Matthew Byers | Contributing Writer
Resident Evil has become a huge phenomenon in the gaming world that was born a video game but grew to have movies, comics, novels, and animated films. With such a huge success, it would be hard to believe there are bad games in the bunch that spoil the rest.
Resident Evil 6, released October 2012, is in all honesty a game I want to like. The graphics are amazing, the physics and gore system is high quality, and there are numerous cooperative features so you can fight the zombie/mutant hoards with a friend. This being said, the game has numerous issues. The weapons in the game, starting with a pistol and a knife, don’t feel like they really do damage, despite putting a well noticeable amount of physical damage to a zombie. It can take up to four headshots before a zombie can go down, and with limited ammo and numerous zombies, the odds are already against you.
The health system of the game is fairly weak in itself. Medicinal herbs are far and few and the slightest touch from a zombie will cause damage. This wouldn’t be so bad if Medicinal herbs could heal health, but the most common herbs heal only one peg of health. The much rarer red herbs can heal up to six pegs, but you require so much health with such little given that you’ll quickly be running out of both ammo, health, and be stuck on using a knife that puts you much closer to getting damaged and failing the game or mashing the melee button where sometimes you’ll just miss.
The multiplayer function is barebones at best. With numerous attempts at accessing other multiplayer functions such as survive the horde, survivors vs mutant, etc., the servers are not well maintained. This means that even if you have perfect internet and thousands of people are looking for online partners, you will never find anyone beyond the main game.
The noticeable difference in this game compared to older Resident Evil games is the much more linear pathway system. Older Resident Evil games require you to explore mansions, the horrific Raccoon City, or even a Spanish village and Castle. This game sets you on a one way path with minute opportunities to explore for health and weapons.
I was lucky enough to buy this game on sale with all of the (fairly useless might I add) DLC, or downloadable content. Numerous other reviewers rate this game well below a positive score, such as Gamespot rating it a 4.5/10, Eurogamer rating it 6/10, and Metacritic rates it 67-74/100. I personally rate the game a 6.5/10 as there are numerous things I like in the game; however, with cliché and numerous deaths, weak weapons, no health recovery, dead servers (fitting for a zombie game), and zombie hordes that go from wimpy to insane in seconds, the game leaves much to be desired.
If one is looking for a quality Resident Evil game, look at Resident Evil 4. It lacks multiplayer function, but there are numerous hidden game modes, places to explore, and when weapons are found, it’s so much more rewarding. A recent HD version was released on PC for $20. Give that game a try before resorting to this viral monstrosity. Just watch out for the quick-time events and the escort missions.
Photo courtesy of GameTrailers.com
