I played a little bit of RE6 the other day, enough to form an opinion of its mechanics anyway--and the game just feels clunky as hell. It feels unfinished or unpolished or something, kind of like how LA Noire had both groundbreaking and dated technology because it had been in the dev process for so long, so what the hell happened with Resident Evil 6? Why do some people love it, while others hate it? I get how you can review literature, or a movie because you can enjoy it objectively--but I don't get how a game can get SUCH mixed reviews.

Because lots of people WANTED to like it. Like anything in life.

Opinions are a bitch

Probably because despite all of its problems, it's still a great looking blockbuster filled with explosions and spectacles, and that can sometimes be enough to pull in a crowd. Even though it's a tired analogy, RE6 is very much like the equivalent of a Michael Bay movie. A quintessential ''all style, little substance'' piece of media..

Well, there might be some things about it that people find redeeming. You could call this the "Deadly Premonition" effect - there must be some things about it that certain people like, while others raise an eyebrow and wonder what the hell anyone could see in such a clunky mess.

Only difference seems to be that Deadly Premonition (from what I've heard) has a story and presentation that redeems it and RE6 doesn't seem to. But, whatever, if you have fun play it. But this is one game that I don't plan on buying, that demo was horrible in every aspect.

There really needs to be some discussion or post-mortem about if not the game itself but more importantly the review process for it. I can not recall a single game that has the incredible range of reviews the way Resident Evil 6 has gotten. A game tends to have similar score across the board with a point or two of variation then a single review that is far off the norm. RE6 has jumps of 6-7 points from major publications and sites. Unheard of. Getting away from the quality of the game and all that I'm more interested in that disconnect more than anything.

There things that bother some people and these same things might not bother other people. Simple as that.

Multiple personality types. The same reason why you can talk to two different people and they won't be the same person.

@mtcantor: they wanted to like it? then how come for an entire year before release 90% of the gaming population around these parts couldnt stop talking shit about it? it was probly the most trash talked video game of the last year next to call of duty. if the game had been great,people would have shat on it,if it had been awful people would have shat on it. capcom just wasnt going to win this fight. but it doesnt matter.looking at the early numbers,RE6 is on its way to being a rather large sucess,despite what the "hardcore" gamers say or do.

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@mtcantor: they wanted to like it? then how come for an entire year before release 90% of the gaming population around these parts couldnt stop talking shit about it? it was probly the most trash talked video game of the last year next to call of duty. if the game had been great,people would have shat on it,if it had been awful people would have shat on it. capcom just wasnt going to win this fight. but it doesnt matter.looking at the early numbers,RE6 is on its way to being a rather large sucess,despite what the "hardcore" gamers say or do.

Sounds like you were part of the folks who wanted to like it.

That's cool. Enjoy your bad games.

Because people bought Operation Raccoon City, never underestimate an RE fan

@Genkkaku: i actually liked Raccoon City. ill be the first to admit its not a great game. but it was still an enjoyable game. ill never understand why people allways have to be either one or another.its either perfect or its trash. a game can still be good and not be perfect.

I haven't had too much time to play it, I just got to the cathedral with Leon. I haven't read any reviews so I don't know what the problem most have with it is. The only thing that I don't care too much for is how you are no longer able to pull off accurate shots with the pistol. Instead you pick an area and the bullet will hit around there. In RE4 and RE5 the pistol was as accurate as your thumbs were, but that is no longer the case. However, I do love the new additions like running and rolling and sliding. I also prefer the new hud in place and the weapon select. Being able to melee whenever you want and having a stamina bar were also good additions. I also like how the zombies don't go down as easily anymore. Overall I am glad Capcom decided to try something new instead of releasing another RE4/RE5 style game. Once again, I am barely getting into it and I don't know how the story ends, but if they make another one I hope they can iterate on these controls and tighten up the shooting.

@DarthOrange: see,thats where you made the mistake. you didnt read any of the reviews before you played the game. instead you played it yourself and formed your own opinion about the game. what you should have done is read all of the reviews and then pronouced the game as a total failure without actually playing it or maybe read all the reviews and then played the game in a ironic kind of way so you talk even more shit. you have failed sir. you win no points!

@DoctorDanger99: I finished it with 3 other huge RE fans and that's how I had fun in it.. It had some cool ideas but the fact that it was buggy as hell did not help in the least, also being more of an action game you ran out of ammo way to much, it lacked polish in a major way

@DoctorDanger99: You're unbelievable. Either you like RE6 or you're someone who's just jumping on the bandwagon? And your Operation Raccoon City 'argument' is just... Christ.

