Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Preview
Resident Evil missing its roots
by Danielle Harrison
previewed on PC
New dangers
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is putting a lot of new power into the hands of the zombies. There's a new feature where if a zombie gets close enough to the player a grapple will take place prompting the player to shake the analogue stick and if the player fails to win the grapple he/she will be bitten, becoming invisible to other zombies for a specific time whilst infected. If the player runs out of time then the infection will take over and the player will begin to attack former teammates until shot dead, which will force a respawn. Another interesting feature is that if the player is excessively wounded by things like gunfire then he/she will bleed out, giving the screen a red hue and making the player more of a target to nearby zombies.
While I do love good ol' zombies, I'm pleased to say they are not the only threat in Operation Raccoon City. Some old favorites confirmed to make an appearance in the game are Hunters, Lickers and Tyrants.
Not so promising
So far so good, right? Perhaps Capcom have finally realised their mistakes with Resident Evil and gone back to their roots, right? You couldn't be more wrong. Whilst the story might be fairly familiar to older fans of the franchise the remainder of our information might very well put you off Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, just like it did me. As you may already be aware, Slant Six Games are the company behind the SOCOM titles and from the demo of Operation Raccoon City I can't help but notice how similar the gameplay between the two are. Some fans are even reporting that it's just like a SOCOM title with a 'new skin and zombies'. Once again, the game is way more third person shooter based and a lot of Resident Evil fans, including myself, can simply see how far from Resident Evil this actually is. The original scares and puzzles of Resident Evil have been removed and replaced with a shoot 'em up feel.
Finally, one of the deciding factors in how I feel about Operation Raccoon City is that you get to make huge influential decisions in the game that could essentially change the rest of the Resident Evil franchise. Listen closely as this is where it gets confusing. Due to the fact that Operation Raccoon City plays out alongside the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, the game will allow you to make "what-if" decisions. This time around you play as the USS and at the same time Leon Kennedy is trying to uncover the truth behind the outbreak. There comes a point in the game where the player will bump into Leon and have to make the decision to kill him along with Umbrella's secret, or let him live. In the case of killing him, wouldn't that mean that Resident Evil 4 never took place? Being a huge fan of the series I would personally never kill any of the previous main characters, but I don't think the choice should have ever been put into the game in the first place. It complicates things and in my opinion when I'm confused I'm not having fun.
Give me a remake, rather than this
I wish Capcom would write off all of these pointless titles and maybe take it way back, remaking the original games with enhanced graphics and more complex gameplay. I know that's what I'd do to please fans and sell games because, as it stands, the reception for this game is a little frosty. It is far from the original Resident Evil games and I think every fan would enjoy that much more. I'll probably still try this game but I'm certain I'll be left disappointed and wanting to go play the original Resident Evil on Playstation.
