Top 5 moments that best put the 'evil' in Resident Evil 6

A lot of sinister things have been done over the years in the Resident Evil games. It's really no surprsise - I mean, the series has 'evil' in its name. Sure, exposing people to a virus that turns them into a mindless horde of flesh-eaters is pretty bad behavior. But abominations like the Hunters and Novistadors and truly vile; don't even get me started on Wesker and his little Uroboros pet project. This list is a compilation of the five moments I found best put the 'evil' in Resident Evil 6. Be warned: this list is filled with spoilers, so if you don't want your RE6 experience ruined, play through the game first and then come back to compare notes with me.

#5 - Zombies with guns: Don't get me wrong, I loved the way in which the J'avo were implemented into Resident Evil 6. Having squads of tactical and organized zombies is great, and the fact that they are stronger than run-of-the-mill infected makes for much more interesting (as well as tense) combat. But seriously, who was the idiot at Neo Umbrella that thought it would be a good idea to give zombies guns? They weren't dangerous enough with the whole flesh-eating routine? Not to mention that their body parts mutate into some heavy and quite practical weaponry.

#4 - Pong torture game: Just before Chris and Leon have their standoff over (impostor Ada Wong) Carla Radame's fate, the two find themselves in a security room, their identities protected thanks to a wall that runs down the center of it. But there are small gaps at the foot of the wall that allow small electronic discs to slide back and forth. When Carla activates these, the two heroes and their respective companions must shoot the discs back to the other room, not knowing who they are harming in the process. It's like Saw with Japanese vacuum robots that explode.

#3 - Chris's team dies: After aiding Carla, Chris and Piers discover she has an agenda all her own. This revelation comes too late, unfortunately, as she injects all of the team members into Chrysalis enemies. Racked with guilt over what happened that day - or more specifically, the fact that he could not keep his promise to rookie Finn that everyone would make it home in one piece - Chris becomes an alcoholic who wanders from one bar to the next. He completely forgets his role as commander of a BSAA squad until Piers manages to find him and drag him back to the battlefield.

#2 - Chris' team dies... again: As if the first time wasn't bad enough, Chris Redfield's team that is sent into China is picked off one by one - this time at the hands of a giant invisible snake. Basically, Capcom took the idea of Yawn from the original Resident Evil, made him much meaner and scarier, and gave him the ability to turn invisible. All of this makes for one of the most intense segments in the entire game, as you never know where the snake is going to pop out from next.

#1 - Everything that Simmons does: Though I don't much care for Simmons as a character, I have to admit, his actions are downright nefarious. He tests the C-virus on Helena's sister, coerces her into helping unleash it on the population of Tall Oaks, forces Leon to kill the President of the United States, ends up making Helena fight her sister, sets both Leon and Helena up as prime suspects in unleashing the virus, watches as the Chinese populous descends into chaos, mutates into a number of animal forms before turning into a giant fly and feeding off lesser zombies, before finally kicking the bucket. He's no Albert Wesker, but damn if Simmons didn't try to follow in his footsteps.

Xbox 360 review: Resident Evil 6

Spread out over the course of about six months, the events of Resident Evil 6 call veterans Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield back into action to stop a zombie outbreak that threatens multiple fronts. Also caught up in the mess made by Neo-Umbrella is Jake Muller, a mercenary with incredible physical prowess who has only recently discovered his role as son of the late Albert Wesker. The game is divided into three major campaigns, as well as one shorter story revolving around Ada Wong that is unlocked after the others have been completed, much like the side stories of Assignment Ada and Separate Ways in Resident Evil 4. With a return to the familiar viral outbreak scenario instead of Las Plagas or Uruboros, there is a certain familiarity about Resident Evil 6.

