Do you love zombies, guns, and giant monster bosses? If you said yes to any of those you are either crazy or (like myself) a Resident Evil fan!
If you haven’t guessed by now, in this article I’m giving my first thoughts on the recently released Resident Evil 6 Demo. The demo became available to download (if you have the Dragons Dogma disk) on July 3rd via Xbox Marketplace and July 4th via PlayStation Network. The Demo provides 3 short gameplay scenarios where you can play Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, or new character Jake Muller.
I started the demo down the line starting with Leon S. Kennedy and his partner Helena Harper. Immediately I am given a cut scene of the zombie President getting shot by Leon. This cut scene alone already told me that I am in for an apocalyptic treat! Leon’s new partner explains that there is a source that will shed some light on this terrible situation. Eager to find the truth, Leon listens to Helena and the both of them head off to the source. I do have to say the beginning of this scenario started off slow for me, but I guess this was intentional in order to show the player the tweeks on controls and graphical structure of the game (which I do have to praise). Eventually you encounter an unknown gentleman who is in search of his daughter. Leon’s kind nature (and experience of saving people’s daughters) makes him go help the gentleman. As I searched through the building I noticed something that struck me as odd… Leon constantly flinched whenever lightning struck outside. Is Capcom telling me that Leon can kill thousands of zombies and monsters, but is afraid of lightning and thunder? Back to the gameplay, Leon eventually finds the daughter covered in scratches (raising my suspicion meter) and they make there way to an elevator. Lo and behold, the daughter turns into a zombie and you cover that elevator in zombie brains. The scenario ends on a cut scene of Leon and Helena off to the source.
The 2nd story I played was Chris Redfield. It starts off with a cut scene of Chris in a bar drinking heavily somewhere in “Eastern Europe” (you got love that Eastern Europe.) Chris is then confronted by his past partner Piers Nivans, and is told he must come back to the B.S.A.A. All of a sudden you are in a flashback, where you shoot down Uroboros on rooftops in order to rescue UN staff. This scenario gives players a better feel for the action aspects of the game and a peak at the events Chris had to endure in China.
Last but not least, I played new the character Jake Muller. Jake, who is also the son of Albert Wesker, is partnered by Residen Evil 2’s Sherry Birkin. I was real happy to see Sherry would come back into the Resident Evil franchise and actually play a big role in the game. Back to the game, you start with another cut scene you see a giant “Frankenstein looking” boss kill some random guy with its mechanical arm. Jake and Sherry get the right idea and run as if hell itself is behind them. They manage to give the slip to Mr. Evil Boss guy in a warehouse, until he busts through the wall like the Kool-Aid Jug. Jake has an intense showdown with the boss using tons of bullets and tons of explosive barrels. When the boss is defeated (which wasn’t really hard) the game ends with the floor collapsing with Jake and Sherry falling through. This gave me a better insight on the boss battles that will come with RE6.
As I finished the demo feeling satisfied I was hearing rumors of the demo holding some more information about Resident Evil 6, so I dig some more digging. Apparently there were additional files reveling another scenario revolving around Ada Wong and Mercenary Mode hidden in the demo. Hopefully this isn’t any foreshadow to disk-locked DLC when the full Resident Evil 6 is released.
Overall this demo gave me what I wanted. I see the effort that the designers are putting into the game and I’m also happy to fight zombies again. The only thing left to do, is grab all my Resident Evil games and get ready for the apocalypse which is Resident Evil 6 on October 2 ,2012!