Earlier games in the series did a good job of dishing out the scares, but that's gone. The mess isn't confined to the controls, it also follows over thematically. In short: Resident Evil 6 is chaos, followed by frequent, frustrating death. It's one thing to easily move and shoot at one zombie coming at you it's quite another when there are dozens. Controls that seem to fight you at every turn are now a liability in a world that shovels hordes of bad guys at you. Over the past few instalments, the series has shifted away from its survival horror roots and more toward a third-person shooter sensibility. More than 15 years later, the controls are still wooden, yet Resident Evil is not the same game. It also worked because the enemies were relatively few and far between – the thrill of the game came from not knowing exactly when or where they'd pop up. The scheme worked because it added to the feeling of vulnerability, the horror survival genre's stock in trade. That game made it hard for players to turn and run, and if they wanted to shoot at the approaching zombies it was also best to stand still. Zombie's friends to close in and start munching on your brains.ĭifficult controls were part of the original Resident Evil game, back in 1996. While it's relatively easy to draw a bead on one attacker, moving with the other thumbstick throws that aim off completely, so it's best to stand stock still. Aiming and moving at the same time just don't seem to mix in this game. With a fair bit of distance between you, and having had some more time getting to know the controls, it should be simple to dispatch them, right? Nope. Later on in the subway tunnels, a group of zombies shambles toward you. Either that, or you have to start the craziness over. The attackers inevitably take you down, at which point you can only hope that your partner resuscitates you. As the chaos builds, it quickly becomes apparent that the only thing to do is give up on your guns and kick blindly.
The camera shifts wildly and uncontrollably as you try to figure out how to aim and shoot – no instructions are given. In the game's opening scene, Helena and her partner Leon are attacked by a swarm of the monsters amid a cluster of abandoned cars. That's actually what you're supposed to do to the zombies, but good luck figuring out how. Resident Evil 6 is one of those rare, almost unplayable games, with a control system that makes you want to beat your head against the wall. She's referring to a zombie attack in a subway tunnel, but she may as well be talking about the game itself. "This is a nightmare," says Helena, one of the protagonists of Resident Evil 6.