Resident Evil 6 has three storylines and these will collide with each other during crossover events where four players have to defeat a tough B.O.W. During a hands-off demo, Capcom showed what happens when Leon Kennedy meets Jake Muller, the son of Resident Evil villain Albert Wesker. Jake started off hostile towards Leon, but his tone changed when Sherry Birkin said Leon once saved her.
The cutscene was cutoff when Ustanak, a zombie with an interchangeable cybernetic arm, showed up to the party. Jake exclaimed that Ustanak was "invincible" and all four characters had to work together to kill him. The thing is you don’t know who the other two players are. While you can pick your partner character from your friend list, the game picks strangers that happen to be at the same story point for crossover boss battles. Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi explained it’s possible to sync up with a buddy by asking them to log on the same time you’re playing, but they will need to be at the same point you are in Resident Evil 6.
I watched Jake Muller make a trap with explosive barrels and another player lured Ustanak to the area. While Leon assaulted Ustanak with a gun, Jake dashed towards the hulking monster and tried to tackle him. The Resident Evil newcomer has wrestling moves he can use on top of weapons. In the middle of the fight, Ustanak dettached his gun-arm and switched it to a claw-whip kind of device.
Midway through the battle, Leon and his partner Helena Harper were separated when they fall and end up on different sides of a fence. Leon temporarily pairs up with Sherry who was controlled by a stranger while Jake and Helena have to team up. Capcom showed this scene to demonstrate how players might have to work with different partners during crossover scenes too.
While Capcom said they improved the partner AI for Resident Evil 6, nothing beats having a full group of human players working together during an intense fight. But, if the whole crossover play element doesn’t sound like your cup of tea you can turn off the feature and just play through the game co-op with a friend. Or you can play Resident Evil 6 solo and have three AI partners during big battles.
