Last week, the Resident Evil 6 demo was released on both XBLA and PSN. The demo is relatively robust, allowing the player to play as the three main stories, Leon, Chris and Jake. Each section allows you to play a tidbit of the story. So does RE6 look good? Should you buy it on released? Well, let’s break it down a bit.
The demo throws you into the game without any sort of tutorial or without any real explanation of how the controls work. If you have played RE4 or RE5, than you should get a grasp of the general gameplay rather quickly. I was a bit confused at how the inventory systems worked, but in the demo you do not really need to use it, and I am sure that the full game will give a bit of a better explanation. In all sections, the gameplay was pretty smooth. It felt like a more robust system of what they used in RE5. Gameplay wise, I liked it a lot. They added more physical attacks and cleaned up the knife system. Knives are now separate weapons which need to be equipped like guns. I wonder if each character has certain guns they can choose from, or if all weapons will be available to all characters. You also can roll and dodge when your weapons are readied. This came in very handy against one of the enemies, and I think will be a nice addition over all to the gameplay.
Leon’s section is great. You are armed with just a pistol and a knife. You are in a dark and shady building with a few zombies here and there. A solid atmosphere was created. It was a bit over kill that Leon can use dual pistols, but at the same time, because I used them for a bit, I burned through ammo, just as it should be.
The other two parts of the demo? How are Jake’s and Chris’ sections? Honestly, they felt like a massive mess. I cannot judge the story too much because I have no context as to what all is going on. These sections had a LOT more shooting. Both from you and from the enemies. These parts of the demo didn’t instill that idea of fear and panic as you are being surrounded by zombies and being hit from all sides. It just seemed chaotic and unfocused. There’s a certain phrase I would use, but this is a family website, so let’s just say it was one big Charlie Foxtrot. The enemies blended into the background far too much. Sometime I had no idea where I was being shot from and felt a bit swarmed, but not in a good way. This happened most in Jake’s section, which was darker and more crowded. Chris’s sections was much brighter, so that was never an issue. However, playing a second time through, it seems a lot easier to know where I was going and what I was doing. I could more easily tell the enemies from the backgrounds.
Still, a lot of that is excusable. Capcom warns you that this is a demo, so there will be a few gameplay and graphical glitches here and there. This was just a demo, and a somewhat poorly put together one at that, but still. I was thrown into the middle without any of the early game stuff. Once I know how the game works and how to spot enemies, I’m sure it would get a bit better. But do you know what is inexcusable? As you may have remembered, RE5 was a two player co-op game. For the most part, that was well done. I remember playing it with my roommate on my Xbox 360 and having a blast. And we played locally. I was player one, and he was player two. But you know what? The demo did NOT have local co-op. Sure, it had online and system link co-op, but no local play? How could they not include such a basic component? If RE5 didn’t have it, sure, I guess. I wouldn’t “miss” anything at least. But to remove it? I hope that’s just part of the demo and is not going to be part of final game.
The demo was a solid intro as to what the game has to offer, but, as I said, it was a bit chaotic. There is enough story so that I now have to know what’s going on here, who all is involved, and who exactly Jake Mueller is. Capcom also released a new tearjerker of a trailer called “No Hope Left.” It brings that atmosphere that I desperately want the game to give out: the desperate, hopeless, and messed up world that you are now thrown into have have to fight for your life to escape.
*sniff* It’s alright I just have something in my eye. *sniff*
