Resident Evil 6 Review
Resident Evil 6's messy mix of annoying quick-time events and constant set pieces makes it a poor caricature of modern-day action games.
The Good
- Intriguing narrative structure
- Great voice acting and action-packed cutscenes draw you into the story.
The Bad
- Loads of bad, overlong quick-time events
- Excruciating overemphasis on mediocre set piece events
- Ruins the pace by constantly ripping control from you
- Poorly executed scripted events lead to unavoidable deaths.
With Resident Evil 6, a once-mighty series makes another stumble. From a production standpoint, this atmospheric third-person shooter (this is no survival horror game, certainly) hits a number of high notes, weaving multiple stories into a single narrative that you untangle from different perspectives. It's unfortunate that actually interacting with Resident Evil 6 is an excruciating chore. This is a wannabe action film that resents your interference, and punishes you by forcing one horrible quick-time event after another upon you.
That Resident Evil 6 wants to be a movie is evident in almost every facet of its gameplay. Plenty of games dramatize their events through extended cutscenes, Metal Gear Solid being an oft-cited example of a series known for long-winded cinematics. Having many cutscenes isn't a problem in and of itself; constantly interrupting the flow of gameplay, on the other hand, is Resident Evil 6's disappointing calling card.
In a typical five-minute stretch, you might watch a cutscene, walk for five seconds, trigger another cutscene, open a door, perform a quick-time event, view another cutscene, shoot some mutated freaks, and then do nothing while you wait for your co-op partner to finish some task or another before you can continue on. All through that stretch, the camera changes position countless times, you're forced to walk really slowly for a while, and an almost-unavoidable scripted "gotcha" moment gifts you with a game-over screen ("You Are Dead"), forcing you to replay the sequence while wondering what you could have done to prevent it.
These problems infiltrate all four of Resident Evil 6's campaigns, though each campaign shifts its focus and tone--and all but Ada Wong's puzzle-driven campaign (unlocked when you have finished the other three) feature cooperative play. In Leon Kennedy's campaign, you play as either Leon or newcomer Helena Harper, while your cohort is left to the care of another player, or of the AI. Leon's campaign is the most traditional, recalling the fourth and fifth chapters of the series by way of mysterious locations like an eerie graveyard and creep-strewn city streets. In a campaign that looks to military shooters for inspiration, Chris Redfield joins fellow BSAA operative Piers Nivens in war-torn streets to shoot up infected foes and larger-than-life bosses. Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin's campaign is focused more on scripted events than the others and lacks the thematic cohesion of the other three (unless you count an overload of contextual button prompts as a theme). A short prelude introduces you to the basic mechanics, which are mostly identical across the campaigns. It also functions as a warning of what's to come.
Right off the bat, you notice what is to be a common theme in Resident Evil 6: quick-time events are prominent to the point of distraction. Keep your thumbs limber and your trigger fingers ready, for you will be hammering buttons and jiggling thumbsticks ad nauseam. Wiggle that stick to get the monster off you! Furiously tap that button to crawl faster! Making matters worse is that the quick-time events aren't even that well implemented. Some of them require superhuman wiggling speeds; others, like those that require alternating trigger presses, don't have a clear rhythm. And succeeding means triggering a sonic zing and a bright circular eruption that distract you from the dramatic animations.
Even ignoring quick-time events, button prompts are the rule rather than the exception. Capcom drops in so many set piece moments that they lose their luster. Good set pieces--that is, large scale events with major visual punch and limited interactivity--punctuate gameplay, rather than replace it. Here, they constantly disrupt the gameplay, and a few types of set pieces emerge as clear developer favorites. One such type is the "run toward the camera" bit, in which you hold a button to sprint toward the camera, and press buttons to leap over obstacles or slide under them. It takes a special talent to make such sequences work, but no such talent is demonstrated here; the camera constantly changes position, which destroys the flow of both the controls and the visuals.
Resident Evil 6 is constantly (and annoyingly) playing with camera angles, even outside of the running sections. The worst moments are those that yank control from you and force you to stare at a growling behemoth's dramatic entrance, or a helicopter's flyover, even when you're in the middle of a quick-time event, or engaged in a shoot-out. Smart games either have you hold a button if you want to witness a major incident, or simply allow the incident to happen. Resident Evil 6 is not a smart game. It doesn't care what you're doing: that monster is big, and the game forces the bigness upon you. (And when the sequence is done, the camera may not be in the position in which it started.) Such occurrences are, every time, detrimental to gameplay, and it's shocking how many of them there are.
Not that your co-op partner is usually harmful to the experience. If you play on your own, the AI does a great job of knowing what to do and where to go. The game does have a few good co-op ideas up its sleeve, such as a sequence in which one player swims from the snapping jaws of a finned fiend, and the other must shoot it. But the good ideas are too often let down by troublesome execution: in that same sequence, your mission objective might contradict what the game actually needs you to do. Other times, one player waits around with nothing to do, while the other slashes up bio-organic weapons (that is, B.O.W.s) and finally opens a door or lowers a ladder. Most cooperative actions simply involve opening a door together. And boy is there a lot of door opening in Resident Evil 6.
Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.
RE 5 got 8.5 while RE 6 is better than RE 5 in many aspects if not all.
4.5 is bullshit!!!
Glad I tried demo first...otherwise I waste 60$ on that pice of garbage that is called RE6, this game is horrible compared to RE5, is like a mediocre action shooting game, with no feeling whatsoever, sooting gun was feel pointless with no efect unless empty entire clip in one zobie...inventory is crap, camera is rotating pointless, melee now can be used regardless seting up first, but with no efect and no fun...but after that epic fail called "Raccon City" this shitty game was expected....
Even with RE6's flaws, is it accurate to say that this game is only as good as the Iron Man 2 games and provides a far lesser gaming experience than other highly anticipated failures like Ninja Gaiden 3 and Alone In The Dark? I don't think so. While it may not have lived up to the standards that we built in our own heads, to honestly say that this game is worth only two more points than Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust is a bunch of malarky.
For those who started to complain about the INCOMPLETE on-disk DLC
1- BEFORE when a game released THIS IS IT, no extra souce on top.
2- NOW developers got the option to ADD what they didn't do for a reason or another
3- DLC means EXRTA Contents you didn't pay for
4- Either the DLC on-Disc or in STORE you'll pay at the end, so save your (Mbps)
5- IF & i repeat (IF) you DON'T want IT then DON't download IT, u DIDN't pay for IT
++ Last thing, even if gamers stop buying Stupid COD "MAPS" with a stupid SMILE ? on their faces ? and the MAPS vanished from the Top Top Twenty DLC that have been PURCHASED , you DON'T have the right to ask Capcom not to sell NEW "Customes/Charecters/Modes"
Just finished the 4 campaigns and gotta say, Kevin must either be suffering from depression or his wife\GF just left him. This game at worst deserves a 7.5. Anybody who has played the previous games but were put off by this review. Please buy it, don't make the mistake of not buying, because this game was worth every penny.
why are you complaining that RE died at 4? if RE continued at the same gameplay ang mechanics in this generation what would you say about capcom? kevin reviewed this game and focused on the earlier part of the game that somehow sucked. but if you go further you will enjoy and forget about the negative parts of the game. so buy it. thats 20 hours of gameplay and fun survival horror. some parts of leon's chapter are scary. so survival horror still lives. sorry for the grammar
This reviewer...must have had a bad nights sleep. The game is worth a 8.0 to 8.5 rating. Its a good game. There are a few areas that I do agree bring it down to a lower rating from time to time, but those are far and few. A 4.5 rating is definitely way of the mark here.
This is good game and worth a person time to play.
