...aka Resident Evil: Michael Bay Edition.

If you attempt to play the game like the RE4 and RE5, you will hate RE6 and think it’s a slog. I know I did as my first two playthroughs were a complete chore and I jumped on the hate bandwagon. It’s much more melee focused with the aiming for specific body parts downplayed in favor of various types of stuns as well as counters and dodges. Of course to discover this shift in focus you have to do the research yourself, since there is no advanced tutorial to speak of, and I don’t blame anyone for not understanding it and not going out of their way to watch/read combat guides. It is its biggest failure and borders on self-sabotage.

I can't help but be in awe at RE6's epic scope and ambition, with all of the campaigns and plot threads intertwining with each other, cutscenes shown from different perspectives depending on the campaign you are playing (one of the most epic cutscenes is the Tatchi missile attack). All of this effort for a plot that is bad even for Resident Evil standards. Each campaign is so long, it could've been its separate game. They even have unique looking UIs. I believe each of them had a completely separate team of developers whom communicated with each other whenever necessary. Must have cost a pretty penny to develop such a monster.

Each campaign tries to be different:

• Leon’s is slower, more horror focused with a few minor puzzles… until it’s not, and turns into an escalating series of events which end in an increasingly ridiculous sequence of fights with the same constantly transforming boss. Ironically, it becomes more over the top than Chris’ campaign: Leon survives a car crash, bus crash, helicopter crash, airplane crash, basically a train crash, and jeep crash all in one game. Total identity crisis. Also has awful swimming section with a giant mutated shark. The “horror” parts restrict your movement and force you to walk in linear corridors. Adding zombies and trying to pretend that Tall Oaks is “Raccoon City all over again”, doesn’t make it good. What’s more, Leon seems superfluous to the story in his own campaign as it’s almost entirely centered around Helena. Good voice acting from Laura Bailey (Helena).
  
• Chris’ drops all pretenses and embraces being a full on action game. It makes the best use of the controls and mechanics, it’s the most consistent, and has the fewest QTEs (outside of combat Chris has fewer than 10 QTEs, dunno about Piers). The brief car chase does suck, however. As for the relationship between Chris and Piers, it’s the most developed. Chris’ PTSD and amnesia seem farfetched, but they’re not, if you take previous games into account. The ending is surprisingly touching for a Resident Evil game. Very good voice acting on Roger Craig Smith’s part (Chris).
  
• Jake’s is more like an adventure/Uncharted type game focused on cinematic set pieces with the most scripted sequences (and instant death chases), the most annoying QTEs, and the worst level in the game: it has running around in a snow storm, with possible ice sliding hindrance, snow mobile vehicle and several braindead stealth sections, and ends with an annoying series of QTEs. Additionally, Jake has a lot more to do at specific parts compared to Sherry, e.g. in the bike chase Jake has to weave and dodge vehicles and projectiles (with a few QTEs for good measure) while maintaining proper speed, meanwhile Sherry only has to shoot at some enemies from time to time. This bike chase is also the worst vehicle section in the game, as it feels and looks amateurish: the game force switches the direction your facing constantly to ready you up for upcoming obstacles and it looks very jarring. The final nail in the coffin is that the partner AI is at its worst here due to the nature of the scripted sequences... and Sherry’s sometimes shrill voice (JaAaAaAaAkEeeee…!!!). Even Jake’s melee focused build can’t save this campaign. Overall this one is very experimental, a mishmash of various mechanics, the chapters are much shorter, but at least it has the most variety. Voice acting wise Jake is played by Troy Baker, and Troy Baker is Troy Baker.
  
• Ada’s is supposed to be the piece that ties the whole puzzle together. Has a few poorly explained puzzles with obnoxious solutions. Fortunately, aside from that, it has the least bullcrap, some semi-decent stealth sections, and it’s blissfully short.
  
• Each campaign has a chapter with one of the most annoying enemies in Resident Evil history: Rasklapanje. Those parts the worst.

During your first playthrough you will most likely like Leon’s campaign the most with Chris’ the least. However, if you look at what the campaigns ARE, instead of what some wish they were, it’s obvious: Chris > Ada > Leon > Jake.

I haven’t tried the multiplayer modes, since none of them seems much fun. Might try them out with bots to get achievements for completionism sake. Agent Hunt appears to be there to purely troll people in their campaigns. Story Intersections are a good idea, but poorly implemented and almost never occurred with all characters being controlled by players as they have too many fixed requirements: two pairs of players at a specific section of their specific campaign in their specific region of the world they’re playing in at that specific time.

Mid mechanics that I couldn’t stand:

• Default keybindings are awful, thankfully you can change them.
  
• New inventory system is a shadow of what it once was. Instead of the quick and snappy RE5 one, we have a new XMB (Playstation dashboard) one, which requires a lot of time getting used to.
  
• Brief cutscenes showing e.g. a door opening, do not stop enemies from moving. While you do not take damage during their duration, you will regularly find yourself on the receiving end of a zombie grab or melee attack once they’re finished.
  
• Sections where you cannot evoke any menu be it inventory, menu, or even pause.
  
• Chase sequences during which the camera is in front of you instead of behind you.

Minor mechanics that I couldn’t stand:

• Tripping over corpses, which interrupts combat.
  
• Stumbling during “the place is falling apart” sections.
  
• Hitboxes for context sensitive traversals are way too big: you try to dash past a ladder - you climb the ladder, you try to dash past a chest high wall - you vault the wall etc.

Do not misconstrue me, this isn’t some misunderstood masterpiece: the complete lack of focus, scatterbrained design that goes everywhere and nowhere at the same time, way too ambitious, so much so that I don’t think more time in the oven would have helped etc. It has high highs and very low lows. Still, RE6 is fascinating to me: it’s a snapshot of the entire industry of the early 2010’s in a single game, with all of the trends of that time. I imagine someone writing an entire dissertation about each chapter of every campaign and analyzing all design decisions. It’s also really fun once you learn all of the combat mechanics and play Mercenaries... but I cannot recommend it with a clear conscience.

Single dumbest game in existence. It's not even Resident Evil. It's a don't-fall-asleep-while-playing simuator.

Always be diving. Always. You can avoid a lot of damage in this game that you previously would have had to simply tank due to improved mobility.
Always be quickshotting. Quickshot dogs. Quickshot enemies with weapons in their hands (or stuck in their bodies) for an easy melee attack. Keep an eye on your action bar though; quickshotting too much can leave you open to attack.
Always be wrestling. Overabuse melee. Aim for the knee, face, or forearm, look for a stun triggern, then run and press melee attack. Even better, once you learn what stun states lead to what attacks, you can use the AOE melee attacks on a SINGLE enemy to take out entire crowds of punks.
Find the perk loadouts that work for you. For Leon, I recommend zombie killer, quickshot plus, and melee plus. For everyone else, I used javo killer, melee plus, and the medic one (whichever one heals you and your partner no matter the distance).
You will have no less than 20 total and utter ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ deaths over the course of the game. It honestly wasn't your fault. Let it roll off your back, or it can ruin an otherwise incredibly fun game.
Try playing the mercenaries mode, even if you keep losing. It will help you get much much better at the game, and you won't have to go hours between big fights to get your practice in.