While the core gameplay builds upon the more recent action-oriented entries into the series, each campaign plays with a distinctly different style in mind. Chris controls fast and furious as he did in Resident Evil 5, and totes quite a full arsenal. While he faces hordes of the tactical J'avo (who are infinitely more intelligent than the standard zombie), Chris' campaign is - interestingly enough - arguably the scariest of the batch. The enemies he goes up against are considerably stronger than those the other protagonists face, and some prove highly adaptable - like the Rasklapanje, who can continue fighting even when their torso has been separated from the legs, or tear off their own arms to throw them at Chris' face to block his field of vision. The environment can play just as important a role, when enemies are difficult to see or when trapped in tight quarters with many powerful foes. All of it makes for a very tense experience that does well to balance the action and horror elements.

Piers, Chris' second-in-command, is easily the weakest of the three partner characters. He constantly forgets his place and questions Chris' orders time and time again. Conversely, the chunk of Resident Evil 6 centered around Chris presents him in a more genuinely human light than RE5 did during its entire run. When his team was mutated by the C-Virus in eastern Europe, Chris blamed himself for their deaths and his inability to keep a promise to rookie Finn. He represses all memory of the incident and wanders the country in a drunken stupor until Piers recovers him. As Chris regains his memories, he begins to travel down a dark path of vengeance, and a whole new side of him is presented. It's an interesting look at the concept of man being the darkest beast of them all that the series hasn't really touched on outside the boundaries of evil mastermind villains of yesteryear.

While the President of the United States is visiting Ivy University, he is infected by a C-Virus outbreak. Faced with no other option, Leon shoots him and is informed by one Helena Harper that she may have some valuable information for him regarding the cause of the local outbreak. Leon has a handful of nicely varied weapons that he collects over the course of his campaign, and the college town surrounding Ivy University is an obvious throwback to the events of Raccoon City. For the first time in the series history, the chaos erupts before your very eyes as cars spin out of control, motorcycles crash, and people abandon their loved ones as zombies spread out in every direction. Presenting all of this as scripted in-game events as opposed to cutscenes makes the experience all the more immersive.

The enemies Leon and Helena face are primarily standard zombies, though there are a number of specialized (and subsequently more-challenging-to-kill) zombies, such as the screamer, the highly-agile and feral bloodshot, the whopper, and the spore-carrying Lepotitsa. Leon's campaign also features a wide variety of boss fights, many of which last for a good portion of a chapter. As a whole, Resident Evil 6 features what is probably the most varied array of enemies the series has ever seen, which will keep you on your toes as you explore the crypt beneath Tall Oaks, an abandoned market in Lanshiang, China, the plane that Leon and Helena board to travel from the former to the latter, and so on. The occasional puzzle element will work its way in, though these are far more prominent in Ada's bonus campaign. In terms of its gameplay, Leon's campaign controls the most like RE4, though the story elements and classic gothic horror motif evoke memories of RE2 and Resident Evil Zero.

As the new kid on the block, Jake is paired with Sherry Birkin, and the two share a unique relationship as children of two of the series' most prominent villains. Jake initially comes across as brash and selfish, informing Sherry that he will go along with her plan to bring him back to the U.S. government to research the C-Virus antibodies in his blood so long as he gets paid a hefty sum of money. While this is an easy arrangement for Sherry to make with her superiors, she tries to convince him that there is more potential than just using his skills as a soldier of fortune. There is a solid progression and development of them individually as well as partners of circumstance.

Jake's hand-to-hand combat works well enough, and his advantage in strength allows him to pull of faster (and often more brutal) finishing combos on enemy J'avo. The rest of his arsenal is relatively light, but he controls about equal with Chris and Leon. The environments Jake and Sherry must traverse are a bit less impressive than those that make up the other campaigns. One has the duo searching for key items in the middle of a snowstorm, and the visibility becomes so poor so frequently that reliance on the mini-radar is essential. Another requires them to sneak past the pursuing Ustanak (a nod to RE3's Nemesis) without setting off detectors that take on the form of giant insects, which is not crafted in a particularly intelligent manner. Quick-time events have been molded into more of interactive cutscenes that seamlessly transition from actual gameplay to the cinematics. With regards to their implementation in Jake's campaign, however, they often begin when he and Sherry are confined to a very small area with awkward camera angles and limited mobility, which makes them frustrating interruptions to an otherwise natural flow.

