They’re cranking out Resident Evil products by the bucketful this year. Resident Evil Revelations wowed 3DS owners, the new movie Resident Evil Retribution features some very attractive women fighting zombies, the animated feature Resident Evil Damnation hits DVD next week, and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City was… well it had “Resident Evil” in the title and that should count for something. Next up is the long-awaited Resident Evil 6 which hits Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 the first week of October, just in time to get everyone in the mood for Halloween. A lengthy demo hit PSN and XBLA this week, and here are our thoughts on how the new game is shaping up.
The developers have divided the demo into three separate missions, each of which shows a different set of playable characters, and a different form of gameplay. Fans of Resident Evil 4 and RE5 should enjoy the mission that features Leon and new sidekick Helena. This follows the sort of level design that players have seen in previous games, and the enemies are traditional lumbering human zombies. Handguns and shotguns are the weapons available, and this shows that at least part of Resident Evil 6 will respect that popular RE 4 formula.
The second mission lets players choose between Chris Redfield and a new character named Piers. This sequence plays much like a Call of Duty or Battlefield game in many ways. Here, Redfield leads a team of soldiers through a war-torn city teeming with enemies that carry machine guns. The new cover system is used extensively in this sequence as Chris and his squad rely on tactical maneuvers to bring down enemies who primarily rely on firepower, rather than biting.
The enemies are still monsters who’ll explode into inhuman form in their death throws, and it has a giant building-sized monster too, but this mission shows that the developers are definitely looking for ways to fit new mechanics into the Resident Evil franchise.
Taking the demo in yet another direction is the mission featuring a grown-up Sherry Birkin (The little girl from RE 2), plus a new character named Jake. This one mixes elements of the previous two styles. Enemies carry guns, but will also transform into monstrous form after taking a little damage. At which point they rely on hand-to-hand combat.
This sequence also lets players try out an extensive arsenal of firepower. While the other missions limit characters to just two weapons, this one shows off a wide selection ranging from pistols to magnums, machine guns, sniper rifles, and powerful melee weapons.
Regardless of which mission the Player chooses, there are some distinct changes from previous Resident Evil games. Enemies have become bullet sponges (A little like in Operation Raccoon City), and require either very precise aim, or a lot of ammo to bring down. This is counter-balanced by the enhanced melee options. All characters have a unique series of animation that let them attack very effectively in hand-to-hand.
These melee attacks are context sensitive; meaning that the character will launch a different attack depending on how they approach the enemy. This allows quick kills when attacking from behind, or going after a stunned enemy. A particularly fun move is attacking an armed zombie, which will allow the player to disarm the zombie, then finish them with their own weapon!
A neat feature is the ability to change the character’s handedness. The gun, and the interface will switch sides at the touch of a button. This is more than a cosmetic issue, it comes in handy when shooting around cover.
Yes, there’s a cover system that works reasonably well when fighting enemies that only use guns. However, zombies and other critters will rush characters who try to exploit the cover system, and some bad guys have the ability to reach out with long tentacles and pull players into the open.
As with Resident Evil 5 and the 3DS games, there is an online co-op mode. Every mission pairs the Player with a sidekick, and this allows other players to jump in or out during the adventure. In the demo, this works well, although there are a couple of clear problems. One is that certain parts of the mission will require both players to open a door to proceed. This can lead to incompetent players (Or griefers) who refuse to head to the right exit, leaving their teammate waiting and vulnerable.
There are also a couple of minigames where one player needs to perform special timed button presses or find an object. During some of these, the other player is stuck with nothing to do while their partner hunts for a set of keys in a car (This is especially frustrating after playing this sequence multiple times, then being stuck watching helplessly as a newbie flounders to complete the task).
If the demo is an indication, Resident Evil 6 is going to offer a good dose of the same gameplay that fans have enjoyed over the last few years, while still adding in new ways to enjoy a rollicking zombie outbreak. It comes out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 2nd with a PC version sometime thereafter Look for our full review at launch.
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