A review of Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil 6 is the newest installation of the famous Capcom franchise, which dates back to the days of PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64. The game’s storyline takes place 10 years after the original, which places it in 2013.

This time around, Capcom has ditched any resemblance to the previous incarnations.

Gone are the infamous typewriters. The game now automatically saves at key story points. Chapters aren’t divided into four segments now, and each chapter is standalone.

Resident Evil has now evolved from its roots of survival-horror to action. It has moved away from scares. While the grotesqueness of the bosses might scare or shock the squeamish, all other frights are reduced to a few startling shocks.

Some benefits of the gameplay mechanics include easier shooting and switching between weapons.

The partner system works fantastically in this game. After playing through just two campaigns, it becomes clear that the game is not nearly as stressful as it could've been otherwise.

The new way the herbs work to heal is also creative and effective.

Instead of having to access the pause menu and select them, one can access them by simply clicking the right bumper to instantly heal a square of health.

There are two types of enemies in the game. In Leon’s campaign, traditional zombies are fought. The franchise hasn’t seen traditional zombies since the original three games.

In Chris and Jake’s campaigns, the new enemy is J’avo, which is similar to the enemies from Resident Evil 4 and 5, but dialed up to 11.

These enemies can mutate after a particular amount of damage has been done and become stronger.

The bosses are really creative, which has always been a strong suit of the franchise. Most of them are grotesque and quite challenging.

After beating a campaign, the game unlocks access to a feature that lets enables the player to campaign as the enemy.

The best aspect about Resident Evil 6 is the storyline. Divided into four campaigns, it is one of the best in the history of the franchise.

There are enough twists to make M. Night Shyamalan jealous.

There are a number of flaws to Resident Evil 6. For example, the aiming mechanism is inconvenient, especially when being chased by an enemy.

Another weak point is the health bar. Only having six squares of health makes “staying alive” really frustrating.

And towards the end of each character’s campaign, the player runs into zombies that cannot be killed. They’re able to be shot and incapacitated, but they get up soon afterwards.

The biggest flaw of Resident Evil 6 is its use of quick-time events. These are parts of the game that are a form of interactive cut-scene which involve limited player interaction.

This game over uses them and implements them poorly.

In fact, they are so frustrating that many reviewers complain that they “rage quit” because of the amount of patience it takes to get acquainted with them.

Animation Major Sara Chaunsit said of the game, “This was the best one so far, each Resident Evil Game that comes out it better than the last. I liked how they mashed 3 different characters in the story each with their own pace.”

David Clark, Computer Networking major agreed that the three campaigns were fun, but said, “I hated the big boss fights because they felt like they just kept dragging on.”

Clark did, however conclude, “I believe this game is better than all of the previous games.”

Professional reviewers and online feedback were not as enthusiastic. The game has received negative reviews since its release.

On the website Metacritic, which takes cumulative votes from its readers, the game’s score is 0.8 out of 10, which shows how much the fans are opposed to this game.

This reviewer awards the game a 6.5 out of 10, which is above average to good.

The game isn’t terrible, but the quick-time events and other frustrations hold it back massively. Even so, it’s worth a look if only for the storyline.

To see the current score of the game on Metacritic, visit www.metacritic.com. For more information on all of the Resident Evil games, visit www.capcom.com or residentevil.net.