Jake does spout off a few cheesy one-liners fitting to his bad boy image. But the writing in Resident Evil 6 is a significant step up from most other entries in the series with regards to dialogue. Though Piers isn't exactly the most likeable, Helena and Sherry play off their respective leads well. The characters that really leave the most to be desired are the major villains. Without spoiling who they are or what their goals are, it is safe to say that the means do not even come close to justifying the end, and that they cannot compare to the evil geniuses of Albert Wesker, William Birkin, James Marcus, etc. At the same time, the web of conspiracy that strings the main characters brings an element of mystery and intrigue to the table. The plot explores the results of the C-Virus as it affects individuals on a more personal level, as well as widespread global panic, with bioterrorism now so frequent an occurrence.

Each of the campaigns will intersect with the others at key points, and if you are playing online, there is the potential for four human players to be cooperating in a boss battle or other major plot point. Though there is no real pause option, the game allows you to huddle in a safe location and bring up the options menu on your character's cell phone. The item menu is still accessed in real-time, but has many more slots than in RE5 and is much easier to manage thanks to quick-button commands. Herbs multiply when combined, and heal one block of the health bar a piece. Each character also has a stamina bar, which will be depleted and need to recharge if they perform too many kicks and punches. It isn't a perfect system, but it is an improvement over what Sheva and Chris had to rely on in RE5.

Mercenaries mode makes a return, albeit in a limited fashion. Unless you preordered from one of the major retailers offering extra stages as bonus content, your time spent in Mercenaries mode will be limited to three stages. These stages are all inspired by different areas in the three major campaigns, and present solid variation in size and layout. There are also eight playable characters that have their own set of weapons and items, with costume variants that offer even greater freedom in taking on a great number of the infected as the time limit draws closer to zero. Time bonuses and multipliers are spread evenly across any given stage, with the largest of the three - Steel Beast - requiring players to balance moving toward the next bonus with chaining kills. With the ultimate goal of 150 kills in a single round, running into a standstill on an empty stage like in RE5 is highly unlikely. That said, the RE6 version of Mercenaries behaves largely the same as in the past two numbered entries, though enemies are smarter and characters motions are more fluid.

Also available post-game is Agent Hunt mode, where players can take on the role of an enemy in another player's game in hopes of hindering their progress. Serpent emblems lay hidden in each campaign, and shooting/collecting these will unlock files relevant to the overarching story or figures of some of the game's major enemies. Also, there are individual skill stores for the different gameplay modes, where players can exchange in-game points for special upgrades. These range from better melee damage to less damage taken from enemies, higher drop rate of ammunition to more time from chaining bonuses in Mercenaries mode, and so on. Ada's bonus campaign is brief, with each individual chapter lasting around a half-hour to forty-five minutes, compared the hour average of the other campaign chapters. Hers is a story meant to tie up some of the loose ends, and the execution is handled well enough. There is a significant emphasis on stealth and puzzle elements early on, with the former being much more direct and less frustrating than Jake and Sherry's run-and-hide from Ustanak routine.

The soundtrack is an interesting blend of haunting choir tunes and tense techno battle themes. The lighting effects go a long way in creating the game's many diverse environments, though there are many textures that appear highly dated when viewed up close. Character models look good, and weather elements lend themselves to creating a much richer and fully-realized set of environments like snowfall over the streets of a partially-destroyed European city and a rainstorm picking up as Leon and Helena seek refuge in a cemetery church not far outside of Tall Oaks.

