Features News Reviews Switch

Resident Evil 5 & 6 Nintendo Switch Reviews

Resident Evil 5 & 6 Nintendo Switch Reviews

It seems like an inevitability that Resident Evil 5 and 6 would be ported to the Nintendo Switch once 4 was released to positive reception. Capcom do love their ports! Resident Evil on the go is a dream come true for some fans.

Now the following Resident Evil games have been ported to the Switch:

  • Resident Evil (Remake)
  • Resident Evil Zero
  • Resident Evil: Revelations
  • Resident Evil: Revelations 2
  • Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6
  • Resident Evil 7 (in Japan)

That’s a lot of portable zombie slaying. After the recent remake of Resident Evil 2 lots of fans may be looking for another Resi fix. The fifth and sixth entries may not be traditional survival horror experiences like 2, but there’s lots of similar game mechanics and plenty to get your teeth into.

We had the chance to sit down and play some of Resident Evil 5 and 6 on the Switch prior to release, here are our impressions of each.

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 was a strange beast when it originally came out in 2009. A race row, the explosion of online shooters and an internal identify crisis left it in a difficult position where Capcom took the safe route and simply offered more of the same. This wasn’t bad of course; it just wasn’t as fresh as it was in Resident Evil 4. The addition of an AI partner character was troublesome at times. Also having a partner character took away for the scares. It’s easier to face danger when you’ve got someone to back you up. It felt like a cynical move by Capcom to take advantage of the rise of online multiplayer despite that doesn’t always suit a horror game.

On the Nintendo Switch, Resident Evil 5 is exactly as you remember it, but it feels very smooth and plays well. Resident Evil 4 felt a little clunky on the Switch and took some getting used to, but 5 flows nicely and has made a relatively seamless transition. The visuals on portable and TV mode also look great, not quite as lush as they look on the PS4 and Xbox One, but it’s a small price to pay for having the option to play anywhere you like.

The game also features all the DLC that was released on the original versions so for £20 you’re getting a fair amount of content. We had forgotten how chilling the ‘Lost In Nightmares’ DLC story was. Mercenaries mode is also great fun and well suited to brief bouts of portable play. It almost seems like it was designed for it.

Overall we’re quite impressed. If you weren’t a fan of Resi 5 back when it released you’re unlikely to be won over by it now. But for those who did enjoy it the main draw now is its portability

Resident Evil 6

That brings us to the most controversial Resident Evil game ever, the game that tried to please everyone and pleased nobody. But on reflection we don’t really think Resident Evil 6 deserves the hate it got. The game fixed much of the clunkiness that Resident Evil 4 and 5 suffered from (example not being able to move and shoot). It also brought back a plethora of classic characters and enemies and had some rather spectacular boss fights.

On a technical level Resi 6 was always sound. It just had absolutely no idea what it wanted to be. Resi 2 and 4 hero Leon returns and his scenario plays out like the Resident Evil games of yore (kinda). Aiming for as much of a survival horror style as the game allowed. But really it couldn’t hide the fact that it was a fast paced zombie themed shooter, although there is several parts of Leon’s campaign that are wonderfully atmospheric. In between colossal set piece Hollywood silliness.

We remember Resi 1 and 5 protagonist Chris Redfield’s campaign being the weakest when we originally played the game back in 2012, but replaying it on Switch resulted in us to be pleasantly surprised. Yes the scenario is a gung-ho third person shoot ‘em up, with grunts shouting random letters of the phonetic alphabet in a vague attempt to sound militaristic. But it is fun and the J’avo enemies are an innovative and unpredictable take on the Ganados and Manjini enemies that came before. Gears of War this is not, but as a fast paced high-end shooter set in the Resident Evil universe it could be a lot worse. It’s a million miles away from the train wreck that Operation Raccoon City that released the same year.

Jake’s campaign is an interesting mish mash of Resi troupes, getting chased by a big monster while shooting a variety of enemies. Ultimately though, it’s one large set piece after another. The final campaign is Ada’s which is the most inventive out of all of them, mixing gameplay styles, enemy types and acting as a connecting thread between the other 3 campaigns.

All the DLC and extra content is also included. Mercenaries mode is perhaps the most comprehensive one released so far and arguably the best. It offers more enemy types and playable characters than its predecessors. Like the Revelations game’s Raid Modes it is a game in itself.

Again if you disliked Resident Evil 6 when it was released in 2012 you’re unlikely to change your mind now. It’s very much the same game it was back then, but like 5 there are benefits to being able to play it on the go which fans will lap

Resident Evil 6 was never a perfect game but it didn’t deserve a lot of the vitriol it received. There is fun to be had, especially if you enjoyed any of the other entries.

You Might Also Like