Resident Evil 6 demo impressions

John 'Spartan' Nguyen

The Resident Evil 6 demo was available to the public yesterday for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I had a chance to check it out, and I wasn’t impressed.

There are three different campaigns to choose from; Leon, Chris and Jake. Chris and Jake are more action-oriented, while Leon’s slower paced.

How are the controls? The characters now move like your standard third-person shooter. In Resident 4 and 5, the camera would always stay behind the characters’ back. In 6, the camera can stay at one spot while your character moves around. I’d rather have the camera and controls of RE 4 and 5 than this, since it doesn’t feel polished.

Aiming is okay, but the thing missing is the impact the bullets have on enemies. Shooting them just wasn’t fun and their reactions to my shots felt like nothing.

Of all the campaigns, Leon’s would have to be the better one, since it’s the one that feels the most like a Resident Evil game. Chris and Jake’s campaign felt more like a typical action third-person shooter, but with a faulty cover system. With other popular games (Uncharted, Gears of War) already having a solid cover system, it’s a pity that RE 6′s cover system felt so sloppy and counter-intuitive. Come on, Capcom! Get your shit together.

The thing that bugged me were lying corpses on the ground. You can’t kill them until they come back to life after you pass them by. Sometimes you would pass them by and they would pop up out of nowhere. I’m also not digging the whole disintegration effect after killing each zombie. And sometimes their heads would separate from the body when they die, even though I’m not shooting them in the head.

I know this is a demo, but I’m not sure Capcom will be able to do a lot to fix the issues I have pointed out, since the game is coming out early next month. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

John “Spartan” Nguyen

John “Spartan” Nguyen is the editor-in-chief at Nerd Reactor and is based in Orange County, CA. He is a graphic designer and illustrator.

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ned ryerson

totally agree with everything you said about the demo. It took away what I loved most about 4 and 5 which was the laser sight and the hit reaction. The RE4 and RE5 combat system made it fun to shoot zombies over and over again and this felt like some other game, and not really a good one. Like ORC, more of a broken game in the RE world. Why have the zombies turn to ash? Surely tech has come a long ways since Doom 3 and the xbox has enough memory to have gibs lying around. The cover system was awful and didn’t work well at all. I wish I could say I’m fired up for this game but the demo only killed what small amount of hope I had
- Lynair Walker
  
  They are still in the game bro.
Kinji

You said the things which I exactly felt…. Just hope the actual game better than the demo
Night

I was more than happy with the demo. I will agree with you about the bodies on the floor thing. But other than that I don’t have any real problem with it. I enjoyed playing all 3 campaigns the demo had for Resident Evil 6.
WistfulJushu

I actually kind of like how the frozen bodies won’t transform until you’re caught off guard. I don’t know, I’m just so desperate for RE to be scary again that those “jump scares” of body transformation should be good enough for now.. (Jake/Sherry campaign)
Maklin55555

I also would have rathered they kept the same behind-the-back camera from Resident Evil 5. The cover system from RE 5 wasn’t the best, but definitely better.

My other gripe would too be the enemies’ reaction to bullets. Enemies don’t react to shots as in previous games. Perhaps it’s because these are true zombies and not the more human-like infected and possessed foes of RE 4 and 5. Therefore only headshots will guarantee bullet reaction. I will replay Chris and Jake’s campaign to confirm this as the enemies are more human-like in their campaigns. Nevertheless I hope this is addressed.

One other thing is the aiming. It just doesn’t feel right and isn’t as good as RE 5. I foresee Mercenaries Mode being truly difficult if the camera, shot reaction, and aiming remain as is.

I hope these things are fixed in the final product. Everything else looks good. I like the environments and don’t mind the multiplayer campaigns. I look forward to the story and playing as the different characters (as long as I can control them). PLEASE CAPCOM….PLEASE!!!!!!
Lynair Walker

(Just my open opinion.)
I’ve just played the demo for PS3, and I must state; Ignore what you hear others say about this game, not saying they’re wrong in anyway. I’m a rabid fan of the Resident Evil series and this game is a must for it’s fans. First off, I like to play it like RE5 but keep some of the RE6 techs at hand. I love how you can change you settings to your liking. I tried without my laser attachment and found it really challenging but had to return to using it. I changed controls to RE5/RE6 to make the action of the controls better for each Campaign. I can say I’m gonna enjoy Leon’s story more due to it scarcity roughness engaging zombies with little to no ammo after letting off rounds in the torso. Likewise, the camera has some issue but isn’t bad at all, the computer ai had some problems with path choices, I think the behind-back camera wouldn’t be to helpful in this game though. You wouldn’t be able to see what’s behind you is what I’m getting at. So the RE6 camera fits perfectly. I can see whats behind me at all times to just leap out of the way of danger. Jake’s campaign has some bugs in it the will for sure be fixed but in all, it was a great play. the aiming speed is a little slow in some areas but that isn’t a problem since I always invert my Y-Axis. I’m glad I pre-ordered this game. Just saying I wonder how much they can patch in the 10.02.2012 release.
http://www.facebook.com/mike.villarreal Mike Villarreal

Completely disliked the demo. Has Capcom ever heard of “always double tap?” It’s not like you couldn’t do that in previous RE titles. The whole waking Zombie NPC thing is ridiculous.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001189190676 Confuzion Melodicmizeryrecords

i played with leon and at first the game seemed good the graphics looked a bit better but the damn map was way to dark to even see wtf i was shooting. leons overall seemed ok, then played chris and the game went to total shit. the camera angle was all over the place and your running down alleys and small places you cant see whats going on because of the camera angle. it doesnt make much sense but i wouldnt figure it would from a game that made a camera angle so badly in the other ones where your character was blocking almost the entire screen. i read a article saying capcom fired or the original team from all the hit games had already left. theres no one there anymore. the main guy who made all the capcom hits left. so now resident evil is the only thing they have left and are continuously forcing it out with flops. the game might be worth checking out but with the amount of money this title has brought in the past theres no reason why it shouldnt be up there with games like borderlands and gta. i mean you have this shooting game and theres not even no destruction yet besides smashing wood crates lol.also this is the gayest preorder ever. everything you said in this article i agree, the game is shit
jake

I completely agree with everything, in fact couldnt agree more. It really felt like orc remake to a more classic style. I can’t get over the fact that the zombies feel done before almost exactly like the left 4 dead style, with the reactions and characteristics.. I have to add the biggest gripe of all is the loss of the attache case and upgradable weapons from 4..that was the biggest revolution to the re series and made it so much better than before. The new menu system is very sloppy and hard to maneuver, and mirrors resident evil outbreak with the game still going in the background while in the menu. However you can switch to classic laser sight in the options menu, but it is very jumpy. I also didnt like that the enemies seemed to have an Infinite spawn rate in leons campain, the addition of melee is very cool but it makes the game too easy and conservation of ammo not as important as previous games. An all around flop of a res evil game.
jake

Also it seems the puzzles are gone. The objective marker seems to do all the thinking for you, and reveals the location of what you need to find.

Resident Evil 6 demo impressions

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