This review is trash. Period. I am a Resident Evil fan since 1996. And you mean to tell me this reviewer rates "Resident Evil 6" a 4.5 just like the score for "Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City". Yeah right. This is a joke. The scale, the new innovative gameplay like FINALLY walking/running while shooting and shooting from the ground and rolling around on the ground to avoid enemies, the stunning graphics, the nice set pieces, the attention to detail, the nice locales like China, the epic boss battles, the 4 interlocking campaigns, local and online multiplayer, Agent Hunt Mode, classic "Resident Evil" feel moments like when the dog jumps out of the door in Leon's campaign and the snake battle in Chris' campaign etc., watching the citizens panic and crash cars, the updated plant combine/store/use system, the get lost in the snow storm area. So many good things about "Resident Evil 6". This guy sounds like he has a personal vendetta against Capcom or this review is political. Period! Read Weekly Famitsu's review, IGN's review and gaming-age's review for more accurate information. Thank you Capcom for another incredible Resident Evil game! Peace.
guys guys Calmd down. Just Play RE Remake for gamecube Or wii XD. Re 6? Where? there is not such game. The last Good RE was RE revelations and before that RE 5,
Yes RE 5 Was GOOD with a friend playing with you. Not because horror or anything but because the IA SUCKED and was more fun with someone you could count.
Excuse mine bad grammar and english.
why the RPG lover must review resident evil 6?this game may not be perfect but it's not deserve this score!
sina9372
I like kevins' reviews but i think he dropped the ball on this one. I've thoroughly enjoyed all 4 campaigns and will play this game for platinum
This is a very poor way of rating a game. Judging such a great game by comparing it to its previous titles. If this was come out from a different developer with a completely different title this could've earned a 9/10 from GS. Stupid Kevin, no one asked you to rate this game for "how well it's following its franchise" or "Score against previous RE games" . You supposed to rate games compared to other games in industry.
rukshan47 You know, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinji_Mikami Shinji Mikami made the first Resident Evil and is the one who decided it should change in Resident Evil 4, so it's really annoying when people think that going an action route was a bad thing when even the original creator thought it was a good idea.
Villimax rukshan47 Well after Resident Evil 1 through CV came out it WAS time for a change. Shinji Mikami gave the series a great change... he kept all that people loved... the great atmosphere, the tension, the horror, the music and the macabre world while also refining the controls and gameplay and weapon leveling/selection. He did it right.
This is just a heap of wannabe Gears of War/Call of Duty dung throw together in an attempt to appeal to the new age kids that can't play a game without co-op and arcade, military shooter action. They should have just changed the name of all the characters and the actual name of the series and it might have done a little better.... no one would have known it had anything to do with Resident Evil if they had done that.
rukshan47 I have to believe you didn't actually read the review because he absolutely did not do what you said. He rated the game on it's own merits and rated it poorly because of the things summed up in "The Bad" - "Loads of bad, overlong quick-time events Excruciating overemphasis on mediocre set piece events Ruins the pace by constantly ripping control from you Poorly executed scripted events lead to unavoidable deaths." He specifically said it could have been a good atmospheric shooter, but it was undone by the bad gameplay decisions.
Many of the commenters here are saying the game is bad because it's not RE1 - 3, but not Mr. VanOrd.
rukshan47
This game sucks for many different reasons. Most of them Kevin already listed in the review. He DID NOT however say the game was bad because "it isn't like the previous games in the series". This game is a little better than a 4.5 though, in my opinion I would give it a 7.0 at the very most. A 9.0 would be absurd though. Leon's campaign and Ada's are just ok at best. Chris' campaign is absolutely atrocious and Jake's is mediocre.
Overall Resident Evil has sadly lost it's way. The designers in Japan see that Americans eat up games like call of duty and gears of war so they tried to cash in by turning Resident Evil into another generic third person arcade shooter with a bunch of poorly done set pieces and ton's of annoying, button mashing QTE's.