@DarthOrange: You can turn on the laser light in the options.. that crosshair is kinda useless

@Yummylee: i never said you either have to like RE6 or dont. i was just commenting on the trend of how people usually let reviews dictate how much they enjoy a game and how RE6 was screwed from the start since people allready decided they didnt like it a year before release. if you played it and you hated it thats fine. thats your opinion and i wont berate you for it. im not a child.

as far as Raccoon City goes. i really liked it.sure it had some serious flaws but i still enjoyed the hell out of it.

I think the decision is split because some people enjoy bad games, and others don't.

Just kidding.

@MB: zing

@Yummylee said:

Probably because despite all of its problems, it's still a great looking blockbuster filled with explosions and spectacles, and that can sometimes be enough to pull in a crowd.

You mount the MG, I'll grab the ammo, and let's mow that crowd (whose opinion I totally respect!) down.

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@Yummylee: i never said you either have to like RE6 or dont. i was just commenting on the trend of how people usually let reviews dictate how much they enjoy a game and how RE6 was screwed from the start since people allready decided they didnt like a year before release. if you played it and you hated it thats fine. thats your opinion and i wont berate you for it. im not a child.

as far as Raccoon City goes. i really liked it.sure it had some serious flaws but i still enjoyed the hell out of it.

That's not true at all, though. RE6 was suddenly struck with all of the negativity and overall apathy once the playable demo's were released, and it originally had a lot of hype until then once the announcement trailer hit...

And as for Operation Raccoon City, yeah, sure, you enjoyed the Hell out of it ect. but a lot of other people didn't. Yet according to you that couldn't possibly be because they genuinely think it's a piece of shit but instead because so many people think something is ''either perfect or trash''. For someone who apparently stands for people making their own opinions ect., you seem awfully quick to negatively generalise anyone who doesn't happen to like the games you like.

Isn't it obvious? Some people are racist toward Japanese people, some aren't.

A-Duh!

@Yummylee: well you seem awfully quick to point out how terribly wrong i am about everything!lol i kid! i think your reading too much into what was said. not once did i say if you dont like the things i like then fuck you! never said it. i just said that RE6 was getting smack talked since the begining. which it was. when did i say that others have to follow my opinion? i only encouraged others to form thier owns as I did. sure,i DID say that i think raccoon city gets alot of flak that it might not deserve but i also did call it a seriously flawed game and didnt accuse anybody of anything if they didnt like it.i think your running off at the mouth a bit.

i think you are going out of your way to attack me and put words in my mouth that were never there. the TC asked an opinion and i gave it. i didnt do what you have done and started attacking people because they think diffrently than i do. look Yummy,i like you alot and i allways enjoy reading you blogs. so can we please stop this nonsense?

I think there are two camps when it comes to Resident Evil.

One wants a serious, realistic game. The other saw the less-polished, badly voice-acted restraints of the first game, thought it was an intentional B-movie feel, or liked that the restraints made the games harder, and were angry when those limitations were fixed by newer consoles with higher processing power.

@DoctorDanger99: ...Now I have to assume you're just a troll. Whatever, this isn't going to go anywhere productive so it's finished.

@regularassmilk said:

I played a little bit of RE6 the other day, enough to form an opinion of its mechanics anyway--and the game just feels clunky as hell. It feels unfinished or unpolished or something, kind of like how LA Noire had both groundbreaking and dated technology because it had been in the dev process for so long, so what the hell happened with Resident Evil 6? Why do some people love it, while others hate it? I get how you can review literature, or a movie because you can enjoy it objectively--but I don't get how a game can get SUCH mixed reviews.

Honestly I think the past two console generations have been breeding a bizzarre strain of gamer who doesn't feel any real need to be activley entertained while playing a game. Just so long as the game keeps moving along and progressing, they're generally fine to watch cutscenes and quicktime events. I think that makes for two different types of gamers who can't understand one another. The ones who want to be actively entertained are like "this game is broken, how could ANYone like it?" and the other group is like "It's got guns and explosions, it's long and it's not difficult. What more could you possibly want?"

@JazGalaxy: and theres nothing wrong with either group of people. i think the trick is to find a medium ground. but it's funny about games with excessive cut scenes. my favorite series is metal gear solid,which is infamous for the amount of cut scenes and it doesnt bother me one bit, i love it! yet i dont really like it when other games have excessive cutscenes lol.

I think its a direct result of Japanese game design not being what mainstream media wants anymore. People are arguing that the story has no substance and I started to really like the new characters they brought in for RE6. I think the other half is that there is the crowd that has its expectations of what Resident Evil SHOULD be and can't just accept it for what it is. I've long since just accepted that Resident Evil isn't a horror game anymore its an action franchise and its slowly evolved into that ever since RE4.

I went in expecting nothing less than gunning down lots of nasty creatures and being a ton of wacky new virus strains and several main characters transforming into hideous monstrosities. Its all par for the course now days for Resident Evil. I guess if that isn't what you want from Resident Evil then you could be disappointing but I for one am really liking it.

@Demoskinos: well said

@regularassmilk said:

I get how you can review literature, or a movie because you can enjoy it objectively

What?

It's incredibly strange how varied opinions are and how there doesn't seem to be any common ground like "If you liked RE5, you'll like this" or anything.

@regularassmilk said:

I played a little bit of RE6 the other day, enough to form an opinion of its mechanics anyway--and the game just feels clunky as hell. It feels unfinished or unpolished or something, kind of like how LA Noire had both groundbreaking and dated technology because it had been in the dev process for so long, so what the hell happened with Resident Evil 6? Why do some people love it, while others hate it? I get how you can review literature, or a movie because you can enjoy it objectively--but I don't get how a game can get SUCH mixed reviews.

Some people like any new Sonic game that comes out or review highly the Transformers movies. Sometimes all people want is explosions and shiny things. I've met people who quite enjoyed Shadow the Hedgehog and thought Duke Nukem Forever was the best game of the last decade. Plenty of people care more about how a game looks or feels than how it plays. People are weird and will enjoy whatever they want to enjoy no matter the actual quality of something.

@Demoskinos said:

I think its a direct result of Japanese game design not being what mainstream media wants anymore. People are arguing that the story has no substance and I started to really like the new characters they brought in for RE6. I think the other half is that there is the crowd that has its expectations of what Resident Evil SHOULD be and can't just accept it for what it is. I've long since just accepted that Resident Evil isn't a horror game anymore its an action franchise and its slowly evolved into that ever since RE4.

I went in expecting nothing less than gunning down lots of nasty creatures and being a ton of wacky new virus strains and several main characters transforming into hideous monstrosities. Its all par for the course now days for Resident Evil. I guess if that isn't what you want from Resident Evil then you could be disappointing but I for one am really liking it.

I think it's too easy to just blame it on Japanese game design.

Plenty of Japanese games(including past Resident Evil games) are appreciated for being the quality titles that they are. This just isn't the case here. It's like saying people are only critical of recent Silent Hill titles because people don't like Japanese game design as much anymore. That's ridiculous. Many people are unhappy with what Silent Hill has become because it has strayed away from being what made the original titles so good, and the same can be said of Resident Evil. RE6 isn't more Japanese than past Resident Evil games. It has simply strayed from many things that made the previous titles good, and in attempting to imitate other games, it failed to even achieve functional mediocrity at modern action gaming. It's effectively a game like Inversion but with a much greater budget, and even then, I'd say the controls feel even clunkier than these common imitation games.

If one is to bring up Japanese game design at all, I'd say they should be critical of how far RE6 has attempted to go from traditional Japanese game design. Having an incomprehensible story that they give you little to no reason to care about is hardly a Japanese-specific concern in videogames, and I certainly wouldn't say it's a hallmark of Japanese game design. What they did do was add clunky shooting, bad cover mechanics, meaningless shooter enemies, and inane quick time events in a Call of Duty-ization of the Resident Evil formula. It's like they saw Call of Duty's campaign and thought, "Let's make 30 hours of that, but with RE characters!"

If you came into the game with no expectations but that you would use a controller to interact with a digital experience supported by dynamic graphics and sound, then you would have definitely not been surprised or disappointed with what Resident Evil 6 is. It is indeed a videogame. But is it a good videogame? I don't believe so, and it certainly isn't because of where it was made. Whether it be from Japan or the south of France, it would still be a questionable formula for a game. If the story had been good, it might have been easier to forgive its clunkiness, but that wouldn't change how the controls feel or how the game is designed. As a fan of a great many Japanese games both now and in the past, I resent the suggestion that this game is somehow too Japanese to be appreciated today. This isn't a Japanese game that many people don't appreciate; this is a bad game that many people don't like, which just happens to have been made by a Japanese developer.

Now, having said that, I'm glad you are enjoying it. I like when fellow gamers have fun with games, and I sincerely believe that there are people who will be able to find the fun in most any game. Duke Nukem Forever had plenty of fans, and that's cool. I just don't agree with defending a game with suggestions that somehow the failings of a game are a cultural preference and not simply failings. RE6's issues aren't with how Japanese it is; it's simply with the game as a game. Someone doesn't need to dismiss all criticism to still enjoy the game. Just let people dislike the game as they will and enjoy the game as you will.