There is a lot to do in Resident Evil 6. The three campaigns make for one of the longest Resident Evil stories woven yet, and the bonus game modes provide plenty of replayability. There are moments where the game stumbles over its experimental nature, but it is largely a successful blend of action and horror, making for a more fast-paced and fluid experience than in RE4 and a more consistent classic horror style than the few jump scares presented in RE5. It may not be exactly what fans were expecting, but there are elements meant to appeal to Resident Evil fans of all kinds, and appears to be Capcom's way of returning to the basic and most successful elements that propelled the series over the years, while simultaneously taking it in a new direction now that the major plotline surrounding Albert Wesker has concluded.

My rating: 8.5 (out of 10)

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.

Resident Evil 6 journal - entry two

One of the main themes that Capcom stated they wanted to come across in Jake’s campaign prior to the release of Resident Evil 6 was the sense of being stalked by the Ustanak as mirroring Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. While Ustanak is prominent in the first couple of chapters of RE6, those same chapters control like a curious combination of Resident Evil 4 and the older entries in the series. The European town that Jake and Sherry run through as they try to escape the Ustanak and J’avo is reminiscent of RE4 both in terms of aesthetics and layout. While the two aid Chris Redfield and company in fighting a giant B.O.W. that bears some resemblance to the El Gigante, they also spend plenty of time solving environmental puzzles, riding vehicles, and sneaking around sensor bugs that Ustanak sets up within an ice cavern.

Being children of two of the most important Resident Evil villains, Jake and Sherry have a unique and genuinely interesting relationship. Despite Capcom’s tendency in recent years to create or recreate female leads that are weak and whiny, Sherry holds her own alongside bad boy Jake as one of the strongest lead characters in RE6. To that end, I think Jake and Sherry’s storyline could prove the best of three, though Leon and Helena’s is certainly more dark and creepy.

Going back to the gameplay, the brief stealth sections are not particularly well-handled, and the Ustanak is more of a constant annoyance than a full-fledged villain. The latter element would be fine, if the campaign did much of anything to explore the individuals who command Ustanak, but in the end Jake and Sherry’s story feels the most far-removed from the main storyline. Jake controls more or less like the other characters, though his kung-fu fighting and wrestling suplexes give him a distinct leg up in hand-to-hand combat. The enemies do not feel quite as varied as in Leon’s campaign, though there is still a solid variety presented, most of them being B.O.W.s and J’avo as opposed to traditional zombies.

There is one level where Jake and Sherry must collect a series of key items scattered about a mountainside in the middle of a snowstorm. There are quite a few enemies littered about, and the entire scenario is pretty tense and creepy. However, it is also easy to find yourself lost, and the mini-map in the top corner of the screen practically becomes a necessity. Perhaps the most poorly designed gameplay element of Jake’s campaign are the running sequences that border between traditional gameplay and quick-time events. I wasn’t much a fan of the way these were implemented in Leon’s campaign, but they are usually a mess in Jake’s campaign. Though there are only a handful of these running sequences, the level designs always grant you minimal space and Sherry tends to get in the way, slowing you down and sending you to a premature death within seconds.

Don’t get me wrong – Jake’s campaign was fun, and the story was really cool, even though Leon’s proved superior as a whole. Even though Jake shoots off his fair share of cliché bad boy phrases, they are nowhere near as silly as some of the dialogue in the older entries. As a whole, Jake’s campaign plays pretty solid, despite a few hiccups along the way. The hand-to-hand combat works better than I expected, and there is a nice variety presented in the level designs. There is a large gap of time that the story skips over, and even though it makes sense with the overarching plot, it feels like another chapter could have been added to Jake’s campaign.

Resident Evil 6 journal - entry one

In a similar vein to my Pokémon Black/White and Heart Gold/Soul Silver journals, I will be posting a few short entries on the Resident Evil 6 campaign before I post my review (which will cover both the campaign, Agent Hunt and Mercenaries Mode, etc.) This is both to help better gather my thoughts on the game as well as provide my (spoiler-free) experience with the three main campaigns. As of today, I have completed Leon's storyline and plan to tackle the other two later this weekend and into the following week, as I can't imagine that the game will take me much longer than that to fully take in (also, Pokémon Black 2/White 2 hit store shelves this Sunday, so I will be spending the better portion of this Fall with my DS).

