2/5 ★ – MechaniChris's review of Resident Evil 6.

This franchise is like a pendulum, swinging back and forth between story focus and gameplay focus, every now and then hitting that sweet spot right in the middle. I’ve often said that I care more about a good story in these games, and this 6th numbered entry seemed determined to stare me in the eyes as it pushed that belief to its absolute breaking point. I read a review once of The Rise of Skywalker that basically said it’s like saying that you want mashed potatoes, and then being tied to a chair and forced fed mashed potatoes until you throw up. That’s how I felt playing this game. There’s so much plot, so many crossing storylines, so many cutscenes and QuickTime events, I’m surprised they were able to fit any gameplay in at all. But let’s talk about that gameplay. It stinks! The worst of any mainline game by a marathon. The controls are at their clunkiest, everything is too fact paced, the combat is repetitive and unsatisfying, and every single god damn level goes on for twice as long as it rightfully should. I’ll get back to the length in a second because I want to talk about how an entire action focused game has bad action. The new enemies are almost entirely gun based, so it feels like playing a generic shooter half the time, and the mutated monsters are all bullet sponges that just slowly melt away when they’re dead, meaning you’ll likely waste half a clip shooting their corpse before you realize you already killed it. The boss fights are plentiful and uninspired. They all amount to either running away or just shooting a big thing for 20 minutes. Combine that with the breakneck camera angle shift when you have a new objective. I thought I was going to be sick trying to get my bearings in some of the chase scenes. The only times I ever really enjoyed myself were in the early sequences where you’re only fighting zombies on a college campus. That’s fun! I don’t see why these games feel the need to invent a new enemy class every game. You nailed it with zombies. Granted, you can now kung fu your way through dozens at a time, but it’s the only portion of the game that felt like Resident Evil for a while, and it’s also easily the best campaign of the four available. In fact, I’d argue the campaigns get worse as as you continue the game, I guess because they’re supposed to get harder, but really they’re just more annoying. Keep in mind there are 4 full campaigns. This is the longest game in the franchise. How dare they! I’ve got to run through the same China marketplace in 4 separate campaigns, and you have the audacity to make each chapter there over an hour? And not only that, because you’re crossing over, you have to fight the exact same boss fights multiple times! The game is long enough without forcing me to replay the same levels and watch the same god damn cutscenes because the other characters are also in it. As for the story itself… it’s okay? It honestly starts really strong and held my interest for a while, but began to get far too complicated for its own good by the end. Like I said, Leon’s story is the best, both in terms of storytelling, levels, and in the overarching villain of the story. Chris’ levels are better to play, but his story is incredibly uninteresting. He’s just running missions and constantly misinformed and you never really get a grander sense of the picture. Though, admittedly, his new partner Piers is very fun to play as in the final level. Next up is Jake, who fully sucks as a character. Like, I thought Chris was boring but wowza, Jake takes generic video game protagonist to the next level. Mercifully, he’s accompanied by an adult Sherry Birkin, who is a joy to see again. I’d truly love to see her character continue to appear because she’s by far the most interesting character in this game. And then lastly you have Ada’s campaign, which is pretty much the same as all her other campaigns in that she’s just on the outskirts of the story and plays through everything you already did. It’s fine. It’s not like the worst game I’ve ever played or anything, and there a moments that fun pokes through, but it’s such a disappointing entry for all the potential it has. This could have been a great game with some tightening up, but it feels like their ambition got the better of them. Also, you’re going to have an Avengers assembly of characters and you give us boring new people instead of like Claire, Jill, or Sheva? Why does Chris even have a new partner? He’s had so many partners! Why isn’t this game good?!