Got it today without having to drop a penny on the till!
(Basically traded in a load of games and used every scrap of loyalty card points I had!
) First impressions, I am so glad that the graphical quality got a buffer! Playing the demos, I thought the models and environments looked "muddy". Fuzzy edges and blurred textures that bled into each other. Thankfully the final product looks a lot more defined. Second surprise was the length of the chapters. I've literally just clocked off from playing the first chapter of Leon's campaign and it took me nearly 2 hours! Now, a chapter phase on RE5 could be cleared in under 20mins so that was a bit of a shocker initially.
Having played the game myself now, I'm getting into the minor tweaks of the game like the melee attacks and knowing when is the most appropriate moment to pull them off rather than just spamming the attack button then leaving myself open to exploits by the bugger off shot I didn't see previously. The gameplay has definitely moved towards the, dare I say it, "action/shooter" type of play but that doesn't detach you from the game (unless you choose for it to). Yes it is very combat heavy and ammo isn't as scarce, but to be honest, with what's coming at you, if you were constantly dry on bullets, the game would just be frustrating coz enemies come at you thick and fast. On my first play, I got knobbled 5 times simply due to the rush of enemies coming at me and their constant pressure of attacks.
In terms of the survival aspects, the difficulty I've found is not so much in not having enough ammo - it's not having enough HEALING stuff. The new health system is a double edged sword. The herbs you collect need to be formed into tablets and you can only hold so many at a time. Different combos of herbs give a different amount of meds so it grants you to risk NOT using that single green herb that will give you one tablet, and wait for another green or even a red so you and produce even more in one go. But, of course, doing so leave you vulnerable in scraps and if your herbs aren't processed and you're in the middle of a fight, it can leave you screwed! (Had that a couple of times!) It encourages you to plan ahead or run the risk. But on the whole, I've found that when I've been desperate for heals, they don't seem to be around when you want them. Which, in turn, has led me to only pick off the necessary enemies and run through the path I've made, rather than feeling invincible and taking on every thing that's around.
A few gripes I do have though. Unlike RE5 where the AI partner would slap you left, right and centre with healing items if you so much as tripped on your shoelace; in RE6 my AI partner simply left me to suffer despite my desperate cries to be revived. On one occasion, my AI partner had completely bailed the area of a fight and left me on a rooftop crawling with zombies. At least in RE5, your partner stuck to your side and was a little more ready to bail you out of a situation. Also, I know not many people liked the sharing items and inventory system on #5, but you don't share ammo or anything in this one so the air of camaraderie is somewhat diminished. You play together but you are still an island onto yourself until one of you goes down.
Having only played one chapter and in offline mode, it'll be interesting to see what the rest of the game has to offer. Once I get to grips with the system a bit more, I'll probably venture online and start buddying up with people to see what more fun can be had there. Anyone game for it (and happens to have the PS3 version), look me up! Always game for a game!
