Resident Evil 6 is a game that exists.
I do not mean that in a condescending or reductive way, and don't let my score tell you otherwise. This is a rare situation where I have perfectly balanced mixed feelings on a game. I truly have never felt this way before. Everything I think of that I like in this game, I also dislike. Everything I dislike, I also like. What works conceptually, is executed poorly. What is executed greatly, is broken conceptually. There is nothing I can say about this game that feels concrete other than the fact that it does, indeed, exist.
Is it a bastardization of the Resident Evil name to turn Chris's campaign into a "zombie" Call of Duty, or is it just the natural progression of where the fourth and fifth entries took the series? Do the new additions to the cast work well with the returning crew, or should they have just been swapped out for other classic characters (e.g. Claire for Helena)? Does the multilinear hyperlink cinema-esque storytelling lead to one of the grandest and most intense stories in a horror game, or does it just end up as treading water and repetitive for the player? Is this the result of Capcom truly wanting to create the biggest, best Resident Evil game they could, or is it the result of giving the game designers a blank check after Resident Evil 5 rolled in such impressive numbers?
These are the questions Resident Evil 6 leaves me, and the answers to all of them are "yes." Part of me thinks it's bold for not trimming itself down at all, the other part of me thinks it's exhausting. Part of me thinks it's impressive to not have a single filter on what you put in your game and cram every idea possible into it, the other part felt like quitting halfway into the game. Part of me really does think this is the sprawling, maximalist epic it's been described as, the other part thinks it's terminally bloated.
Am I sounding repetitive? My apologies. I suppose I should've thought about how to word this review better, but instead, I was too busy putting in every single thing I thought of.
I do not mean that in a condescending or reductive way, and don't let my score tell you otherwise. This is a rare situation where I have perfectly balanced mixed feelings on a game. I truly have never felt this way before. Everything I think of that I like in this game, I also dislike. Everything I dislike, I also like. What works conceptually, is executed poorly. What is executed greatly, is broken conceptually. There is nothing I can say about this game that feels concrete other than the fact that it does, indeed, exist.
Is it a bastardization of the Resident Evil name to turn Chris's campaign into a "zombie" Call of Duty, or is it just the natural progression of where the fourth and fifth entries took the series? Do the new additions to the cast work well with the returning crew, or should they have just been swapped out for other classic characters (e.g. Claire for Helena)? Does the multilinear hyperlink cinema-esque storytelling lead to one of the grandest and most intense stories in a horror game, or does it just end up as treading water and repetitive for the player? Is this the result of Capcom truly wanting to create the biggest, best Resident Evil game they could, or is it the result of giving the game designers a blank check after Resident Evil 5 rolled in such impressive numbers?
These are the questions Resident Evil 6 leaves me, and the answers to all of them are "yes." Part of me thinks it's bold for not trimming itself down at all, the other part of me thinks it's exhausting. Part of me thinks it's impressive to not have a single filter on what you put in your game and cram every idea possible into it, the other part felt like quitting halfway into the game. Part of me really does think this is the sprawling, maximalist epic it's been described as, the other part thinks it's terminally bloated.
Am I sounding repetitive? My apologies. I suppose I should've thought about how to word this review better, but instead, I was too busy putting in every single thing I thought of.