Resident Evil 6 is a damn fun game

Look I’ll cut to the chase, I like Resident Evil 6. I can already hear a lot of people yelling at me and picking up their torches and pitchforks ready to give me crap. I’ll agree in saying that RE6 is a bad Resident Evil game but it isn’t a bad game. In fact, Resident Evil 6 is a good game.

Back in 2012 when it originally released, me as well as many others were hugely excited for RE6. It promised three campaigns, all with different playable characters and all of them boasted co-op. The game released and it was divisive, some people loved it and some hated it. It’s okay to not like something but some people were saying that the game killed the Resident Evil series. Most people were overexaggerating the hate as usual just so they could “look cool”.

The hate for Resident Evil 6 was crazy though as it seemed a lot of people decided to dogpile on it. I remember someone telling me that I was “not a true fan” because I liked RE6. I laughed my ass off at it but it took me by surprise with how some people hate the game so much that they’ll resort to insulting fellow RE fans for liking it.

Now the game isn’t perfect, far from it. RE6 has several flaws but it to me, it is still a good game. In this piece, I’ll list a few reasons as to why I think Resident Evil 6 is good and I’ll even give a few of the game’s flaws.

 

The Good

Leon’s campaign

Resident Evil 6 has three campaigns and one hidden campaign (the fourth campaign is unlocked from the start in the current-gen re-releases). The best one out of the four in the game is Leon’s. His campaign is much closer to survival horror than the others but it also has a good chunk of action too.

Leon’s campaign has the best levels out of the four campaign, all of them are fun and filled with awesome action beats. It also has the best pacing of the four, the story goes at a good pace and it doesn’t feel like it’s dragging on. The action is in the right places and the levels never feel like they are outstaying their welcome. Leon’s campaign is awesome and takes about 8+ hours to complete.

 

Co-op

I enjoy playing through the campaigns solo but doing them in co-op with a friend is brilliant. The game is fun as it is but co-op adds another layer to it and it can set up for some awesome moments. It can also lead to some comical moments, like one time when my friend wouldn’t rescue me just because he wanted to be an asshole. I got my own back and returned the favour.

I have had some really fun times whilst doing co-op in RE6 and will probably have some more in the future.

 

Mercenaries

I’ll keep it short and sweet. In my opinion, Resident Evil 6 has the best Mercenaries mode in the series. RE6 doesn’t cost too much these days and Mercenaries mode alone is worth the price. (Brand new on PS4 is £15-20)

 

The amount of content

Resident Evil 6 has a tonne of content which kept me busy for a while. Four campaigns with each one last 8+ hours. Each story can be done in single-player or co-op. The game has an array of multiplayer modes and in my opinion, it has the best Mercenaries mode in the series.

It has so much content that it’s commendable. If you don’t like one mode, you can try something else and there’s plenty of stuff ready for you to play.

 

The gameplay

One thing I think gets completely overlooked is the gameplay. RE6’s gameplay is a natural evolution from Resident Evil 4 and 5. RE4 was praised for its gameplay and rightfully so as it is fantastic and still holds up today. In both RE4 and 5, you couldn’t move and shoot at the same time but you can in RE6.

The gunplay in RE6 is greatly improved from the previous games, it feels good to control and pull off headshot after headshot. The melee attacks in RE6 have been dramatically improved from RE4 and 5. I will never get tired of Leon channelling his inner Chuck Norris and roundhouse kicking enemies.

 

The bad

It isn’t a survival horror game

Resident Evil 6 isn’t a survival horror game, which is where a lot of the anger and frustration that some people have with the game comes from. I can totally understand that if a longtime fan was looking for an RE1 Remake experience, they would be extremely disappointed with RE6.

Capcom has corrected the course of the ship when it comes to this as the most recent entries have returned to good old survival horror. Both Resident Evil 7 and the superb Resident Evil 2 Remake.

I think the best thing for the Resident Evil series going forward would be for the mainline entries to be survival horror and for the heavy action games like RE6 to be spin-offs. I think this will keep both sides of the Resident Evil fan base happy. I’ll be happy either way because I’ll play all of the Resident Evil games.

 

Jake and his campaign

During my most recent playthrough of the game, I finally warmed up to Jake Muller and his campaign. He was the character that just wouldn’t click with me and his campaign is the weakest one. Jake’s story doesn’t have the good pacing of Leon’s or the constant action of Chris’s. It’s not awful but it isn’t brilliant either and it wasn’t the best introduction to Jake.

Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to see Sherry Birkin again but it wasn’t enough for me to call Jake’s campaign the best. It would be interesting to see if Jake returns in a future Resident Evil game but Capcom will need to do a fair bit for people to accept him.

 

Why am I talking about Resident Evil 6?

Earlier in the year, I bought RE4, 5 and 6 for £15 on the PlayStation Store thanks to a ludicrous offer. It was then I decided to go through Resident Evil 6 again and I had more fun with the game during that playthrough than I have before. As I mentioned before, during my most recent playthrough I finally warmed up to Jake Muller.

I had a lot of fun playing through RE6 again and it got me thinking about the hate the game got and the hate it still gets. Whilst many people have a different opinion on the game now, I thought this piece would be worth writing about given how divisive the game was at launch.

 

What’s your take on Resident Evil 6? Is my “hot take” on Resident Evil 6 even a hot take anymore? Let me know in the comments below.