How David Jaffe would fix Resident Evil 6

Destructoid- What I love about David Jaffe is that he'll answer questions and damn the consequences. He was asked by one gamer how he'd fix Resident Evil 6, the polarizing action game that's received a famous critical mauling. He shared his view in no uncertain terms.

[tigertron]

How I would fix RE6:

1. Make co-op optional and remove AI partners.
2. Get rid of human-like enemies that shoot guns or fly helicopters or ride bikes.
3. Change the art style, make it darker.
4. Change the music - make it eerie and creepy.
5. Keep ammo and supplies scarce.
6. Scrap Chris' and Jake's campaigns and focus on Leon and Ada's.
7. Improve the graphics. RE6 has some really bad PS1 textures.
8. Reduce amount of QTEs.

[guitarded77]

I haven't even played the game (besides the demo), and I agree with your list :D

[knowyourstuff]

More and more people are hating on the game who haven't played it yet, such as yourself. Do we really need more people pre-judging the game based on what other people are saying? Jaffe himself never played the game either but already had a detailed answer on how to fix the game lol gotta love that arrogant loud mouth. Always thinking he knows the answer to everything before the question is even asked.

[guitarded77]

@ knowyourstuff

I'm not hating on the game... I just think all the things on tigertron's list can only make a game better. Would a darker atmosphere in an RE game make it worse? Hell no it wouldn't. Would more monsters? NO. Would eerie music? NO! He made a list of having MORE Resident Evil in a Resident Evil game... I'm not judging the game, I'm just for more RE in a RE game... call me crazy. Oh, and that's the second time today you've run your mouth at me while not knowing what you're even talking about... Have I wronged you in another life or something?

[GrahamGolden]

Leon campaign is dark especially the 3 first chapter...the hoaks town part was awesome hands down but again short

As for atmosphere for chris there are moments (short tho too bad) that are good.
1.chapter 2 when u first see ada and going after her..the music,the tone was good but lasted for like 10 sec too bad xd

2.chapter 3 the whole snake sequence inside the building..clearly there is some RE1 influance there

3.chapter 4 inside the ship deep inside (after all the gunning)

jakes chapter 3 ?when they are captured the co op worked great there i like it but apart that...the whole campaign was crap, i like his attidude tho

capcom should have focus on leon campaigns and more in ada's since it was way too short...they were the best campaigns

[Gaming101]

Really? PS1 graphics? The graphics were the only redeeming factor of this game as they were amazing (at least on PS3, the 360 version needed to be darker and less drab).
Ammo and supplies were already scarce according to a lot of people's experiences.
You can't get rid of co op and the entire design of the game is built around it, so what you're really asking for is for a complete overhaul of the design.
The music was already creepy when it needed to be, not sure what that point's about.
Instead of scrapping campaigns, perhaps extend Chris' and Jake's campaign into the same style of Leon's. That way you still get 4 meaty campaigns.
As for quick time events, it's hard to really say what to do when you're in a struggle situation, how do you really bring that across to the player?

And for those who haven't played the game yet, play it and your points about the game will be valid.

Nuff said.

[cemelc]

@knowyourstuff

So playing the demo doesnt count why? the demo is for you to taste the game and what i got was:

-Waaaay to many QTE.
-Melee do more dmg than guns.
-Range of Leon kick and chris punch are the same...
-Zombies shooting, how can they run, aim and shoot. That requires higher thinking, for something operating on instincts...
-cover sistem is broken.
-enemy A.I is really poor in leons campaign there is so much room to run that zombies wont even move from their spot b4 they die, you have to be trapped for them to be any danger.
-controls are really clunky.

Now in my opinion as an old Re fan
-No fear.
-Terrible choice in music.
-coop.

And thats what i got from a demo why in the world would i play that game?, i made an educated choice from what i saw.

I played the game didnt like it, unless the demo is nothing like de game, but you know chances are it is so no thx.

The hate it got is well earned is a poors mans action game that cant compete against uncharted, gears or dead space

[phantomexe]

i enjoyed jake's and leon's campaigns the most and ada's and chris's the least. leons campaign really reminded me how much i miss the old RE games. From a visual stand point the game looked great.Keep the zombies, they make RE games great.

[showtimefolks]

It can't be fixed give this series a reboot a much needed reboot. David Jeffe is working on a ps4 title for any so he is not about to touch this once great series which is now crap

RE fanboys disagree all you want a overall 66 rating says it all p. RE6 is not a very good game and feels like a chore more than actually having fun

While most 3rd reason cover based shooters have joined us in next gen RE franchise is still stuck in the past. I DON'T THINK CAMCOM KNIWS WHAT'S THE IDENTITY FOR RE SERIES ANYMORE SO TIME FOR A REBOOT

[GillHarrison]

I actually enjoyed Chris' the most, but I do think the next Resident Evil should only focus on one set of characters.

