She’s telling me something about the G-Virus and again, how I’m their only hope. I’m struggling to take everything in. We’ve barely survived a gun battle back in the city, where thirty foot giants rampaged through a small district and killed, five, maybe six men
Then to top it all off, the big guy, yes, that big guy, has chased us for the past day, going as far to hitch a ride and, subsequently crash several planes, killing anyone stupid or slow enough to stand in his way.
But still, the momentary pause is needed; it’s the first time in hours we’ve been able to take a breather, although deep down, we know it can’t last.
And it doesn’t.
The windows smash open, I can hear snarls and shouts in a language I should understand, but don’t. We open fire, hitting anything that moves. I flip a table on its side for cover as they retaliate, hard and fast. I can hear her shouting for help as I run over to her, kicking her attacker so hard, he crashes into the nearest wall in a heap, he quickly melts into a familiar pile of blood and other darkened liquids.
Another one leaps behind, a machete in one hand, the other tries to grab me; I only have a brief second to turn and stare into all six of his eyes, his voice is hoarse and full of anger, I quickly punch him and he crashes to the floor, still alive but hurt.
He’s calling out, either in pain from the blow, or the fact his right arm is contorting, veins begin exploding, his shoulder is starting to darken and the skin begins tearing. I slam my boot down on his head as hard as I can; my heel just above the lower half of his jaw, hoping it’s enough
His head explodes in a crimson mass of blood, bone and more. His body judders violently one last time, you can almost hear a faint gurgle and finally, he begins to melt away. I take a deep breathe, I’m temporarily exhausted and it’ll be a few precious seconds before I can take down another, so I have to stick with my pistol, with it’s ammo slowly running dry.
I should be panicking, but I’m not, because I’ve been here before. In a cabin, somewhere in Spain, eight years ago, when everything, even at it’s most bleak, was so much more fun.
Ok, faux-novelisation aside; Resident Evil 6 is a strange animal. Much like the enemies that attempt to maim you, devour you, or both during the course of the game, it’s a strange blend of popcorn fun and mediocrity.
The story, which if you don’t know the series lore by now, is meaningless, details six (or, spoiler alert…seven) protagonists who must stop a resurrected pharmaceutical company from taking over the world…by infecting the planet with various viruses and other ailments that usually turn their victims into grotesque creations.
Unlike the simpler days of yonder when the franchise firmly believed in survival horror, the more recent titles have slowly become more action orientated. Four, released eight years ago had the right balance of the two and ranks as one of the best games of its generation, inspiring numerous franchises and reigniting the series from a cult hit to household favourite.
But again, RE4 was eight years and a generation ago and things have slowly gotten worse. Sure, RE5 wasn’t all bad. Sure, it was basically RE4 again with a new lick of paint, co-op multiplayer thrown in at the expense of tension and a story that brought the franchise’s absurd tropes’ back from the relatively straight forward RE4.
But again, RE4 was eight years and a generation ago and things have slowly gotten worse. Sure, RE5 wasn’t all bad. Sure, it was basically RE4 again with a new lick of paint, co-op multiplayer thrown in at the expense of tension and a story that brought the franchise’s absurd tropes’ back from the relatively straight forward RE4.
So, naturally, the downward curve is picking up momentum and sweet Xenu it shows here.
For starters, the game continues the co-op from RE5 and, like RE5; unless you plan on playing the game on easy mode, a friend or heck, any functional human is must as the AI for both NPC’s and enemies is horrendous.
For starters, the game continues the co-op from RE5 and, like RE5; unless you plan on playing the game on easy mode, a friend or heck, any functional human is must as the AI for both NPC’s and enemies is horrendous.
Whilst for Leon/Helena’s campaign; the slow, shuffling return of zombies is exceptional; Chris/Piers and Jake/Sherry’s campaign’s with the J’avo aren’t as forgiving.
Whilst at times there are moments where you might actually believe these ferocious enemies can plan co-ordinated attacks, most of the time, they spot you, they shoot immediately (usually in massive wide open areas, although they sometimes take cover), you repel, hit them back and sometimes, they fall.
Other times, much like the Ganado, Majini and Necromorphs of Dead Space before them, the J’avo will mutate, although now, depending on where the J’avo receive the most amount of damage, will determine how severe the mutation is and where.
