Resident Evil 6 Was this game really bad enough to warrant ( what is essentially) a reboot?

Ok, i know RE7 isn't a reboot, but to me it's as close as you can get to one. In terms of gameplay, story and characters, RE7 is far and away from what RE6 was. Anyway, my question is, was RE6 really bad enough to warrant this? It's been 5 years now since it came out and in that time my enjoyment of the game has grown considerably. Back in 2012, i played through the campaigns, quick go of mercs and more or less forgot about the game. But with the re release of the game on current gen last year, i found myself going back to it more and more and even now, in terms of Resident Evil on my PS4 i have 0, 1, 4, 5, 6 , 7, Code Veronica and both Revelations. And out of all of them i play 6 the most. The game is a big dumb action game complete with clones, underwater bases and dinsour bosses, but it's FUN. The gameplay is fun as hell and the mercenaries Mode in 6 is my favourite. The campaigns all offer something a little different from each other, yes i know they play more or less the same, but they each have their own strengths and weaknesses and to me when i play Leon and Chris' campaigns in particular, i feel like im playing two totally different games. In terms of characters, i enjoy them all. Leon and Chris speak for themselves, Sherry was a very welcome return and was a good character, Jake was written pretty well and actually had a character arc throughout the game. Helena managed to get some sympathy out of me for her sister and Piers.... i can't help it i love piers. Sure he has his head up Chris' ass the whole game but im told Piers' character is explored a lot more in the Marhawa Desire? I wouldnt know iv never read through it. At the end of it all though, i felt a lot more for the characters in this game than any character's in 7, including The Bakers. After 5 years, 6 still has me coming back for some casual fun whether it's alone or with a friend, so it did something right. 7 on the other hand, i got it in january, platinumed it in march and havent played it since. Im not downright bashing 7, it had some good points which iv talked about in another thread and was a still a decent game for what they tried to do and i understand it's a totally different beast entirely to 6. But if Capcom made RE7 based solely on how 6 was initially received, ( which they basically did) i can't help but feel as though they made a mistake.

Well, to answer your question: yes, when it came out. Now, not so much. Now, it's still a flawed title but a vast improvement from what they released back in 2012.

Let's say you invite your friends over for dinner, but exaggerate a little with the spices in the main course, and your guests tell you so. What do you do, cook without any spices next time? No! You just tone it down a little rather than immediately going for the opposite extreme, especially since the dessert (Revelations) was very well done and pleased everyone, so there's your proof that you're still up to the task and don't need to reinvent yourself by trying to copy your mom's cooking without even reading the recipe properly.

In other words: No, even though RE6 rubbed many fans the wrong way with its very action-heavy approach and questionable design choices, for Capcom to spin on their heels and run straight in the other direction didn't solve the problem, it merely created another one, as if the fanbase wasn't already split enough as it is.

Hel said:

Let's say you invite your friends over for dinner, but exaggerate a little with the spices in the main course, and your guests tell you so. What do you do, cook without any spices next time? No! You just tone it down a little rather than immediately going for the opposite extreme, especially since the dessert (Revelations) was very well done and pleased everyone, so there's your proof that you're still up to the task and don't need to reinvent yourself by trying to copy your mom's cooking without even reading the recipe properly.

In other words: No, even though RE6 rubbed many fans the wrong way with its very action-heavy approach and questionable design choices, for Capcom to spin on their heels and run straight in the other direction didn't solve the problem, it merely created another one, as if the fanbase wasn't already split enough as it is.

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I agree. Capcom just seem so ready to go to different extremes at the slightest bit of criticism in a misguided attempt to please us that it's quite sad really at how much damage has been done and continues to be done to this series. RE7, ok it's not a bad put together game. There was clearly thought and passion put into it, but in my opinion all RE7 has done is divide the fanbase even more, convoluted the series even more, and ditched stories and characters we were actually interested in in favour of "horror". I didnt need horror, i needed a follow up to RE6 and Revelations 2. I needed Jill back, i needed Alex and Natalia explained, i needed the ending of Vendetta to foreshadow what was coming in RE7. I didnt need to chased around a house by a hillbilly as a faceless character. RE7 is a good game, and as a new ip or a reboot it would have been outstanding. But as a sequel, it dosent sit well with me.

What I found a bit odd was that in between RE6 and RE7 there was Revelations 2, and that received a generally positive response and a lot of people felt it was a step in the right direction, yet RE7 was still completely different from that game too.