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah Never said they couldn't dislike the game. Im just saying once popular franchises like RE and Final Fantasy are now niche appeal. Once you learn the controls the game has extremely fluid combat. More so than any previous entry in the series. So I honestly do not see the complaints. I really enjoyed the story and gameplay both. Its better than RE5 that is for sure.

I would at least say it is similarly as bad as RE5, but sure. I just don't like when fans of games defend bad games by saying they're too Japanese to be appreciated; it's a tired and common defense for any criticized game made by a Japanese developer. And RE6 is about as far from that kind of defense as any game I can imagine. The same goes for Final Fantasy. Its problem isn't that it has gotten too Japanese; it's that it has strayed from solid foundations and become a muddled mess. After FFXIII, FFXIII-2 showed that they could still make a fine game; the original just seemed confused and uncertain in what it was intending to be. I'd say the same of RE6. It feels half-baked in a lot of ways. Though, I look forward to the halfway-decent RE6-2. ;)

@Demoskinos said:

I've long since just accepted that Resident Evil isn't a horror game anymore its an action franchise and its slowly evolved into that ever since RE4.

Yeah but as an action game it's not a very good one..

@TruthTellah: And I'd disagree again. I just think the people complaining about it its just not made for them. If it were outright bad we wouldn't have the disparity in review scores that we do. In fact it has way more positive reviews than outright negative reviews. There are 23 Positive reviews on Metacritic and only 6 outright damning reviews. If you look around even on here there are plenty of people saying they enjoy the game. I don't think anyone who is in that camp is saying it is perfect in any respect. Many of us are just fine with what it is a pretty decent action game that has a lot of fan service for old resident evil fans.

@MB said:

I think the decision is split because some people enjoy bad games, and others don't.

Just kidding.

No you aren't!

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah: And I'd disagree again. I just think the people complaining about it its just not made for them. If it were outright bad we wouldn't have the disparity in review scores that we do. In fact it has way more positive reviews than outright negative reviews. There are 23 Positive reviews on Metacritic and only 6 outright damning reviews. If you look around even on here there are plenty of people saying they enjoy the game. I don't think anyone who is in that camp is saying it is perfect in any respect. Many of us are just fine with what it is a pretty decent action game that has a lot of fan service for old resident evil fans.

I'd agree. It was probably made for a different crowd, and as a fan of Resident Evil, it definitely doesn't feel like it was made for me. It feels like it was made for the bros who get hyped about the movies, not the games. Like it was made for Western shooter fans to enjoy and not fans of the previous games. And even the Western shooter fans would be disappointed with the shooting. It has a decent bit of fan service, but it's sloppy as an actual videogame. It's not -atrocious-. It's not one of the worst games of the last generation. It's just not a -good- game. It's a mediocre game with fan service. Which, as you said, can certainly be enough for some people. You seem much more willing to accept the slide downward the series has taken, and that's alright. Maybe it has indeed devolved into something not made for fans of the series' roots. I just don't think it has even gone from one of the best horror games to a good action game. I can see how some might consider the fan service enough to make up for the rest of the game, but that just isn't for me.

Anyway, it's alright. I just relate to many of the other people who don't think so highly of the game. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it. :)

Depending on which accounting method you choose, RE6 is the ninth or tenth game in the main series. You are still playing as the same guy from the first game. The plot is more or less recycled from previous entries. The nuts and bolts of the gameplay is antiquated or wonky. For me, the reality set in around RE4 that I never really had fun playing any of these games; lame puzzles, sloppy controls, insipid narratives, the list goes on. RE as a valid "horror" series never stood a chance after I dove into the superior settings of late 1990s PC titles. I wanted to continue to like the series, being sold on the "promise" of the thrills from those first two RE games but it never came to fruition. I will say simply that I could not recommend Resident Evil games to someone who has never played one before, as I think Dead Space 1 & 2 is much closer to the spirit of the original Resident Evil games only layered with much better game design and atmosphere.

I know my longstanding dissatisfaction with the series won't dissuade people from playing these titles, particularly if their position is firmly entrenched in pro-RE camp. However, I do firmly contend the belief that Resident Evil is a AAA gaming franchise is untenable, as evidenced by the design philosophy Capcom deployed in RE6. That is, it's evolved into a fairly generic action title where the praise seems to be confined by nebulous terms as "fun" in addition to being bolstered by the concept of "bang for your buck."

Opinions?

How do they work?

Just hearing the talk, it just seemed people expected better.

Numbered RE games are events, and people get hyped, and this just comes off as meh. Like they could of called RE: Whateves. And maybe the backlash wouldn't of been as bad as if it was just a way to tie up loose ends post RE 4/5. But giving it that number, raised the stakes, that maybe RE6 was never gonna meet those expectations.

