During the late 2000s and early 2010s, the Resident Evil series was at its lowest; the controversial 2009 release Resident Evil 5 failed to impress most critics. Three years later, Resident Evil 6 further divided fans and continued to mutate the survival horror franchise into a co-op focused action experience. Yet, while it may have been received poorly back in 2012, Resident Evil 6 is a surprisingly enjoyable experience on Switch. Fully-featured and identical to the original seventh-gen release from a visual standpoint, series fans owe it to themselves to give this title another shot on Nintendo’s hybrid hardware.
Grain Of Salt
Of course, we have to acknowledge that Resident Evil 6 remains a very flawed game. Though time and further perspective on the series may have softened perceptions of the title, it’s still evident that the franchise’s sixth entry is worlds away from the atmospheric, eerie crawl that was the first Resident Evil title. Delivering Michael Bay when fans wanted John Romero, Resident Evil 6’s campaign, itself split into four separate stories, is undoubtedly an overblown mess.
That said, the moments that don’t involve fiery helicopter crashes or verbose battles against Nemesis wannabes remain fairly faithful to the classic Resident Evil formula, and players will still be required to choose their fights wisely, count their bullets, and combine healing herbs. What’s more, the traditionally clunky Resident Evil tanklike controls are gone, and Leon, Chris, and company all control much more fluidly than what we saw in Resident Evil 5.
RE 6 also introduced a few series-first mechanics, chief among them being the borderline unnecessary skill point system which allowed players to spend points they’ve collected in the campaign on upgrades. It also implemented a unique — albeit underused — PvP system which allowed players to take control of enemy monsters and infiltrate other player’s sessions. A bit like the invasion mechanic seen in the Dark Souls games, it’s a neat feature on paper, though ultimately fails to be something most will return to after five or so minutes. Beyond that, RE 6 offered perhaps the most robust online multiplayer mode of any Resident Evil game, though few cared about that back in 2012, and even fewer care about it now.
It should also be said that Resident Evil 6 makes the mistake of doubling down on one of its predecessor's most egregious errors: QTEs, or quicktime events. It feels like half of the time spent playing this game is spent spinning thumbsticks or mashing buttons in a zombified version of controller-only Guitar Hero. Worse still, most of the cutscenes play out in the exact same way regardless of player input, resulting in a very futile experience.
Switching Up The Experience
Yet, though RE 6 may have seemed casualized and insulting eight-odd years ago, re-experiencing it on the Switch is surprisingly engaging. This port is pretty fantastic considering the hardware, and it’s crazy to think that a game that pushed the limits of home consoles years ago can now fit into your pocket… though the Switch does require some roomy pockets, in truth.
Very rarely dipping below 30 FPS, even during some of the game’s most intense action sequences and featuring some detailed textures and impressive draw distances for the console, the RE 6 Switch port is a thorough, praise-worthy translation of the game. It might not rival the unthinkable accomplishment of bringing The Witcher III to the machine, but it remains an admirable effort.
Though it's still the least Resident Evil-like of the entire franchise, RE 6 is definitely worth checking out on the Switch. It may pale in comparison to the excellent Resident Evil 7 and even feel like a downgrade when compared to the Resident Evil 2 remake, but it’s still a fun time, and, available at twenty bucks when purchased as part of the newly-released Resident Evil Triple Pack, it's well worth the investment.
A Switch copy of Resident Evil 6 was purchased by TheGamer for this review. Resident Evil 6 is now available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil 6 follows four different characters - Leon Kennedy, Jake Muller, Ada Wong, and Chris Redfield - as they fight to stop a new biological horror.