Resident Evil 6 Review (boinga15)
Resident Evil 6 is often called the worst of the main series, and that is probably true. Although, I personally believe this game gets more hate than it deserves.
Resident Evil 6 places you in the usual apocalyptic situation our protagonists somehow find themselves in. Unlike previous games, you have four separate stories to play through, all of which are intertwined in some way with each other.
I'll start with the negatives, as there are quite a few. First, the game's story is completely ridiculous at times. It has its good moments every now and then (especially at the end of Chris' campaign), but most of the time it feels confusing and really weird. It can get hard to follow as well. This is most likely because the game attempted to lean on action instead of horror while also trying to do horror, leaving it a muddled mess.
Second, the actual campaign flow for each campaign is horrendous. Large quiet sections often drag the game on while action sections come one after another, never really letting up (this is actually a positive which I will get into later). This is probably because they focused on making four separate campaigns instead of just one really good one, making each campaign feel half-baked in a sense (this is not the fault of the developers, more the fault of the people who actually set the deadlines).
Finally going back to the story, it doesn't really end on a single note. Thanks to it being split into multiple campaigns, the game relies on the final one to tie everything together. This results in the final campaign feeling really awkward and ending on a "okay, so what?" kind of note.
Okay so me saying all of this and still giving it a positive review must tell you that there's something else this game has going for it. And there is.
The gameplay.
Of any Resident Evil game, RE6 has the most engaging combat I've seen. From RE4 and RE5, the characters can still shoot enemies in their weakpoints and use melee attacks to deal extra damage. However there are so many more controls in RE6. You can dash and ram into enemies to stagger them. You can melee enemies to deliver a second blow with a powerful melee attack. You can slide into enemies to stagger them. You can dodge-roll to the side or backwards to evade attacks. You can even counter enemy attacks to deal heavy damage, often out-right killing the enemy. And there are far more controls than that that would take a long time to list out. There's a reason this game is said to have the best mercenaries mode. In fact, the game is best played foregoing your gun in favour of melee attacks against regular enemies (even on the highest difficulty and with infinite ammo).
This is why I believe the best way to play this game is not treat it as a Resident Evil game at all. Sure, as one it's terrible. But as a stand-alone game, it is a fantastic action game with a decent action-based story to go with it. There are still those really slow moments, sure, but when the game gets going, it gets going.
This is especially true on the highest difficulty, where the game pulls no punches. On Professional or No Hope, you are expected to display constant mastery of the game's controls or else you WILL be annihilated. It's an exhilarating experience to complete a chapter on one of the highest difficulties, especially with someone else helping out.
All in all, Resident Evil 6 fails hard as a Resident Evil game. It lacks the horror, resource management, and good story-telling that made the foundations of far better Resident Evil games like RE4 and RE7. However as its own thing, RE6 is a brilliant action game which shows you that when there's a zombie ahead and you have a gun, the best solution is to punch it in the face and break its spine. The game has a semi-decent story, and the difficulties allow both casual and experienced players to have a challenge to measure themselves up to.
Gameplay: 9.5 / 10
Story: 6 / 10
Music: 8.5 / 10
Graphics: 7 / 10
FInal Rating: 7.8 / 10 ( Excellent )