Some people hold different values of a game in higher regard, and others in lower regard. Maybe the people giving it high scores don't care so much about controls and care a lot about graphical fidelity and length.

My theory is the people that really like it enjoy Gears of War and the like so they have no problems with what they turned RE into.

I'm a big Gears fan, but I still don't think it's that great.

The people proclaiming it to be the best RE ever make me want to scream.

It's because there are actually some really fun mechanics in the game and some people are able to enjoy that without all of the negatives the game comes with being as much of an issue - they're still there, but they find the combat itself redeeming. Others are blinded to any positives the game has to offer because of the glaring flaws in the game (and there are many). It's just a matter of how much certain aspects of the game effect your enjoyment and the fact that some of these flaws are so bad that some/most players are unwilling to dig deeper and figure the game out (instead making horrendous comparisons to Gears of War - an insult to both games) - and that's not necessarily a bad thing on their part, there are elements of RE6 that are, indeed, "shit". Capcom did a fucking awful job teaching the player how to do basically anything in this game.

@regularassmilk said:

I played a little bit of RE6 the other day, enough to form an opinion of its mechanics anyway--and the game just feels clunky as hell. It feels unfinished or unpolished or something, kind of like how LA Noire had both groundbreaking and dated technology because it had been in the dev process for so long, so what the hell happened with Resident Evil 6? Why do some people love it, while others hate it? I get how you can review literature, or a movie because you can enjoy it objectively--but I don't get how a game can get SUCH mixed reviews.

First of all your criticism of the game sound like they may be petty and vague. And/or a gut reaction based on five minutes of playing.

Second, opinions are a thing.

@Demoskinos said:

I think the other half is that there is the crowd that has its expectations of what Resident Evil SHOULD be and can't just accept it for what it is. I've long since just accepted that Resident Evil isn't a horror game anymore its an action franchise and its slowly evolved into that ever since RE4.

I went in expecting nothing less than gunning down lots of nasty creatures and being a ton of wacky new virus strains and several main characters transforming into hideous monstrosities. Its all par for the course now days for Resident Evil. I guess if that isn't what you want from Resident Evil then you could be disappointing but I for one am really liking it.

Well said, man, totally agree. I, for one, am entertained when playing RE6 and am enjoying the experience. I have been gaming for 26 years and throughout that time there have always been games that generate love/hate criticisms. I am having fun playing RE6 and will continue to enjoy it even while others hate and smash on it. It's just the way it always will be.

@Tsoglani said:

@Demoskinos said:

I think the other half is that there is the crowd that has its expectations of what Resident Evil SHOULD be and can't just accept it for what it is. I've long since just accepted that Resident Evil isn't a horror game anymore its an action franchise and its slowly evolved into that ever since RE4.

I went in expecting nothing less than gunning down lots of nasty creatures and being a ton of wacky new virus strains and several main characters transforming into hideous monstrosities. Its all par for the course now days for Resident Evil. I guess if that isn't what you want from Resident Evil then you could be disappointing but I for one am really liking it.

Well said, man, totally agree. I, for one, am entertained when playing RE6 and am enjoying the experience. I have been gaming for 26 years and throughout that time there have always been games that generate love/hate criticisms. I am having fun playing RE6 and will continue to enjoy it even while others hate and smash on it. It's just the way it always will be.

You know, I've been noticing this attitude quite a bit in regards to this game--and it's quite distressing. Basically, it sounds like people are just giving up on this franchise and making due with what it's become, which is just depressing. I just have an image in my head of a line of gamers hanging their heads, shuffling in mark time, handing in their money while the "Lords of Capcom" cackle in the background.

For a franchise that was once the epitome of horror gaming, it's sad that it's basically become a hodgepodge of half-baked ideas stolen from other games--and that people are fine with it because it's competently made and it looks pretty.

I think the real irony in discussing RE6 being a bad copy of a western action game is that RE1 was a TERRIBLY copy of Alone In The Dark, an Infogrames game.

The only reason more people didn't call it out for that is because very few console players had played the PC-only Alone In The Dark game to understand just how many elements RE took from that game, even when they didn't make sense in the context of Resident Evil. (Scenes like the famous dogs jumping through the window are shot for shot stolen from Alone In The Dark, and the puzzles in the mansion made much more sense in AITD because the owner was a artists being driven mad by Cthulu as opposed to a research facility set up like a haunted mansion for who knows what reason.)

Now, everyone has played the games RE is stealing from, and so everyone knows what it's SUPPOSED to play like.