Resident Evil 6

Like any other ravenous Resident Evil fan, one viewing of Capcom’s beefy RE 6 trailer could never sate my hunger. After scouring the generous teaser numerous times, I’ve come up with some interesting facts and theories about the story, characters, enemies, and gameplay. Read on to learn why I think RE 6’s storytelling takes big cues from RE: Revelations, you’ll finally be able to move and shoot, and other theories like the return of Nemesis, Hunk, and Ashley.

Just in case you were unconscious yesterday, check out the trailer below before reading on:

Here are the facts that we have from Capcom:

• Co-op returns. Whether we’ll see more than 2-player is yet to be determined
• The story takes place 10 years after the Raccoon City incident, which puts it around 2008
• The president was turned into a zombie by a bio-terrorism group before given the chance to fully disclose details of the Raccoon City incident to the public
• Traditional zombies return
• Leon S. Kennedy has a new female partner
• Tall Oaks is an American town reminiscent of Raccoon City
• Chris Redfield will be counteracting bio-terrorists in China
• Resident Evil 6 will arrive on 360 and PS3 November 20, with the PC version following later

Here’s what we’ve gleaned from the trailer:

New Girl Has A Guilty Conscience

Leon’s new partner feels guilty about the president’s transformation into a zombie. Was she somehow responsible for allowing the bio-terrorists to slip by security, letting him become infected?

Tall Oaks may bring back the terror

Over 90% of this town’s 70,000 citizens have turned into flesh-eating husks of humanity. That’s a lot of zombies. Leon definitely has his work cut out for him. Capcom has stated that they’re aiming to bring the horror back to the series, and this intimate, familiar American town setting could be just what we need to rekindle the horror of the earlier games.

These Zombies Are Old School

The screen above reminds me of something out of Dawn of the Dead. Little else beyond his pale complexion and dead eyes indicate that this officer has recently turned into a zombie. I really dig that Capcom is willing to return to this subtle, more traditional take on the undead. This could mean good things for returning the game back to its original spooky vibe in certain instances.

Ingrid Hunnigan Returns

Leon’s remote assistant from Resident Evil 4 is seen in the trailer supporting the agent from some sort of base.

Jumping Zombies

The infected of Tall Oaks appear pretty manageable. Until they get up close. One zombie takes a big leap at Leon, indicating the reanimated dead may be a bit spryer this time around.

Fat Zombies

Leon appears to be body slammed by a morbidly obese bioorganic weapon. Whether this is just a really fat regular zombie or a specially mutated abomination is uncertain. We’re having a hard time believing this guy could actually be “hungry” for flesh.

More Crazy Setpieces

In this trailer we see a subway derail, cars explode near a tank, someone climb a helicopter, and the new male hero catch Ashley on a motorcycle. That’s a lot of action. We still think that Leon’s scenario will feature less craziness, and that Chris, the new guy, and Ashley will be doing all the wild action movie stuff.

President Evil

The President becomes a zombie. Deal with it.

China Is Crowded

China has a population well over a billion. That’s roughly 1/6 of the world’s population. That is a whole mess of potentially infected freaks. There are so many citizens in Chris’ way as he navigates the streets he actually has to shove folks out of the way. We’re excited to see how Capcom takes advantage of what looks to be Shangai.

Javos

These new regenerating freaks have been officially labeled Javos by Capcom. In the trailer we see them mutating on the fly, G-virus style. Arms stretch, faces explode, and all manner of other disgusting changes happen to these guys.

Chris Has A New Grudge

We’ didn’t see the corpse or anything, but we’re pretty sure Wesker drowned in volcano lava after being hit in the face with rockets. That being the case, it’s suspicious hearing talk of Chris having a new vendetta. Could a ghost of Umbrella past be in play here? Has Wesker somehow dodged death one more time? However, that's assuming that Resident Evil 6 takes place after Resident Evil 5. RE 5 takes place in 2008, and Capcom says RE 6 takes place 10 years after the Raccoon City incident, which puts it in 2008. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that would mean Wesker is still alive in this game.

Cover Is A Bigger Deal

At certain points in RE 4 and 5 you could use cover. Those moments were infrequent, and it wasn’t always totally useful. This trailer shows Chris slide into cover and lean up against the side of a wall to shoot. One enemy even reaches beyond cover and pulls Chris out. Could RE 6 have a full-blown cover system?