They've completely throw to the side everything that made this series popular and adored by fans. And it failed miserably. I really hope Capcom has learned their lesson with this failure and can somehow take the series back to what Shinji Mikami created, a great survival horror game with refined controls and a classic Resident Evil atmosphere otherwise this once beloved game series will be taken off life support and will die once and for all.
stop calling this "thing" a great game.... ffs people you would think you never played RE 1, 2, 3 and 4 ??!!! wtf is wrong with you people
4.5?its not fair.we can rate it 6 .resident evil 5 was so beautiful with immortal scence and gameplay.what is this?they call it resident evil??this is just a shooter
{whispering} i..... erm.... i quite liked it......... but dont tell anyone...... like sex with an ugly person, its not what you hoped for but still feels good.......... id have given it a 7
If RE6 was a movie, it would be one I would definately watch again. But unfortuantely, this was suppose to be a video game. While RE6 does go back to being a part of the horror genre, the game play is shotty at best. It's inconsistant of how these zombies have a longer range with their normal swiping attacks than a player does with their kick. It is also unfair of how a zombie is just slighty off center, and the knife attacks from the players will miss. Then you take the player(s) standing behind the same zombie, and they can still get hit.
It is also unfair for CAPCOM to force the players into situations that can be avoidable; such as comming accross a body that is clearly in your path and no way to walk around it. You decide to put a couple bullets into its head to be safe and sure right? Too bad!! When you eventually walk by it, it'll lunge at you and grapple dealing damage to the player that cannot be avoided. So what if players are paranoid and waste ammo shooting corpses that aren't really zombies. To me, that's a job well done if you're trying to keep players on their toes and forces them manage their resources. But with RE6, don't bother shooting at any corpses. If it's a zombie, it's going to get you no matter what.
There was also several times where I came accross a part in the game that was an obvious trap, but I did not have the option of avoiding it. For instance, I saw my path was going to take me through a metal detector. Being the smart guy I am, I looked for a way around it to prevent setting the alarm off. There was a desk to the side where I should have been able to jump over it and bypass the detector. But no, CAPCOM has taken the mentallity of, "You're going to play this game how WE dictate, and you're going to like it!!". Thanks for not giving the smart players any rewards ya jerks.
As to the graphics, it is of my opinion that they got worse compared to RE5 (I play on the Xbox 360 btw). They are still good, but I don't see any evidence of people's claims that CAPCOM has improved the look of the game. But to me, the game play and story are what matters to me the most. RE6 has good story and nice graphics, but since the game play is such a detrement, I cannot justify giving this game better than a 5 on a scale of 1-10.
terraphond You are as dumb as Kevin. Just like the reviewer you have this mentality that you should not die/get injured in a video game. That's just stupid. You pretty much expect the enemy to be stupid and easy to kill, which will kill all the fun in the game. You also expect to play this game as a stealth game. Again, stupid, this is not a stealth game, you are going to get zombies on your face no matter what because that's the point of the game.
dsvsdvsv terraphond No i think he made his point rather well - something you failed to do. Rather you chose to insult someone for their opinion. The point he made, well, is that RE6 is a linear, choice-less game that disappointed him relative to his expectations
philMcCrevis dsvsdvsv terraphond RE6 is a linear action game with a terrible plot. That doesn't make it bad. Why should a linear game have "choices"? You mean like avoiding that metal detector? Everyone hates the metal detector, but literally nothing happens when you walk through it. The alarm wakes up two zombies in the room you're in that you would have had to fight anyway.
We just finished the game and it kinda sucks, re is already part of my family. Since I was a kid I always watch my dad play re from ps1 up to ps3 and I must say..again that re6 sucks, I finished playing re4 and re5 countless times and re6 is just... i dunno "different". The story is great, really great BUT the graphics, the controls (the adjustments were killing me since I'm not really good at inverted controls, we're using ps3 btw) the places, even the monsters (as if the monsters were taken from left for dead) are ordinary. I was expecting so much from this game but it somehow failed to meet the expectations of re fans -_-
halloevans Ew, you liked the story?
Kevin is right I just played the game its a disrespect to the fans a mess and so stupid never deserve to be given score more than 5.0
cash_chabuk How does it disrespect the fans?
kittiegocat I agree with you.
Good game. Reviews of this game went more like "Waah, the deaths are bulls***." Yes, there are parts where the deaths are lame, but I have found many and most games to have them. At least this game succeeds at rectifying what RE5 was to the series. I will say that the melee was inconsistent, although fun, but other than that, the parts of this title add up well. I've been an RE fan for over a decade and I have to say that since I know we aren't going back to the original style, I have to think about what I liked and didn't like about those titles. Few of those elements carried over into this title, but at least it brought back zombies and had better and more layered enemy interaction.