Leon's campaign is in many ways a throwback to previous entries in the series. It does well to blend the action elements of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, while retaining the classic horror thematic of the earliest series on the Resident Evil timeline (i.e. - Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil 2). There are some direct nods, such as a church that bears a striking resemblance to the Los Illuminados' place of worship in RE4, as well as familiar settings like Tall Oaks, a small American college town that becomes engulfed in chaos following a viral outbreak.

The environments are nicely varied, and include such memorable settings as ancient underground ruins, the classrooms of Ivy University, and Chinese market streets. The lighting effects are fantastic and each distinct area is wonderfully realized. Unfortunately, some of the textures look highly dated up close, and blood animations are subpar. Conversely, there are a lot of different zombie types that Leon and Helena take on, including the classic infected, reanimated skeletal remains, screamers, spore carriers, and acid spitters. Probably the best of the bunch are zombies and B.O.W.s seemingly inspired by RE4's Regenerators. The first are zombies that shed their rotting flesh and replace it with a hard glassy shell, leaving their exposed chest as their sole weak point. They are very fast and can lunge at Leon from a fair distance. The second appears to be a B.O.W. with black leathery skin (not unlike Ridley Scott's Alien) that can sever at the torso to strike at Leon's legs, as well as bite off its arms and throw them, allowing them to run about on their fingers and blind the protagonist's field of vision. These enemies have the ability to regenerate, and are both fast and smart, despite having a glaring weak point once the chest and legs have been separated.

While Leon's story begins with him investigating Tall Oaks for signs of where the outbreak began, he crosses paths with the other two protagonists and their partners after traveling to China. Leon also encounters Ada Wong a few times along the way, and their past becomes a prominent plot point during later chapters. While both RE4 and RE5 had human NPCs present, this is the first game to feature citizens in panic in-game, bringing about a better realization of the terror and gravity of the situation at hand. While RE5 posed the question of what might happen if bioterrorism spread across an entire country, RE6 looks at the potential for a worldwide outbreak.

The menu system is not perfect, but it is a decent improvement over the one used in RE5. There is still a cap on the number of items Leon can carry, but it is not a meager nine slots. Health is now divided into sections of a single bar, and being hit by an enemy will deplete one section of that bar. Leon can mix herbs to quickly multiply the number of herbs on hand, and can use these to either heal a single bar at a time or the whole bar (by tapping the bumper repeatedly to use up the appropriate amount). Quick action sequences are not so intrusive as in RE4 or RE5, and are instead blended in as a sort of interactive movie segment that maintains the game's fluidity.

Leon's campaign features some stellar boss fights, as well as a one or two that seem a tad cheesy in the midst of an otherwise solid action-horror story. The main villain of Leon's campaign, however, is rather one-dimensional and his goals seem frankly illogical when compared to the brilliant madmen of yesteryear (Wesker, Marcus, etc.) I have only scratched the surface of Mercenaries mode, and I have yet to touch either Jake's or Chris' campaign. You can expect to see journal entries regarding those within the coming week or two.

Ada gets her own campaign in Resident Evil 6

Capcom recently announced that a fourth campaign will be included as an unlockable bonus in Resident Evil 6. In the style of Resident Evil 4's Assignment Ada or Separate Ways, the story will follow Ada as she crosses paths with the main cast. The graveyard gameplay footage below would indicate that Ada's levels may place emphasis on classic horror.



Also announced was a new gameplay mode known as Agent Hunt. It appears to be a zombies vs. humans mode, with emphasis on group tactics to take down the game's heroes. Over time, players can mutate and upgrade their zombie character, providing a variety of tactical approaches in order to gain the upper hand.