Enemies Can Pull You Out From Cover

The Javo pictured above appears to have grown some sort of stretchy arm, similar to the bandersnatches of Resident Evil Code: Veronica. In this scenario Chris slides into cover behind some sandbags, only be violently ripped from his protection.

Is The New Guy Hunk?

The new, apparently playable, male protagonist appears to be a mercenary with super important blood. It’s likely that it contains some sort of virus antibody that could help fix the world. However, this guy is only interested in the money. He also has a striking resemblance to Umbrella Secret Service agent Hunk as he appears in his Resident Evil 3 epilogue. These two men have similar hair, facial features, and overall build. Given that we’ve never heard Hunk speak without his voice-distorting helmet, there’s no way to disprove this theory yet. The best case against this new guy being Mr. Death is his smart-ass ‘tude.

Ashley Is Back

The new male protagonist is accompanied by a young blonde lady that looks and sounds an awful lot like Ashley from Resident Evil 4. While it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the President’s daughter to be out on the field, she has two things going for her: experience and vengeance. Ashley survived being kidnapped by Saddler and the Las Plagas, and also had her father turned into a zombie by bio-terrorists. Our apologies to anyone who was holding out hope for the return of Sherry Birkin.

Return Of Nemesis?

A huge, hulking mutant attacks Ashley and the new guy at one point during the trailer. His appearance, size, groans, and mannerisms all point to him being some sort of crazy hyper Nemesis. He seems dead set on killing Ashley and her new friends, which reminds me of the original Nemesis’ task to eliminate all S.T.A.R.S. members. Also, he likes to grab people with his weird mechanical arm thing, which is sort of like Nemesis’ tentacle hand.

Bio-terrorists Have Nasty Toys

At one point we see what looks like a syringe grenade detonate in a crowded room. The resulting infection causes the victims’ skin to bubble over and turn them into a gigantic boil. We also see one poor soul burst into flames.

More Melee Weapons?

One of my favorite parts of the trailer involves Leon lodging an axe in a zombies head. Could our hero be taking a page from Dead Rising’s resourceful protagonists by using weapons in the environment to his advantage? We hope so, because it looks awesome.

Improved Mobility

Everyone across the board appears to have limbered up in RE 6. We see Chris sliding into cover, sprinting through crowds, and rolling across the ground. Both Chris and Leon can be spotted firing with their backs on the ground. While this doesn’t confirm RE 6 will allow you to shoot while moving, we’ve got a good feeling about it. It would be preposterous to allow Leon to fire while sliding backwards on the ground and not let him at least shoot while walking.

Human Enemies?

I know, I know, both the infected Las Plagas and Majini enemies of RE 4 and 5 could eventually wield guns. However, there's something more human about these masked gunmen Chris encounters in his gameplay segments. Maybe the luchador masks are hiding some ugly faces, but until I see them myself I won't rule out human enemies. Could these be the bio-terrorists?

The Giant Returns

Both RE 4 and 5 featured giant troll things, and Resident Evil 6 appears to continue the trend. In this trailer we see an even larger foe tower above the puny humans.

You Will Ride In A Tank

Tanks!

Chris Has A New Partner

Leon has his new girl, Ashely is paired with the new guy, but who is Chris teaming up with? If the gameplay structure of Resident Evil: Revelations is any indication, our heroes will be traveling in three separate teams of two. Could this guy above, seen in the trailer yelling at Chris to forget his old vendetta, be his partner?

Ashley Gets In Trouble

Check out the pictures above and you'll see what I mean. The topmost picture shows Ashley being saved by the new guy by jumping onto a motorcycle. The next image shows what appears to the new guy's bloody hand reaching near Ashley's furry hood. I guess we don't know whose blood that is, exactly, but based off her performance in Resident Evil 4 we're banking its hers.

New Guy Takes Chances

For a guy who has super-valuable blood flowing through his body, he puts himself in situations where he could sure lose a lot of it. Take climbing on the outside of a helicopter, for instance.

Phew! That trailer sure had a lot of stuff to see. Please keep in mind that most of everything you just read comes from the hyperactive mind of a longtime Resident Evil fan. While I like to think a lot of my theories are feasible, we won't know for sure until we see more of the game. Please sound off in the comments below with your own hair-brained observations.