Review: Resident Evil: Revelations (360)

If there's one thing that the Resident Evil series brings to the table every single time, it's this: Crazy.

Storywise the game is positioned between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 -- and bounces around quite a bit in flashbacks -- but control wise it's a giant leap back to a more plodding experience, especially compared to the most recent actiony bang-run-dodge then stab-stab-duck of Resident Evil 6.

Resident Evil: Revelations is also the first game I can think of that has gone from a handheld experience -- released on the 3DS at the start of 2012 -- and was re-drawn and brought forward to a console. In my brain, these games are supposed to go the other way: large console or PC experiences that are pared down and modified to cram into a handheld. They did it with Max Payne, didn't they? But this kind of boggles my mind.

Review: Resident Evil 6 (360)

The glacial pace that the Resident Evil franchise is moving away from its roots in survival horror to "action game with zombies" is happening too slowly. Resident Evil 4 was a marked departure from the fixed camera of the first trio of games (quadro if you count RE: Ø) but it still suffered from tank-like controls, even if the game was heaped with praise during it's glory days.

Resident Evil 5 started the melt toward Gears of War's 3rd person action; Resident Evil 6 nudges it a little further. But what the franchise needs is a rapid warming to move one direction because it feels like the developers are trying to straddle too many horses at once with Resident Evil 6.

Preview: Resident Evil 6 (360, PC, PS3)

Resident Evil 6 has all the makings of a zombie version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It seems like the entirety of the Resident Evil pantheon of characters will make some kind of appearance if they're not a playable character outright.