I have to disagree with you and probably the majority of ppl bashing this game. I love this game and not because it has a Resident Evil title on the game. The 3 campaings intertwining was soo well executed and very interesting to me, especially after playing all 3 and seeing the points where each characters story intersects. The music is aboslutle epic! Every campaign has an excellent score that fits well with the story. Graphics and animations are top notch. Gameplay is decent and when you add the ability to use just about any wall, table, axe, or other extranal surface or object as a weapon depending on where you are, its outright amazing. I love slamming a zombies head into a wall or snatching an axe from one of em and slicing their head off! Yes some of the controls are a bit clunky but to be honest the controls for resident evil have ALWAYS seemed clunky to me even from the ps1 days. At least now you can kick and duck and dive from your enemy like you would actually do IN REAL LIFE adding to the realism and fun of the game. Its certainly not as scary as the other RE's but overall in each campaign and especially Leons was alot of scary and intense sections. RE5 was an action game and not scary at all. Boring, predictable, always sunny outside, and no atmosphere. RE6 is leaps and bounds more atmospheric than RE5. I feel if this game had ANY other title it wouldve got a higher rating. In my opinion it deserves between an 8.5- 9 out of 10. The good in the game FAR OUTWIEGHS the bad. Thats my 2 cents.
NakedSnakeBoss1 Yes 8.5 or 9 same as God of War, Uncharted, RE4, Batman Arkham City, Devil May Cry 1 & 3. I think you are one of the Capcom developers. For Commodore 64 game is 8.5 or 9 for sure
soheil_nassri STFU
All of those games are overrated and then RE6 is adversely underrated.
4.5 is vry less score for this great game....it is a great game with superb storyline..i played both RE4 and RE5..it is also very good game like both of them.games graphics are very good..i am waiting for next addition RE 7.....
this game is worse then the low budget games out there. wolfenstein and singularity had hours more of playing fun and tight controls and good camera angles. this game is a complete nightmare in every direction. i tried leon and at first glance thought the game was going to be awesom ei was so excited and as i played more and more the excitement turned into wtf, then turned into omg this is awfull, then turned into what the hell were they thinking, then shutting the game off and not trying the other scenarios, then a few days later re trying them and saying wtf again. i honestly think this might just be the absolute worst game ever. i have around 150 ps3 games, and i think this might be the topper of awfull game programming. im not suprised though i read a article stating that everyone left capcom all the original re programmers and big hit programmers of all the classics like mega man are all gone. the re franchise will not be getting better they lost 200 million dollars last year in sales. now there milking what money is left out of re
MelodicMizery Are you talking about the newer version of Wolfenstein? Ugh that game was horrid.
Vkain yah but wolfenstein was a work of art compared to this game. the point im trying to make is games they barely put any money into were more better put together then this. if the shooting, camera angles, and sloppy controls werent so bad then the game could of been better. really were talking about resident evil one of the best franchises on earth this game seemed like a low budget piece of crap
4.5 is too much for this game. Guys we do not want to play Gears of War or Binary Domain, we want Resident Evil, low ammo and great bosses. I played the game for 3 hours, you just walk and kill millions of zombies with full ammo and no puzzles. The upgrade system is dull. environment is so generic just screen after screen. Graphics is exactly like RE4 HD. We don't need shooter games anymore. People who are upset of review because some of them are die hard fans or newcomers. Japanese companies should really review their strategies. They see western companies and they want copy their methods but you are Japanese and they are westerners. See Konami ruined Silent Hill capcom ruined RE series and gave away DMC, no more Onimusha, Shenmue, Dino Crisis (1&2). Just they want make easy money and making games like Dead Rising and western RPGs. The review did the exact what they should do I know RE6 is a good shooter game but it is not anymore RE. Maybe they should change the title to Gears of Evil.