Resident Evil 6 E3 gameplay trailer

The female antagonist has now been confirmed to be Ada Wong, which makes sense in the grand scheme of the Resident Evil story. The environments highlighted here look even cooler than the ones we've seen in previous trailers, due in part to the fact that they provide dynamic gameplay. The plane tilts back and forth as Leon shoots down infected passengers, while the bodies littering the underwater area look delightfully creepy. Prior to this trailer, we had a general idea of where the story was headed and who the heroes were, but this one focuses more on the villains and different enemy types.

Resident Evil 6 Captivate Trailer

A new trailer for Resident Evil 6 has been released, and it highlights the ways in which the three main characters' paths will cross. I'm glad to see that my speculation regarding the previouly-unnamed third protagonist (now know as Jake Muller) was not too far off, though that does seem like a rather significant plot point to reveal in a trailer this early on. Hopefully there will be plenty more twists and turns saved for the actual release date, which has been bumped up from November 20th to October 2nd.

Resident Evil 6 speculation

There are only a couple of things I am going to be covering at present, but they deal with two plot points that I assume will be relatively important in the grand scheme of Resident Evil 6’s story. This will follow in a similar style as my speculation toward The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and anyone reading this should keep in mind that what I am saying here has in no way been confirmed by Capcom, nor anyone else. It’s just me presenting some theories on what might be. (Warning: spoilers regarding Resident Evil Revelations below.)

Resident Evil 6’s reveal trailer highlighted three playable characters. While I was quite pleased to see the return of Leon and not particularly surprised (though rather indifferent) toward Chris’ return, there was a third character who struck me as a pleasant surprise. This character currently has no name, though I can only imagine we will find out more about him in the coming months building up to RE6’s release. In the trailer, this newcomer is shown fighting one BOW in particular, and most of his combat is physical. While Leon and Chris have been known to punch and kick enemies at close-range, they generally rely on guns to dispatch the infected. This guy, on the other hand, displayed some impressive physical prowess as he dropped a few enemies with a low spin kick and hurdled his way over rooftops and scaffolding.

There is a line in the trailer where this new character indicates that the world is only interested in his blood, implying that it is a valuable asset and perhaps some sort of vaccine to whatever new virus has been unleashed. Taking these two elements into consideration, this newcomer seems to bear some similarities with Albert Wesker and may share some of his attributes. While it has been previously stated none of the Wesker children beyond Albert survived, perhaps someone created a new batch of them (or at the very least, a single new Wesker child). This would also help to explain why this character appears so much younger than Albert.

The second point I wanted to bring up relates to a line Chris says in the reveal trailer, when he asks one of his squad members, “How many of our men are dead because of that bitch?” The teammate then corrects Chris by informing him that while he is upset by whatever turn of events took place, he does not think Chris’ “personal vendetta” should get in the way of their mission. The conversation, though brief, implies one of two things: either A) Chris lost a great number of people whom he was very close to, or B) he knows the person responsible for the death of his troops on a more personal level than some new face on the list of Resident Evil villains. If it is indeed the latter, the only female antagonist still currently alive post-Resident Evil 5 is Jessica Sherawat. Since she took the T-Abyss virus following the events of Resident Evil Revelations, it is possible that she helped to further its research to create a new virus, one that will be seen in Resident Evil 6. If Jessica is indeed tied to the events of Resident Evil 6, I see no reason that Raymond and Parker could not make appearances as well. Perhaps Resident Evil Revelations will serve not only as a bridge between the events of RE4 and RE5, but also as buildup to the events of RE6.

Resident Evil 6 Mercenaries mode wishlist

With Resident Evil 6 launching this Fall, I’ve lately found myself spending a fair amount of time revisiting the Mercenaries modes in RE 4 and RE 5. While it was never a big selling point for me when I first picked up Resident Evil 4, Mercenaries mode has become one of my favorite bonus gametypes of any video game I’ve ever played. I love the intense, arcade-style time-sensitive play style, and I feel just about every one of the levels is designed quite well. Admittedly, I’m a bit partial to the characters available in RE 4, though I think as a whole the Mercenaries experience plays out much more smoothly in RE 5. There has been no confirmation as of yet if Resident Evil 6 will include a Mercenaries mode. But if the bonus game types that were included in Revelations and Operation Raccoon City are any indication, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that RE 6 will include something similar to Mercenaries mode.

