Resident Evil 6 Xbox 360 Review

The most famous survival horror series gets a Hollywood makeover. Unfortunately the only thing that remains scary is the gameplay.

Since Capcom, the best third party developer the video gaming world has ever seen, embraced the survival horror genre and created the first Resident Evil for the Playstation in 1996, we’ve experienced a lot of highs and some lows (Resident Evil Survivor being the most famous disappointment). But when the hotly anticipated Resident Evil 6 came out at the end of 2012, it’s hard not to put this game in the lows department even though you can clearly see Capcom have put a lot of blood sweat and tears into their successful series.

This is not because I hate the game whatsoever, I think it’s definitely an entertaining adventure and since it introduces a new arched storyline where you can play the same timeline but with three different partnerships is something to be admired. But on the whole experience playing the game, I wasn’t completely satisfied with it as I was with the previous titles in the series.

The premise of the game revolves around the outbreak of the C-Virus being let out in Bangkok China and you need to A) stop the outbreak spreading and B) stop the people responsible. This all intertwines with, as I mentioned before, with three playable partnerships in the game. These are; Resident Evil veteran Chris Redfield, the now captain of the BSAA (Bio-Terrorism Security Assessment Alliance) and one of his team members Piers Nivans, DSO (Division of Security Operations) Agent Leon S Kennedy and US Secret Service Agent Helena Harper and another DSO Agent Sherry Birkin and mercenary Jake Muller. Through these partnerships, the story develops further and your motivation for each play through is different. For instance, Leon and Helena witness the death of the President of the United States and they are framed of his murder. They know however that the man responsible is the same man who is behind the C-Virus outbreak, National Security Advisor Derek Simmons who also so happens to be Sherry’s boss. You later find out what connotations this has on the other playable characters but I’ll let you find that one the history of young Jake Muller yourselves.

The story is all well and good but that’s not the problem in this game. It’s seems to have taken a leaf of out of Resident Evil 5’s book and expanded the combat mechanics and have instead taken away the horror and puzzle elements which made the series so worthwhile. I did not get spooked once during this game and made sure I played it during the night with the lights off every time. It’s a sad experience when you play a game that’s in the ‘horror’ genre and you don’t get some sort of fear for going into an infected house or an abandoned warehouse. And I think the reason is that the game is too fast paced for any build up to take any effect. Instead, they try and build up the characters relationships with their partners to make their reasons for their actions to stop the C-Virus more personal rather than doing it for the greater good. Also what takes away the scary atmosphere is the overkill on the checkpoints. There isn’t that sense of keeping yourself alive otherwise you have to go back to your last save point anymore which is a shame because now you will play from your last checkpoint which is usually when you entered a new area. Because of this, you don’t mind running into danger and getting in the middle of J’avo and Zombie range when in a game like this, you should be cautious and thoughtful when being outnumbered 10/1 with flesh-eaters.

The combat system isn’t bad but it can be a little frustrating at times because you often run out of bullets and are hoping your enemies are packing some shells. But often enough they drop skill points which are used to buy skills at the end of the chapter to help you out in later chapters of the game. So I bought the skill ‘more ammo drops’ from enemies and ultimately I didn’t notice a difference so don’t really think they help that much to a certain extent. What I did most of the time was open a can of whoop-ass on the J’avos and zombies to save my bullets for the enemies that needed it like the mutated J’avos and the bosses. Unfortunately that’s not as exciting as using your shotguns or an assault rifle to take down many of the critters at once. The most satisfying weapon in the game has to be Pier’s Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle. It’s fast and slices through anything as if it wasn’t there. But with bullets running scarce, you’ll be lucky to enjoy a few rounds before the half way stage of a chapter.

With each pairing giving off 6 chapters in total each, you may be excused to think this game is short but considering how it can take up to 2 and a half hours to finish a chapter, you will be spending a fair few evenings getting through the game with the different pairings. And with the game now focused on pairings rather than playing by yourself, you can play the game with a friend or have the other character a computer ally. This is handy for when you’re nearly dead and need someone to snap you out of your paralysed state or if your buddy has a spare green herb to get you fighting fit. I personally recommend playing with a friend because that adds so much more to the experience and you can talk tactics whilst playing. You can never trust the computer player to do what you want.

There is also the added bonus of finally playing as the mystery character Ada Wong when you complete the game with each pairing thus extending the gameplay and the adventure. It’s a good insight to a character whom many people will have mixed feelings for as being a good character or a baddy. We finally see into her psyche and find out if Leon is right to trust her so much.

Though I have been rambling on about the flaws in this game, I’m not going to say that it’s a terrible game. You have some great ideas for the gameplay, at times the effects are mind blowing and the story is as gripping as ever. The only real fault is how this game has to have the Resident Evil title over it and therefore has a lot to live up to. With the series being so big, there is no wonder why there was an over the top budget for this game and you can see why the credits last around 20 minutes to get through everyone who worked on the game. But the more you put in, some aspect are going to get left behind and the lack of scary moments and hardly any puzzles to keep you scratching your head for hours makes this a lot more straight forward than what I am used to. Sad to say but this is a dip in the Resident Evil series.  I would recommend Resident Evil Revelations instead. I played it on the 3DS last year and it was such a thrilling experience. The game recently has been ported to the PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii U. With HD graphics, this looks to be the true sequel of the series.


Verdict: No doubt a solid game but when you compare it with the other games in the series; it is certainly not up there with the best of them. 7/10