Resident Evil 6 Review
It has been about weeks now since I finished Resident Evil 6, and it took me a while to write this down because I just could not bring myself to express how utterly disappointed, yet equally amazed, I was with this game. There is so much going on yet so little to get attached to, that it is very hard to make a firm decision on whether I had a good or bad experience.
Campaign and Structure
The story of Resident Evil 6 is told through four different perspectives, which we are able to go through via four different campaigns. Right from the get-go, these four campaigns are available, and we can choose any one of them. By design, this means there really is not any strict order to playing each campaign, as they all happen either simultaneously or at specific moments in the mostly linear timeline of the game.
Yes, it is very confusing, but just think of it as one linear story where we can take part in specific moments depending on which characters are involved.
Aside from the four perspectives presented as campaigns, there is also a Prelude option for those playing the game for the first time.
Prelude
Naturally, I chose this, and it led me to what seemed to be the middle of Leon S. Kennedy’s campaign.
The Prelude starts off with cutscenes showing a city overrun by zombies. Then it cuts to a first-person perspective where we are under fire from a helicopter. We then have to carry a woman away from the road into an alleyway, and it is only then, once we get to safety, that we reveal that we were playing as Leon.
The dragging sequence was not entirely gameplay, but neither was it entirely a cutscene. We had to mash the spacebar to keep ourselves moving, almost like the final part of the 2007 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, where we had to mash a button to pull the knife out of Soap’s chest. That might be too obscure a reference, but this intro section of the Prelude definitely reminded me of that specific Call of Duty: Modern Warfare gameplay sequence.
Anyway, after getting to safety, we then proceed to drag the woman with us, with one of her arms over our shoulders. We cannot attack or change paths, only move straight forward toward a door at the end of the alley. From there, we continue dragging her, crawling under an obstacle, and finally laying her down so we can find something to help tend to her wounds.
A nearby military truck sits just in front of us, and we open it to find a Green Herb to combine with the other two Green Herbs already in our inventory for the woman, who is named Helena Harper, Leon’s partner in his campaign. Before we can actually help Helena, a zombie comes rushing toward us, and we get into a QTE sequence where we have to mash buttons to stab the zombie in the face. A nice close-up of the zombie’s face ends the QTE, and it was definitely a scary sight to see. We finally get to heal Helena back up and continue our way toward the middle of the city.
Core Gameplay Loop
I could go play-by-play with the Prelude, but it essentially teaches us the core gameplay loop of the game, which is a mix of QTEs, co-op action, and survival horror.
The mechanics, along with the different icons and UI, reminded me of various other games, as if it were a mashup of different experiences I have had throughout my gaming experience. For example, the illustrations in the middle of the screen, along with the button prompt icon, previewed what was going to happen or would be used. To help out your partner, you can see your character grab your partner from the ground. For opening doors with your partner, two hands holding a doorknob show up. These are pretty similar to Metal Gear Solid 4’s illustrations that show up when doing certain actions like grabbing an enemy from behind or initiating CQC.
Controls
The controls were definitely a bit outdated, but not necessarily bad. The movement felt similar to Resident Evil 5’s, with the WASD buttons for primary movement controls and the mouse for camera movement. Despite the resemblance, Resident Evil 6’s controls definitely felt much smoother and more reactive. The camera also was not fighting my mouse movements like in Resident Evil 5, though turning around while running still felt a bit awkward. From how I observed it, the movement still had some semblance of tank controls, so turning while running did not immediately rotate the character but instead did it slowly, almost as if pivoting while moving.
Combat
Combat is a key focus in the game, as most enemies will run up to you for a bite, swipe, or grab. However, zombies are not the only enemies you fight. A variety of bioweapons and bio-engineered humans appear throughout the game, with some flying, running on all fours, having stone-like skin, or even growing as large as an orc from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Despite the game’s action-oriented nature, it still managed to feel genuinely scary in certain moments, which is a stark contrast to how Resident Evil 5 felt for me. Still, I cannot truly call it a horror game, only a game with occasional horror moments. Most of the time, the experience felt chaotic and somewhat similar to Gears of War, especially during Chris Redfield’s campaign.
More in line with Gears of War, wall-hugging and cover mechanics are part of the combat loop, as certain enemies attack from a distance.
And when I say “shoot,” I literally mean enemies using guns. Some of the bio-engineered beings encountered in the game are enhanced humans. A few of them behave wildly, flailing their weapons around while firing, while others appear more controlled and physically enhanced. However, the enhancements do not feel especially impactful because, if I remember correctly, there are barely any regular human enemies in the game to compare them against.
The enemies that fight back with guns really disappointed me, as their mere presence takes out the horror element by about 90% just because of their design. Guns, while they are scary in real life, have become mere playthings in video games, so it is hard to make us fear them. The ones who wield them are also pretty much human-looking, so that doesn’t help them be scary at all.
Worse, one of the common enemies with guns looked like they came from Kamen Raider with their bug-eyed heads and clothing.
