An Abomination in the Right Direction
First things first, let's get something out of the way: I LOVE RESIDENT EVIL. The first game I ever played was the original Resident Evil back on the Playstation. It's in my blood, and there is no way any other franchise can give me as much nostalgia and fun as this. Whether it's the the wonkey yet surprisingly deep and interesting story or the outrageous characters and enemies. I love it all.
Resident Evil 6 is complete and utter trash.
Honestly, I wish I could just leave the review like that and be on my way. But I feel like I'd be cheating you out of what could and should be a legit review. So let's just get started...
Resident Evil 6's story is flat. You could say that most of the series' games had confusing and/or bad plots but this one adds next to nothing to the franchise's admittedly convoluted lore. The idea is that a new corporation known as "Neo-Umbrella" (how original, guys!) is going around causing utter destruction with bio-weapons. Things Explode and people shoot guns. The whole thing feels more like an action movie than a Resident Evil game. In reality, if it wasn't for Jake Muller's arc and it's numerous plot twists with some characters the game's story would have been completely useless within the universe. Hell, it is already halfway there as is,
Resident Evil 6's gameplay is garbage. The entire time I spent playing the game (which is pretty long) I couldn't help but shake the fact that it was trying to be too many things that it isn't. RE6 wants to be an adrenaline-pumping action game with tons of set pieces and cool moments. The problem with THIS is that it is using a control scheme and gameplay mechanic that just does not work with it. Sure, now you can move and shoot but it is obvious that it isn't made to be played like some linear action game. I can't tell you how many times I was knocked over, which is another awful thing added to this game that ruins pacing and does nothing but annoy you. At the same time it gives you horror game-grade ammo pickups. Because of this I found myself constantly being forced to use my hand-to-hand combat because I had absolutely NO ammo left in my weapons. Even in Chris's campaign, where is supposed to be the most action-packed of the four campaigns has an awful amount of ammo pickups. I'm not for making this an action game, but if you are going to you may as well go all the way, and not cling on to some of the small things that make a survival horror game. Maybe if it was a good enough game in the gameplay department it could have been a decent game, even if not a good Resident Evil. But it still fails in that area aswell.
Resident Evil 6's graphics are pretty. If one good thing can be said about this game it's that the game has some absolutely gorgeous graphics. It really does have good visuals and some great character models (I really like Leon in particular here). The rendered cutscenes are also very pretty and did keep me watching since they do look incredibly good and showcase some cool scenes with nice camera angles. If the story was as good as the cutscenes it would be a pretty damn good cinematic experience, but sadly it fails in only one of those aspects.
Resident Evil 6's lack of awesome. Where is Jill? Where is HUNK? Where the HELL is Barry? I honestly don't understand why Barry and HUNK are absolutely neglected in this series despite their popularity in the series. I suppose it's a good thing they aren't in this, though, seeing as to how bad it is.
In all, Resident Evil 6 is a bad game. I really was looking forward to this game, because the trailers showed a ton of promise at least in the story area. But it doesn't, all it does is drive the series even deeper into a hole that it has been headed since Resident Evil 5. Revelations proved that it is more than possible to keep the tension and horror with the gameplay mechanics implemented in Resident Evil 4 (which ALSO was able to keep the RE atmosphere). For some reason Capcom feels the need to try and turn their former survival horror series into the next Gears of War clone, and it fails even in that aspect. I mean, say what you want, but as least Call of Duty knows what it is after all these years. And that is more than you can say about Resident Evil these days. If one good thing can be said about Resident Evil 6, it's that it is better than Operation Raccoon City (which is not much of a compliment).
But you know what? Capcom obviously made the right choice. This game has been selling incredibly well, so they're doing something right I suppose. Thanks a ton, gamers! Just keep supporting this BS!
