Reviews// Resident Evil 6

If I go down, I’m generally being fed pills to restore my health within a few seconds. Your AI partner isn’t bad at shooting either! In most other games, you find that all of the killing is down to you, again, because your partner is probably running in circles. This isn’t the case in RE6, your partner loves filling the walking lumps of meat with bullets.

Heal Thyself
Anyway, I mentioned pills didn’t I? Suppose I should explain how healing works; It’s pretty similar to most other Resident Evil games in the sense that you collect herbs. Herbs = Health.

There are two types of herbs: green ones and red ones. When you collect a herb, it’s stored in your inventory. You can transfer a single green herb from your inventory to your ‘case’, turning it into a pill somewhere along the way.

Now, if you combine two green herbs in your inventory, then transfer them to your case, you’ll receive three pills. A red herb can’t be turned straight into a pill, you have to combine it with a green herb first. Red herbs are generally much rarer than green, because combining a red and a green will reward you with six pills when you transfer them to your case.

I’ve just written an entire paragraph explaining how to use herbs to heal your character, and I didn’t even mention where you could find them! Well, the most frequent way to acquire herbs is by killing enemies.

When an enemy dies, it’s likely that they’ll drop something useful for you to pick up, such as ammo, herbs or skill points. When you pick up an item, it’s stored straight in your inventory, and as I mentioned earlier, you’ll have to transfer your herbs from the inventory to the case in order to use them (this isn’t the case with ammo, once you pick it up, you don’t need to worry about moving it around).

Okay, so I mentioned skill points, and you may not yet know what the deal is, so here goes; collecting skill points as you play through each mission is useful, when you finish the stage, you’ll see a summary page showing you which achievements you’ve earned and how many skill points you’ve collected.

You’re then taken to a new screen with a list of different character upgrades which (you guessed it!) cost Skill Points. You’re able to spend your Skill Points in whichever way you desire and upgrade your character with these perks.

Dodgy Types
I guess you’ll want to know what type of enemies you’ll be facing eh? Well in RE6 there’s a completely new threat: zombies infected with the ‘C-Virus’. This is something to do with a bioterrorist attack and a fog that changes people to zombies… you don’t want me to ruin the storyline for you.

Basically, the C-Virus zombies have a tendency to mutate into much uglier targets – a huge variety of uglies, for that matter. And I must say, this is a visual treat. The way your foe’s limbs explode, only to be replaced with hideous appendages is truly brilliant.

Cover me Impressed
OK – the cover system. Yep, I know you’re probably all sighing saying, “Uh, another useless cover system.” Yep, you’re partly right. I’ve found myself all too many times with a zombie two feet away from me, pulling my left trigger in an attempt to line up a cheeky headshot and found my character hiding on the closest wall - yep, really quite annoying.

Don’t get me wrong though, the cover system isn’t completely pointless. There have been a few occasions where I’ve found myself under fire from enemies at a distance, and I’ve had the ability to jump in behind a nearby car to avoid being a walking target.

Loads of Modes
Aside from the three campaigns I’ve already mentioned, you also have the option to play Agent Hunt Mode and Mercenaries Mode. Agent Hunt Mode allows us to flip the deal and take control of the monsters that have been causing us trouble throughout the campaign.

Agent… Hunt… hunting agents, get it? Anyway, when you shoot a zombie in the campaign, they mutate and this mode isn’t different. As you take damage, your characters limbs will change into putrid tentacles of flesh that you can use to mutilate your opponents.

In Mercenaries Mode, it’s a race against the clock with the objective to kill as many enemies as possible. Executing specific kills rewards you with extra time. What type of kills, you ask? Well, generally the most gruesome kills earn the time bonuses. For example, elbow dropping the police officer zombie guy’s gonna earn you a nice 5 seconds. Sounds tough if you’re only going to get five seconds added for taking out a zombie right? Well, it is.

Luckily though, throughout the mission area you’ll find egg timers - egg timers which you can smash. Can you guess what egg timers earn you? Bullets! No, no! They earn you time, generally between 60 and 90 seconds worth.

Mercenaries works the same as the campaigns in the respect that you can either play with the AI, or with a friend. As you progress through the stage and rack up your points, the enemies get harder and the clock gets shorter.

Pros:
+ Awesome (but slightly flawed) combat system.
+ Gripping storyline.
+ Enjoyable co-op aspect.
+ Variety of mutated enemies.
+ Useful AI.

Cons:
- Awesome (although slightly flawed) combat system.
- Mediocre cover system.
- Ammo shortage.
- Flawed combat system.

SPOnG Score: 8.5/10