I was never really interested in Resident Evil 6. While I thought the fourth and fifth instalments in the series were both great games, none of the pre-release previews, reviews and trailers really drew me into Resi 6; the series looked as though it had outlived its best moments, needing to soon be put down and come back in a rebooted zombie form.
I don’t know, really; I’ve not played the game, but from what I heard it just wasn’t anything special. Reviews weren’t massively favourable either, with the PS3 version sitting at the decent score of 74 on Metacritic, while the Xbox 360 version only managed 67.
We didn’t receive a copy of the game in time for review, but Aran took a look soon after release, discussing how the game had affected the future of the series. His conclusions on the game itself were:
“Resident Evil 6 felt more like an experiment than a full game, trying to work out how to move the franchise forward. What RE6 shows is that Capcom need to make a decision. Do they decide to go out for all action, or go for the dark corridors of a scary game?”
And this led straight into his conclusion about the future of the series, where he said that “a break of a few years for the franchise could be a good thing,” since there are “a lot of issues for Capcom to address and spreading their focus hasn’t really worked in Resident Evil 6”.
To be completely fair, let’s look at two reviews from completely different ends of the spectrum. First up, GameInformer, who scored the game 8.75/10, concluding:
“Over the years, the tone of the Resident Evil series has morphed from a George Romero horror flick to Michael Bay summer blockbuster. That metamorphosis into insane action is front and center in Resident Evil 6, and bringing a buddy along for the chaos is great fun. The game’s minor flaws don’t hold back the decadent experience from being an unhinged, flaming rollercoaster ride.”
While I don’t think Game Informer’s review really manages to justify their high score, they sell the game well as a fun, co-operative action romp, though the fact it was just that upset quite a lot of people, including Jim Sterling of Destructoid, who said in his review:
“It’s not enough to say that Resident Evil 6 is poor as a Resident Evil game. That alone implies there could be a quality experience if fans can get past their preconceptions and feelings of betrayal. No, Resident Evil 6 is poor by the standards of any game, not just the high ones set by its own legacy. This is unexceptional tripe that becomes insulting once the woeful missteps come into play. Resident Evil 6 is not just a step back for the series, it’s a step back for commonplace, unassuming action-shooters.”
Harsh, but perhaps fair words from Sterling, and ones that seem to discuss how Resident Evil 6 is not only just a poor entry into the series, but a poor game overall.
But, what do us reviewers know, eh? We’ll leave the most important verdict up to you – simply drop a succinct review of the title in the comments section below, sharing your thoughts on the game. Don’t forget to put a Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It or Avoid It rating on the end. If you get your comment in before Sunday evening, then you’ll have a good chance of being included in our WeView Round-up next Monday!
parryman
I am in the same boat, loved 4, really liked 5.
Haven’t bothered with 6.
I keep meaning to, but other games get in the way.
I await the response of this to see whether I bother or not.
Kitch
I’ll play this when it turns up in PS+ in a few months. It’s never really grabbed my interest. I still need to finish 5. Actually, that’ll be my next game.
boyinastairwell
Samesies; loved 4 and 5 and someone bought me 6 for Christmas but I still haven’t got round to playing it!
blackredyellow
I had a great time with RE5, the co-op really made the game for me. Having heard negative reactions to this instalment I stayed away, interested to see what TSAers think.
Youles
I didn’t enjoy the demo, so with that (and following the “average” Resi 5), I didn’t buy Resi 6….until recently, for £9 new. For that price, it doesn’t matter if its rubbish, and at least I can keep up with the story should they restore their former glory with Resi 7.
Eldave0
Should be an interesting one… heh.
To me, RE6 is similar to RE5 in that its a great co-op action game but a crap Resident Evil game. Sure, there is a fair bit of padding going on and the controls/camera aren’t always spot-on but I enjoyed the over-lapping storylines and there is a huge amount of content to play through.
For me, its worth picking it up in the Bargain Bin, providing you go into it knowing it isn’t a true RE title
JR.
For months leading up to the release of Resident Evil 6, we were told how they had taken the game back to the series roots. You can imagine my disappointment when I sat down with the game on release day and within the first 5-10 minutes I had escaped from a helicopter with a mini gun, dodged an exploding harrier jet, run down a congested freeway with cars exploding around me, jumped from an exploding car into a helicopter, collided with a high speed train and finally, crashed into a high-rise building. I’m not sure which series roots they had gone back to but it certainly wasn’t Resident Evil.
So, let me start with what I did like about Resident Evil 6.
Ok, onto the bad stuff…
– The paper thin plot is absurd (even by Resident Evil standards) and there isn’t enough story to last one campaign let alone four.
– The set pieces are over the top ridiculous and unnecessary.
– There aren’t any notes or diaries to read – nothing is explained.
– You can’t interact with the environment.
– The game is too dark.
– AI is bad.
– You can’t upgrade weapons.
– Camera is too close to the player.
– Boss battles are tedious (you fight the same boss 5-6 times at the end of each campaign).
– You are forced to re-play entire sections of the game when characters cross paths in later campaigns.
– Zombies with machine guns/sniper rifles.
– Zombies jumping out of planes and parachuting to the ground to attack you.
– Zombies in tanks.
– Co-op
This game was a chore to complete. Avoid it like the plague.
Starman
I found most of the game ok, the general mowing through zombies was enjoyable enough but the regenerating, reappearing bosses got very tedious throughout the game. Repeating some sections with the different characters also got repetitive. However the online mercenaries mode was the saviour for me, had some good games on it.
Wouldn’t recommend it at full price but for £25ish I’d say buy it.