Metareview: Resident Evil 6

A human's reaction following exposure to a virus is interesting. Now, if we were to say Resident Evil 6 is a virus, we'd have an apt analogy going on right now. Review scores are all over the place for Capcom's latest installment in the former survival-horror franchise. For our part, we called the series' latest mutation a "fully-featured, sloppy, frequently frustrating attempt to do well by everyone."

• Game Informer (88/100): "That metamorphosis into insane action is front and center in Resident Evil 6, and bringing a buddy along for the chaos is great fun. The game's minor flaws don't hold back the decadent experience from being an unhinged, flaming rollercoaster ride."

• Eurogamer (60/100): "This game is blind to imagination and focus. Capcom's uncertainty about the series' identity post-Mikami (and post-Uncharted) is hardcoded into its structure: four campaigns offering different, flawed expressions of that potential. And the inevitable price for this wavering is a lack of coherence."

• Edge (60/100): "In always trying to offer something more, Resident Evil 6 fails to refine what it has already given you. And whatever else you might say about the game, it achieves something that its predecessor never did: it steps out of Resident Evil 4's shadow and becomes its own game. Sadly, it's a game that redefines the series as a loose collection of action scenarios with a shared theme of mild sci-fi horror."

• Gamespot (45/100): "The Bad: Loads of bad, overlong quick-time events –Excruciating overemphasis on mediocre set piece events –Ruins the pace by constantly ripping control from you – Poorly executed scripted events lead to unavoidable deaths."

• Destructoid (30/100): "It's not enough to say that Resident Evil 6 is poor as a Resident Evil game. That alone implies there could be a quality experience if fans can get past their preconceptions and feelings of betrayal. No, Resident Evil 6 is poor by the standards of any game, not just the high ones set by its own legacy."