Survivor is too silly for me to take seriously. A lot of it is just getting someone stuck in a sequence of knockdown animations, from half the map sometimes! (RE5 was like this too iirc.) This is made all the more painful by the 1-life nature of the game. It is pointless to fight back in 2 v 1 odds. I remember being flabbergasted when not 10 seconds into a Catacombs game, after getting the jump on someone, two of his friends came from front and behind at the same time. Could have put down my controller at that point for the difference it would have made. I don't know, maybe I just suck.
The rules are set up in in a way that don't play to what makes RE6's combat interesting. I would have rather they made it more contrived. Stuff like dodges giving some kind of immunity or invincibility to certain attacks (maybe invincible stand-up animations outside melee attacks, etc) and finisher melees being tied more closely to how you defeat players. Flash grenades don't seem to do anything. Also ammo is a real pain in the ass when people start coming back to life.
This is a shame because the idea of fallen enemies becoming threats that work to revive themselves is really cool. Especially in a free-for-all match when it is just down to two guys, there is a lot of tension as they search for each other and a mob of intelligent enemies are chasing them down. It is like Agent Hunt, but more refined. I'll probably play a little more for this aspect alone. Well, that and some of the funny movements that arrive from how stupid it can be.
Not sure how I feel about Predator. Seems fun, but a little gimmicky. The music is fantastic though. Or maybe that was for the map High Sea Fortress or w/e (just got it). Sounds like something right out of Street Fighter III. Anyway, I honestly don't know what to make of it yet, but I'm having fun with it currently. I will say one little embarrassing thing... I screamed like a little girl one time or another while playing it. Big success there I guess.
On the other hand, Onslaught is totally great. While I miss running around the bigger map looking for resources and time-extensions that was sort of trimmed in this (and the fact that I miss it surprises me), this mode answers my general issues with the otherwise fantastic The Mercenaries.
You have a fuck ton of enemies. The Mercenaries in 6 starts a little too slow for my taste. But here? You get it right from the start and it just grows from there. This seems like a valid replacement to the PC RE5's "No Mercy" take on Mercs. Second, combos matter to the game itself. I don't really care about getting a leaderboard-worthy (stuff beyond the usual "A" rank) score, but I love the pressure of Merc's combo counter. This gives it meaning within the game rather than outside it. The damage bonus came as a surprise to me and I'm quite glad it is in there. It is a cool counter-objective to just making the combo number go up and up. You inevitably must make a trade-off (in fact it is built in the game with the taunt feature), especially if the game shrinks you down to 100% power. When I've earned 300% after showing restraint and then just start blowing apart a wave of dozens, it gives me a warm feeling inside. The fact you gain it through melee and lose it from getting hit work together to add a lot to the mode.
I have a few criticisms though. If I'm incorrect in my understanding, feel free to correct me. First, I don't like how there isn't much of a penalty for losing your combo. You just send dudes over as if you taunted early? Second, I really don't like what gun-wielding enemies (mainly sub-machine gun j'avo) do to you in this. They strip your damage bonus so quickly it seems almost unintentional. It kind of makes it a non-factor on a stage like Steel Beast. My third complaint might be a little unfair, since it is something you'd expect to see in a sequel, but I wish I felt more "connected" with my opponent. I want to feel my blows to him and the vague health icon doesn't quite cut it. I like the idea of seeing his ghost image in my game or the game keeping count on how many enemies are currently on his map (don't forget in games like Puyo Puyo or Dr. Mario that this seems to be based on, you get to visually see the damage done to your opponent's parallel game).
In the future if they could find ways to give me more control on the damage done to my opponent, that would be a great path to take. Here is some fan fiction: Imagine if they put in reskinned/recolored time bonus crystals on your map that did things to your opponent like "Defense -30%" or "Stamina Regeneration -50%" or "Combo length -30%". You could time your waves with the breaking of those crystals. Add skills to amplify or weaken these. While they are at it... make a fucking send-in-the-Ustanak crystal. I also had a vision of "planting" enemies into your opponent's map like you would a drone-strike in Call of Duty or something. I admit this wouldn't improve the game at all since how it does it now is best for what it is, but I like the idea of having to balance attending to your own map and more intricate ways to strategically assault the opponent's.
Also... 2 v 2, where?! (I can understand no split screen versus. The game is impressive for running this many more enemies without hitches as it is.)
I have a question: What does it mean when "NO HOPE" appears in Onslaught (I think I saw it come up in Survivor, but I could be wrong)? I'm guessing enemies do more damage?
All and all, this is some solid DLC. I like the maps I got so far too (well, maybe not Catacombs so much). Certainly helped RE6's case in my upcoming GotY list.
P.S. FUCK RPGs, GODDAMN. FUCK STEEL BEAST TOO.