But enough about the enemies that disappointed me. I actually liked a couple of the bosses and their designs, which, while wacky and ridiculous, were genuinely awesome in how they were presented.
While I want to talk about all of the bosses, spoiling too much might ruin the surprise for anyone reading this who may want to experience the game for the first time. So instead, I’ll just mention one franchise that immediately came to mind during one of the boss fights: Jurassic Park.
Story
While Resident Evil 4 continues Leon’s story and the existence of a new virus called the Plaga, and Resident Evil 5 ties up Wesker’s storyline while introducing the Uroboros virus, Resident Evil 6 attempts to expand Ada’s story while dragging old characters—and also the entire world—into chaos, all while introducing yet another new virus: the C-Virus.
Honestly, I cannot think of a concise way to summarize the story, as it takes place across multiple locations with vastly different themes and spans roughly six months, from December 2012 to July 2013.
During this time, we learn about various major developments with old characters and the world of the Resident Evil franchise, from the existence of Albert Wesker’s son, Jake Muller, and Sherry Birkin’s condition after Resident Evil 2, to Leon S. Kennedy’s continued service to the US government and Chris Redfield’s disillusionment with—and eventual falling out with—the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA).
One major difference in this game is that characters who are arguably considered “side characters” take on major spotlight roles, particularly Ada Wong and Sherry Birkin.
On one hand, Sherry Birkin is tasked with tracking down Jake Muller, who holds the key to producing a vaccine for the C-Virus. Her storyline is relatively straightforward compared to the others. On the other, Ada Wong seeks to take down the big bad guy, Derek C. Simmons, who helped create the C-Virus.
However, Ada’s story is a really complicated one.
Ada’s story goes far beyond the events of the game itself. In Resident Evil 6, we learn that Ada Wong previously worked for Derek C. Simmons before eventually leaving him. Simmons became obsessively fixated on Ada after she left, and that obsession ultimately played a major role in the creation of the C-Virus.
Alongside Simmons is Carla Radames, a scientist who was forced to become a clone of Ada Wong. Carla herself is obsessed with Simmons and is deeply jealous of his fixation on Ada, creating this bizarre and honestly funny love triangle that somehow becomes central to the game’s entire plot.
In many ways, the C-Virus exists because Simmons wanted to have Ada back via cloning, while Carla devoted herself to helping complete the virus in hopes of gaining Simmons’ attention and affection. I truly do not know what to feel about this backstory of the C-Virus, but it does make Ada more than just being Leon’s love interest and occasional saviour, as well as Wesker’s lackey—that is honestly who she really is in Resident Evil 2 and 4.
Campaign Differences
The different campaigns have different main characters: Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper, Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans, Jake Muller and Sherry Birken, and finally Ada Wong.
Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper
Leon’s story starts with the death of the President of the United States and ends with the demise of Derek C. Simmons in China, with the help of Helena Harper and Ada Wong. During this time, the gameplay takes place across a city in the United States, where we encounter civilians in the streets, trying to save them along the way.
We also go to a large chapel with an underground laboratory beneath it, as well as some large-scale underground mines and ruins.
This campaign is the only time that the game truly had some horror vibes, in the university at the start, and the streets we went through. I honestly loved the street section as it felt more grounded, and Leon trying to save civilians is very in character for him to do.
I actually thought that this was some sort of glimpse at how a Resident Evil outbreak remake would look like, but it has been a decade since Resident Evil 6’s release, so I guess that’s a no.
Aside from the street sections, I also enjoyed the airplane section of the game, as it was a closed environment, and fighting zombies up close made combat more gritty—much like how it was in Resident Evil 2.
Oh yeah, who is Helena Harper? She worked for Simmons because he kidnapped her sister. Her sister is the primary antagonist of the first chapter of Leon’s campaign, as she becomes a bioweapon after being forcefully experimented on. Some hints of romance are presented, but I felt that it was just fan service since Leon has the “ladies’ man” image.
I personally think she did not add anything to the story nor the character development of Leon, so it was a bit of a waste to not just have Leon pair up with Ada instead.
Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans
Chris Redfield’s story is one of failure, depression, and redemption. After having most of his team killed in an operation in July 2012 where he met Sherry and Jake, he fell into deep depression and had to be pulled back into action by one of the only surviving team members he had, Piers Nivans.
Piers seemed to be the hot-headed second-in-command of Chris’ team and would almost always find conflict with new people he thought were disrespecting Chris or their team. He held Chris in high regard, which is why he took valuable time and effort to try and bring him back, even taking fellow BSAA members along when he went to the bar Chris was staying at during the intro cutscene of Chris’ campaign.
Gameplay for Chris’ story is action-heavy and almost completely absent of any horror, at least in my experience. You start off with a custom-made assault rifle, so compared to the other characters in the other campaigns, there is already a clear encouragement from the developers to just go ham and rain bullets down on enemies, and that is pretty much how the entire campaign plays out.
