Resident Evil 6: Zombies, Mutants, and the Transition to Action Adventure
Gameplay is tight throughout the game. The floating over the shoulder camera may take some getting used to for those new to the series, but for those who played through Resident Evil 4 and 5 then it shouldn’t be an issue. Guns feel like they should. Sound effects and background music do a good job of setting the mood. Character movements and animations are fluid and realistic. The menu and inventory systems are easy to use and are unique to each character’s mobile device. Weapons and inventory can be cycled easily and navigation of these menus can be done on the fly because there is no game pause when menus and inventory are being used (i.e. you can still be running and mixing health tablets at the same time). Graphics look great and detailed in some areas but in other areas textures looked rushed and flat. I feel like they could have polished the textures a little more before releasing it. Non-playable characters (NPC’s) look very rushed. They are poorly animated, have very little detail and obviously stick out from the well animated and detailed enemies and playable characters.
The mouths of these NPC’s don’t sync up well with their voices either, and because of this your floating camera will lock onto areas during NPC dialog so you cannot see the poor facial animation. Camera locks on dialogue exchanges were a bit of a nuisance throughout the game in general. Annoyances also come from needless real time cut scenes which do not pause things occurring around you resulting in a few annoying deaths during heated battle. Body damage to enemies looks fantastic and really solidifies the impact that you are doing upon a foe. The quick shot mechanic and quick-time melee events are great ways to stun and take out foes and I suggest that players utilize them frequently, just watch your stamina bar because it depletes faster than you think. Be prepared to do some button mashing at a moment’s notice because quick time events (QTE’s) really do occur frequently.
You do have the option of purchasing and upgrading skill sets after each chapter that enhances your gameplay. Skill points can be earned and picked up throughout the game by defeating foes and searching b
oxes and chests. Initially you’ll only have one skill set of three interchangeable skills that you start out with. After the completion of one of the three campaigns this expands to eight skill sets. These can also be changed on the fly from your menu and can be a very valuable tool as the difficulty of the game increases. Overall the game mechanics are satisfying and are the best asset to the game as a whole.
Where the game may fall short for fans of the early Resident Evil installments is the linear action adventure style that the series has adapted into. The mystery and guessing that survival horror games are built on is no longer here. It is a simple go from point A to point B that can easily be determined by your heads up display and your characters unique mobile device that shows incredibly dense people playing the game where to go with big three dimensional arrows. This gadget is almost never used at all because it is often clear where you need to head next without any second thought.
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