Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City Review
Developer: Slant Six Games
Publisher: CAPCOM
Platform(s): Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC (May 18th)
Release Date: Out Now
The Resident Evil franchise is churning out a lot of new releases this year, first up was Revelations released on the Nintendo 3Ds, followed recently by this title Operation Raccoon City for Playstation 3 and X-box 360 and in May for PC. Later this year sees the re-release of Resident Evil the Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil the Darkside Chronicles as one collective HD re-mastered package on PS3. An finally with Resident Evil 6 also is also due out in November of this year Resident Evil fans have never been more spoilt for choice, so what better time to step back in time to the events surrounding the devastation of Racoon city.
In Operation Raccoon City players assume the role of the USS (Umbrella Secret Service) operatives Vector, Spectre, Lupo, Beltway, Four-Eyes or Bertha as they are sent into the Raccoon City outbreak. Their mission is simple enough, to destroy any evidence of Umbrella’s involvement and if needs be to kill any remaining survivors.
The main campaign while surprisingly short has a mix of good and bad points as does the entire game if I’m honest. One of the main bugs that players will encounter in game is the terrible enemy and partner AI. It does the most nonsensical of actions such as a teammate walking straight into a tripwire, or standing around while enemies are attacking. The other main issue is the choice to include a monitory based system within the game, and trying to shoot from behind cover which mostly results in no damage being done to the enemies you’re shooting as the cover itself takes most of the bullets for some reason.
On the plus side there is the new CQC in which you can mow down enemies using melee attacks if you get stuck in a swarm of zombies, using zombies as shields and also the takedown moves that can be used by each individual character make getting up close a lot of fun.
Probably the biggest flaw in the game is the under development of the story. Raccon city is an iconic moment in Resident Evils history and this was the perfect chance to go back and explore the origins on the T virus.
The appearance of certain well known characters was inevitable and again this was handled in an odd manner with some characters showing up in moments that just didn’t make any sense what so ever.
The U.S.S. characters themselves feel a bit generic in that they have no real connection to the story whatsoever, yet again if this had all been developed better it could’ve been a great storyline with some great and interesting characters.
As players and fans of the series we are always eager to discover what the evil umbrella figures (such as William Birkin, Albert Wesker, James Marcus, Nicholai Zinoviev etc.) background was and how it fitted into the overall story and it made for some of the most memorable characters in the franchise yet on this occasion no attempt was made to flesh their stories out.
The story comes mode comes in at around 5 hours in length and comes to some very incomplete and disappointing conclusions leaving players with no sense of accomplishment for finishing the game. Some positive elements within the story are the locations such as Raccoon City Hall, The Clock Tower from Resident Evil 3 and also the Raccoon Police Department from Resident Evil 2 and 3 but while these are great to see I can’t help but think this was huge missed opportunity.
The online multiplayer is satisfying as long as players do not mind the bugs you encounter. The game consists of four multiplayer modes, Team Deathmatch, in which two teams compete for the highest kills score to win. Biohazard mode, in which you must collect g-virus samples similar to capture the flag mode, survivors mode in which the players must stay alive until the chopper arrives and may have to kill each other to get a place on the chopper and finally Heroes mode in which players assume the roles of well-known Resident Evil characters such as Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, HUNK, Carlos Olivera, Ada Wong, Nicholai Zinoviev and new character Lone Wolf as each team tries to kill the others heroes in order to win. Exclusive to X-box 360 is Nemesis mode in which players can control the Nemesis and use him to destroy the opposing team. On April 11 a free downloadable mission will be released putting you as the Spec Ops team in the outbreak. The mission is said to include the encounter between Jill Valentine and the Nemesis.
Overall : This game is a bit of a pick and mix. It is not the best Resident Evil title to be released and due to the bugs, glitches and lack of a proper storyline that players can delve into like in past Resident Evils it is often an empty experience.
Players who enjoy the game will find most of their time spent in the online modes, and there is extra downloadable content becoming available so if there is a hope to redeem its bad points it would need to be in the downloadable content.
If you are unsure as whether to buy this game or not I personally would suggest rent it and taking what you will from it. Due to the sheer level of disappointment story wise I felt it was a bad move for the series which is taking so many wrong moves lately. I’m not sure if the faults that annoyed me or the disappointment of what this game should have been. This game had the chance to go back to Raccoon City when Resident Evil was at its peek, a series that was still about zombies, and give players an alternative take on things from Umbrella’s point of view. The missed potential is as disappointing as Capcoms decision to remove Zombies from the later franchise altogether.
SCORE 6/10
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