Long story short, I didn't really like RE6, but that didn't mean I wanted everything changed in the next instalment. Just because I didn't like the linearity and the all out action, that doesn't mean get rid of the characters I love. And even though I didn't like RE7 as an RE game, there are definitely positives there that I would like to be carried forward such as the return to a more tense horror genre.

As people have said before, there's no need to go to such extremes. I think they should tweak and blend based on feedback rather than making extreme changes all at once.

I think Capcom has something backwards, the Revelations games are the tried-and-true RE4 formula, but it's the numbered titles that are experimental and trying new things that might not necessarily work.

I am going to stray from the general consensus and say that YES, RE6 was enough of a critical failure for Capcom to have to reformulate again. RE6 is a great game, but it's not a great Resident Evil game. Resident Evil 6 is Call of Duty with zombies attached. There are no puzzles. There is no thinking. Just action. Leon has the best campaign the game, but Simmons is too wacky to be a good villain. Think about iconic RE villains: William Birkin, Nemesis, Jack Baker. These enemies strikes fear in to your heart and their transformations are believable. But what happens with Simmons? He gets injected with the C-virus which usually just makes people turn in to zombies. But Simmons? He turns in to a dog monster. Then a T-rex monster. Then a giant fly. This ****er literally digivolves in to every Digimon in the original series. Ustanak was quote scary though.

Now, the game is fun. And RE6 sold SUPER well because it was a hokey action game from the time period akin to Call of Duty or Duke Nukem. However, the backlash for the game was uncanny as you may all remember. People complained about how 5 was too action oriented, so Capcom told the fans that Re6 was going to be more horror driven. But they decided in their cloaks in a hidden meeting where no one else could hear them that they WOULD create a more action packed game whether the fans wanted it or not!

Then, they produced RE7 as a response. RE7 is not a perfect game. But it is the hybrid of the survival horror series we were looking for and the modern day gaming sensibilities we expect! RE7 is the game that answers "What would Resident Evil look like if they didn't get too action oriented? What would a moden Resident Evil look like with horror as a main focus?" RE7 is the torch bearer for where we left off with RECV all those years ago (in the same way Revelations 2 did the same thing).

Now, with RE8, Capcom has the opportunity to give us the same horror driven experience we have loved in RE7 and RE2 Remake and combine it with the narrative they had been building with all of the other games.

In conclusion, RE6 is a great game. But not a great RE game. RE7 is both.

I'll really like RE6. Really. It's my guilty pleasure. I am well aware of its flaws, the cartoonish bosses and all, but I can't help but to like it. The control is perfect for the action oriented sequences. And it makes sense. The characters are experienced, action heroes. It makes sense for them to roll, slide and all that. I love the controls on RE6. I also love the voices. The game has some of the best working on it (Troy Baker, Matt Mercer, Laura Bailey...and of course, Roger Craig Smith too). I can understand some of the complains, but I think the reception on the game by the specialized media was too harsh, pointing all the flaws and ignoring the good things the game brought to the table. Which is odd, that when RE7 came, all the reviews almost came over it, ignoring a lot of the game's obvious flaws (honestly, it looks like the reviewers only played half of the game...the first half).

There is a point I like to make though...I don't like when people say that "REX (4,5,6,7..etc) didn't felt like Resident Evil". I, for one, thought that RE7 looked like a spinoff, but it was still RE (even if I don't consider it to be one of the greats. Far from it). There's no true "RE formula". It's too much of a subjective opinion. Everything is Resident Evil and the formula of the series changes over time. And if those changes are good or bad it's totally subjective. I for, one, liked the changes brought by RE4 (and the over the shoulder era, to be honest. I really like it), because in my opinion, the fixed camera era was getting stale and predictable, especially on the gameplay departament. But that's my two cents on this.

I thought being able to kick zombies at least added some realism, and you did not feel as restrained to just run, get bitten, or use knives. However, I don't agree that the action tone is good for this series. But I guess Resident Evil started its long life like Alien. It was purely a horror title to start off with, but the Aliens type sequels arrived later on, and it was all downhill from there.

Mr.R said:

I'll really like RE6. Really. It's my guilty pleasure. I am well aware of its flaws, the cartoonish bosses and all, but I can't help but to like it. The control is perfect for the action oriented sequences. And it makes sense. The characters are experienced, action heroes. It makes sense for them to roll, slide and all that. I love the controls on RE6. I also love the voices. The game has some of the best working on it (Troy Baker, Matt Mercer, Laura Bailey...and of course, Roger Craig Smith too). I can understand some of the complains, but I think the reception on the game by the specialized media was too harsh, pointing all the flaws and ignoring the good things the game brought to the table. Which is odd, that when RE7 came, all the reviews almost came over it, ignoring a lot of the game's obvious flaws (honestly, it looks like the reviewers only played half of the game...the first half).

There is a point I like to make though...I don't like when people say that "REX (4,5,6,7..etc) didn't felt like Resident Evil". I, for one, thought that RE7 looked like a spinoff, but it was still RE (even if I don't consider it to be one of the greats. Far from it). There's no true "RE formula". It's too much of a subjective opinion. Everything is Resident Evil and the formula of the series changes over time. And if those changes are good or bad it's totally subjective. I for, one, liked the changes brought by RE4 (and the over the shoulder era, to be honest. I really like it), because in my opinion, the fixed camera era was getting stale and predictable, especially on the gameplay departament. But that's my two cents on this.

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I really like resident evil 6 but unfortunately it's full of flaws and stupid plot...
The review were right to give low vote to that game, I mean It deserved a 3 only for that level in Chris campaign when you use the car, the graphic in that level is worst Than a playstation 1 and it's so boring that you don't have to do anything but watch piers using the car because enemy follow you but guess what? The machin gun is pointed in front of the car so you had to shoot in front of you but enemy are always behind you...

Yeah the character are experienced action heroes and they can use roll ecc... But this doesn't mean that hey must survive plane crashes witouth a scretch or some other over the top stupid action whitout an injuries... The not a hero dlc from re 7does a better job in rapresenting an experienced hero in an horror situation because you still feel in danger despite the fact that you are playing whit Chris, but in resident eivk 6 this is never the case since it look like you play whit rambo in every campaign

Returning to the plot, i don't know if you ever noticed but everyone at the start of leon campaign are turned into a zombie but magically only leon and Helena are not infected but they are on the ground zeroes of the infection it was impossible for them to survive...
And there are many of this plot hole in this game...

I really love Jake, I like him as a character but he is wesker son... I mean come on, that's the most stupid things I have ever heard, who ever write this gamd doesn't know what kind of character wesker was... Wesker son? Wtf who the hell wrote this game

The gameplay is also dated, it look to robotic and mechanic, every time you lose a bar of healt the character fall like an idiot an this is upsetting and frustrating especially when javo shoot at you in Chris campaign and you fall every two second... Also the combat sistem is robotic you had to press a button to use Meele but the animation are so frustrating and robotic that sometimes miss the enemy...

The graphic is good but there are so many bugs and glitch in it that at one point I stopped counting...
Some level are completely unfinished especially in Chris campaign and some texture are worst than the texture from the Ps1 Era...

I Think that resident evil 6 was a good game and I admire Capcom for what it was trying to do, a game whit 3 different campaign (4 whit ada) and I think that no other game have ever done this, the campaign are all different, it's look like 3 story, like 3 games... Also playing online or split screen was awesome, the mercenaries mode is still awesome...

But let's be honest resident evil 6 is the worst resident evil ever made and one of the worst action game ever, I can't see bad things like this in resident evil 7 except the third part of the game and the final boss who was to lame and short, but thanks good they released the not a hero dlc who expanded the third act

But you are right in one point, I don't like when people say that re 4 5 6 and 7 doesn't look like a re, because resident evil wasn't only horror, but was also action, yeah people remember this word resident evil was and it's still action, who ever say that resident evil was never action before 4 Than had never played resident evil 2 and 3... some moment in the resident evil series were also over the top and cartonish or manga like, there were also epic action moment in re 1 2 3 and code veronica like the battle with birkin and the tyrant, wesker vs alexia, wesker himself, the rivalry between wesker and chris... Resident evil is not just horror its also action and epicness that sometimes look like anime or manga, i will say like dragon ball...

I agree. There are a lot of good things about RE6 - specifically the amount of assorted enemy types.

But I did feel like it was a spin off. Like RESIDENT EVIL: Gears Of War Edition or something.

It was the culmination of the action series of games and definitely a step below 4 and 5. But I can't wait to play it again!

No ı dont think so. Re6 is awesome and extremely underrated to me. I wished it didnt get the unnecessary amount of hate.

