It turns out that you can't have two people on a snowmobile, so I sped around the sprawling snow-covered map while she followed on foot, no doubt questioning why she let herself get roped into this project in the first place.Īll this idiocy works much better in tandem, and I can see how those paying full-price in 2012 to play solo wouldn’t see the funny side in their AI partner sliding off into the abyss. The game is so afraid of losing your attention that it squeezes drama into every possible moment.Īt one point, I pulled a snowmobile up next to my partner for her to hop on, but instead bumped into her, causing her to slide for about 15 seconds down a slope. Resident Evil 6 also pioneered the 'corpse stumble'-never to be used again-whereby you inexplicably trip over every corpse you run over despite characters otherwise exhibiting the aerobic ability of trapeze artists. Punch a tank in its rear, and you die immediately, while invisible walls surrounding all ledges will randomly give way to suddenly create a life-death QTE event where you’re hanging off a cliff edge. The chaos feels intentional, but you'll question this when it spills over into dodgy design. There's even a sequence where a giant mutant shark chases you through a sewer, bastardising the series' own implicit rule that sewers are freshwater locations and therefore home to giant mutant alligators. One mission sees you saving hapless businessmen, who look oddly serene as they’re carried around on the backs of zombie-spiders. Zombies can now sprout what one of the heroes calls-in a grim tone suggesting it’s the most horrifying thing imaginable-'grasshopper legs'. I'd need to stop questioning the difference between cutscene, quick-time event and gameplay, accepting its strange flow and the fact that at any moment a zombie or helicopter blade or plane might burst in from the edge of the screen and insta-kill me. I'd need to cover my critical eye with my monocle of ironic appreciation, laughing and scoffing in response to mechanics and utterly unpredictable quick-time events that would otherwise enrage me. But with Resident Evil 7, Village and everything in between, it now feels like the series' action era is far enough in the past that I could finally face up to it without the seething indignation that it ruined my favourite series: I was ready to green-pill, and face its vapid void of action-pseudo-horror.īut I knew I'd have to come prepared.
![resident evil 6 steam resident evil 6 steam](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/221040/capsule_616x353.jpg)
For what it represented, I had no interest in playing it back then.
![resident evil 6 steam resident evil 6 steam](https://cdn.wallpapersafari.com/79/47/Lp0ahD.png)
![resident evil 6 steam resident evil 6 steam](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/residentevil/images/b/bf/Sherry_Birkin_(Foil).png)
That's what Resident Evil 6 was to me in 2012-a bloated product connected to the subtle horror and smart design of its roots in name only.