The upcoming release of Resident Evil 5 & 6 on the Switch will bring us to a total of 8 Resident Evil games available for Nintendo’s hybrid console. After October 29 we will have Resident Evil Zero, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and Revelations 1 & 2.
Although 7 is only available in Japan purely through streaming, it still counts.
The two newest games available (soon) are also two of the most divisive. It seems people either fall into the love or hate camp when it comes to Resident Evil 5 & 6, myself included. I love 5 and hate 6, but maybe I’ve always been too harsh on 6 due to the massive hype I felt going into the game. Hype that wasn’t delivered on.
To celebrate the pre-Halloween launch, Nintendo has dropped a demo for each game over on the eShop so I thought I’d see how they are holding up prior to release. Starting with 5.
I’ll be honest, if you’ve played either game before, you pretty much know what to expect here. Jumping into the demo for Resident Evil 5 felt as if I’d never been away, everything is as it was and always shall be. For the demo version you get to play chapter 1-1 and that’s it, besides being able to play it on 3 different difficulties.
The first thing I noticed was how nice it all looked in handheld mode. Everything felt smooth with no real slowdown, it’s not quite PS4 or Xbox One quality but it does hold its own. Until I noticed some issues.
Nothing that was really game-breaking but things that became annoying the more I noticed and stopped me being completely immersed in the game world. As you may expect from a Switch Resident Evil port, the loading times are somewhat bad. They aren’t as long as they are for the port of Zero, however, the length is definitely noticeable.
Then came the pop-ups. Running through the opening village I noticed signs and other items just popping up in the near distance out of nowhere, much like games used to in the PS1 era. Correct me if I’m wrong, because I have played this on every console, but I don’t remember this happening even on the PS3 version. I could have just forgotten that it did, but for a current console version to have this happen just feels lazy on Capcom’s part.
One issue that was definitely present in other versions of the game is once again present here. Sheva, your useless AI partner. She still gets in the way, eats up her ammo and takes more (if you let her) and just generally isn’t much help. Obviously this isn’t exclusive to the Switch port and was always going to be the case.
I’ve always preferred to play this game in co-op so the partner has never been a problem for me. I wasn’t able to try the demo out online as that option isn’t available, although you can detach the joy-cons and play 2 player split-screen. Don’t do this, by the way.
Playing with one joy-con is a horrendous experience if you have hands larger than a 5-year-old. I wouldn’t recommend it at all. Upon release, I’d thoroughly recommend using an additional controller or online to get the most out of the game.
Mostly, Resident Evil 5 is just the same game it’s always been, just in handheld. Nothing has been added for the Switch release to make use of the hardware, as far as I can tell at the moment.
One thing I did notice was the inclusion of in-game achievements that pop up as they would on the other consoles. They are all in-game and the same as elsewhere but nice to see on a Nintendo console and will help some players with replayability.
For Resident Evil 6, many of the things I’ve said for 5 will transfer over. Once more, it looks nice on the handheld screen and feels nice and smooth. I didn’t notice any pop-ups in 6, at least in the demo portion of the game.
This demo also offers more game time than the demo for 5. Here, players can make their way through the prologue as Leon before enjoying the start of Chris’ campaign. The loading seems better as most of it is hidden behind cutscenes or door kicking animations. The few actual load screens I had did seem much quicker than its counterpart.
Resident Evil 6 does feel the same as it always has, for better or for worse. There’s action aplenty, the ability to move whilst shooting, crazy moments and QTE’s galore. Seriously, there are so many quick-time events that pop up, even in the demo portion of the game. They get annoying and I don’t think the joy-cons are made for constant button bashing.
If you’ve played 6 before you will know what to expect, it’s still the same game that blows up a freeway and throws dozens of cars at you as you run toward the camera Crash Bandicoot style. You’ll either love it or hate it if you can see what’s going on.
The default settings make things very dark. Not Game of Thrones “The Long Night” dark, but very dark nonetheless. I know it’s a design choice to try and bring fear to the game. It can be changed and isn’t really an issue, I just wanted to bring it to your attention.
After completing both demos, I’m confident that fans will enjoy themselves with the Switch versions. They don’t bring anything new to the table besides handheld, but it’s the handheld that makes me want to replay them. I’m a sucker for portability and enjoyed playing them both this way.
I may not have liked 6 in the past but having things up close and personal did feel a bit more enjoyable to me and I’m at least willing to give it another go to see if I’ve judged it too harshly in the past.
Finishing either demo will help anyone planning on getting the main game as progress and certain items can be transferred over. Resident Evil 5 will allow you to carry over 3 weapons per type, 100 per ammo type, 5 other items and 10,000 monies. 6 allows access to some different costumes.
Let us know in the comments if you plan on buying either game or if you’ve played them enough. The Switch versions of Resident Evil 5 & 6 release on October, 29th at a cost of $29.99. Unless you’ve previously purchased Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero or Resident Evil 4. In which case, you get a discount that reduces them to $20.09.
Just don’t look at the prices on other consoles.