Resident Evil Outbreak

"An interesting Biohazard game."

The game formerly known as Biohazard/Resident Evil online was renamed to BH/RE Outbreak, in wake of the inclusion of an offline mode, and after being in development for 2+ years, it’s finally released in Japan. The core of the game is essentially the same as its predecessors in the series, but there are a large number of modifications and additions that give this game a distinct flavor. It should also be noted that while this game is related to the main BH/RE series, it does very little to add to the storyline, as significant as it may be. The game strays away from STARS members’ quest to take out Umbrella Corp and goes back to Raccoon city to tell the story of how eight ordinary civilians managed to survive the T-virus outbreak in the city. Their names are:

- Kevin Ryman.
- Alyssa Ashcroft.
- Jim Chapman
- Mark Wilkins
- Cindy Lennox
- Yoko Suzuki.
- David King.
- George Hamilton.

The game consists of five non-linear scenarios that are named after the main events and settings, and consequently, each character has his/her ending in each scenario. You basically start off with one scenario and you unlock the others as you progress. The first scenario starts off with the outbreak in the city, and is appropriately titled “Outbreak”, and upon finishing it, you unlock the next one that takes place in Umbrella’s underground lab from RE2 titled “Below Freezing Point” and so on. Finishing a scenario is a linear task, but completing one properly isn’t. The game has a scenario route setting (with a completion percentage) similar to Onimusha 2’s where you have to replay each scenario a few times to complete them fully. It’s not an easy task though and requires some patience.

As I mentioned earlier, the core of the game itself remains the same for the most part: explore, find items, solve puzzles, and then move on, but there are several modifications and new features that are introduced in the game. For starters, you’re given true analogue controls as well as the traditional ones, but in both cases, the controls are very responsive. The items menu is realtime now, so you’re vulnerable to attacks while you’re mixing herbs or exchanging items. You can also reload your weapons without going into the menu by standing still and holding L1; the longer you hold the more bullets you load because clips are special items in the game for standard handguns. And best of all, shaking out immediately when you’re grabbed by an enemy results in a new defensive technique where your character shoves away the enemy and fires a single shot to push it (the enemy) away. The zapping system has been vastly improved to accommodate the game’s online mode, so to exchange items, one has to request it and then it’s up to your partner(s) if he/she is feeling generous enough to share. To elaborate further, you press start to go into your items menu and if your partners are in the same area, theirs is going to be displayed as well. Simply highlight an item you want and click it; your character will shout out “I need that.” or Kevin’s hilarious line of “Can I have it pretty please?!” That particular partner will then move closer to you and hold out his/her hand with the item in place for you to pick it up (in the offline mode with the AI partners), that only happens if they’re willing to share of course.. Getting rid of items is done in a similar manner; of course, your character will be the one holding out his/her hand, and then it’s first come, first serve.

The enemy AI is decent, but it doesn’t break any new grounds in the series with the exception of the zombie behavior. For one thing, they follow you everywhere (with the exception of very few safe rooms) until they’re completely dead, and you can only be sure they’re dead with they disappear (the actual model flickering off). Also, navigating past zombie almost never works because they’re able to lunge at you with their fists, and even sideways with a hook. This may sound far fetched but it doesn’t work like a beat ‘em up; if you get hit, you can move past them but as mentioned earlier, navigating past them gets you punished almost always.

With no item boxes around, you’re given the option to swap items on the fly should your inventory be full. For example, say you’re in need of a certain key item but your inventory is full with herbs and healers, so in this particular case, you can simply highlight the herb you wish to swap the key item for. The herb/healer will remain in that particular spot until someone picks it up. This swapping method works with the item exchange process with partners as well, so technically, you always have space to work around with, you just have to manage it carefully.

There are a couple of major additions to the gameplay engine with the introduction of the virus gauge, and character specific abilities with a minor change to the combat system. The virus gauge is exactly what it sounds like: a T-virus gauge that lets you know of the percentage of contamination in your body. The gauge rises at a slow rate right from the start, but that rate will go up if you receive any substantial amount of damage, but a healer item will take care of that, and temporarily stop the spread of virus in your body. There are also different types of pills that you find throughout the game that stop the infection temporarily, some longer than others. The damage system is modified slightly to work better with the virus gauge. Once you reach the danger status and you get hit, your character falls on the ground and starts crawling while the gauge goes up at an alarming rate. A partner can help you stand on your feet (and you can do the same for another in need by moving closer and holding circle), and then give you a healer to get back in the game. The game’s save system no longer requires ribbons, though a save in Outbreak is really a temporary continue point that gets deleted once you load it (the game automatically is reset once you save). This might sound harsh, but it’s very appropriate given the average length of the scenarios which is about 1.5-2 hours per scenario the first time around.

By the default Japanese controls, X is the run button and it also serves as the special ability button if you’re in the “ready” position (otherwise known as drawing a weapon in the previous RE games). George will tackle an enemy (it’s a charge move so the longer you hold it, the stronger it is), Kevin will kick, while Yoko crawls and so on. Aside from the button activated ability, each character has additional abilities/unique characteristics as well (some more than others). To give you a better idea, Yoko has a backpack so she can carry 8 items at a time, while Kevin and Alyssa have a sharp shooting ability and Mark handles melee weapons well. George arguably has the most useful ability of preparing the pills that stop the spread of the virus by combing an herb with a medical kit he has.

