I’m a huge fan of the Resident Evil series. Whether it is RE2 or RE5, there is something I enjoy about each game. Resident Evil 6 looks to be the best one yet.
The E3 demo contained a section from each of the 3 separate campaigns(yeah you read that right) and is probably the same demo that Dragon’s Dogma players will soon be able to enjoy. Regardless of which campaign I played the visuals were striking. Character faces are the only things there werern’t absolutely gorgeous. Most of this is because of the lighting– particularly in Leon’s dark section of the demo. It also looks to be a big shift in art direction from RE5 that had a lot of brighter colors. Everything in RE6 was dark, moody, and gritty looking.
The default controls have changed in RE6 and I’m not sure that I like them but I was informed that RE5 and RE4 control options will be available in the full game. The camera now behaves more like a normal 3rd person shooter camera; you can rotate it all around your character freely. When aiming, the camera still goes behind the shoulder but even that has changed a bit. Your character now takes up most of the left side of the screen. I felt so close to the action and yet I could barely see anything because my peripheral was cut off even more than it was in past Resident Evils. That was a welcome feeling to have, especially since you can now move and shoot.
You can also dodge roll in all directions and shoot from the ground a la Max Payne. You also have melee combos to use against your enemies. It is a much more versatile system for RE6 than in any of the past games. Some people will probably not want to hear that but it’s clearly where the series has been going for a while now.
The good news is that each of the three campaigns are accommodating for every Resident Evil fan. Leon’s campaign has a distinctly slower pace than the other two. Ammo was scarce and there were maybe only 6 ‘zombie’ style enemies to kill in his demo in the first place. I was told there were going to be older Resident Evil style puzzles and challenges from him to solve too.
Jake’s campaign felt more like RE4 and Chris’s was closer to RE5. Each felt different but still fit in the same universe. Even more interesting is that these separate campaigns are all happening at the same time and will mix together at several points in the story.
Crates can now just be destroyed by pressing a context sensitive button when near them– something that I’m glad is finally happening.
Resident Evil 6 looks crazy good and it’s essentially three great games in one. If you can’t bring yourself to like it because ‘the series isn’t about survival horror anymore,’ Leon’s campaign looks to be targeted to you or you can just ignore what looks to be one of the best games of the year.
Resident Evil 6 comes out October 2nd for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
