Resident Evil Outbreak File #2

"Great addition to a great online RE"

Resident Evil Outbreak File#2 is hands down one of my favorite online games to play to this date. It's not many games in which you can play a new game you got, put it down, and still play some Resident Evil Outbreak. I am a huge fan of co-op games, and I loved the first Resident Evil Outbreak. Thus, Resident Evil + Online + co-op = Love.

This review will cover offline and online play modes, as well as explains some of the various adjustments made to the game from File #1.

Story
All scenarios still take place in Raccoon City. There are 5 scenarios total, the fifth one is unlocked upon completing the other four. Each scenario places players in unique locations and tells the story of their survival (or ultimately death). Some areas include the zoo, the subway, an abandoned hospital and the RE2 Police Station!

Graphics
If you played Resident Evil Code Veronica X, you'll basically see that type of graphics on Outbreak. Not as good as Resident Evil 4, but still pretty good graphics, in my opinion.

Characters
The original characters of the Outbreak series make a return here. As well, many of the voice actors for each character are completely different. You will be able to import unlocked characters from the original Outbreak to File#2. In fact, Capcom was nice enough to give you ALL the extras for Outbreak, so all you needed to do was purchase them (for a discounted price as well), and they were yours. Not only that, you could transfer those characters as well as the File#2 characters back to File 1 for some exclusive characters. There is a ton of NPC characters to choose from, many of them having distinct advantages over the main characters.

Many characters retain their base skill from Outbreak 1, such as Alyssa picking locks, Mark starting with a handgun, Kevin with a .45. Some characters now have a unique slot added as well. Jim gets a lucky coin, which can increase his critical hit, Yoko gets a Charm, which has many adverse effects. Also, everyone now starts with an item in their first slot. Mark has a Handgun Clip, Kevin a .45 Clip, Alyssa a Stun Gun, Cindy a Bandage (stops bleeding), and others.

Voice Acting
As stated above, many of the voice actors from Outbreak were completely replaced with new ones. For some this is a welcomed change, and for others a disappointment. Mark now sounds more like a military commander than a confused security guard from Outbreak, as well as no more 'Somebody Halp Mah Please!' hilarious catch phrase from Outbreak. However, this new Mark also has some funny voice acting. David no longer sounds like a low IQ plumber dude, and takes an opposite turn, sounding more professional, smart and calm. Again, the new David voice is interesting, but not funny like the old David. George, Yoko, Cindy and Kevin basically have the same tone to their voice as in Outbreak. Alyssa seems to have a new voice actor, and unlike the others, sounds a lot better than the one from Outbreak.

Most importantly, ad-libs (the on-text messages + voice clip played with triangle) seem to have been reduced to mere text. Thats right, no more random funny voice clips when you press triangle. It's not quite known why these were left out of the NTSC version, many say because people complained NPCs offline were too talkative and annoying. The PAL (European) version features ad-libs with voices, but with no text. Whats up with that?

They also added a 'Sorry' ad-lib into the system, and NPCs are now addressed by their name, instead of their character type. However, they'll just say 'Hey you!' or 'Hey' for the NPC and will not say their actual name. NPCs themselves also do the same for other NPCs and main characters.

Gameplay
The bulk of the game here. First off, Resident Evil Outbreak series uses the old school Resident Evil system in which ammo conservation and using your wits here is key to survival. For some new Resident Evil fans, this may not be appealing, but for the old school Resident Evil gamers like myself, it's just as enjoyable as the new system.

In addition to the five scenarios, you can unlock 'Elimination' and 'Showdown'. Elimination is similar to Extreme Battle Mode from the previous Resident Evils, in which you must defeat monsters located in one room after another. With online play, this can be quite enjoyable to clear out all the monsters with friends or online fellows. Showdown is my personal favorite mode, it's Boss Survival type play. In Showdown 1, you will fight the bosses from Outbreak. IN Showdown 2, you will fight the bosses from File#2. In Showdown #3, you will fight all the bosses in both games. Showdown 3 + Very Hard mode is arguably the hardest mode you can play, and is very fun.

Offline Play
In all honesty, I hate playing offline. The AI are simply NOT smart, contrary to what people may say. NPCs always find themselves getting killed by monsters and barely know how to defend themselves. Stubborn characters who don't have a good relationship with your character will always wander off on their own and contribute usually nothing. In any mode above Normal, your NPC friends are highly likely to be killed unless you pretty much hold their hand. Certain obstacles require two people to move, such as a cart in Wild Things scenario. NPCs will not help you push the cart, to my understanding. Only a Mark type can move the cart solo, otherwise you're out of luck offline. However, offline is a great way to get practice, and once you unlock all the modes, you can get SP items for costumes easily. Mainly because you can collect the item you need, then quit the game. You will still have the SP item and not suffer a death on your online record.

Online Play (Accurate as of April 19th, 2006)
Online play will be the bulk of your experience, if not basically all of it. It's online play that keeps the scenarios fresh, and the experiences different. There are many servers to choose from, such as the Free Server, Event Server, Showdown Server and a lot more. In the early days, there was servers in which only Very Hard could be put on, or Normal, etc. This was extremely useless as the Free Server could set any mode. This was more of a diversion as Capcom began to slowly switch around servers. People were anticipating an Infinity Mode server, in which weapons and melee weapons never ran out of ammo or broke. Eventually, they got their wish. There now exists an infinity server with no ammo limitations. I personally do not prefer this unless I really want to screw around, because infinity easily takes any challenge out of the scenario. There is also some more creepier and irrelevant servers such as 'Ladies Night' and 'Men's Club', in which only female/male characters can be selected in there. They are 99% of the time empty, and is strange why they exist.

Online Community/Population
Many of the veterans as this review was written have left. Simply put, a lot of people on the server are just flat out bad, especially with increased difficulty level. I can usually never get a Showdown 3 Very Hard game going without one or two completely newbies coming in, and getting slaughtered early on. Though teamkilling is difficult in Outbreak, many people will do anything they can do to MPK (monster player kill). Taking all the healing items and immediately using them, or trying to lure the monster over to a player, holding doors, or setting time bombs near teammates are all cheap and pathetic ways to attempt to kill off your team. Capcom does not make much effort to prevent this, unfortunately. Cheating such as infinite health, insta-zombie + infinite health or infinite ammo are also ways to get ahead or even add to teamkilling. These issues are not as bad today, for most of the teamkillers are onto new games, but there still exists a few players like this.

Then you will sometimes get pros with 50+ hours under their belt. These people know what their doing, so listen to them and try to obey what they ask of you. I've seen some people with 400-500+ hours, which is simply insane. I considered myself a long-time player with 100 hours under my belt. Getting a showdown 3 VH with a bunch of pros like myself make for some great strategic fun.

The population varies directly with the time of the day. In mornings, it's next to impossible to find a game, with as little as 10-20 people on in total. Towards the afternoons it'll hit about 40-50 people, and at nights peaking at around 100. A good percentage of these players simply chat in the lobby. There is never too many games, usually 2-3 that are looking for players, even at night. If you just wait a little while for a game at night, one is bound to pop up soon. You can even start your own fairly easily. The online play is not what it used to, especially with Metal Gear Online that recently came out, but it's still possible to find a game depending on the day.

Lag Issues
My main gripe with online play is lag. This is not solely based on your connection, as many of my friends have said they get similar lag. On some slower bosses this isn't too noticeable.. but on fast bosses, you'll be shooting air a lot. Zombies have a tendency to warp around sometimes, and when they warp ontop of you, it's the most cheap damage you can take. Thananos B from Outbreak is THE most annoying boss to fight because of lag. He was fine in Outbreak 1, but in File#2 he's the lag king. A boss that can be killed in 4 solid magnum shots, can take all 7 magnum shots, grenade launcher rounds and 40 handgun rounds and not go down. That's a problem. Lag is most definitely a problem for this game. Nearly every game I play has some sort of enemy warping going on that can lead to some cheap hits.

Voice Chatting/Keyboard
This is an issue that needs to be addressed and is asked and questioned a lot by people. This game does not support voice chatting at all, and the keyboard is limited to the lobby, and pre-game setup. People who are not familiar with the game may find the lack of voice chat disturbing, and even more disturbing is no keyboard use while in game. You can converse with your teammates before you start the game, so thats when you get out all your strategy, the actual game is executing that strategy. If you simply wait for 3 other people to show up, and start the game without planning anything, don't complain about lack of voice chat in game. Good Outbreak players know how to plan out their strategy in the pre-game chat, and work their ad-libs to their advantage. A player pointing and saying 'Go' to a flashing item most likely means for you to go pick it up. If they unequip their weapon and stomp on it, it means the same thing. Someone saying wait most likely wants you to remain in your position while they complete something. It's all very easy to follow and understand. The lack of voice chat and keyboard is not as big as an issue as people think. Remember, this is co-op, it's basically the same thing every game, it's not dynamic like PVP in which you need absolute team coordination.

Sound
I love the music in the Outbreak series, especially on bosses I think they're all well composed. However, this game doesn't support Dolby Pro Logic II like many of the newer games for the PS2 are now supporting. Despite, the audio is just fine.

Replay Ability
No Network Adapter/Online play? Pretty much no replay value. Play it, beat it. It'll be like that. If you have online, and if you're a fan of the old school Resident Evils, you'll find yourself going back for more and more all the time. It's always fun to play with other people and see how your scenario will play out differently this time. Showdown and Elimination are two great modes, and will hold your attention after the scenarios get old.

Worth the Purchase?
If you don't have online play, rent it. You can beat it in that rental easily, and experience basically what offline has to offer. If you have online play, definitely consider picking this up. Especially if you enjoyed Outbreak 1, and co-op style gameplay, this game will not disappoint.

Final Words/Rating
Co-op + Online + Resident Evil. I'm sold. Three good enough reasons for me to have gotten this game, and I don't regret the purchase at all. This game is simply based on your tastes for the series and online style. Despite the offline drawbacks, online play is what gets this game its score. Though it should realistically score a 9/10 because of lag, I really enjoy this game, and is hands down my favorite PS2 online game out there, even better than Metal Gear Online. 10/10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/19/06