Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Underappreciated"

When I put the Resident Evil 6 disc into my Xbox 360, I expected the worst, as it was just after I've read some reviews of this game. So it came to me as a bit of a surprise that RE 6 isn't that bad after all. Sure, it's got some downsides and it is most certainly not the best game in the series, but it's got some great new aspects: you can finally move while shooting, you don't need to constantly worry about your AI partner in the single player mode and the Agent Hunt mode is a lot of fun.

Resident Evil 6 is not a survival horror game anymore. And this is not a bad thing! Sure, some fans of the old series will complain, but in my opinion (I gotta add: I've played and beaten most of the games in the Resident Evil franchise), the game is an improvement over RE 5.

There are three campaigns and they all have pros and cons. All three of them have their own story (which is connected to the main storyline of RE 6) and their own protagonists. The first campaign, with Leon S. Kennedy and Helena Harper is the closest one to the good old RE games. The locations are mainly dark, and their purpose is to make the gamer anxious and a bit scared. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The game is pretty straight forward, there aren't many puzzles to figure out and, as in previous games in the franchise, there is only one right path you have to follow in order to complete the chapter. Even though the game is not scary anymore, the zombies and bosses similar to the ones from RE 1 - 3, make you reminisce and often bring a smile to your face. This campaign is mostly for people looking for references to the old RE games, dark locations and terribly LOOONG boss fights.

Second campaign is a classic third person shooter. It tells the story of Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans and it takes place mostly in a fictional city called Lianshang in China. It introduces new enemies, the J'avo - people infected by the C-virus. The story revolves around Chris and his squad chasing Ada Wong, who is responsible for killing his old team. Even though this campaign has nothing in common with any of the old Resident Evil games, it doesn't make it worse than any of the other campaigns. There are plenty of cool enemies (the J'avo are way more intelligent and dangerous than zombies or Los Illuminados), interesting cutscenes, good (as for Resident Evil) story and entertaining boss fights. This campaign also had one of the best endings of all the games in the Resident Evil franchise.

The third story introduces gamers to Jake Muller. He is a mercenary who plays a very important role in RE6's story, but I can't give anything out. You've got to play it to find out. His campaign starts in Eastern Europe, and resolves in China. This campaign contains a lot of action, and more running and jumping than shooting. Personally, this was my favorite one out of all the campaigns available in this game.

There is a reasonable amount of weapons in Resident Evil 6 and lots of interesting locations. The game introduces new characters, such as Helena Harper, Piers Nivans and all grown up Sherry Birkin. I think that they should appear at least once again in the next RE game.

Resident Evil 6 breaks with old game mechanics in Resident Evil, and it also introduces new possibilities for the series' progress. It shows how bioterrorism developed and how it's possible to create more intelligent, dangerous and disgusting creatures.

PROS:
+ good gameplay
+ cool bosses (most of them)
+ difficulty (not too easy, not too hard)
+ new characters
+ Sherry Birkin's back
+ extra content after finishing three main campaigns

CONS:
- way too long final boss fight at the end of Leon's campaign
- the game's not scary anymore
- controls (at some points of the game)