I dont agree with the main " Too action oriented " criticism. As ı said previously somewhere, the re games were always campy / over the top and they started to become more action oriented with re2 and this natural process continued in re3 and recv as well. This didnt suddenly happen with re4 when the games became action horror. This also applies to re5 ( which is more action oriented than re4. ) and re6. ( which is more action oriented than re5. ) Basically the transition from survival horror to action horror made sense, not only gameplaywise but storywise as well. I dont like re7 and this is one of the reasons; it gives a weird reboot feeling and its change feels so sudden and out of nowhere. Its changes arent as impactful as re4's either which is one of the best games of all time. Meanwhile re7 tries to be a classic re game but for some reason; it falls flat on its face at 2nd half.

I also checked the reviews of the game over the years, a lot of them. The game is so divisive in a way that cant be explained. I feel like people who like and enjoy the game explain their opinions better than the ones who dislike it while forcing their opinions to others as if they are facts. Not to mention; those toxic fans usually suck at the game while blaming the game for their mistakes. Nerrel's re6 video is an example of this. I liked his re2 remake review but for the re6 one it's basically him being crap at the game and forcing his opinion to others as if it's a fact.

It's understandable that some parts can be annoying to people and some may not a big fan of its over the top nature compared to previous re games among other things but calling it literally a " bad game " is going WAY too far. In the worst case scenario; it's a good game. I mean ı dont like re7 but ı dont call it bad; it's still good for what it is.

So yeah; that's my opinion. I really like re6; it was the 1st re game that ı played in 2013 and got me introduced to the franchise. Without it; ı wouldnt be a re fan and delve into the secrets of the re franchise. Due to this; ı have a special spot for it in my heart.

I hope they make a sequel to this game and continue the action horror trilogy. This wont happen with re8 and re9 cause they will be in re7 style; it's nothing but a pipe dream. They could continue the trilogy with rerev games or as spinoffs instead. I want to see jake, sherry, helena and even ada again, they need to return and they should continue the story of re6 somehow while explaining the loose ends of the game and its files.

The action horror trilogy have great potential in them, especially re6; dont waste this potential with garbage spinoffs like umbrella corps capcom.

Dang Mert,

I know you support RE6. But I think it is a touch negative to say that because there is pressure from reviewers and youtubers to say that the game is bad, others just follow suit.

As a juxtaposition against your comments, here is the Metacritic scores for the PS3 version of the game: https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/resident-evil-6

As you can see, the reviewers were a lot more gentle with the game than most fans were. To be fair, a lot of these fans are die hard fans who didn't like a lot of change. But I think it is fine for people to feel how they feel about the game. Some people don't like it. And that is fine. I don't get mad when people dislike RE7 which I found refreshing and the easily the scariest game in the series!

UniqTeas said:

because there is pressure from reviewers and youtubers to say that the game is bad, others just follow suit.

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Yeah unfortunately that's kinda what happened to re6; ı wished it didnt. I wasnt even aware the game got bad rep since ı really was enjoying myself when ı played the game for the 1st time. I dont think ı had that much issues with the game either. Sometimes ı miss the times when ı was a noob; good memories...

I dont trust metacritic cause overall it's a crap site with game journalists and weird fans and all among other weird things like not requiring to have a game in order to post a review but ı find it weird that the later releases got lower scores when capcom improved those ports to make the game more enjoyable apparently. This reminds me of recvx and dmc3 special edition in a way; ı never played the original version of those 2 games but apparently capcom improved those games too after some time. However ı played the improved versions on pcsx2 and they were really enjoyable, ESPECIALLY DMC3.

I kinda agree with your last statement; it's ok for people to like and dislike whatever they want; however it's ridiculous when opinions are stated as facts. The fanbase is unfortunately toxic, especially when it comes to this game.

Hey, I get it. Like I said, I am a big fan of RE7 and have to deal with people hating on that. Plus, a lot of people here NOT SO SECRETLY hate RE4 which is in my top 3 RE games of all time and the only one to get a Game Of The Year win as far as I know. But I digress.

I am looking forward to playing RE6 again this year because the game is super fun. I just think the game took too many traits from other popular series to stand on its own. Which works a lot of the time. But I think Capcom didn't need to succumb to that pressure.

Personally ı prefer this game over re4 and re5; ı think it's also better than rerev, re7, reimaginings as well as all spinoffs excluding outbreak games. I dont think it's better than pre-re4 mainline entries, outbreak games and rerev2 though.