So far, the reveal trailer has shown us the three main characters of Resident Evil 6, Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield, and one unnamed newcomer. Assuming Mercenaries mode is included, it’s a pretty obvious conclusion that each of these three will be playable in the aforementioned bonus game type. But who else might be thrown into the fight? Resident Evil 5 granted players some flexibility with different weapon loadouts and costumes for characters, but for the sake of this list, I’m only going to be focusing on the characters I think could make for strong additions to the Mercenaries roster.

Ada Wong - At the end of Resident Evil 4, Ada took off with the plagas sample to deliver it to Wesker. Now that Wesker is presumed dead following the events of RE 5, I think it’s safe to say that Ada will play some role in RE 6. It’s difficult to guess as to how directly involved with the events of RE 6 Ada will be, but frankly I was a bit surprised her name wasn’t even mentioned in RE 5.

In RE 4’s Mercenaries mode, Ada was fast and agile. She let her stilettos do the talking when it came to close-quarters attacks, and was granted a sniper rifle, TMP, pistol, and incendiary grenades. Ada was a character designed for players who were more concerned with being able to move around quickly and put some distance between themselves and the encroaching hordes of the infected. Why not bring that same style back for RE6 - I mean, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, right?

Hunk - Probably the most difficult to master from the RE4 Mercenaries lineup, Hunk relied heavily on his TMP and grenades. I think the explosives-oriented character type is one that, when placed in the right hands, can produce some impressive results. I don’t think there needs to be much of a change from Hunk’s RE4 incarnation, though perhaps he could be granted use of a few of the trip mines from RE5.

Rebecca Chambers - Rebecca is another character that caters to a very specific crowd. She’s quite heavily stocked up on health supplies, while her default weaponry is rather basic. The approach with Rebecca is one that requires a lot of patience and well-placed shots. But again, she is one of those characters that, when placed in the right hands, can rack up significant combos.

Claire Redfield - Capcom has focused largely on three characters as the poster children for the Resident Evil franchise – Leon, Chris, and Jill. Jill’s role has become increasingly prominent through RE5 and Revelations. That said, I think Chris would be at too much of an advantage within the story mode to have Jill at his side the entire time. And it’s been a while since Claire got play time outside of the Chronicles games and most recently Operation Raccoon City. Claire’s inclusion would be in keeping with the likes of Barry Burton in RE5’s The Mercenaries Reunion, and might cater to some of the old-school fans, regardless of what her loadout is.

? - I don’t know which face to put with this last one. In RE4, Krauser was absolute power house for those who knew how to use him properly. In RE5, Tribal Sheva could prove to be a force to be reckoned with, a bow and grenade launcher in her arsenal. I could care less if their RE6 equivalent is granted use of an actual bow or not. But what I am concerned with a character that is something of a heavy-hitter. Someone whose loadout is limited to one or two weapons, but has one distinct means of attack that can spell imminent destruction for the infected. Now, I do feel the way Krauser was handled in RE4 proved a bit more balanced with the rest of the cast than Tribal Sheva did in RE5. And that has to do with the fact that his mutated red arm can only be used a few times per match. Whether this heavy-hitter’s most noteworthy attack is time-sensitive or activated after a set number of kills have been chained, the more careful planning is required when playing with such a character, the better.

Resident Evil 6 reveal trailer

Odds are if you are a fan of the Resident Evil series, then you've already seen the reveal trailer. But if not, here it is in all its glory. I for one am pretty darn excited for this game - it looks like a nice blend of the more action-heavy recent entries and the classic horror that made the series famous in the first place. Between this, Revelations, and Operation Raccoon City, 2012 looks like an awesome year for Campcom's zombie franchise.