On the topic of the article, I personally don't want an Western company working the title (Mostly because I think the MT Framework is a great engine), but I do think they need a few Western game designers working on the core gameplay.

[mysterious_warrior]

Agreed. I thought Leon and Ada was campaign was boring.

[fei-hung]

Problem with RE6 is it is trying to be too many games when all it really needs to be is itself.

It doesn't need qte's, set pieces or several campaigns, it's just needs to play and feel like an authentic RE6 that is out to make you shit your pants and make you think twice about pulling that trigger in case you waste your last bullet.

[GrahamGolden]

agreed

leon's & ada's campaigns were the best hands down
they should focus 100% on these 2 for many reasons

ppl still want to see leon and ada together xd

[ATrueResidentEvilFan]

Play the game on proffessional and only play leons and i think half of you list disappears also half of these are an average survival horror fans complaint, i actually quite like the game.

[aquamala]

played it on PS3, it looks as good as any PS3 game.

[kupomogli]

@knowyourstuff

So a 20 minute demo doesn't give you a good idea on what the game will play like?

That's the entire reason of demos, to give you an idea of how the games will play.

If you were to play the original Uncharted demo, while there are some changes to where the areas lead you, you know you're playing a good game. The cover system works well. All aspects of combat work extremely well, you can't just take out an entire room of enemies with just melee, etc.

Go play the Vanquish demo. The demo is smaller, but it clearly shows how to make a good third person shooter. There's also the Binary Domain demo which once again, shows another competent shooter.

Resident Evil 6 had a lengthy demo, two if you were to have purchased Dragon's Dogma, but the fact of the matter is the demo's of Resident Evil 6 sucked balls and did exactly what they were supposed to do. The demos are to show gameplay for the player to form an opinion on the game whether they should buy it or not, and I wouldn't buy this. It's worse than what I've played of Operation Raccoon City.

[Irishguy95]

The zombies also don't sound scary, do you remember the sound of them in RE2 or 1? Much better than that the little "Nyaa" You get off them in RE6. Imo Sound effects in general have to be creepier, the sound effects play a big part in RE until...RE..5?(RE4 still had alot of it)

Also i'm surprised people ***** about the cover system of RE6, to put it simply, it's not a game where you need to use the cover system, the game is not built around it like Uncharted and Gears of War. Action games surprisingly, work well without cover systems// Just saying, its there for the odd time you want to use it but it's not necessary/

[Grenade]

He would add even more QTE's.
Then he would talk a lot about himself and use bad language to draw attention from the media.

[majiebeast]

God of war does quick time events the right way in resident evil 6 they are just terrible and add nothing to the game itself.

[dark-hollow]

That's EXACTLY what's wrong with RE 6.

just because certain gameplay mechanics worked on some games like GOW doesn't mean you can shoehorn it into your game and expect it to be the same experience.

they tried more action and shooting fights like gears but kepts the low ammo! They tried to creat tension by not letting you pause the game like demon souls but for RE game it only make it more tedious. It's like various game designers with very different approaches are working on RE 6 which made it a big clusterfuck!

you can't just pick up gameplay elements that worked for other games and throw it in your game without much thought put into it.

[xPhearR3dx]

You can pause the game. You just have to make sure to switch your game to offline when you start and not private. Took me a little bit to figure that out because it was driving me nuts. I had to piss and couldn't pause the game lol

[dcortz2027]

Don't hate on Jaffe, he's a cool dude who loves gaming and is good/loyal to his community/fan base. He tells it like it is and he isn't afraid to express himself! Plus, he is the creator of both the brilliant God Of War and Twisted Metal series.

[adorie]

I honestly don't think QTE's belong in Resident Evil. They were O.K in RE4 because it didn't reallypull you away from the game play too much and were sometimes pretty seamless. The Spear fight with the giant whale thing before the storm is one example of seamless, hardly intrusive QTE.

QTE before fighting the "Big Cheese" wasn't too intrusive either and they usually threw QTE's in there to dodge really quick... in RE5 and from what I hear;6 are throwing QTE's at you that are long and drawn out also, throwing them at you when you should be controlling the character.

Just my humble perspective on this whole thing.

[NewMonday]

how about we let :

Shinji Mikami fix RE

Hideki Kamiya fix DMC

Hironobu Sakaguchi fix FF

Tomonobu Itagaki fix NG

[AlucardFury]

Those were the days man, those were the days....

[hkgamer]

haven't played 6 yet so can't really comment, but it seems like RE cannot be fixed unless it is rebooted.
Too many different fans want different things from the genre.
I mean look at RE4 being the most amazing game ever that revolutionised whatever... blah blah blah... that game just ripped the soul out of RE and made it actiony. I do get freaked out playing RE games but when playing 4 & 5 it is pretty easy to get through the game.

