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Resident Evil 6 Review
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on 2013-09-30 at 23:14 (11361 Views)
Do you remember your first survival horror game? For me it was Resident Evil. I remember being introduced to the original Resident Evil on the PlayStation and soon after, picking up its remake on the Gamecube. One of my strongest memories from my original playthrough came late one summer night with a friend. We were working our way through the caves underneath the Raccoon City Mansion, weary of the unkillable and freakish Lisa Trevor. We were slowly creeping forward through the caves when suddenly, unexpectedly, and rather loudly, the air-conditioner came to life. Naturally, the spirit of fear seized us both, and to this day, we both still vividly remember that night. That story epitomizes my early experiences with the Resident Evil franchise – a franchise that elicited such fear that our sanity balanced on a pinpoint, waiting for the smallest breeze to topple us into crippling fear. In recent years, the franchise has made drastic changes, only faintly resembling those early entries. Resident Evil 6, a game comprised of four separate campaigns, was poised to offer a blending of both the older Resident Evil fear and the newer brand of action and adventure that has characterized its most recent entries.
For many years, at the core of the Resident Evil franchise was the deadly T-virus which was used in experiments and accidentally released upon Raccoon City, transforming it into a zombie infested scourge. However, as time has passed, the franchise stepped away from zombies and the T-virus, analogous to the way it drifted away from its survival horror roots. New biological weapons emerged and the games became less about horror, and more about action. Ammo and supplies became plentiful, saves didn’t require hoarding typewriter ribbon, and inventory management was only a shadow of its former self. Resident Evil 6 is the culmination of this change. Resident Evil 6 tells the story of a global bioterrorism plot through three major (and one minor) campaigns. Each campaign can stand on its own, but they occasionally intersect, allowing players to see a more complete picture. The first campaign follows series veteran Leon Kennedy and newcomer Helena Harper as the duo is forced to face zombies, most similar to the early Resident Evil foes. The second campaign puts players back in control of Chris Redfield and the second subpar replacement for Jill, Piers Navins as they battle the newest biological weapon, the J’avo. The J’avo are parasite infested humans who transform, similar to the Las Plagas from Resident Evil 4. Finally, the third campaign puts players in control of Jake Muller and a grown up Sherry Birkin from Resident Evil 2. Their campaign brings in pieces of the two previous campaigns, serving to do a better job of showcasing the overarching story of the game. Oh, and naturally, somehow Ada Wong is at the center of all of it.
While there are a number of similarities between the three campaigns, there are also drastic differences that serve to shake the weak foundation the whole game is built upon. Leon and Helena’s campaign will seem most familiar to longtime fans of the series. They traverse dark and dreary caves, scientific labs, and generally cramped quarters as they battle their way through encounters with zombies that harken back to the earlier games. Conversely, Chris and Piers’ campaign offers the most jarring break from the Resident Evil experience, more akin to an action shooter than a survival horror. It is through this campaign that many of the major changes the franchise has been slowly undergoing truly stand out. Players rely heavily on automatic weapons and sniper rifles, are forced to take cover, and battle armies armed with traditional guns and weapons. While the enemies they face do mutate and transform into fearsome monstrosities, the tone of the game is so action oriented that it hardly feels like the traditional survival-horror experience. In fact, Chris and Piers are often accompanied by additional members of Chris’ squadron, further serving to break the sense of isolation and solitude. Jake and Sherry offer a blending of the two styles of gameplay while also throwing in a healthy dose of close combat and quick time events (not that the other two don’t also have their share..).
