Resident Evil 6 PS3 Review

No where near as bad as everyone is claiming it to be, there maybe spoilers you are warned

       Look I love the Resident Evil series (with the exception of a few spin-off) and I understand why many people want what the series once was, horror. I played through all the old one's and to be honest the reason why its even survival horror is the fact that you have to contend with the clunky controls, non moving camera, and the non existent ammo for your weapon. Though it had a good story and some memorable moments it was not as good as we all would like to think of it. Anyway I digress, with time everything changes and what was once will probably never be that again but thats not a bad thing especially in the case of Resident Evil 6. 

     Resident Evil 6 builds on the mechanics of 4 and 5 and creates a more streamlined, fast-paced, action oriented experience from the get go. I'll be honest if your looking for horror you will be disappointed, but honestly when has this series be scary or for that matter not relied on jump scares anyway I digress. Instead of those clunky feeling characters of the past we are given agile characters that can dodge, evade, counter fluidly and finally shoot and move at the same time. This makes your character feel like they are part of a current generation of video games and this is a good thing as I never understood why people would want heavy controls and only being able to shoot when stopped its beyond me. Though the cover system isn't terrible it should have been worked on a little more, why do I have to press two to three buttons to take cover. It's not a broken system but it does need to be fined tuned.

     Unlike previous games in the series you will be fighting both the standard slower moving zombies and then you will go toe-to-toe with the faster J'avo (Las Plagas) type enemies that will mutate depending on where they take a set amount of damage. This is actually quite interesting, for awhile and it presents new ways of tackling old enemies which make finding out weakness' of your foes that much more rewarding and ammo conversing. There are times when they will through dozens of enemies at you, but you don't always have to kill them all fight or flight that is your decision. The bosses in the game are your typical mutated antagonist and super giant boss that we have come to expect from the fourth game of the series. These guys generally eat more bullets then everything else in the game but can be taken down fast if you figure out the right way to kill them. Though at the end of Leon's campaign that boos is just frustrating, it just keeps coming back and I know at this point its a staple of Resident Evil to have that but it does get a bit tedious. 

      You won't be killing these guys with your bare hands (mostly) as you are provided with a number of weapons and tools to destroy your foes. From pistols to grenade launchers you have the tools to fight of wave after wave of undead foes. Each character has a different load out of weapons but each will have the same types, excluding Ada who has her crossbow and machine pistol. We are also given skills in this outing that can boost a variety of different parameters. They are expensive to upgrade but they are essential to surviving higher difficulty levels in the game, they add a nice depth or customizability to your chosen character and while not being game ruining or downright useless they are at best situational. On complaint I constantly have been hearing is the lack of ammunition, but there is a skill that makes ammo drop more frequently and ammo will drop almost every other kill. It's a nonsensical argument and makes me feel that the reviews didn't bother to actually checkout the game enough before writing some of their complaints. Though again the downside is that the skills are expensive and at times some of the guns feel a little under powered compared to the enemies that are being fought. Melee attacks can feel underpowered and overpowered at times. Chris and Leon's seem to be fine but Jake is a beast when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. The A.I at times can be finicky, either being way to cheap for the bosses or being way to stupid for your team mates, especially during some of the chase sequences your A.I. partner will get left behind and you will die hundreds of times because of this. Another thing is the on rails sections, while not bad they do take away from the experience though they are few and far between. 

      Resident Evil 6 returns with mercenaries mode, the standard online co-op, and a cool but underdeveloped mode called Agent Hunt. Mercenaries is great as it usually is and I never experienced any lag so far, the co-op is equally good. If they spend more time on it for next game the agent hunt mode could be a great vs multiplayer, but in this game it is restricted to a few stages and maybe its just me but I don't find it all that great yet. There's also your standard records and collection modes and leader boards to see how you stack up to everyone else online.

    Resident Evil's story this time around presents us with a few different perspectives when playing through. Leon, Chris, and Jake have their own unique campaigns that at points intersect with each others. Now what this means is each main pair (Leon/Helena, Chris/Piers, Jake/Sherry) have two chapters that are unique to them, two chapters where they interact with the other pairs (China), and a last unique boss chapter. Ada only has one unique chapter and the others are interwoven with the other parts of the game. Though they never tell you in what order you should play the campaigns it is up to you to find it out, though it becomes pretty apparent as you progress which chapters should be played in what order. This is another part that this game has been docked marks, that there is no direction to the story and again this is also another none fault. I digress the story is solid, nothing to great but it serves its purpose and while it could have been a little better it   serves its purpose and works. Though playing through Ada's campaign is in my opinion the best campaign Jakes is good and Leon's is fine. I'm not a big Chris Redfield fan and his campaign was by far the weakest, and since he was the main in the last game his presence isn't really necessary in this one. The new characters fit in well, with Jake being arguably the best out of the bunch (I hope they expand on his back story in later games), Sherry while not being a new has a purpose and she is a fine addition to the cast, Helena is another fine addition to the cast her back story echo's that of other Evil mainstays but she is nonetheless a decent addition. Piers I couldn't care for, you could have just substituted any other characters for him even Claire Redfield would have been better.

  Bottom line is that Resident Evil 6 is a solid game, though there are some flaws here and there it is nonetheless a great fun game, add in co-op and you have probably the best co-op game of the year. It is unfair how this game has been treated by some of those (un)professional reviewers. If you are a fan and are open to change you will love this game if not....what the hell is wrong with you.

Resident Evil 6: 7.5/10
+Fluid controls
+Lots of different enemies
+Melee kills are satisfying
-Story could have been a bit better
-Enemies can either be way to easy or the opposite
-Cheap escape sequences can be brutally tough

     This isn't a negative really but can we get another female cast lead, please Capcom for the love of God in the sequel get rid of Chris and Leon. Bring in Claire, Jill, Rebbecca, Ada, Sherry, and what ever other new heroine you want to introduce. Claire deserves another game lead, Chris and Leon need to take a back seat for awhile.