Resident Evil 6 journal - entry three

From the day that Capcom announced Resident Evil 6 would have three separate campaigns, Chris' was the one I found myself least excited to experience. Anyone who read my review of Resident Evil 5 knows that I did not hate the game. Unlike many reviewers, I rather enjoyed RE5, though I recognized it as an action game with horror elements sprinkled here and there, whereas Resident Evil 4 had walked the line between action-horror and survival-horror. While I really enjoyed the way that Resident Evil 5 controlled, the run-and-gun nature of the gameplay had me worried that Chris' campaign would be way too easy.

I would not go so far as to say that any one of the campaigns is more difficult than another, but Chris' chapters present a challenge consistent with Leon's and Jake's. While Chris and Piers have more heavy weaponry at their disposal, the game throws far more enemies their way at any given time. Also, despite the fact that these two characters are soldiers, they still feel like two guys dealt the worst hands possible, as their teammates suffer unfortunate deaths as the storyline progresses. The fact that these two take on such a huge responsibility makes for what is surprisingly the scariest of the three campaigns, with bosses that can turn invisible, smarter J'avo than in Jake's campaign, and plenty of Chrysalis enemies.

Perhaps the darkest beast of all is man itself, as the story breaks down who Chris Redfield is in a matter of hours better than Resident Evil 5 did in its entire run. The fact that Chris' campaign starts off with a tragic loss leads him down a dark path where he discards his traditional gathered demeanor in favor of a vengeful one. This puts him at odds with second-in-command Piers, a talented sniper who forgets his rank time and time again (and proves to be the only real obnoxious major character in the game, though certainly not as nauseating as past characters like Ramon Salazar from RE4 or Jessica Sherawat from RE Revelations).

Though the core gameplay was largely a run-and-gun style carried over from RE5, Chris and Piers did not feel overpowered, as the game does well to provide you with just enough ammo, grenades, and herbs to complete your objectives as long as you play it smart and tactical. Being constantly aware of your environmental surroundings as well as the capabilities of your enemies is key when deciding how to proceed with dispatching them, especially if you want to conserve ammo for an end-level boss encounter. There are a few moments where the camera angle shifts and you are forced to participate in one of the cinematic running sequences that I mentioned in the previous two journal entries. But these are few and far between when compared to Jake's and Leon's campaigns, and really only prove frustrating near the very end.