Zombies, abominations, and rampant viruses. Many games have touched on those keywords, but CAPCOM's Resident Evil series has set the table for the zombie-killing survival horror genre. Since the first game, the series has strived to capture the struggle of surviving in zombie-infested mansions, cities, and laboratories with nothing but your wits and whatever weapon you manage to get your hands on. With an evil pharmaceutical company's creations running amok, it falls upon you to uncover their secrets and get out alive. Over time, the borders of the series have shifted and parted to suit the changing times, but as I've noted with Resident Evil 6, the newest addition to the series, the core has remained the same.

Resident Evil 6 is the creation of fusing the fourth and fifth game together while keeping aesthetics of the first three games scattered about in select scenarios like trudging through a dying, infested city or escaping from a seemingly invincible foe. Taking place a few years after the events of the previous game, the world is on the brink of another bioterrorism catastrophe, and it's up to a handful of distinguished individuals to put a stop to it, all the while bringing the masterminds to justice. Returning to the fight are four original fan favorites: Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Sherry Birkin, who is a grown woman at this time and Jake Muller's partner, and Ada Wong, who stars in her own campaign as she did in RE4's Separate Ways campaign. All characters are joined by new partners to assist them in their campaigns, of which are four divided into five chapters each.

A few words of warning: the main game's campaign is much longer than 4 and 5's story. Each chapter can take up to an average of an hour and a half of your time, and a campaign can take up about half of your day, even if you're the speedrunner type. It's a good thing that the campaigns are varied, else those hours spent would be unbearable.

Leon's campaign is a callback to the days of Resident Evil 2. Although Leon is joined by Helena Harper, a regretful woman armed two powerful weapons, there is no safety in this. The campaign guides the player through many dark and eerie locations that keep them tense and alert, and the zombies faced by Leon and Helena are soupped up to match the times and advanced controls. It can be easy to be caught off guard and overwhelmed by the varieties of zombies, but they can be quickly dispatched with a calm mind and a quick trigger finger. For those wanting survival horror, Leon's chapter delivers.

That said, the opening sequence can leave the player baffled at the abruptness of the situation. The President is a zombie, the surrounding city is infected, and a cathedral owned by the big bad villain is supposed to hold all the answers. On top of that, the guilty Helena Harper is tight-lipped and doesn't explain herself to Leon until the end of the second chapter. On multiple occasions the agent asks for exposition or reasons to which Helena waves her hand, choosing to jeopardize what little trust there is between each other for the sake of theatrical deliverance at the right moment.

And let's not forget to mention Simmons, the villain whom the players must fight four times before he finally dies. Granted, the boss fights take place in spectacular arenas and there's enough ammunition to force the next sequence, but the sheer tenacity of the villain weighing against the exasperation of both the players and the characters themselves leaves a bad taste. If Leon's campaign was a filling dinner, the ending with Simmons was a sour tart that took too long to finish.

Chris's campaign is more of what RE5 offered, that being survival action rather than survival horror. With the army of BSAA troops at Chris's back and Piers Nivans, a talented sniper, at his side, the campaign transitions into a third-person shooter play style where cover is much more important, especially against enemies who use firearms. There are no zombies for the Arklay Mansion survivor to fight. Instead there are the J'avo, which are humanoid enemies like the Ganado and Majini from the previous games. The difference with the J'avo is that they are able to mutate body parts in response to getting shot, which can result in a variety of enemy types that force the player to change tactics.

CAPCOM had tried to appeal to the Call of Duty fans with the Chris campaign, but in doing so they lost some appeal to the fans of the RE series. The campaign focuses too much on action and throws enemy after enemy at you without giving the ammunition or health needed to tackle them at times. Another gripe with the campaign is the final level and its overuse of the camera. Typically the camera would be over the shoulder of the player, but in the final sequence the camera is unreliable as it focuses on a large BOW that players have no hope of destroying at the moment. To make matters worse, the controls follow the camera just as well as they did when the cameras changed in the first few games. This makes running from a foe or looking where you're going an unsavory challenge.

Jake's campaign is hands-down the most varied of them all. Players are taken for a rollercoaster ride through urban warzones, avalanche-prone mountains, a deadly manor, burning streets and even an undersea research facility. The enemies are the J'avo and BOWs again, but while the player can dispatch them with ease, a new foe inspired by RE3's Nemesis chases the characters through all missions. Layered between the various fight and flight elements is the personality of the campaign's two characters, Jake and Sherry. They're personable enough for players to relate to and they're interesting and determined enough that one can't help but root for them. Not to mention the awkward yet adorable scenes between them... Other than a few unforgiving parts in the levels (snipers on an icy slope, for instance), Jake's campaign is exciting, rousing, and a hell of a lot of fun.

And as per usual, Ada's campaign sets out to provide exposition and tie up loose ends left dangling during the three main campaigns. Her gameplay has many stealth elements, staying true to her character playing games behind the scenes. As she encounters all of the main characters in their campaigns, she also fights the various enemies in each campaign: zombies, J'avo, and BOWs. Beaten only by Jake's campaign, Ada's run is filled with variety and backstory, although trying to decipher a story by CAPCOM is a Herculean effort in itself.

Yes, like most CAPCOM games the story is lacking. Here's a brief summary: It's a one-sided love story that results in a mad clone of Ada, the death of the President, and a Chinese Raccoon City. Given that the series loves to make its characters remark that every city with zombies reminds them of Raccoon, maybe CAPCOM just has a bad case of nostalgia that most fans have gotten over by now.

RE6's controls are a far cry from the tank mechanics of the first few games. The heroes can perform mad dashes, move while aiming, physically attack on whim, and dodge attacks by rolling, ducking, and sliding with minimal effort. Adding to the formula is a new mechanic that allows you to counter an enemy's attack with one of your own, provided you have the reflexes to execute the counter. Cover, which was used in some places in RE4 and 5, can be taken anywhere. By pressing the aim button near a wall or object, a character can snap to the cover and peek out to shoot at hostiles. It's a gimmicky mechanic that needs more refinement, but other than that, the new controls are easy to get a hold of.

If you're not griping about the story, then you must be having difficulty with the camera. In short, not bad, but not the best that CAPCOM has created. If you're going to try RE6 out, I'd recommend renting it before making the decision to buy it.