As many of those who grew up in the era of the PlayStation do, I have distinct memories of the first Resident Evil, played at night, at a friend’s place, with the lights off. Moments like that are some of the best, and Resident Evil 6 desperately wants to emulate the series’ best moments — but ultimately what they’ve served up is brittle shell of nostalgia, with a core that is ultimately hollow.

From its opening levels, Resident Evil 6 evokes its predecessors explicitly. By the time Leon says, “It’s just like Raccoon City,” it’s crystal clear that the game is attempting to combine elements from many of the series’ games, across a substantial four separate campaigns. It’s got the action mechanics of the later games, a splash of the survival horror of the early games, and a fair few parts that seem to have been inspired by games outside the series along the way.

RE6 is, above all, the most Westernised game in the series, and that ought to make it the most palatable to action gamers’ tastes.

However, the problems start with the controls, which while a far cry from the deliberately tension-inducing awkwardness of the early games, are still somewhat clunky and less responsive than desirable. Characters turn and move sluggishly or inconsistently at times, shooting feels unreliable, and melee controls are either ineffective or devastatingly overpowered.

In fact, once you suplex a few zombies, it starts to seem like a waste of ammo to shoot them, even in the first campaign which is as close to the survival horror of Resident Evil 6’s forebears as the game ever gets. Things get worse in the second campaign focusing on Chris Redfield, which becomes a boring cover-shooter with hordes of enemies that shoot back, and where the sloppy combat mechanics fall apart. Then there’s the endless parade of cutscenes and QTEs throughout, as well as a few moments where you can be killed by a scripted event very easily if you don’t know it’s coming and get out of the way first.

There are definitely some setpieces that are impressive, and a puzzle section midway through the first campaign that’s a charming throwback, but like everything else in the game, it’s heartbreakingly linear. It doesn’t help that several sections are revisited in later campaigns, played from other characters’ perspectives. This is a great concept, but the execution makes it feel repetitive.

This is also a game that, even more than its immediate predecessor, Resident Evil 5, seems made for co-op. On the PC, you’re probably out of luck unless you can persuade friends to also get the PC version, and this is very much a console game. The same goes for the other multiplayer features. Like many of Capcom’s recent ports, it’s a competent one but still definitely a port, with minimal options. And you really do need a gamepad, though I have no problem with that, given the ubiquity of 360 controllers for PC gaming these days.

Resident Evil 6 is obviously a game with a big budget, but I can’t help feeling like it has no heart. It tries to be so many things, but there’s not one thing it tries that it really commits to. And it doesn’t really bring much new to the table either. The series’ best hope is probably still a reboot in the next console generation.

Good:

• Impressive visuals, the series’ best so far
• Some neat puzzles
• Extensive single-player campaigns

Bad:

• Soulless mish-mash of elements from other games
• Excessive QTEs
• Campaign is stretched out with several repeated sections

Resident Evil 6 is currently $40 on Steam. Product for this review supplied by Capcom.

As you may recall, Left 4 Dead 2′s cast and a bunch of special infected are headed to the PC exclusive No Mercy mode in Resident Evil 6. Are you baffled by that? I sure was baffled by that. Here’s a video of it in action which only makes me slightly less puzzled. Resident Evil 6 arrived on PC on Friday so if you like what you see, you know what to do. Meanwhile, Left 4 Dead 2 will also be the recipient of a content update, adding Resident Evil 6 material, but we don’t have an ETA.

Source: VG247

If you like shooting zombies, then you probably already own Left 4 Dead 2 and you’re interested in playing Resident Evil 6 on the ol’ PC when it launches this week. And so you’ll be doubly pleased to know that in Resident Evil 6‘s PC-exclusive “No Mercy” mode, you’ll be able to play as the cast of L4D2 — and shoot up a bunch of Special Infected, who will also be making the jump.

But that’s not all! Valve are currently working on bringing the Lepotitsa, Napad and Ogroman enhemies into L4D2 as well. The L4D2 character pack will arrive on April 5, free for all RE6 players. New RE6 enemies should show up in L4D2 “this spring”.

Source: Capcom

Is your computer beastly enough to handle Resident Evil 6 when it comes out on March 22? You can find out by downloading the Resident Evil 6 benchmarking tool from our mirror, and saving yourself nearly a GB of quota (for iiNet group customers only, naturally).

“At the end of the benchmark,” writes the Capcom blog, “you’ll be given a score similar to those received in Mercenaries. Naturally the higher the score and rank (A and S being the best), the better RE6 will run on your machine.”

In case you missed it, you can find the RE6 system requirements here. The PC version is also including more multiplayer modes for free.

Source: Capcom

Perhaps in compensation for the long wait, Capcom has promised that the PC version of Resident Evil 6 will include additional content which our slimy console brethren will have to pay for, the newbs.

