Resident Evil 6 Demo Review (Hockey Glory’s take)

For a different viewpoint, check out M1GO’s demo review.

I haven’t played Resident Evil in depth, since Resident Evil 1 and 2 way back on Playstation!  LOL!  I’ve seen videos of RE 4 and briefly dabbled in the RE 5 demo years back.  RE 4 seemed like a dark creepy game, but RE 5 was outside(!), bright(!!) and played very clunky(!!!).

Resident Evil 6′s demo is a dark game with lots of action.  It’s brief with little more than running down linear corridors, looking for ammo and opening doors.  And herbs are still around.  You can play the demo choosing various characters, which I assume will lead to different storylines or gameplay, as well as having a coop partner – cpu controlled or human buddy.

I played the campaign with Leon with my teammate being a cpu controlled Helena.

Graphics

• Immediately, about 5 splash screens are plastered in your face before you can even get to the main title page
• You get a cut-scene to start the game (which you can skip).  Pretty good quality
• The demo is dark.  Dark corridors and nighttime outside
• Character models are very good looking.  Leon looks good
• Frame rate is up to 30 fps.  When lots of action is happening or you go for the melee stomps, it may chug down to I’d say 20 fps or even less.  You’ll see in the one of the big fights near the end as I’m trying to shoot and kick my way among many zombies the game can almost be a slideshow
• Noticeable screen tearing, but since it’s nighttime much of the issues are hidden.  If RE 6 was a bright colourful game, you’d notice it more
• The camera can sway erratically, so the game screen can be jumpy a bit as you move your character
• Hard to see ammo packs, but things like herbs/plants are obvious as they stick out
• Overall, not bad.  Nothing mind boggling

Sound

• I don’t remember what the voice quality is for recent RE games, but those old ones were campy.  Not sure if they purposely did that or they just hired lousy actors.  RE 6 seems decent.  Leon spews out lines in a more serious manner.  More believable and gritty
• The usual grunts and groans from zombies

Gameplay

• Before the game starts, it shows you very briefly on screen what the controller map is for all the buttons.  But I couldn’t figure out how to see controller functions during the game?!?!
• An action heavy game.  The demo had no puzzles, backtracking or anything
• Very linear.  To make it easier there’s even a distance marker telling you where to go and how far away you are from the objective spot
  
• Controls include, aim, fire, RT melee kick, LT+RT quick shot, alternate lefthanded or righthanded view, manual reload, use item and flipping through the d-pad to adjust inventory.  To stab with the knife you need to either press LT+RT quick attack, or have to aim with LT then press RT to stab/slash.  With the knife equipped you can’t attack by pressing RT as that will be karate kick
• The option screen gives lots of options for inverting axis of aiming and camera, auto-reload on/off etc…
• Your character’s back is pretty close-up to the screen and is third person
• The game generally moves smoothly, but frame rate issues when the action gets heavy or you want to kick and stomp fallen zombies.  The game kind of zooms when you stomp which can mess up your player’s angle when he reorientates himself which can be problematic
• Shooting is precise.  Tight hitboxes.  If you miss trying to cap a zombie’s head by a few pixels it’s you’re fault, you missed!
• When you get attacked, zombies can grab you.  I just mashed the on-screen icons to get him off
• Killing enemies sometimes leads to “Skill Point” pick-ups.  Not sure what they are used for.  Don’t care.  Seems odd that after you kill a zombie, you can pick up 50 or 100 pt icons
• Your cpu partner will shoot and kill enemies, help get them off you and resuscitate you when down.  It also has good pathfinding so it never got stuck on anything
• The demo was a pure linear path.  Even when I reached outside and the game said there’s a security gate in the distance, I ran around the perimeter of the playground trying to get to it.  I saw a different door so I explored it.  After going through it, it turned out to have a security pass at the end, which I then backtrack and open the security door.  I thought maybe the game had some open ended maps.  Guess not
• Looks like the game has some QTEs as the ending scene was a mishmash of 5-6 QTEs shrugging off zombies on the police car
• The game allows human coop, which is a big plus for action gamers wanting to team up
• Not scary at all.  It’s dark, but you can see most zombies on the horizon or lying on the floor

The Old Guy in Me Says

You could call this game “Action Game XYZ” if you really wanted to.  It’s dark, has zombies and recognizable RE characters, but the game (at least the demo) is simply a linear actionfest.  Who knows.  Maybe the final game will be more similar to old RE games.  Maybe not.

An average quality action game with zero scare factor.

About Hockey Glory

aka "Hockey Glory"

I play NHL video games with a high focus on positioning. I play CoD games campy with claymores and long range ARs. I played Diablo 1 and 2 using the archer. I hate playing run and gun style. But in Bethesda RPGs I grab a sword, sprint at enemies and mash away at the buttons... so I might be bi-po ...read more

If you liked this article, check out these related posts: