Resident Evil 6 Impressions
Written by Andre McEachrane Friday, 06 July 2012 13:08
Being someone who picked up Dragon’s Dogma not too long ago, myself and plenty of other people have been given the opportunity to try Resident Evil 6 nearly two months before anyone else. The best part of about playing this content is it isn’t a short and sweet demo. As many of you who have been following this game know RE6 features three separate campaigns each starring two different characters for co-oping. Luckily for us the demo includes a section from each campaign, each lasting between 20-30 minutes. Each of them can also be played either by yourself with a AI controlled partner, co-op using split screen, or online.
The first campaign features Resident Evil 4 hero Leon S. Kennedy now partnered with a new character named Helena. Leon’s story was probably my favourite out for the three (don’t worry I will be spoiler free). The gameplay felt very much like RE4 with a second character to help you out in combat. Dual wielding pistols, dodging and shooting from the ground (which I didn’t have too many opportunities to use) and a health bar which is now split into sections and automatically replenishes partially are all now included to change up your Resident Evil experience. Though I didn’t really have a problem with any of them they might anger some people. There was even a moment that kind of scared me a bit, hopefully there will be much more of that in the rest of the campaign.
Speaking of combat the most obvious change in RE6 is the ability to move and shoot at the same time which works exactly as you would expect it would and yes it feels amazing. Especially with the more action focused path the series has been taking this was a very necessary change. The melee move is mixed with punches, kicking and butts from your gun and now almost feels like it’s somewhat pulled straight from an action game. Everything is still locked to the one button but you’re pretty much pulling off combos against enemies which takes them out quite quickly and is way more fun than just continuously swinging your knife around.
Chris Redfield also returns once again with his own campaign. He partners with a new character Piers and the two of them make up what pretty much becomes the dude bro co-op shooter most gamers are very familiar with just with a Resident Evil skin. Being much faster paced than Leon’s story this is probably what a lot of people figured the Resident Evil franchise would eventually become. I’m not saying it wasn’t enjoyable it’s just hard to tell after only playing it for 20 minutes or so if it will be as good or better than other third person shooters that have helped to define the genre.
Lastly is the new character Jake. Jake and his partner Sherry’s story focuses on a boss battle with some short lived exploration of a factory. Also let it be known the Resident Evil 6 is another game to include the running towards the screen mechanic to show the thing you’re trying to get away from. So if you’re one of those people who get really annoyed buy those scenes prepare yourself. Something else I have to point out is the one time I died fighting the boss Sherry screams out Jake’s name nearly identical to how Snake’s name is shouted when he dies, which I got a kick out of.
The most annoying thing about RE6 so far and something that I hope is fixed before the game launches is the inability to pause. Whenever you press start button a Dead Space-like menu appears to change the game’s settings or quit and everything else in the game keeps moving. Same goes for when you’re dealing with your inventory which is fine but why I can’t pause the game at all, at least while playing alone or with another person in the same room makes no sense to me. I would understand the settings thing if you were playing online with someone but that just isn’t the case. And yes I tried the Xbox Guide button but no go.
So far it looks like Resident Evil 6 is headed in a good direction as long as you weren’t expecting a return to the original survival horror formula. I look forward to seeing more of RE6 in the future leading up to its October 2 release and for those who aren’t able to play the demo right now look for it sometime in September.
