Resident Evil 6, known as Biohazard 6 (バイオハザード6 Baiohazādo Shikkusu?) in Japan, is a third-person shooter video game in the Resident Evil series, developed and published by Capcom. Capcom defines the game's genre as "dramatic horror", however there is disagreement among reviewers whether this installment belongs in survival horror genre. It was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 2, 2012. The Microsoft Windows version is currently in development.
The story is told from the perspectives of Chris Redfield, a former member and founder of the BSAA traumatized by a failed operation, Leon S. Kennedy, a Raccoon City survivor and agent for the U.S. government, Jake Muller, illegitimate son of Albert Wesker and associate of Sherry Birkin, and Ada Wong, a freelance agent framed for the bio-terrorist attacks by Neo-Umbrella. They must all confront the force behind a massive bio-terrorist attack with the newly developed C-virus in cities across the world.
Concept development began as far back as 2009, with full development beginning the following year under Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who produced Resident Evil 4, and eventually grew to have the largest staff so far to work on a Resident Evil game. The game faced both negative reactions to the control problems with the demo and generally mixed reviews for the drastic shift in gameplay focus for the main game, being a point of both praise and criticism for different review outlets.
Gameplay
Resident Evil 6 allows players to select between three scenarios with connected storylines, each with their own intentionally different design. Each scenario follows one of three main protagonists - Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield and Jake Muller. The player characters from each scenario will have their own partners which are controlled by either the computer AI or another human player via local or online multiplayer. When playing in single player, the player can allow another player to join in online at any time and inventories are now kept separate from each other. A fourth scenario is unlocked after the player has finished the other three, in which the player controls Ada Wong (without a partner). The game also features the Mercenaries mode, where players fight hordes of enemies, and the Agent Hunt mode which allows players to take control of random enemies in other people's games.
Players can pick up items quickly and change weapons in real time. Players are also able to move while aiming their firearms. A new feature comes in the form of tablets, in which players can recover health at the push of a button. More tablets can be produced by locating herbs. By finding various herbs and saving them before converting, more tablets can be obtained from them. If one player runs out of health, that player will have a short time to try and defend him/herself while his partner attempts to revive them. If either player is killed, gameplay resumes at the last checkpoint. The game will have several primary enemies, including zombies and the newly introduced J'avo. Unlike zombies, J'avo are able to interact with each other to plan an attack, use weapons, and heal themselves. Certain enemies drop skill points when killed, which can be picked up and spent on upgrades such as increased weapon effectiveness or specific ammunition drops. Players can equip three of these upgrades which apply to all the campaigns. There are set piece events that require different approaches, such as shooting at zombies, prying through a door, and attempting to locate keys in a vehicle.
Plot
On December 24, 2012, Jake Muller, a mercenary of the fictional South-Slavic Edonian Liberation Army and son of late bio-terrorist Albert Wesker, flees from the authorities during a bio-terrorist attack. He partners up with Division of Security Operations (DSO) agent and Raccoon City survivor Sherry Birkin, who was sent to Edonia to ensure that Jake escapes safely from the country so his blood can be tested for anti-bodies for the newly developed C-Virus. At the same time, Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) Captain Chris Redfield and his team, including sniper Piers Nivans and demolitions expert Finn Macauley fight against the two Orgomans and J'avo. However, they are attacked by a Neo-Umbrella agent that refers to herself as Ada Wong, who kills most of the BSAA members using a device that injects them with the C-virus, turning them into monsters, except Chris and Piers. The aftermath causes Chris to go into self-imposed exile, being afflicted with lacunar amnesia. Meanwhile, Sherry and Jake's extraction from Edonia by the BSAA is sabotaged by a BOW codenamed 'Ustanak', forcing the pair to crash into the mountains, eventually leading to their capture by Ada.
On June 29, 2013, U.S. President Adam Benford has decided to officially reveal the truth behind the 1998 Raccoon City incident and the U.S. federal government's dealings with Umbrella, believing that it will curb the current resurgence in bio-terrorist activity. By the President’s side is his friend, DSO agent and Raccoon City survivor Leon S. Kennedy and United States Secret Service agent Helena Harper, but when the venue becomes host to another bio-terrorist attack, Leon is forced to face the infected and mutated President, and kill him. Helena leads Leon to the Tall Oaks Cathedral amidst the zombie outbreak to rescue her sister, Deborah. By the time the pair reaches Deborah, she had already been infected with the C-virus, and the pair are forced to kill her. Along the way, the two encounter Ada, and Helena then discloses to Leon that she was blackmailed by National Security Adviser Derek C. Simmons, into aiding the assassination of Benford. She also discloses Simmons's affiliation with Neo-Umbrella. Shortly after escaping the Cathedral, Tall Oaks is destroyed by an airstrike. Leon and Helena then decide to pursue Simmons into Lanshiang, China while faking their deaths with aid from Ingrid Hunnigan. Meanwhile, Jake and Sherry manage to escape captivity in Lanshiang after being held captive for 6 months.
At the same time, Chris returns to duty in the BSAA with Piers and a new team, arriving in Lanshiang under the threat of a bio-terrorist attack. Chris recovers from his Posttraumatic amnesia and goes on a vendetta against Ada, resulting in mounting casualties for his squad. Chris and Piers corner Ada, until Leon intervenes. After being updated by Leon, Chris and Piers pursue Ada to an aircraft carrier, destroying cruise missiles laden with the C-virus, while an assassin apparently kills Ada. Leon, Helena, Sherry, and Jake confront Simmons over his involvement with the outbreaks, where Sherry covertly hands Jake's medical data to Leon in case of their captivity. Leon and Helena corner Simmons, who has been infected by a J'avo, atop a train, where he confesses to having killed the President to keep him from disclosing the truth behind Raccoon City, which would have led to the U.S. losing its authority. The two temporarily defeat a mutated Simmons while Sherry and Jake are captured once again. While attempting to leave the city, Leon and Helena are warned by Chris that a missile has been launched, but they are too late to stop it. Leon discloses Jake's real identity to Chris and has him rescue Jake and Sherry in a remote oil platform. With the assistance of Ada, Leon and Helena finally kill Simmons before escaping with evidence proving Simmons's crimes provided by Ada, exonerating Helena.