Resident Evil 6 plays as a third person action game. Players can shoot while running, hide behind cover, melee and stab at foes, and hurl grenades and explosives. While those aspects of the game come through clearly, Capcom also tries to incorporate aspects to keep the franchise true to its survival horror roots. Similar to the previous two entries, enemies transform and mutate when shot, enormous infected enemies stumble around and hound players, and for whatever reason, experiments with viruses, people, and chainsaws have continued. However the two pieces fail to go together well, weakening the overall product. The atmosphere necessary for intense periods of terror in a survival horror game are far too often broken up by stretches of high-intensity action. It’s hard to maintain a sense of terror for hordes of zombies after fighting through a building full of mercenaries that have left you with copious amounts of machine-gun ammo. And on the other side, it’s hard to enjoy the action sequences when they’re interrupted by immortal enemies in a cramped submarine. It’s strange to say, but it almost feels as if Resident Evil 6 would have been better off as a stand-alone game, not burdened by its past. Capcom has been criticized lately for its reliance on quick time events in Resident Evil games. While they felt like they occurred more during Sherry and Jake’s story, they’re unfortunately also prominently featured during the others as well. Rather than realizing that quick time events break the flow of the game and ruin the ability to focus on cutscenes, Capcom has seeming expanded their use and even opted to include them within the core gameplay elements of Resident Evil 6.
When I originally learned that Resident Evil 6 would be split into three campaigns, I expected each to be about two to four hours long, failing to give players the opportunity to truly experience any of the characters. Thankfully this is not the case. I’ve played full games that are shorter than each of Resident Evil 6’s pieces. Each campaign is around eight hours long, and the way Capcom manages to connect and cross them is actually somewhat impressive. At the same time, it is often difficult to piece together the complete picture the three disparate stories are trying to tell. There are crossovers, but each campaign (especially Leon and Helena’s) feels distinct. One of the strangest parts is that the health and ammo displays are different for the different campaigns. Part of me wants to praise Capcom for the attention to detail to have different displays and music to keep the campaigns different, but at the same time, these decisions feel unnecessary, serving to weaken the sense of cohesion the game desperately needs. While Sherry and Jake do face both types of enemies, Leon and Helena's infected monsters never cross with Chris and Piers', even though parts of their stories occur within the same locations. Even the game’s conclusion fails to wrap up the story in a way that gives players a sense that all three pieces were necessary for the complete picture.
Introduced in the previous entry, Resident Evil 6 continues to allow players to team up with a friend to progress through the story. While you usually start with different weapons, as you progress through the campaigns, both players are able to pick up each weapon. That said, the frequency which ammo can be found definitely puts pressure on players to choose who will use which weapons. For the most part, the co-op is well done. There are a handful of occasions that split players up for asymmetric gameplay sequences and the additional support provided by a friend during the game’s various bosses and difficult sequences definitely is welcomed. The only really annoying thing was how the game needed both players to open the numerous doors to progress to the next area. While this was only a minor irritant most of the time, during hurried periods of panic, helplessly standing around at a door waiting for your partner is not exactly a calming experience. Now, I’ll admit, I’ve only played the game with a friend and part of me wants to praise the fact that the game offers a co-op experience. But a larger part feels that survival horror games are not meant to be played with friends. They’re meant to be solo affairs, played in the dark, where the feeling of fear and isolation leaves your vulnerable to the slightest unexpected sight or sound. As I said earlier, Resident Evil 6 may have been better as a stand-alone game.
I’ll be honest, it took me about six months to progress through the entirety of Resident Evil 6 (and about six weeks to write this review..). It’s not hard to understand why this game did not generally receive a lot of praise and instead received a lot of criticism. Resident Evil 6’s biggest flaw aptly characterizes what has become of the entire franchise -- it is a convoluted mess of different pieces that are somehow related, but difficult to piece together. Should you play Resident Evil 6? Well, just because it strays from its roots does not necessarily mean it is a terrible game. Somewhere within it is a good game. If you’re willing to dig through it all and find that, then by all means, go for it. For most though, I imagine that it just isn’t worth your time, which is unfortunate. Resident Evil might not have the same pedigree as some gaming franchises, but it still is a well-established cornerstone and it’s unfortunate to watch its decline and deterioration. While I might not be the biggest fan of franchise reboots, I think most of us can agree that at this point, the next Resident Evil game might be better off with a clean slate.
You cannot lose if you do not play ~ Marla Daniels
All images owned by Capcom.
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