Resident Evil 6 (2019) [Switch] review

“Advice is cheap; you can take it from me.”

-Billy Joel, “The Great Wall of China”

Don’t believe everything you hear or read. I adored Resident Evil 4 when it first released for the GameCube, and Resident Evil 5 was one of the first games I played and loved on the PlayStation 3. I also harbored quite a bit of fondness for the original Resident Evil and its two sequels, though I never owned them nor played them extensively. Despite all this, I skipped Resident Evil 6 when it released in 2012; the critical consensus of the time was that it wasn’t good and that it betrayed the spirit of the franchise. Furthermore, I took a decade-long hiatus from the series until this fall, when I decided to play Resident Evil 7 and the remakes of Resident Evils 2 and 3.

After playing through those three outstanding games, I was firmly back in the Resident Evil fold. Clearly, Capcom had corrected course, and Resident Evil was firing on all cylinders. The nagging question in the back of my mind remained, however: What about Resident Evil 6? I had seen it on sale for Steam, PSN, and the Nintendo eShop (or whatever they’re calling it now), but I hadn’t dared spend the roughly $7 asking price; after all, the critics said this was a bad game.  After much deliberation, I finally decided to take the plunge. Having completed all four campaigns and dabbled in the bonus content, I feel confident in saying that game critics are out of touch and that you shouldn’t put much stock in video game reviews. Anyway, here’s my review of Capcom’s video game, Resident Evil 6.

Run, Leon, Run

Resident Evil 6 is structured differently than other games in the series. There are four campaigns to play through, and no single perspective will give the entire story. This framing device is reminiscent of Rashomon; Go; and Run, Lola, Run; or—if you’re at all like me—the Simpsons episode “Trilogy of Error.” I actually rolled my eyes and laughed at a sequence during one campaign that explained why a door had been barred shut for another character.

Three of the four campaigns star series veterans paired with newcomers: Leon Kennedy (Resident Evil 2 and 4) paired with Secret Service agent Helena Harper, Chris Redfield (Resident Evil, Resident Evil 5, and Code Veronica) paired with BSAA agent Piers Nivens, and mercenary Jake Muller paired with Sherry Birkin (Resident Evil 2). A fourth campaign sees Ada Wong (Resident Evil 2 and 4) flying solo, unless played in co-op, in which case she will be accompanied by an anonymous agent. Each campaign may be played in single-player or coop mode, and—unlike Resident Evil 5—the single-player experience does not suffer from this design. The AI-controlled characters are generally far more capable this time around, and there is no inventory juggling between characters. They are also granted invulnerability, meaning that while your AI partners may be attacked, you won’t generally have to reload because they get themselves killed (except during a handful of scripted QTE events). I played all campaigns in single-player mode and didn’t feel like I was missing anything, which is refreshing in coop-focused games.

The campaigns intersect at various nodes, allowing players to relive set-piece encounters from another perspective. Of course, a less generous interpretation would replace the word “allow” with “force,” and I can respect that opinion, though I do not share it. For instance, one campaign has players battling a helicopter and other enemy forces on fire escapes and rooftops, while another campaign features the same battle from the street level. Another such event features characters navigating a treacherous scenario assisted by an unseen sniper—who is actually the star of another campaign. When this happens, there is the opportunity to join another player’s campaign for a brief online co-op session. I played entirely as a single player, so I never engaged in this feature, nor do I know how likely it is to find another player online at these specific junctures so long after release, but I think it’s a novel idea, nonetheless.

Regardless of the overlap between a few select scenes, the campaigns felt sufficiently distinct to keep me engaged throughout. Leon’s begins with a tense situation with a zombie outbreak on a college campus and the need to escape an infested city (shades of the Racoon City incident), Chris Redfield’s campaign sees him watch helplessly as his squadrons are killed by strange mutant forces visible and invisible, Jake’s campaign features a Nemesis-style enemy who pops up at inopportune (but entirely prescribed) moments, and Ada relies most on stealth and puzzle-solving. The weapons and abilities of each character are distinct, but they’re similar enough not to be jarring when jumping to a different campaign.