DMC needs fixing? well did it really need fixing from the start? I mean they rebooted the series for no reason to be honest, or maybe they just ran out of stories to tell. DMC4 was decent enough. Let's just wait until DmC gets released and play it to see if you like it. It may improve the esries like how people say RE4 improved the series ¬.¬

Sakaguchi is great but his time is up. They should let Hiroyuki Ito fix FF.

Itagaki fix NG? wasn't NG2 a flop as well? it kinda looked like he sabotaged that game himself because he knew he was leaving.

[Kos-Mos]

And gamers fix n4g.com.

[cleft5]

RE6 is a good Action game and it does some really cool stuff with coop. I know the hardcore wanted a Survival Horror game but this isn't it. I suggest they wait for ZombiU. If you take RE6 for what it is you have a fun game.

[Imalwaysright]

Couldnt disagree more with that statement. For RE6 to be a good action game it would need a camera that doesnt get in the way of the action, a cover system that actually works and tighter controls. For a game that had 600 people working on it and AAA budget the game is surprisingly unpolished wich makes it even more hard for me to forgive the direction Capcom took one of my favorite franchises. I also despise the fact that we cant use alternate costumes on the campaigns (most likely future disc locked DLC) and when we start the game there is no creepy voice saying RESIDENT QTEs... oops EVIL 6.

[DigitalRaptor]

RE6 is not a good action game. It has an array of broken mechanics and bad implementations such as its poor cover system, shoddy camera that obstructs gameplay, frustratingly bad AI and a massive overuse of unnecessary QTEs. RE6 doesn't deserve good reviews based on those factors alone, but there's actually deeper rooted problems.

Capcom has abandoned the strengths of the series. They wanted a slice of the CoD, Gears, Uncharted pie and sacrificed the essence of the Resi series only to make something that is not only sub par by comparison, but an overall terrible game with no real definition of its own.

The story is convoluted and would've been better focused on characters like Leon and Ada, and forget about Jake and Chris who made the game ultimately much, much poorer. Now that people are supporting this direction, we're only going to see the series decline into an even deeper cesspit of mediocrity. Thanks for that, "fans"...

[Jason_Tanner]

Who gives a sh-t about loud-mouthed, media whore Jaffe would do about anything really.

[neoMAXMLC]

You're right. How dare David Jaffe constantly communicates with his fans via Twitter which allows so-called journalists to always write articles about.
What a media whore.

That was sarcasm by the way incase you're too narrow minded.

[Jason_Tanner]

Oh so sorry David, didn't realize you were an N4G user!!

You are a media whore David, so this time it was twitter. Wow since this time it was twitter I guess I'm completely wrong about all the other times that it isn't. I loved how you failed to address being loud-mouthed, let us also add "douche" to that list while were at it.

That wasn't sarcasm by the way in case you have your head too far up your @$$ to know.

[neoMAXMLC]

Lol So now you think I'm David Jaffe because you have no other way to refute my comment. You people get dumber each day.

[wenaldy]

Welcome to the internet!!!

[ChocolateGiddyUp]

I was with him until I read, "make a 2-3 hour digital only game."

[TheBlackSmoke]

How about Jaffe fix his own game first. Twisted metal says hi

[CernaML]

Works fine for me.

[soundslike]

Indeed. The online has been fixed for quite a while. My 2011 GOTY by far.

People should be ashamed of themselves for not playing that game.

[Ducky]

^ TwistedMetal was released in 2012 though. =/

[Jason_Tanner]

BINGO!

[wastedcells]

Jaffee knows how to make great games to bad he doesn't want to anymore. He should be an advisor or something. Dude is cool and knows his sh!t.

[Myst]

I would add in Jill and Claire, along with an other story that looks at other places. Bringing back Sheva and Josh perhaps.

Add in a survival mode that just sends wave after wave of zombies (I was really REALLY hoping RE:ORC would have this but now my last resort is to look at RE6). I mean the game can hold 4 people at once to just like it so..

[Paranoidplayer24]

LMAO I love jaffe. He always makes me laugh. And nothing is wrong with Twisted Metal I play that game tons still. I agree with this idea and agree Jaffe knows his stuff.

[Carl_Shocker]

I wouldn't want it to be stripped to a digital only release, theres nothing stopping them from doing his idea but making it retail.

[dorron]

There's one magic guy who could fix any broken game and make it a masterpiece...Master Hideo Kojima. Too bad for Crapcom he doesn't work for them :-p

[Braid]

Kojima stated that he wouldn't be so interested in the horror genre though, when he was asked about if he could direct a Silent Hill game. The man knows what he's good at and he keeps on perfecting his work, that's the keyword here: he focuses on what he does best, unlike switching genres like what's happening with RE series. Playing safe, maybe. But I wouldn't really mind as long as the outcome is great.