At the start, you might get the odd enemy which will spawn a bulletproof, retractable arm if you manage to (big shock here) hit an arm with enough damage. Take down their leg, and they’ll mutate a pair of grow-your-own running legs. Blow part of their head away and chances are a centipede-esq new one will replace that.
At the start, you might get the odd enemy which will spawn a bulletproof, retractable arm if you manage to (big shock here) hit an arm with enough damage. Take down their leg, and they’ll mutate a pair of grow-your-own running legs. Blow part of their head away and chances are a centipede-esq new one will replace that.
As the game progresses, the chances of these mutations not only increase, but full fledged mutations involving cocoons and a vast array of new monsters can emerge, ranging from things that look like lizards to giant hulking monsters and worse. Although the enemies are quite creative and never stop being disgusting, the game can’t decide what it wants to be.
Ok, it’s not quite that blurred. It’s quite obvious RE6 builds upon RE4 & RE5; very rarely will you walk into any moments of brooding tension or moments of eerie silence of Zero through Code Veronica.
From the word go; it's balls-to-the-walls terror. Moments to compose yourself are few and far between and always result in a new wave on monsters to defeat before you move onto the next area with potentially new monsters. I'd like to say this isn't what the game purely runs on, but it is.
Oh sure; there's a few new puzzles (far more than RE5) but nothing like the Mansion or the Police Station from a lifetime ago. In reality; most of RE6's puzzles revolve around finding a missing crank, putting missing crank in lever and furiously turning your analogue stick whilst your partner holds the fort against the massing pockets of monsters and that's it.
But wait! Ok; maybe one person is lumbered with the laborious task of destroying their controller to drop a bridge or something, but your friend must surely be having the time of their life! Battling numerous creative monsters with a vast array of weaponry and, not to mention, the new ability to move and shoot!
Or they would, if not more the niggling issue of identity crisis the game constantly finds itself in. You see, I'm not going to moan that RE6's controls are a bit pants, they always have and they always will be. Sure, they don't move like tanks anymore...mostly, no, one of the biggest faults in the game, despite all mentioned before that the series has moved away from the days of survival horror; it still can't help but hold onto a few tropes.
Despite the game wanting you to blast so many monsters that inevitably give birth to more gruesome, horrifying creations, the game always provides you with the least amount of ammo possible. Not helping this is, as described before; the J'avo are quite capable of dodging fire and giving them them a second, or even third wind once you've managed to hit them, will quickly deplete your ammunition.
Of course, when all else fails, you can rely on your brute strength to take down enemies, although, like Skyward Sword, your character has a stamina meter which quickly depletes after several uses in quick succession which might prove costly when large groups congregate to kill you.
Even if you (inevitably) die, you'll have a chance to try again and, like all Resident Evil titles, the save functionality is so head-scratchingly bad, you'll wonder which sadist let it in the game in the first place? Gone are the misplaced typewriters and introduced is an autosave function that happens so rarely, chances are your first point of frustration will be being sent back half an hour into the past to beat the same group of enemies again and again until you finally get lucky and can move on.
The final nail in the proverbial coffin is the level layouts which are somehow some of the most linear yet impossibly confusing environments of this generation. Helping combat this is a in-game PDA system which politely points where exactly you're supposed to go, so be prepared to press it at nearly every interval as without, the game can be a tad, oh, I dunno, directionless.
See, this is the main problem with RE6; it tries desperately to evolve into a more action-orientated shooter, but it holds on to these technical holdovers which are often forgivable in Survival-Horror titles but here, they simply aren't.
Two of the three campaigns (four if you do bother to finish the original three) are almost identical minus a few tweaks in character control and fight the same enemies. As mentioned before; Leon and Helena spend the time fighting slow zombies, with the option of simply running away being the logical choice (therefore negating the whole third person shooter gameplay completely useless minus a few boss battles).
Whilst it's a poor story told superbly (the voice acting and motion-capture is fantastic throughout); it's a bloated and fattening affair that sacrifices so much for so little. For all the awesome bits, there's potentially over twenty hours of generic pandering that, not only has been done better but, will do very little for anyone other than the most hardcore of Resident Evil fans to stick through and finish.
Back to the drawing board? Quite possibly as the revolution and legacy of RE4 is long gone and, for Resident Evil to survive; much like the monsters within it, it must evolve and change, hopefully next time, for the better.
5/10
H
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