As for the plot itself, prepare yourself for top-tier Resident Evil stupidity—and please understand that I mean that in the best way possible. This is a globe-trotting adventure through an American town, underground catacombs, a war-torn Eastern European nation, a Chinese city, and the requisite Resident Evil ships and lab facilities. A new virus is about, and multiple malicious factions and have their sights set on global domination or desolation. Character motives seldom extend beyond the surface of their presentation, and that is okay; no one will emit a gasp when National Security Advisor Derek Simmons is revealed to be evil, and some other “twists” are telegraphed in a manner worthy of Samuel Morse.

None of this makes this story any worse than those of other Resident Evil games. A police station that was converted from an old art museum? Sure. A “dead factory” underneath Racoon City? No problem. Whatever was going on with Salazar? Okay. And do we really need to get into the story of Resident Evil 5? Even before we are punching boulders in an active volcano to avert complete global saturation, we’re wading through weapons-grade nonsense. Resident Evil 6  features an overarching story and individual plot points that are absolutely in line with those of previous entries in the series. Characters converse and behave in ways that make no sense for human beings but are perfectly congruous with Resident Evil characters. It’s gloriously dumb, and I celebrate that.

Death, Where is Thy Stinger?

The enemies are varied and satisfying to fight. Zombies are back, and they’re joined by mutating foes known as J’avo (pronounced juh-wah-vo). J’avo undergo reptilian or insectile transformations depending on how and where they take damage: damaged legs might be replaced with locust-like appendages, whereas headshots might lead to a cocooned metamorphosis into spike-shooting lizards. I found some of the designs to be particularly unnerving, such as flying insects with inverted human torsos as their abdomens.

Pre-mutation J’avo enemies behave like enemies in a military shooter, taking cover and popping out for pot shots or rushing the player with melee weapons. The enemy AI is never sufficiently advanced to make them seem like a threat in this state, though, and I considered encounters with them to be enjoyable, if fairly rote. Zombies also feature a few creases to their encounters in the form of special enemies that can lob projectile vomit at a greater distance than even my children could as infants (as implausible as that may sound to most parents), shrieking enemies that disorient players, and enormously obese and durable zombies called “whoppers.”

At your disposal to dispatch these foes is a veritable arsenal of weapons and abilities. Standard pistols remain useful throughout the duration of the campaigns, as their precision aiming and high critical rate allow for efficient elimination of many enemies. Shotguns pack a punch and are always satisfying to use. Assault rifles and heavy machine guns are useful against larger groups of enemies or more powerful individual adversaries. I found the sniper rifle to be too finicky to use outside of very specific circumstances, and if I needed to clear room in my inventory, its ammo was often the first thing to go. Of course, there are also magnum weapons, and they are just as specialized and powerful as you would hope them to be. Some weapons have alternate firing modes, such as a machine gun doubles as a grenade launcher or a crossbow that can also fire pipe bomb bolts.

Grenades come in several varieties: flashbang, explosive, incendiary, and remote bombs. Each of these has its own utility, and I enjoyed employing them when advantageous. Still, I typically preferred to stick to my firearms, so I finished each campaign with plenty of grenades and bombs in stock.

Some characters carry knives for melee combat, though I almost never used them. The reason for this is that all characters are remarkably adept martial artists, and the ZR button was my best friend, particularly in the early portions of the campaign. Unlike Resident Evil 4 and 5, enemies do not need to be in a staggered state to perform devastating melee attacks. This time, there is an automatically refilling combat meter that allows each character to strike enemies at close range. Sometimes, contextual icons will appear allowing for critical strikes, but these were often difficult to time, as the mobile nature of the combat would lead me out of the pixel-perfect sweet spot required to deliver the coup-de-grace—or maybe I’m just slow to react.

Healing is handled differently this time around. There are still red and green herbs to be gathered and combined, though now they correspond with a number of times you can restore a small portion of your health rather than the amount healed in a single use; one green herb gives one tablet, two greens give three tablets, while three greens or a green and a red give six tablets. These tablets are stored in a separate pouch and are accessed with a dedicated button, allowing you to heal on the fly. This is especially useful, as managing your inventory is now in real-time.

Also at your disposal is a skill system to augment your abilities. As you explore and defeat enemies, you will collect chess pieces that correspond to certain values of skill points. Between chapters, you can use these points to unlock perks, such as higher drop rates for certain ammo types, more damage to enemies, and less damage from enemies. Some can even drastically change the way you play, including one that increases your damage at the cost of your aiming reticle or another that has your AI partner heal you at the brink of death rather than simply reviving you at critical health.

