad outweights the good.
Resident Evil 6 is a game I have rather mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the good things about the game is really good. On the other, the bad things are infuriating. And, sadly, the bad outweights the good.
Good:
- The Leon and Ada campaigns are the closest thing to the old games. With the former focusing on the survival horror aspect and the latter on puzzle-solving. It also brings the zombies we know and loved.
- The game is the most lenghty in the series; with about twenty hours of gameplay. It means that for the initial release price, you have your money's worth.
- The game has some good side content. In addition of what could be the best mercenaries mode of the series, there's Agent Hunt, where you control an enemy and decide to make some players life into a living hell.
Bad:
- The story is a mixed bag. On one hand, the bigger stakes, focus on character developpment and threatning villains makes it more engaging. But the problem is that despite the more seriousness of the story, it's still a Cliché Storm. However, because of the more serious acting, that means that the game doesn't have the campy charm the games usually have.
- The gameplay overall is a case of If it ain't broke, let's break it. Covering is counter-intuitive as it requires imput who resembles a cheat code than an actual use of the controller. They also try to cramp many gameplay styles with one campaing having beat-em-ups moments who are unneeded, action games with a camera to closed for the genre, and survival horror moments with way too much ammo and not enough item management.
- The Quick-Time events are way too over-used. To a point than it could get you killed in more ways than one. Outside of the usual, when there is laying enemies, you have be attacked by them despite former games giving you the choice. If you're low on life, this could be a major hassle.
There's a lot I can go on (like the hand-holding or the emphasis on Multiplayer) but in the end, this was my biggest disappointement. I wanted to like the game but I can't because of the bad decisions.
Note: This was before the patches Capcom made for the game. So, if you tell me if they did a lot of improvement and it's worth to replay it, you can tell me.
VideoGame Wait until the price drops a bit
Okay, first of all let me say that I liked this game, though it probably wasn't worth $60. Just wait until it drops to say $40; besides, a patch is being made later that will improve the game (With such features as a partner in Ada's mode)
The game is split into 4 campaigns, each one having a different feel:
- Leon's campaign- Survival horror; it truly does have its fair share of scary moments (A good example would be the graveyard). It was certainly scarier than RE 5, not to mention the fact it had a geniunely good puzzel or two.
- Chris' campaign- Feels more action-oriented than the other campaigns and isn't scary at all; yeah, it's sort of a repeat of RE 5. It's probably my least favorite campaign.
- Jake's campaign- Sorry Leon, but this campaign nailed is the best. It goes for a thriller/stealth feel (What with the Ustanak chasing you, and the requirement to hide from him a few times). Surprisingly, it's quite clever; it's no Metal Gear Solid, but anyone who denies that the part where you need to use remote bombs to distract the Ustanak was genius is obviously just biased against this game. Plus, it features the RETURN OF SHERRY =D Saving her all those times in RE 2 proved to be worth it. As for Jake, he turned out to be a better character than I predicted. He's not as cool as Wesker, but that's a tough act to follow.
- Ada's campaign- I've kind of avoided this campaign, and am waiting for the patch to play it all the way through, but this one probably has the closest feel to the pre-RE 4 games; the puzzels are well-designed for the most part, so yeah, this one gets a passing grade in my book.
The gameplay is a bit of a mixed bag; on one hand, I really don't like the upgrade system and really wish they just used the weapon upgrades. The only really useful skill seems to be field medic (That is, if you're on 1P mode). The defense and melee boosts don't seem to help. But then, I also like the aiming; you can finally move and shoot at the same time, and it's pulled off quite well. I also really like how there are different ways to creatively use weapons; for example, using the quick-shot with the sniper rifel is useful when low on magnum/shotgun ammo.
Also, yes; Mercenaries is awesome enough to make up for Chris' campaign and then some. Just remember to taunt the enemies when you're low on stamina (Press L2 to taunt)
8/10
VideoGame A Decent Game, Unfairly Maligned
No game in Resident Evil history has been as much of the black sheep as Resident Evil 6, which is near universally derided as "Not Resident Evil!" by a defensive, tightly knit group of grognards. But does it deserve to be so derided? I argue that it does not.
Resident Evil 6 is not without its share of mechanical flaws, including an overabundance of Press X to Not Die quick-time events, some counter-intuitive cover mechanics, and badly implemented skill mechanics. And it has some story flaws, like an over-use of J'avo and an under-use of zombies. But calling it "not a Resident Evil game" is going too far. Yes, the game is Action Horror and not so much Survival Horror, but this transition is both logical and internally consistent.
Resident Evil has always had its roots in Action B-movies as much as it did in Horror B-movies. Even Resident Evil has its cinematic ending where the player grabs an anti-tank rocket launcher (and what the hell was that doing in Brad's chopper in the first place?!) and blows the Tyrant to Kingdom Come with a cheesy one-liner. But the shift to an Actionized Sequel began with the original Resident Evil 2; once you got past the tense chokepoint of the initial minutes on Raccoon City's streets, you could find enough ammo to easily gun down every monster and boss in the game if you knew where to look. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis amped up the tension with the titular stalking monster and enormous array of zombies and B.O.Ws that actually replenished themselves over time, but also gave you plentiful ammunition, making "fight" almost as valid an option as "flight". Things came to a head in Resident Evil 4, which created the mechanics that underpin RE6.
Yes, the player is empowered in RE6 compared to in other games. But that's what makes it fun. Finally, after 8 games, the player can punch a zombie in the face instead of just meekly letting it bite them the moment they get touched. And anyone who's played The Evil Within and felt the visceral satisfaction of one-shotting an enemy with a Stealth Kill attack will understand the same feeling stemming from melee-killing an enemy in RE6 - the zombies are the most satisfactory, with things like axe-beheadings and stabbing them through the brain with a broken bottle.
It's also internally consistent to the characters. Yes, they were scared newcomers in the first two games. But by this point in time, each playable character (other than Jake and, technically, Sherry) has been through multiple bio-terror events. They're not scared by things the way they once were, and Capcom would be ignoring common sense and character consistency if they ignored that.
Not that RE6 isn't scary in its own right! During a firefight, there's a tension; can you manage your ammo well enough to bring down your foes before they bring you down? Zombies come at you in what feel like limitless waves, whilst J'avo force you to adapt constantly as they sprout their new mutant abilities. And that's not getting into the complete gamechangers when a Bloodshot Zombie or a J'Avo Complete Mutation shows up. There's plenty of cinematic tension, too. Roaming the halls of a zombie-infested college in near pitch-darkness, being hunted by an invisible snake the size of a bus, being stalked by Ustanak and having to hide or be killed, the chaotic panic of being caught alongside doomed civilians in the middle of the outbreak... RE6 may empower you, but it can still scare you.
If you can accept RE6 for what it is - the logical conclusion of RE's story to that point, fully embracing its campy action horror roots - then give it a shot. You might just find it's more fun than its reputation deigns to say.