This past Tuesday (Oct. 2) marked the release of the much anticipated Resident Evil: 6 and the internet was immediately flooded with reviews claiming RE:6 to be the worst in the series yet. One review on Destructoid by Jim Sterling even said, “If any consistently good thing can be said of Resident Evil 6, it’s that it has made Paul W.S. Anderson’s film adaptations look like fine works of art in comparison.” Ouch, that’s definitely not something a developer wants to hear about their biggest release of the year. Unfortunately, I don’t think Capcom really cares all that much. The dialogue is forgettable, the gameplay fails to elicit any emotional response from the player, and the scare tactics feel like a really bad horror film. Players are left feeling like Capcom skipped out on a series fans love. Sure the graphics look nice (although they’re reminiscent of RE: 5) and the cinematics are interesting, but the dialogue is so cheesy it made me gag.
(Spoiler alert: There is one minor game example following. No big narrative reveal)
At one point in Leon’s play-through he and Helena are running through underground subway tracks and suddenly a train comes crashing through. Helena notes that this is strange seeing as a zombie apocalypse is happening on the street level and Leon responds with, “There’s no one at the controls. Zombie Express.” Oh man, cue the suspense and horror at this exciting new revelation. Zombie express?? I’ve never heard that one before… (insert sarcasm). All in all, most fans felt exactly as Mr. Sterling on Destructoid: Metacritic gave the game a 66 (out of 100) and so far 2,795 metacrtic users gave it a whopping 0.8 (pretty sure that’s out of 100 as well).
So, what happened? Did Capcom give up on trying to make a solid game? Have video games already reached a point where developers don’t have to try anymore and rely on the existing fan-base to sell a half-assed game? Well, I think it’s a mixture of both. Capcom obviously didn’t give this game their all. As a company they have developed/produced/published games since the 1980’s and the Wikipedia page listing all the games they have had a hand in is astounding. Needless to say, we should be able to trust them to make a decent video game every now and then. The sad thing is, Capcom has become a static company who makes their loyal customers feel like just another dollar earned. They want your money, not your opinion or your love and this is exactly how they seem to have treated RE: 6. They relied on the 16 years of loyalty most Resident Evil fans have harbored to sell this game for them.
One of the biggest questions I am left with as an avid gamer is: is this where all video games are headed? Will developers come up with a secret formula to get gamers to buy their games without their having to put any effort forward into the actual development of the game? Some people would argue that Infinity Ward and Treyarch have already perfected this through the Call of Duty series. I, on the other hand, will offer this: as many people there are in the world developing video games like Call of Duty, there are at least twice as many trying to develop games like the ones featured in Alex Layne’s vlog: Are Video Games Art? One look through the games people are trying to develop on Kickstarter can give us hope that the gaming world isn’t doomed to cookie-cutter action games. So, as much as I would like to feel like there is no hope right now because of the insane amount of time I forced myself to play RE: 6, there is some to be found; gamers will just have to start looking harder. Indie developers are always putting out games that can amaze and surprise even the most experienced gamer; hence the Indie Game of the Week segment of our podcast. Capcom has failed us time and time again, let’s start to put our trust and hope into other development studios until they can get their game back together.