Variety is the Spice of Death

The campaigns kept me engaged throughout. Just when I started to tire of my trek through a zombie-infested city, I would need to hold a location against an advancing horde. Before I grew weary of sneaking through an enemy ship, I had to rush for rapidly-diminishing safety as it began to sink. And whenever I felt complacent during combat, a new enemy would emerge that created an emergency situation. One late-game segment sees the player scrambling to meet objectives while being hounded by dangerous creatures that cannot be permanently defeated and are difficult even to slow down temporarily.

Each campaign features vehicle sections. Players will flee on motorcycles, engage in car chases, assault bases from the air, and more. There are vehicles to pilot and turrets to man, and none of them particularly carry the torch for survival horror, but they can be fun diversions. They are also relatively brief, and you aren’t likely to grow tired of them.

At various points in the campaigns, the characters are separated and must reunite. Often, this will involve one character providing cover fire while the other operates some kind of machinery. Occasionally, the situation will be more interesting, such as having to save your fleeing partner from an advancing monster. For better or worse, I never felt any sort of dread or relief in being separated from or reunited with my partner.

Unlike previous games in the series, there are no save rooms or typewriters. The game automatically saves at specific times. These autosaves are frequent enough to avert frustration, though not so frequent as to obviate combat encounters. I can understand how Resident Evil stalwarts mourn the absence of the typewriters, but I had no issue with the autosave system.

The Nintendo Switch Difference

Kratos made this look a lot simpler.

As stated above, I skipped this game on the PS3, so I don’t have much to say about its original performance relative to the Switch version. Digital Foundry has some great comparison videos that lead me to believe that the Switch version runs a little smoother than its 2012 counterpart, though nowhere near the 60fps versions on the PS4, Xbox One, or PC. That said, there were very few times I noticed the framerate dip below 30fps, and it never adversely impacted my experience.

The graphics are obviously dated, but they hold up surprisingly well. The game looks great in handheld mode, especially on an OLED screen. The contrast between dark and bright areas is striking and effective at setting a mood. Textures resolution is obviously not up to modern standards, but I found the overall image quality to be quite nice on the 720p handheld screen.

Perhaps my favorite Switch addition is the ability to supplement your aim with motion controls. It’s a great setup: you still use the right analog stick to aim in broad strokes, but you can pinpoint exactly where you want to aim by subtly moving your controller (or system, in handheld move). Think Breath of the Wild, Splatoon, or Horizon: Forbidden West, and you’ll get the idea. This option is not enabled by default, but having experienced it, I would have a hard time going back to playing without it.

C-plus Virus

I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t pay full price, because I played it like a handheld game, because I played it a decade after its release with low expectations, or (most likely) a combination of all these things, but I loved my time with Resident Evil 6. I understand that it is mechanically more focused on action than horror, and I don’t mind that. Most viewers didn’t mind it when the Alien films shifted from horror to action; in fact, Aliens was acclaimed by the majority of critics. I’m not comparing the quality of Resident Evil 6 to Aliens (nor would I compare the quality of Resident Evil to Alien), but the point stands: focusing on action as a mode of story delivery does not negate horror as a story’s genre.

Resident Evil 6 has flaws and quirks that devotees of the franchise probably saw coming from miles away, seeded as early as Resident Evil 2. No one could rationally argue that Resident Evil 6 is as good as Resident Evil 4, but it doesn’t deserve to be panned in the manner that it has been. I daresay that playing this game is some of the most fun I’ve had with the series. Its greatest flaw is that so many games in the series are among the pinnacles of gaming, and that is not something to hold against a perfectly good and enjoyable game, especially one so readily available in the form of polished modern ports.

I understand that I don’t need to be the knight in shining armor for a game that has sold upwards of 10.8 million copies and is Capcom’s fifth-best-selling game of all time, but I can’t stand to see the critical discourse around Resident Evil 6 skew as negatively as it does. The original game was released during the same generation that Metal Gear Solid 4 earned perfect scores from outlets that panned Resident Evil 6, and given the choice, I’d play the latter any day. If you haven’t played Resident Evil 6 because the critics told you not to, you have my permission as an amateur critic to ignore them and try it for yourself. The game has never been better than it is in its current form, and it frequently goes on sale for around $7. If you have a Switch, I’d argue that it’s a great popcorn horror game that is easy to play in small segments and doesn’t overstay its welcome.