Smackdown vs. BOW - Let's Play Resident Evil 6!

Resident Evil 6 is, counter-intuitively enough, the 19th game in the Resident Evil series. It was developed by Capcom and released for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. A dolled-up version of the game was released for Playstation 4 and the Xbox One in 2016, which is the version we’ll be playing.

Resident Evil 6 is the game in which the plot of the Resident Evil series officially goes completely off the rails. At the end of Resident Evil 5, series MVP Chris Redfield manages to take out series prime antagonist Albert Wesker by dumping him into lava and then shooting two giant rockets at him. You would hope that would be the end of the world’s bio-terror-related troubles, but not so…

In between Resident Evil 5 and 6, everything gets messed up. Here’s a non-comprehensive list of horrible things that have happened in the world since the conclusion of Resident Evil 5:

  • The president of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind the Raccoon City incident and government dealings with umbrella;
  • Chris led a squad of BSAA agents against Neo-Umbrella and got almost all of them killed. He contracted post-traumatic amnesia and depression as a result;
  • The government has discovered the existence of Albert Wesker’s son, Jake Mueller;
  • Bio-terrorist attacks are no longer incidents, but a global regularity. At least five of them have happened since the end[/list] of RE5.

If you want to know more about this, you can Read the Manga. I wouldn’t fuss about it too much though; the game certainly doesn’t.

The story of Resident Evil 6 proper is split up into three campaigns, each centred around a different duo of protagonists. First off is Leon S. Kennedy and newcomer Helena Harper. After a bio-terrorist attack turns the entire student body and faculty of Ivy University into zombies, it is up to them to find out who is responsible for the outbreak. Second is Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans’ campaign. After Piers Nivans convinces Chris to get back into the BOW-killing game, the two head off the China to fend off an outbreak organized once again by Neo-Umbrella. Lastly, there’s Jake Mueller and Sherry Berkin’s (the little girl from RE2) campaign. Jake’s body ostensibly contains antibodies that could be used to create an antidote for the C-Virus, so the two attempt to meet up with the BSAA to get the antibodies extracted. Unfortunately, they find themselves pursued by a large, Nemesis-like creature hellbent on Jake’s destruction. All three of the stories intersect with one-another and eventually culminate together.

Resident Evil 6 is also the game in which the Resident Evil franchise fully transitioned–very briefly, mind–into an action-shooter franchise. A lot of people were understandably miffed about this, but I personally adore this game. The action in Resident Evil 6 is absolutely bonkers; Gears of War wishes it was this dope. You can dual-wield pistols, shoot while sliding, perform melee combos and counters, bust out split-second dodges, and best of all: perform sweet wrestling moves to finish off enemies. The combat in this game is marvelous and the fact that it’s co-op makes it even better! That said, the game is kind of messy, which detracts from the overal quality of the fighting a bit. Enemies have a tendency to act really erratically or get cheap hits in, and a lot of scenarios simply aren’t tailored to the combat mechanics very well. The mechanics are made for a very precise and skill-based game, and Resident Evil 6 isn’t exactly that. Even so, it’s still a blast.

Each campaign has a slightly different playstyle. Leon’s campaign is closest in tone and pacing to Resident Evil 4 and 5, with smaller, tense encounters and a spookier atmosphere. I believe I described Chris’ campaign to my co-op partner as “a balls-to-the-wall, oorah military shooter” and that’s exactly what it is. You’ll be slinging fully-automatic machine guns left and right while fighting against monsters who have developed the intelligence to handle guns of their own. Terrifying! Jake’s campaign is closest to what you might imagine a modern big-budget game to be like. It’s filled with action-packed setpieces and one-off gameplay scenarios. You also run a lot in Jake’s campaign, both from monsters and from explosions.

This is going to be a pretty laid-back LP. We’re not going for 100% completion and we’re not trying to get perfect scores on every level. I’m just here to show my buddy Delta how much fun this game is, and hopefully you’ll be left with the same impression! This game gets kind of a bad rap in my opinion and I hope this LP will show it in a more positive light.

The videos:

:ghost:Leon’s campaign::ghost:
Episode 1: New Year’s Revolution
Episode 2: Fastlane
Episode 3: In Your House

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I’m going to apologize in advance for the poor audio quality in the first three episodes. Delta’s microphone isn’t all that great and it ended up picking up a lot of noise from his TV. We managed to fix this for our second recording session, so I promise it’ll get better from here on out!

Fun! I really enjoy RE6 though I have a terrible time with shooters so it’s usually hard for me to play lol. (I realize we’re in the minority but the story is just so crazy that I can’t help but love it. In particular, I have a soft spot or Piers and Jake.)

:siren: New episode! We travel through the sewers, the subway, and the suburbs in this one. Along the way, we meet a lot of new folks. They all die in short order though, unfortunately.

Episode 3: In Your House

Great to see you’re making videos again, Jordan! aand posting them here too. :toot: