Between the
success of Resident Evil 5, and the
anticipation of Resident Evil 6, Capcom have given us R.E, Operation Raccoon City, in order to
tide us over and sate our zombie slaying appetites. Unfortunately, this game
seems a little...well, for lack of a better term, awful. Just plain awful. This
is a 3rd person shooter with a few minor entertaining features that
are completely pushed out of view by the overwhelming number of faults. Trust
me when I say, this game is not even close to being worth the price you’ll be
charged to buy it.
At first,
the plotline may sound pretty interesting. You play as one of six faceless
soldiers, who have been tasked with entering Raccoon City and clearing away any
evidence that would associate the Umbrella Corporation with the T-virus
outbreak. This could have made for a pretty cool storyline, and had it been
done well, it could have simultaneously provided a satisfying back-story for
some of the more mysterious characters, and given a completely new and original
story. Sadly, this was not to be so. Aside from being given your initial
objective at the start of the game, there is nothing to really suggest any sort
of reason for what you’re doing, aside from “the man on the radio said so”.
There is no character development, and the 4-6 hour campaign eventually leads
to an incredibly anti-climactic finish.
As well as
that, the game doesn’t feel like a R.E
game. O.R.C has no dark corridors, no
tense music, and basically, no atmosphere. If it weren’t for the appearance of
characters such as Leon S. Kennedy or Ada Wong, I wouldn’t have been able to
guess from playing the game that it was a R.E
title. Rather than having slow moments, where the player feels like
something terrifying is about to jump around the next corner, you must shoot
your way through a series of bland environments, filled with hordes of the same
zombies, soldiers, and various T-virus monsters. In each area, there will be
plenty of ammo caches, that supply infinite ammo for as long as you need, green
herbs to restore any health, and plenty of cover, all of which remove the
tension that fans of the series have come to love, as you never feel in danger
of being caught off guard.
As
mentioned earlier, you play as one of six soldiers. You get to choose your own
character, then select another three to make up your team, making for a four
man squad. This team will be with you throughout the game, (you can switch
members in and out between missions). Aside from being yet another factor to
take away from the tension, you as a player will inevitably feel like you’d be
better off without them. The AI is genuinely shocking. Your teammates will
blunder into obvious traps, throw a grenade when you want to be stealthy, and
stand just behind you blocking the over-the-shoulder camera view. With no way
to direct your team, you are forced to break cover and find a new place to
fight from, whilst your AI companions shuffle mindlessly around the
battlefield.
Ah yes. The
cover system. Just one aspect of the gameplay that is broken, frustrating, and
basically makes you want to throw your controller across the room in disgust.
You can take cover behind flat objects by running into them (it seems that the
developers want to make the AI look a little less stupid by having you run
madly into things. Doesn’t work.). There is no way to stick to it however, and
you can only peek out when you’re far enough to the edge. Finding such a spot
will require you constantly, albeit accidentally going too far and running out into the
open. The design also has you getting into cover as you try to run past an
object, which isn’t so bad the first few times, but it eventually becomes
another tedious flaw that adds to the ever growing list.
One more
thing that caught my eye is the dramatic inconsistency in the enemies. By this,
I don’t mean that the enemies aren’t all the same, (trust me, they are) I mean
that you can empty all your ammunition into an enemy soldier’s head, then have
to reload to finish him off, then go to another enemy soldier, who will take a
few hits to the torso before falling to the ground. This made for some very
frustrating battles, and tough decisions when choosing which weapons to take,
because I wouldn’t know how much firepower the next guy would need before he
dies.
The online
multiplayer is where things start to look up a little. Players can join your
game at anytime, and you can join theirs. I can’t begin to describe how happy I
was when I saw the notice that another player had joined the game. Now you can
fight alongside someone who has a brain, and can think, rather than running
into a horde of undead and beginning to kick, despite having a full clip of
ammo. There have been many occasions where the dumb AI has made me die, and
it’s quite obvious that another online player can mean the difference between
life and death.
As you
complete missions, you gain XP. XP is used to rank up (which honestly doesn’t
do much) and can also be spent on new upgrades or weapons for your character.
Each character has unique upgrades, so this provides some replay value, as you
could try to get enough XP to buy all the weapons and upgrades, but I honestly
don’t think I’d be able to do that, as numerous flaws mean I’m only going
through this once.
R.E: O.R.C
isn’t a bad game, it’s a terrible one. After about half an hour, I felt
physically depressed, and as the credits rolled at the end of my ordeal, my
spirits lifted, as I knew I could look forward to the pleasure of shouting my
feelings from the rooftops...of the online world. If you’re a hardcore 3rd
person shooter fan, this game is not for you. Sloppy mechanics and incredibly
dumb AI will have you screaming with frustration. If you’re a hardcore R.E fan, this game is probably not for
you either. You’ll find no story or chilling atmosphere here, and will
undoubtedly be bored with this drab attempt at a R.E game. Whatever you’re into, you’re probably best to wait for Resident Evil 6, and hope for the best
there, because there's certainly nothing to see here.
2/10 - Painful
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