Capcoms latest crimson covered soirée into the realm of zombie flesh eaters and tentacled bio-terrors attempts to cater to the series habitual gorehounds yearning for a return to its survival horror roots, as well as fans of fist-pumping blockbuster action, with not one, but /four/ separate campaign modes.
Flip-flopping between the puzzle-solving, exploration and jump scares of the 96 mansion crawler and the more gun-crazy, quick time event-filled exploits of later entries, Resident Evil 6s shamelessly hokey narrative casts you as series stalwart, Leon Kennedy, Resident Evil 5s Chris Redfield and newbie Jake Muller the offspring of longtime super villain, Albert Wesker as you battle your way through North America, Eastern Europe and China in the midst of a global outbreak of the C-Virus. The fourth and final campaign a puzzle-centric tale anchored by Resident Evil 2s Ada Wong is playable only when youve polished off the others.
Mirroring the design principles laid down by Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 6 boasts eye-watering set pieces and wealth of new creatures that require a little contemplation before disposing of for fear of triggering a couch-cowering mutation.
But with its four-headed structure and its 40-hour playthrough, it feels at times like a bloated monster a game fails to work out really what it wants to be. That said, its still got a lot of bang for your buck during the silly season, especially when you consider in co-op, the Demons/Dark Souls-inspired Agent Hunt, the returns of Mercenaries and more replay value than you can shake a severed limb at, but be warned though its by no means as bad as the worst in the franchise, its not quite the masterpiece it so wants to be.