The extra content consists of four multiplayer modes, the highlight of which is Siege mode. Although this was described in early press releases, it was replaced before launch and will debut in March on all systems. Supporting two to six players, Siege Mode has players in two teams, attacking monsters or defending humans, trying to eat/protect a lone rookie BSAA agent, controlled by AI. Each game consists of two rounds as teams alternate between roles. See it in action below.

Existing multiplayer modes Survivors, Predator and Onslaught will be offered alongside Siege as free downloads for PC users at launch. Resident Evil 6 is due on PC on March 22, and a benchmark will be available in February.

Source: VG247

Capcom have sent word through this morning that the PC version of Resident Evil 6 has finally been dated for launch. Set to land on March 21 2013, the PC version will be available as both a retail purchase and a digital download.

Since it’s launching so late, the PC version will also include all free content already released for the console version, including the “No Hope” difficulty mode and Ada Wong’s campaign being accessible from the start of the game.

The game will also support cloud saving, Steam achievements, leaderboards, and all the usual excellence that PC players have come to expect. Check out the specs below.

Minimum specs:

• OS: Windows Vista®/XP, Windows 7, Windows 8
• Processor: Intel® CoreTM2 Duo 2.4 Ghz or better, AMD AthlonTM X2 2.8 Ghz or better
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Hard Disk Space: 16 GB free hard drive space
• Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTS or better
• DirectX®: 9.0c or greater
• Sound: Standard audio device

Recommended specs:

• OS: Windows Vista®/XP, Windows 7, Windows 8
• Processor: Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad 2.7 Ghz or better, AMD PhenomTM II X4 3 Ghz or better
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Hard Disk Space: 16 GB free hard drive space
• Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 or better
• DirectX®: 9.0c or greater
• Sound: Standard audio device

It’s Halloween and although it’s an American thing and we’re Australian and blah blah it is also extremely cool. Just now I saw Harley Quinn and Elvira totally making out on the train home. I’m not one for dress-ups — being that I already look a bit like Satan — so to get into the malevolent spirit of things I thought I’d play Resident Evil 6. It’s not out on the PC yet, of course. Next year, I think. Capcom don’t want another Resident Evil 4 debacle on their hands, so the PS3 it has to be.

Which is fitting, because the original Resident Evil - waaay back in ‘96, gawd, my arthritis – was one of the first games I got for my PSX. Instant and enduring love. Also instant hilarity. For those who have never:

I know, right? I followed the franchise with absolutely relish, with the aforementioned Resident Evil 4 proving to be my absolute favourite if only because I kept it Sony and did the PS2 thang. Resident Evil 5 didn’t really inflate my dinghy, being more awkward shooter than anything else, but advance word of Resident Evil 6 looked pretty sweet. Scary, even. Still no hi-lair FMV intro with Blood Type statistics, but I’m relatively easygoing and it’s okay they never read my letters. Written in blood. Stamped in scalp. Maybe including the phrase “…or I’ll find you.”

Not only is Resident Evil 6 not scary, it’s loathsome to play. It really is. The only thing keeping me going right now is pure nostalgia. I just don’t get what kind of chronic Capcom are passing around the office over there. Is weed even a thing in Japan? They want to do something else with the series — what they think the majority must want, maybe — than what the fans actually do want. The resultant compromise is a clash of methodology that couldn’t work any less.

What we end up with is a full-bore shooter that doesn’t give you any ammo. The former is where Cappers think the money’s at, and the latter has long been a staple of the series at large ever since its inception. You know, conserve your bulletage and go easy on your pain-relieving green herbs, you never know what’s gonna go down.

Thing is, everything is going down in Resident Evil 6, all the time. I make the optimistic choice – the so-called “classic” choice – and pick Leon’s scenario to start with. It’s supposed to be the mood to Chris Redfield’s mayhem. Even here, the frequent combat sitches aren’t built to be run away from (you end up having to at least try, because you just have nothing left to shoot with). You get hit for loads of damage all the time as a result, with bugger-all potted ganja to go around. If Helena wasn’t on hand to stab your heart with a Pulp Fiction death antidote, you’d get nowhere, faster. Happy Halloween. This year’s candy tastes like butt.

A user on Capcom’s ‘Ask Capcom’ thread on their official forum posed the question: “can you tell us when start to make Resident Evil 6 PC version?” Although their grammar was unclear, Capcom’s answer was not: Senior VP Christian Svensson replied to say that they were taking their time with it as they were anxious to avoid another Resident Evil 4 scenario.

“It is a small, but appropriately sized team working on the RE6 PC project,” he wrote. “It is a different group than originally planned, lest it would have taken even longer than it currently will but this team will do a better job than what was being considered originally.

“The process did not begin until after the console versions were complete, submitted, approved by console 1st parties to use that final codebase as the starting point. It will be some time still before we provide details on release dates and PC specific parameters.”

Pouring cold water on the idea that a proper PC port was easy, he said: “Projects like this you guys seem to think are “trivial” but they are not. When they get treated as trivial, you end up with Resident Evil 4 PC… which I don’t think too many true fans were pleased with.”

Source: Capcom (via Blue’s News)