There is nothing really remarkable or unique about Chris’ campaign other than the weapons. With the presence of a large invisible snake as one of the enemy bosses, I think there was an attempt to make us recall Yawn from the first Resident Evil. Of course, this may be lost on new players, but those who played the first game in the franchise would know that Yawn is another large bioweapon snake that bit and poisoned Bravo Team Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) member Richard Aiken.
Piers managed to convince Chris to return to the field in hopes of chasing down “Ada Wong,” who killed his team. However, in the process, Piers dies and Chris seemingly spirals even further into his hopeless outlook on life, just when it had seemingly been revived after spending time with Piers and saving both Sherry and Jake. What comes next for Chris would later be revealed in the games that followed.
If there was anything significant in Chris’ story, it would be the level where Chris and Piers have to fight against enemies on a rotating circular platform; that level sucked.
Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin
Albert Wesker having a son was a big surprise for me, but it felt like it came out of nowhere, and most of this reveal’s potential went nowhere too. Somehow, it seemed that the writers and developers of Resident Evil have a bit of regret closing the chapter on Wesker’s life in Resident Evil 5, especially with how they still keep him relevant until Resident Evil 9 with Zeno.
Anyway, Jake and Sherry’s campaign starts off as a love story and ends as a love story. Right from the get-go, tension between the characters is established as both share connections to being experimented on and being biologically different from regular humans. Sherry is also seen to be a bit uneasy whenever Jake suddenly holds her at times. That was cute, and I did not mind it.
The actual story, however, is that Jake’s blood contains the vaccine that will cure everyone from the C-Virus, and that is about it. They met Chris early on in July 2012, then met him and Leon again 6 months later, after getting captured and experimented on for quite some time.
Gameplay-wise, their campaign involves a bit of stealth, which was a great change of pace from all the fast-paced action during Chris’ campaign, but it still lacks the horror and grittiness from the first chapter of Leon’s campaign. The most surprising part of Jake and Sherry’s campaign is the semi-open region exploration during Chapter 2. The blizzard mechanic that disrupts vision was fun, and the radar mechanic was a bit nostalgic; it reminded me of older games like Syphon Filter in some way.
Additionally, stealth was part of the gameplay in certain sections where we had to sneak past enemies, lure them into certain areas, and hide in interactable small spaces like trash carts. But that gameplay did not last long and only felt like a break from the overall action- and exploration-heavy focus of Jake and Sherry’s campaign.
Some time during the later chapters of Jake and Sherry’s campaign, they are also saved by Ada Wong despite not being able to speak to or identify her at all. Not that it matters that much, but being able to have Sherry connect with a lot of the characters she met in the past (except for Claire Redfield) was pretty cool.
However, much of who Sherry is, or most of what she went through, seems to be explained through the collectibles in the game that unlock notes. Unfortunate in my eyes, as Sherry (along with Rebecca Chambers) has been a character that went missing for such a long time and deserves a bit more spotlight. While Sherry still showed growth and is a main character in this entry of the franchise, they should have made her have more impact aside from being part of an ensemble, which makes it hard for her to stand out.
Ada Wong
Core to this franchise entry’s entire story is Ada Wong, which I already explained in the first few paragraphs, so we do not have to go over it again.
While I enjoyed that Ada Wong is finally a playable character, just like Jake, Ada’s presence felt underwhelming due to the way they made her get involved in each and every other character’s campaign.
Ada’s campaign is probably the most fragmented, as it involves jumping to new locations every few chapters without explaining how quickly she got to each area. This felt similar to the issue I had with Carlos Oliveira’s sections in Resident Evil 3 Remake, where the main character just miraculously pops up in different places.
Gameplay-wise, Ada’s campaign almost stood out with its first chapter in the submarine, where we had the option to sneak past enemies and silently eliminate them. Stealth seemed to be a big part of Ada’s campaign, but that ultimately got thrown out the window in favor of action-heavy gameplay in the later chapters, which was incredibly disappointing. The submarine section also featured swimming and diving, which were unexpected gameplay mechanics I never thought would be in a Resident Evil game.
Overall, I honestly wish they made it a point to have vastly different experiences across the campaigns, but there just was not enough separating them. Whenever there was a unique gameplay element in one campaign, it simply became a one-time gimmick or a completely optional and suboptimal playstyle as opposed to just going guns blazing against enemies.
Is Resident Evil 6 A Good Game? Is Resident Evil 6 Worth It?
Resident Evil 6, unfortunately, was mostly unenjoyable for me. The only parts that I truly had fun with were the street chapter in Leon’s campaign and fighting Simmons the first and second time he transforms in China.
Other than that, the game just felt too fragmented and was trying to do too much at once. Nothing truly stuck, and the game, unfortunately, felt like it had no identity.
However, cooperative online or couch play definitely ramps up the fun, and it just sucks that to experience better gameplay, you need friends to play the game.
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