soheil_nassri
the graphics are nothing like re4 hd. The graphics are this games main strongpoint, even the reviewers have said that much. You say 4.5 is too much for this game yet you admitted its a good shooter. RE5 recieved a higher rating than this game and it was WAY more action oriented. RE6 at least brought zombies back and some of that old RE scary atmosphere. People are inconsistent with their critisism. If you give RE6 a 4.5 you HAVE to give RE5 a 1.0... Im almost done with the last campaign and havent gotten bored yet. The quick time events ARE annoying but theyre soo far and in between that its just petty to sit and complain about them in my opinion. Most of the time your shootinng zombies heads off or melee'ing the j'avo. And for people who feel the weapon ammo conservation wasnt neccecary, try playing on veteran or professional difficulty, I never play any game on normal or easy, of course the enemies will drop more ammo and health. Not saying the game is prefect cause its far from it but a 4.5 is not what it deserves.
Wish this is a decent game, but man 4.5 that's even worst then that famous truck game, but then maybe Gamsespot is serious this time, maybe the next COD is going to get a real serious reviewer and not Gamespot as Alice in Wonder Land, again!
Damn, maybe avoid the Xbox 360 version and see how the PC version fair any better, but man, Kevin must be Yahtzee to bashed such amazing series, though his review and you guys make me a little worried on purchasing this now.......
4.5, 8, 1 ...etc anything below 9 is a bad game for me, yes I'm THAT picky
vadagar1 Damn...... then I recommend Dark Souls then, 9.5 for you to grab XD Its an awesome game and give Gamespot a walk for that money, go get it and play, remember to PM me how the first 3 hours of your experience of a 9.5 game, better if it is a Prepare to Die Edition XD
WillyChong oh god i saw it at a friend the controls for PC are horrible XD the game looked nice and hard (my kinda game) but I don't have a pad and I don't want to get one for just one game....some times gamespot gets it wrong (like giving Amnesia anything below 9.5 is just retarded, that game rocks) and sometimes they just plain give crappy scores for no reason whatsoever.
whoever over all they are right-ish and RE6 just sucks ass cause I played all the RE games before so i have something to compare it with
I think we can all say that this game can really go either way. In one corner, one person may love the game, while in the other corner, another person may hate the game with a fiery passion. I can personally say that I enjoyed the game. It wasn't a horrible game, but it wasn't a great game either. A lot of things could have been improved. I feel that based on both player and critic reviews on Metacritic, this game was rated fairly based on that. I feel that a 4.5 is a little too low, yes, but I also feel that, considering the circumstances, this review is honest, sincere, and well written, as these are legitimate, real issues within the game that I have also encountered. This rating as well as the rating on many other websites, really describe that this game isn't going to be loved by everyone, just like every single other game that is mass-produced.To take one review as fact is ridiculous, and I feel that you will miss out on a somewhat decent game if you base your views on one poor review. Give the game a chance, and then decide whether you like it or not, even if you would like to wait for a price drop.
SuperB56 nah your wrong the game sucks its clear as that, your just trying to not feel bad for wasting so much money on it and forcing yourself to like it. as soon as you trade it in youll get out of denial
I don't think this game was bad at all, after the review i talked myself out of buying it and rented it instead and i wasn't a bit disappointed except that i didn't have time to finish it bc i was too busy! I played through the Chris campaign and it was great, idk why so many people are saying its lame and boring? I think its far more entertaining than the previous RE, which i did buy! I really think they should reconsider the incredibly low score!
Its a good thing i downloaded the demo to RE6 because if i didnt i probably wouldnt have bought it based on these bad ratings. good idea to put out a promotional online demo before launch because people like this guy will kill ur sales
i don't know why everyone is moaning, iv just finished the Chris levels and its f'in awesome!
if this game didn't have the res evil name and had different characters it would score ALOT higher IMO!
i know its not scary, so what, am 26 i don't get scared playing games anymore
the only flaw i found is the cover system, its rubbish, which is strange because it was good in the res evil ORC game, so why didn't they copy that system, anyway you don't need to use the cover system at all, so no biggy.
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Resident Evil 6
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- Publisher(s): Capcom
- Genre: Action
- Release: Oct 2, 2012 (US) »
- ESRB: M
