I was excited. More excited than I had been about previous Resident Evil releases (4 and 5 to be more precise). The TV adverts had me drooling. I thought "This is it, finally. Back to the good old days of true Survival Horror!"
How wrong I was.
I'd accepted many of changes Capcom had made to the Resident Evil series, specifically from Resident Evil 4, even though it took me a while. The over-the-shoulder camera angle was my first gripe, but I grew to accept it, even though I still don't fully like it. I understood Capcom were only trying to move with the times. Resident Evil 5 annoyed me on more levels than just camera angles. Mainly through its lack of thrill, suspense and being set predominately in broad daylight. Zombies themselves didn't feel like traditional zombies. Just a bunch of annoyed villagers who took a disliking to the "New Guy".
But yet I thought Capcom might have learned. Gone back to their roots and pull out a game that would frighten the life out me, yet still wouldn't let me put the controller down. Unfortunately I did the opposite and the controller went back to its resting place, after a mere half an hour of playing time.
Now, don't get me wrong, the initial deep, dark, city suburb setting had me reeling memories of Resident Evil 2 (my favourite of the series I must add). The lights went off in my room, door shut, just me and RE6, ready to do battle in to who was going to give in first. From the onset, I could see this game was going to annoy me. The mere calibration settings for the brightness were a complete and utter shambles. For those that are unfamiliar, this is the test you must adhere to, to ensure the brightness settings for your TV are correct. You must reduce (or increase) the brightness levels to the point where a large "6" becomes almost invisible. Yet, when you do this, you can decrease the settings to its lowest point, yet vividly still see the number 6. I continued nevertheless as this may be pivotal to the game play. I couldn't see a thing. Short of making out the back of Leon's head, nothing else in the deep dark surroundings were visible. I couldn't continue to play like this, so I had to significantly increase the brightness.
My rant was over. I continued to play. You begin by helping Helena Harper, who you later understand is a United States Secret Service Agent. She's injured and you're being the lone warrior that only Leon can be, and carrying her while she remains immobile. This prologue seems to be nothing more than an introduction in to the game play of Resident Evil 6 and how things function, such as you'll come across a door that requires the two of you to open and how to mix herbs etc. You (of course) come across your first zombie in this part of the game and to my joy it was a back-to-basics, old school, true sense of the word, Zombie. He comes towards you and, as many of you will instinctively know, you start firing bullets. Deliberately, you do not have enough ammo to eliminate it, and you engage in a grapple with the beast. This again, seems to show you what you need to do in this situation. Indeed what you need to do is rotate the analogue stick around like a lunatic. Yet another gripe of mine I'm afraid. With this "button bashing" mentality Resident Evil seemed to have developed, it feels like this game doesn't belong on a console, yet it feels like it would be more suited to being sat in the corner of run down pub, with a pathetic joystick and a few buttons. I do not like having an arcade mentality in a game where I am supposed to feel threatened by my surroundings, made to jump at any given opportunity. Not hit buttons in the right sequence. This is a survival horror, not Just Dance.
I won't go in to fine details with regards to the Prologue, but it doesn't last very long. After that, you're taken to the start screen, where you're given the option to start a story with three different players; Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield or Jake Muller.
Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the latter two, as I opted to continue from the Prologue and stick with Leon. Immediately, after selecting Leon, I was taken to a screen with a number of Xbox Live settings. Again, this was something I didn't like. I got the feeling Capcom were trying to gear up players to play online as the default setting and again, this is something I am not familiar with and I believe all Resident Evil games need to be played alone to fully grasp the effects. After selecting the offline mode, we were off, straight to a nostalgic cut-scene with Leon talking to the President. It moves to the current scene, where the President has turned in to a Zombie and Leon and Helena are pleading and bargaining for the President to back away. Of course he doesn't and shots are fired. Your story begins from this point.
You make your way around a university campus and I must say, the suspense is no longer there. Moments that are put there to shock you are made very obvious from the dialogue of Leon and Helena. The navigation tool (enabled by pressing LB), makes the game feel a little too easy, instructing you of every turn to make, whereas the classics made you find your own way, even if it took hours! From the small time I played it, killing zombies seems to be just as awful. I liken it to playing the Zombie mode on Call of Duty: World at War. I don't want to have to blindly smash the trigger on zombies, where quite frankly it ruins the whole feel to the game. Not only is it the killing of zombies, it's once there dead the glowing XP points that hover over their body is another truly ridiculous trait. For me, it doesn't feel like I'm in that situation with Leon and they are losing a lot of realistic effects and adding a lot of gimmicks.