In the oil platform, Chris and Piers head underground, managing to free Jake and Sherry from captivity before preventing a large-scale BOW attack from the location. When they meet up briefly, Chris reveals to Jake that he was the one who killed his father, but Jake resists the urge to kill him, saying that there are more important things than his want for revenge. Jake and Sherry manage to finally kill 'Ustanak' once and for all during their escape, securing a steady supply of the C-virus vaccine while Chris and Piers fight the host BOW, Haos. Heavily wounded, and in a desperate attempt to save Chris, Piers injects himself with a sample of the C-virus to help turn the tide of the battle, temporarily defeating Haos before evacuating. Aware that the mutation would worsen, Piers sacrifices himself by pushing Chris to an escape pod and ensuring the destruction of the Neo-Umbrella base.
In Ada's story, it is revealed that the Ada Wong that interacted with Chris and Piers was actually a doppelgänger created by Simmons, a scientist named Carla Radames, and that the real Ada Wong was aiding Leon and Sherry while destroying the Neo-Umbrella lab in Langshiang. Although presumed dead, Carla tries one last attack against the real Ada, after having injected herself with a powerful dose of the C-virus, but is killed. As Leon and Helena battle with Simmons, Ada reaches the lab where her clone was developed and destroys everything. She then receives a call from someone, accepting a new assignment. Meanwhile, Leon and Helena are cleared for duty; Chris remains with the BSAA in command of a new squad, overcoming his guilt; and Sherry continues her duty as a DSO agent, while Jake starts a new life fighting BOWs in an underdeveloped country with his real identity covered up by the BSAA.
Concept development of the game began soon after the release of Resident Evil 5, and began full development in 2010. Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi said that he considered a "completely new system" for Resident Evil 6, but later ruled out his involvement with the game. In March 2009, co-producer Masachika Kawata stated that the new installment was not decided upon, but that it could take Capcom four to eight years to develop. Sources familiar with the project indicated that the series would return to its roots and be "brutally scary."
The development of the game was led by Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who is stated by Capcom to be aiming to "deliver the most impressive Resident Evil title ever both in terms of scope and production values." Capcom also noted that the game is meant to be "a giant stride forward in the evolution of the series." The staff wanted to give the game a new setting with director Eiichiro Sasaki wishing to place it in China. While the country of Edonia was not modelled on any country from Europe, it was given an Eastern European air. The character of Jake was also made to attract new fans. The game has a development staff of more than 600, making it Capcom's biggest production to date. In May 2012, Capcom announced they expect the game to sell 7 million copies by the end of this fiscal year. However they have recently lowered their expectations to 6 million due to the games reception.
An official trailer was released on January 19, 2012. On April 10, 2012, a second trailer was released which detailed the game's plot further, also revealed that the release date has been moved from November 20, 2012 to October 2, 2012. At Microsoft's press briefing at E3 2012, the first gameplay demonstration was shown, depicting Leon and Helena fighting zombie hordes in China. A playable demo of Resident Evil 6 was scheduled on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace on September 5, 2012. Capcom later announced that the demo would become available for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners on September 18, 2012. Early access to the demo was included with Dragon's Dogma. As a result of criticism of the first demo, Capcom brought a different version of the demo to the San Diego Comic-Con 2012, modifying various parts of its gameplay. A new playable demo was released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace on September 18, 2012.
Release
Several stolen copies of the full game, in Polish and English but in German packages, were available for sale in Poland on August 31; one of them was obtained by Polish NEO Plus magazine "in one of Poznań stores." In a later statement, Capcom said this "unfortunate incident" was "limited to a small quantity of stolen copies of the German USK PlayStation 3 version of the game."
If pre-ordered from EB Games in Australia or the UK PlayStation Network Store, the game includes all three bonus maps for The Mercenaries mode, "Rail Yards", "High Seas Fortress" and "The Catacombs". In North America, pre-order bonuses are "The Catacombs" from GameStop, the "High Seas Fortress" map from Amazon.com, and the "Rail Yard" map from Best Buy. EB Games Australia released the game on September 28, prior to its official release date.
Resident Evil 6 will be also contained in Biohazard Anniversary Package, a special edition for Resident Evil's seventeenth anniversary, coming out in Japan on March 22, 2013.
Downloadable content
In response to player feedback, Capcom released a free patch in December 2012. The patch includes new camera controls, a new difficulty mode named "No Hope", an option to play Ada's campaign without going through the other three and an online co-op partner for it. Capcom also plans to release downloadable content though details about it have yet to be revealed.
On December 18, 2012, new mulitplayer downloadable content (DLC) was released. There are three new multiplayer modes: "Predator", "Survivors" and "Onslaught". Predator mode is a series of quick fire rounds, up to six players take their turn as the fearsome Ustanak with full access to its weapons, while the others must avoid capture or worse. Human players score points for successful attacks, but lose points for being caught or taken down. The match is over once all have played as the Ustanak, with the participant with the most points crowned as the winner. Survivors mode is Resident Evil's take on the classic solo and team based deathmatch mode. Survivors is available for two to six players. Onslaught is a two player mode where each must clear waves of oncoming enemies. The twist comes when a player completes a combo chain as this will send enemies over to their opponent’s screen.