3/5 ★ – SPL64's review of Resident Evil 6.

Concluding my first play through of the entire mainline Resident Evil series (0-8, Rev. 1&2, Code Veronica) with a divisive one: Resident Evil 6. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t dreading playing this a bit, I’d heard nothing but negative things beforehand, from fans, critics, practically everybody. From an outside perspective, to me, it seemed like more Resident Evil 5, but bigger and grander. In that regard, it definitely felt too action heavy. It felt like a Michael Bay movie, almost entirely devoid of horror too. As an action game, it was serviceable. No complaints gameplay-wise, everything worked how I expected it to, and it was mostly satisfying to control. Except for the melee combat: the hit detection and controls didn’t do that mechanic justice at all. I found myself missing basic attacks constantly. The enemy variety was admirable, considering the game’s scope and its successor’s laughably reduced number (RE7 had like, 2-3 enemy types). A lot of them were quite tedious to deal with, unfortunately, but I appreciated the effort and designs. I can only imagine how brutal a hard mode play through must be. Bosses, meanwhile, were sort of underwhelming. At their most difficult, it was me having to figure out what I was supposed to do. Speaking of, I often had a hard time figuring out where to go in this game: the paths and solutions blended into the environment too well. My main quarrel with the game on a technical aspect was the camera: what started out as something quirky and experimental quickly devolved into an annoying hindrance. Something that grew especially tiresome by the time I was playing Ada’s campaign. Now, story-wise… it was okay. Nothing remarkable, nothing mind-numbingly awful either. I was compelled most by Helena’s character of all protagonists, which surprised me given that Leon Kennedy was back. I liked how she was a flawed RE protagonist - we don’t get many of those. Likewise, I was enjoying the story during Leon’s campaign, as it felt snappy and mysterious. Replaying it from three other perspectives definitely deflated that somewhat. Still, I liked Chris’ characterisation, Piers was decent, Sherry returning was a fun surprise, Jake was better than I was expecting, and Ada was, well, Ada. Unpredictable, deceptive, and cool. Overall, is Resident Evil 6 the abomination people made it out to be? Not really. It’s an overly long, bloated game that severely overstayed its welcome - to the point where IF I ever replayed it, I’d likely only replay Leon’s campaign. But, it had its moments, and those who prefer the action-oriented side of Resident Evil should enjoy this entry. Messy story that’s trying to be experimental and all. Oh, and the menus were AWFUL