Review

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

I am a huge Resident Evil (RE) fan. Over the years I’ve played just about every RE title on multiple systems (even the horrible Resident Evil Survivor series), seen the movies, and collected the comics. The reason I share this fact about me, is that even though I can tell a bad Resident Evil game from a good one, there is still a slight bias there. So, you’ll have to take me saying that Slant Six Games’ Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is really fun to play with a grain of salt!

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (REORC) is a “what if” game; the plot is not officially part of the Resident Evil storyline. It is, however, a hypothetical scenario that could have taken place during the events surrounding the T-Virus outbreak of Resident Evil 2 and 3. This of course resulted in the infection of Raccoon City’s population and their subsequent transformation into zombies.  Not only that, but there are Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W’s) running around  killing people at will. The heroes from RE 2 and 3, manage to escape before the whole city is blown to bits by Umbrella, the company responsible for creating the T-Virus. Umbrella claimed that the explosion was actually caused by a nearby nuclear power plant, killing everyone there. However, since Leon S. Kennedy and our other heroes made it out, Umbrella was exposed as the true culprit. What if those heroes didn’t make it out alive? This is where the story of REORC comes in. What if Umbrella sent in a team of mercenaries to clean up their mess before the city went up in flames? It’s completely logical for Umbrella to want to silence anyone that might know the truth about what happened there. Saying that this is an interesting concept would be an understatement.

REORC puts gamers in the role of the U.S.S (Umbrella Security Service) on a mission to into Raccoon and eliminate anyone and anything that might link Umbrella to the outbreak, including heroes like Leon. When starting up a campaign, you’re given the choice to play as six different characters within the U.S.S. Each one has unique abilities that allow them to fill a specific role on the team; like the medic Bertha, who can heal teammates or Vector, whose Predator-like invisibility is good for reconnaissance. After you pick your characters and starting weapons you’re pretty much thrown into the story…or lack thereof. It seems like Slant Six assumes that you already know what’s going on and doesn’t take the time to fill you in, as if the game was made specifically for RE fans alone. There is a brief explanation at the start of the game introducing the location as Raccoon City and the opposition as the United States Spec Ops (who are trying to rescues survivors). Judging by the number of gamers I ran into online that would ask “so what are we doing again” during play, I think it is safe to say that more direction was needed. I’m not saying Slant Six had to outline the complete story from the first game till now, but a short recap would have been nice. Heck, it’s been a long time since Resident Evil 3; it’s safe to assume fans may have forgotten something. To be fair, there are bits of story that are shared via verbal exchanges with characters that do help to inform gamers who may have become completely lost.

As a big fan, the underdeveloped, or rather under presented story arch didn’t really bother me since I was fully aware of the games past events. In fact, I was excited when the campaign took us to the Raccoon City Police Department that was featured in RE2. Running through the old hospital and labs, fighting Nemesis again, and seeing the lickers were all very nostalgic. Just having zombies back in an RE title was enough to make me want to jump in and play. Speaking of gameplay, REORC seems to float in between being extremely fun and somewhat disappointing. On one hand, playing with friends online is fun. I had a great time destroying zombies, healing teammates, and battling Tyrants. Slant Six even went on to add an element from the Outbreak series were gamers can become infected by the T-Virus brought on by zombie bites. Once infected, you have a limited amount of time to be treated or to find an anti-virus spray before turning into a zombie. This added an additional layer of tension to the already hectic gameplay. Battling against the Spec Ops soldier’s amidst all of the zombies was fun as well. It can be tough to lay down cover fire while you’re being flanked by zombies. What made these battles fun was that the zombies and B.O.W’s would attack both you and the opposition, whether they were AI or other players online. You could even make things worse for the Spec Ops by causing one of them to hemorrhage from a gunshot wound. This will cause any nearby zombies to ambush that particular enemy, giving you enough time to regroup and attack his now distracted allies. Basically, with three friends playing with you, REORC is can be an addictive, action packed thrill ride packed with nostalgic enemies and locations from the Resident Evil universe!

On the other hand, there are some design elements that can make even the most forgiving gamer put down the controller. There are times during the game that prove to be frustrating due to the lack of basic instruction. Consider the Hunters, for instance. These large B.O.W’s will leap at you with swiping claws in an attempt to decapitate you. A successful attack will leave you collapsed and vulnerable to their continued swinging attacks. After a couple of frustrating deaths, I found out that if you tap the A button, your character will get up much faster than if you leave them to get up by themselves. There isn’t anything mentioned in the game that would help gamers infer this, I just guessed. Adding this as a tip during the tutorial mission, the loading screen tips, or even in the manual, would have gone a long way to prevent frustrated gamers from giving up.

The same thing goes with the close quarter combat.  You can use the A or Y buttons to perform a melee execution move on zombies after they’ve suffered a staggering blow. This is explained in the manual. What isn’t explained is that you can do the same to human players when playing one of the competitive modes. Should Slant Six spell it out for gamers…maybe? It isn’t necessary for a game to teach a gamer combative instincts or the timing of attacks when using a melee fighting system, but the system itself should at least be outlined for reference.  A lot of gamers complained about opponents not dying after multiple strikes; knowing this fact would have made melee attacks a viable option online.

The cover mechanics in REORC were also an issue; moving into close proximity of a wall or object will result in an automatic cover position. The problem here is that this will happen even when you don’t want to hide. Let’s say you are trying to revive a fallen ally. If they died close to a wall, it can be difficult to pick them up if you keep automatically snapping against the wall in the process. Then there are the times when you are trying to shoot while in cover. In other games, moving to the end of the object you’re hiding behind will cause your character to stop and pear around the object in order to line up a shot. In REORC, your character will not stop to peer around the corner, but will stay in the cover position with their back glued to it; this will most likely end up moving them out into the open to get shot. No cover mechanic should ever be automatic. Period!

Unfortunately, the combat design elements were not the only problems. Playing in any game mode will give you the opportunity to gain experience points which can be used to unlock abilities and weapons. However, not all of the weapons are created equally; the more expensive ones are downright overpowering. To be honest, regardless of the match type I was playing, most of my time spent online was great. Playing Survivor, where your team has to fight for a spot on a rescue chopper is one of the game’s highlights. That all changed when I went up against one team during a round of Team Death match though. Because they had unlocked more powerful weapons, it was easy for them to run my team over (the unhindered spawn camping didn’t help either). The same thing happened when I played Biohazard (capture the flag). Like I said, this was a rare occasion. But when it does happen…let’s just say my brother won’t be playing any online VS modes for the near future.

REORC has its share of faults; the cover system is heavily flawed, there is a lack of narrative, and the weapons range from being somewhat useful to unreasonably overpowering. If playing by yourself, your AI teammates aren’t that helpful. They’ll kill a zombie or two, but will constantly run into traps and they can’t revive you. As flawed as REORC is, it can be an extremely fun game to play. Beating the campaign with friends is fun, unlocking new weapons and abilities can be addictive, and there are multiple VS modes that are a blast to play. After beating the game three times and playing a lot online, my overall enjoyment outshines the mentioned flaws. I’d be lying if I didn’t say how much fun I had playing with friends. If you’re looking for a regular Resident Evil title (or survival horror in general), you’d best look elsewhere. If you aren’t easily frightened by its issues and like Resident Evil titles, then you’re looking at cool spin off.