[turgore]

Fix the goddamn controls. The game controls like a dinosaur. Dead space controls would be nice, or make it like uncharted but with more realistic aiming.
Besides, the best zombie game htis gen is gonna be the last of us.

[JellyJelly]

Peter Molyneux always runs his mouth and his games are crap and...oh, it's David Jaffe talking? Then it's ok.

[007Bond]

Bring back those moments like not feeling good about the next door because you're so low on ammo or health. Oh and creepy music and being outnumbered by ZOMBIES.

[yeahokchief]

Jaffe is awesome. Good answers.

I'd prefer option A too. I've played enough AAA games the past 2 years. Give me another bold game like Dark Souls with some thought behind it.

[hkgamer]

Jaffe's idea of having a small budget to make a survival horror game for digital download is great, that could keep the classic RE fans happy. Capcom doesn't want to risk spending so much on a survival horror game because it probalby won't sell.

However, I think there is a simple solution to making new RE games more like survival horror. All they need to do to revive the survival horror element is take away stupid checkpoints.

Heres a scenario playing old RE games:
low on ammo, stumbling across with health on caution, haven't saved in a while and a stupid zombie is standing in the hallway. Do I kill him or try and sneak past? Haven't saved in a while so if I die I have to start from 1 hour ago.
Scenario from playing 4,5 or 6:
Tons of ammo, easy to do headshots, tons of different weapons, do I run from this enemy or do I blast him away? Actually you probably have to kill him otherwise you cannot get to the next area and if you die you just start from the checkpoint you passed 10 seconds ago.

it just seems that if they take away the checkpoints than the survival element would be revived. I mean some bosses can be scary/hard in RE4 onwards, but I don't really care because I know I that if I die I can fight the boss again, if their wasn't checkpoints then I would be like, shit this boss is hard, I'm low on health, start running away, panic and try not get hit again.

[Braid]

There has to be another type of challenge in the game, taking away checkpoints would only cause more trouble and inconvenience than intended. We don't have to go back to archaic gameplay mechanics to make a game difficult, what we need is some creatively crafted and executed genuine challenge that does not rely solely on the intentional design choices like clunkiness of the controls or narrowness of FOV. Then again, it seems like this game is not trying to be an excessively challenging game, it's more like your typical action shooter where you gun down everything in sight without much trouble.

[FantasyStar]

All aboard the RE6 hate-train!

[Belking]

Jaffe needs to worry about fixing twisted metal first.

[Knushwood Butt]

Kind of off topic, but I'm quite surprised that despite having a fairly big friend list I haven't seen a single friend playing this.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

Jaffe would do more for the game than its own creators at this point...

I restarted REmake... and I swear Im still impressed by the game, and it's on gamecube!

[GillHarrison]

I play this game at least once a year, it's still awesome. I would love an XBLA/PSN release.

[ATrueResidentEvilFan]

I disagree with all of this, guys the game is hella fun ITS AN ACTION GAME NOW GET OVER ITTTTT. i swear i am about raise all kinds of hell, try and tell me this game has somthin to fix when all you people fix is the horror, get over it.

[Imalwaysright]

Yeah a mediocre action game.

[kevinsheeks]

poor re6 lol

[LiquidSword93]

F*** re6. I've rented it. It can burn in a fire as I watch.

[MasterD919]

I disagree with Jaffe. Slash the budget? No way. This is the 6th game in the series. It had to be big.

I've been playing it for a few days and have looked passed most of the issues that a lot of people are getting hung up on. They have made some strides of progress without a doubt. I see why some people despise it, but I am thoroughly enjoying it (minus a few of the big BOW fights).

[OooHJohnny]

Capcom should re-focus on Japanese market and say "f*** yourself" to American kids and their wallets

[LiquidSword93]

This is where that old saying comes in "you can always polish a turd, but it's still a piece of shit".

[urwifeminder]

He should cut off his own head that would help alot.

[bub16]

jaffe is over rated!! he made one good PS1 game. thats it

[neoMAXMLC]

Yep, let's forget about the fact that he also created one of PlayStation's biggest franchise. God of War.

[bub16]

GOW 3 was by far the best and he didnt even make it. he sucks

[neoMAXMLC]

You Jaffe haters really are worthless. So even though the first God of War stands tall as a multi million seller with a 90+ metacritic it's irrelevant because you think GoW 3 is better? Hell even Twisted Metal Black managed a 90+ meta. Two critically acclaimed IPs in one generation. He sure sucks so hard.

[TalesFromTheBud]

Have you played Twisted Metal?

I don't think Jaffe could fix anything.