About re4 and re5; one major thing ı dont like about them is them using tank controls. Idk why they use tank controls; outbreak file 2 allows moving and shooting and yet re4 and re5 dont for a weird reason despite being action games. I also dont like how the weapon upgrade systems of those 2 games dont work on their extra canon episodes. ( e.g. you cant upgrade your weapons in re4 separate ways. )

I dont think it's the worst mainline entry either. I think re7 is the worst. It has an identity crisis; it's like it wants to be a reboot but at the same time it doesnt. It also has one main campaign which is survival horror and 2 action campaigns ( Not a hero and end of zoe ) but the problem is they feel half assed ( For the main story; it's cause of the 2nd half and for the action dlcs; it's cause of their lackluster combat system. Not a hero especially feels like cod with generic enemies. ) and the game cant decide whether it wants to be survival horror or action. ( I also have a similar issue with rerev. ) It also has minigames ( 21 ) that are weirder than 4 / 5 / 6's qtes / vehicle sections.

At least all campaigns in re6 are action and compared to re4 and re5; it's more honest at being an action game; even in leon's campaign. Plus the story is still connected to canon re lore and it follows from re2, re3, recv, darkside chronicles and re5 instead of trying to be a reboot like re7 is.

I replayed RE6 this year and had a lot of fun with it. Of course, I think it is certainly a betrayal of the RE fanbase and possibly the worst game in the franchise. But it is a fun game for sure. I posted this in another thread, but in Leons campaign alone - Leon/Helena crash a car, bus, helicopter, jet plane, and another car. That is just lazy writing just to feed people their adrenaline fix without having actual horror or story elements. Leon still has my favorite campaign in the game, but just because it doesnt feel like it is trying to be Gears of War or Call of Duty as much as the other campaigns.

UniqTeas said:

I replayed RE6 this year and had a lot of fun with it. Of course, I think it is certainly a betrayal of the RE fanbase and possibly the worst game in the franchise. But it is a fun game for sure. I posted this in another thread, but in Leons campaign alone - Leon/Helena crash a car, bus, helicopter, jet plane, and another car. That is just lazy writing just to feed people their adrenaline fix without having actual horror or story elements. Leon still has my favorite campaign in the game, but just because it doesnt feel like it is trying to be Gears of War or Call of Duty as much as the other campaigns.

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1. How is it a betrayal of re fanbase exactly? Cause it's not survival horror? Re4 and re5 werent survival horror either. I think re7 and reimaginings are betrayal.

2. I agree that leon's campaign has the least interesting story when compared to others but leon survived vehicle crashes before re6. Plus characters in re franchise always survived against impossible odds.

3. How is it trying to be gears of war / cod exactly? I think it's more similar to vanquish. I mean re6 has an insane combat system and the variety of melee options the game has is insane. Plus it uses ots camera while cod is 1st person.

Also;


" The dream [for Operation Raccoon City] would be that the millions of Call of Duty fans that are enjoying these fast-paced online games are attracted to this Resident Evil. "

It's talking about reorc, not re6.

Still dont get how re6 is like call of duty. J'avos arent normal humans, they are c-virus infected bow. They can mutate their body parts upon getting shot. Not to mention ammo isnt anywhere and it's easy to run out of ammo, especially if you dont rely on the game's mechanics.

Reorc feels like call of duty mainly cause you're fighting normal non-infected soldiers armed with weapons. Not to mention, ammo is everywhere and the dead soldiers drop their weapons that you can pick up unlike in re4 / re5 / re6 where you cant pick up the tools dropped by ganado / majini / j'avo.

I'm not sure if this is the best place to share this but ı feel like ı've been too unfair to re7 in the past. Plus ı changed some of my opinions, ı'm gonna try to be as optimistic as possible. ( E.g. Umbrella corps is the only re game that ı dont like and think it sucks. )

For more info; ı recommend checking this:

I think that it shows a lot of strength of character to have done a deeper dive in to something divisive and come out with a different opinion. Even if you only change your mind a lot, it is not something that everyone can do. I always agree with all of the negatives thrown at RE7, but I think that the game really tried to do its own thing and give us survival horror for a new generation. I think it was successful in a lot of ways. But I will always like first person gaming a little bit less. That is just my style of gaming!

I have come to like RE6 a little more after years of avoiding it. I still think it is one of the worst RE titles mostly because it was blatantly trying to be other games from the time period. But when I replayed the game for a sense of fun, I had a great time. Over the top and ridiculous? Sure. But fun for the sake of fun has its own place too.