It was after this point, where I continued to play for a further 20 minutes and couldn't come to terms with this modern, tacky and quite frankly dead game. I was sorely disappointed with this game, and the fact I gave it a 5.5 is I believe if you can put all of the modern tweaks to one side, then I imagine it is a very playable game, with quite a good storyline, but unfortunately it's not for me.
Which leads me to my final point and this is Capcom should seriously consider putting a stop to the once great gaming giant that was Resident Evil and stop trying to make improvements to a series that quite frankly is getting worse after every release.
GF365: "The iconic survival horror franchise Resident Evil boasts a great number of popular and memorable characters. Arguably, Leon S. Kennedy is the most popular and recognizable character aside from Jill Valentine. In this article, we'll be counting down every Resident Evil game Leon is featured in, ranked."
Yeah I figured it would be ordered like this. For me Leons best game was his debut. RE2.
TG: “In the past few weeks I’ve sensed a disturbance in the discourse. The Resident Evil 4 remake is now less than two weeks away, with fans sinking into the stellar Chainsaw Demo to learn exactly how the combat system works and what the full experience has in store. It’s amazing how it improves on the original with more nuanced movement, weightier gunplay, and mechanics that allow Leon to parry enemies even in the most frightening of situations. However, certain fools (to be polite) are claiming it reminds them of Resident Evil 6, and how that’s actually a good thing.”
Man what it coulda been though. They definitely put in too much hollywood action and Micheal Bay feels to it. I....wonder if they'll decide to remake 5+6? As the most controversial and worst received RE games....would they remake or completely rewrite both?
If they can just retain the survival horror feel into those games somehow. I still like the idea of an optional co-op for 5 and playing three separate routes in 6.
But...I wouldn't mind it at all if they made them much more like 4 going solo in some very creepy setting that makes you feel like your in a horror film....but a badass at killing zombs lol.
I'd just rewrite both and continue the franchise from there
Resident Evil is getting onto number 9 now and it feels after some story decisions in the past games they don't know what the objective / goal is anymore. If they do RE5 they should keep Wesker alive, none of the volcano bullshit and just continue the franchise from there by going off the remake timeline and dropping the numbers completely.
That would be an unprecedented move for a developer to make and I have to imagine the chances of them doing a rewrite like that are zero.
I guess you could say RE has been in it's 'zombie' phase since Mikami left after RE4. The franchise was too lucrative for it to be abandoned, but the original vision had run its course. The new games still have good qualties, but no point pinning your hopes on a giant retcon
A proper remake of 6 would require them breaking it down into 2 to 3 different games if you want them to actually succeed at what the previous devs attempted
It was ok to campaign co-op with a friend but after that the game just stunk like a pile of shit I thought.
RE6 will never stop being an enjoyable game that I revisit from time to time
How can a game commonly associated as the worst in the series simultaneously save it? Typically, games hit with such critical blowback hammer nails into the coffin of previously cherished series. For reference, just take a look at Silent Hill: Downpour. Yet in the same year Silent Hill released the stinker that would put its franchise on the shelf, Resident Evil similarly launched a critical flop that could have earned it the same fate.
But it didn’t.
Instead, the Resident Evil franchise is stronger than ever today. With the upcoming release of the long-awaited Resident Evil 4 remake on the horizon, the series sits just as high as it did when it began in the ’90s. But why?
Sure, Silent Hill is teasing a comeback of its own in a similar vein to Resident Evil, but Capcom’s horror series took the bite first. With that said, let’s look at how the worst Resident Evil game saved the franchise.
I know I’m one of 2 people here, but I liked RE6, like a lot. I will never to this day understand how this is considered a bad game.
Yea but neither did RE4 and that’s pretty great. I do prefer the PS1 classics over 4-6, but as games they’re still pretty fun.
this article talks like Resi 6 wasnt a success. over 8 mio sales.
but i agree that the backlash from fans made them change direction. the article is just abit misleading and clickbaity haha
Resident Evil 6 being a huge commercial success is the main point of the article
For me the game is awesome. I admit that the gameplay needs more refinement regarding the camera and the cover system, but the graphics, the story, the soundtrack and the online co-op are fantastic!
As much as I disliked many of the directions CAPCOM took with the franchise, I just cant support this review. Half hour of play doesnt give you nearly enough credit to write a "review". Who approved this?
Not "memorable?" For me, RE6 was nothing BUT memorable, oftentimes in the way a trainwreck is memorable, sure, but that's why I ended up enjoying it.
Actually, the "trainwreck" analogy isn't entirely fair. I REALLY feel like Chris's campaign is the only completely bad part of the game. I had honest-to-God fun with everyone else's. It's all extremely silly and not the least bit scary, but worth a rental just to see how absurd it all is.
Granted, this IS coming from a guy who hopped on board with RE4, and honestly kinda liked RE5.