Despite high-octane game play, “Resident Evil 6” is cluttered and confusing

By Zack Gill
Copy Editor

For years, the survival-horror “Resident Evil” video game series was derided for silly writing and archaic gameplay conventions. So, in 2005, developer Capcom attempted a radical reinvention of the series.
What they ended up with was “Resident Evil 4,” often considered one of the best video games of all time. “Resident Evil 4” drastically altered the series’ formula in some respects, focusing on action and gunplay, as well as a new European setting, but retained many familiar ones, like resource management and a sense of dread.
Capcom, once again, has reinterpreted one of its most valuable pieces of intellectual property. The result is “Resident Evil 6,” a game that departs from even more of the series’ signature conventions, but also from the series’ high quality.
Players take the role of one of six playable protagonists who all must stop a terrorist organization from releasing bio-weaponry on the world’s masses. “Resident Evil 6” features three campaigns, each featuring two of the six protagonists (the co-op from “Resident Evil 5” returns), that can be played in any order.
The result is one of the game’s greatest missteps, its story, which is nonsensical and often unintentionally hilarious. “Resident Evil 6” gives no suggestion as to which campaign players should tackle first. Capcom can be commended for giving its players freedom, but this decision was also largely misguided.
The campaigns, each split into six chapters, are intertwined and often jump back and forth through chronology. For example, one campaign begins six months before the other two. Another campaign jumps back to the time-period and setting of the aforementioned campaign at its second chapter. This is all hard to explain because Capcom made it so very confusing.
Why couldn’t Capcom just offer a single campaign, presented in chronological order, where players switch between characters as the story goes along? The company wouldn’t have had to change any of its game’s assets or mechanics, and the player might have actually had a chance at understanding what was going on in the first place. Things fare better later in the game’s narrative, but by then, many players will already have forsaken “Resident Evil 6.”
Labyrinthine narratives aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but the storyline of “Resident Evil 6” isn’t some postmodern masterpiece. For the most part, it’s quite stupid, largely resembling a zombie-themed episode of “24” translated into Japanese and then back into English, complete with the resulting dialogue. Plus, players need a near intimate knowledge of the past six games (plus some spin-offs) to understand what anyone is actually talking about.
“Resident Evil 6” fares better in its gameplay, offering a complex combat system. Context-sensitive melee combat now plays a significant role. Players can smash zombie heads against walls (and even microwave them) with a few button presses. Players can also execute complex dive and turn moves.
Of course, that doesn’t mean players will be able to figure this all out, and they most likely will not. “Resident Evil 6” has a five-minute tutorial at the beginning that doesn’t teach much at all. Further complicating matters, “Resident Evil 6” does not include an instruction manual. And because of the game’s convoluted menu system, players will struggle to even execute simple commands, such as using healing items, all of which must be utilized in real time, without a pause button.
Still, there’s a lot of diversity to be had in the campaigns of “Resident Evil 6.” Each campaign has a somewhat different tone and method of gameplay. One is a full-on military shooter, in the vein of “Gears of War” or “Call of Duty,” one features lengthy chase sequences, and is kind of zany through-and-through, and one harkens back to “Resident Evil 4,” with an emphasis on, wait for it, tension and survival. There’s even a secret fourth campaign with a stealth focus.
Interesting ideas and craft are both put on display in “Resident Evil 6.” The game also packs in a staggeringly overabundant amount of content. It is in execution where the game fails. New players will be bewildered by its story, while old players will be alienated by its gameplay. Effectively, then, “Resident Evil 6” is a game for no one. “Resident Evil 6” is rated M for mature is available for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3.