THE HORROR genre has lost its way of late, moving from its traditional territory of tension, fear and seemingly impossible odds. Instead horror titles – including Resident Evil 6 – have turned to gunplay, action set-pieces and weak attempts at scares.
Spread across three campaigns, Resident Evil 6 lets you play as either Leon, as he escapes Tall Oaks City, Chris Redfield fighting zombies in China or newcomer Jake Muller as he blazes a trail across Europe.
The result is three separate experiences that feel like they try to serve fans of horror and action, without any of them delivering real innovation. Shooting and movement feels clunky and outmoded, the menu and inventory systems are over complicated and the cover shooting mechanic is erratic and unhelpful.
It’s a shame to see the series dithering around with so many separate components that fail to gel, underlining a reluctance to conform to innovations elsewhere in the genre.
That said, long-time fans will be able to overlook the heavy Call of Duty influence and enjoy the game by association to the core series. There is a lot of content on offer, including an extra Ada Wong campaign, as well as the ever-brilliant Mercenaries bonus mode.
Visually the game looks decent and some of the locales are creepy, even if the shambling zombies aren’t. There are demos online if you want to try it first, but you may just find this to be a poor attempt at reinvention.
Resident Evil 6
£44.99, PC/PS3/Xbox 360