Melee weapons are plentiful in the game, varying in sizes and durability. They do receive realtime damage and once they’re completely worn out, your character simply throws it at the enemy. Perhaps the biggest, though very subtle change is that the weapon drawing button (R1 or R2) is basically the “ready” position button, so if you hold it without equipping a weapon, the special abilities still work and pressing the fire/action button will result in a tackle. That applies to all character but it’s not as strong as George’s special move tackle, though it does make thing more comfortable when you’re trying to conserve ammo, or if you haven’t found a weapon yet. It’s worth noting that with the exception of Kevin, every other character starts off without any weapons.

As far the communication aspect goes, the game has a preset list of sentences for each character that can be used both offline and online. The square button triggers the “random” comments including the occasional chuckles, while the right analogue stick is used for more specific lines: Tap the stick to the left to trigger a cry for help, right for a “thanks” line, up to order partners to move, down to shout out a sentence to get out of an area as a group (e.g. “Let’s go!” complete with a hand signal”). The not-so hidden R3 command is simply for obnoxious comments such as “Your timing sucks!” and “Your worst than my ex-wife”.

As far as visuals go, the game won’t disappoint, especially when you consider the fact that it had to be designed with the limitations of an online infrastructure. The game is fully realtime with some great high resolution textures that make up very convincing and detailed environments; in fact, those are some of the best textures on the PS2 surpassing those of SH2 and 3. The environments are very detailed, and aren’t far behind pre-rendered quality, and at certain points, they are combined with some streaming FMV. The game was designed with a different approach than the SH games with lots of prelighting and shadows in the backgrounds to allow the best possible resolution (on the realtime textures) to mimic the pre-rendered look (undoubtedly an approach that’s used in RE4 as well). The SH games rely on the other hand dynamic shadows and lighting. Both approaches provide nice results without a doubt, but as far as pure eye candy goes, I’d have to give a nod to the first one. There are volumetric effects that are among the most realistic seen in a video game. The character models are equally impressive, and the designers managed to create extremely realistic looking character from fewer polygons (than an offline game). What’s impresses the most is that the game has the best animations seen in the series; every character has his/her own unique set of animations (for the most part), and they’re very fluid. The enemies are well animated as well, but the character animations really outshine them. It’s worth noting that the running speed is similar to the recent Gamecube games, so it’s slower, more realistic running and the speed varies from one character to another. In addition to that, the “blur”filter used in the GC games is back as well, perhaps to add polish to the overall image quality; the game does have the best image quality on the PS2 with very little artifacts. However, the visuals aren’t without any flaws as there is a noticeable clipping problem with the characters and enemies, and some low resolution textures in the fifth scenario that stick out. Once in a while, you’ll encounter a momentary lag in certain stages with volumetric effects; otherwise, the game runs a very consistent frame rate (30 fps). To a minor extent, it’s a bit disappointing that there is no progressive scan or widescreen support; we’ll just have to wait for BH 4 for that.

The intro CG movie is extremely well done with some stylish directing, and the quality is excellent as well but certainly not on par with the Onimusha series CG. The rest of the CG movies are a mixed bag, and vary in quality from one scenario to another (since each scenario had a different director), but the overall quality is good though not spectacular.

The audio in the game is excellent all around. The enemy, door, and menu sounds are all recycled from RE3, but the samples are much crisper now, though the highlight of the game’s audio is the new set of effects. Almost every character has unique footstep sounds (separate for walking and running) and they’re extremely crisp much like the footstep sounds in the cut scenes of MGS2. There are also unique sounds for drawing/reloading weapons (not unlike MGS2) as well as crisp environmental sounds such as wind etc. The music in the game is well done as well, though it lacks variety in some stages; the game’s theme and ending tracks earn high marks for being very memorable. With all this, it’s a pity that the game doesn’t support any form or surround sound, but we have yet to see a BH game to do so; again, one can only hope that BH4 will be mixed for Pro Logic II setups.

Capcom was apparently very cautious with the title. Having seen other major franchises’ online only games sell considerably less in the Japanese market, they naturally added the offline mode in Outbreak. The offline and online modes are in fact very similar as far as content goes with the same five scenarios, but there are some differences. The online mode lets you play as a zombie for a brief period of time after the gauge maxes out, and there are a total of 4 players online (until someone dies of course) in comparison to the offline mode’s offering of 2 AI partners. The AI is reportedly a bit more aggressive and there are more enemies on screen in the offline mode. In short, if you aren’t able to go online with your PS2 (the game’s broadband only by the way), you’re not missing a lot so don’t hesitate to get the game for the offline mode alone. You won’t be experiencing only half the game if you don’t go online; you’ll basically miss out on co-operating with human partners and the short-lived zombie mode.

As far as replay value goes, there isn’t much to complain. Aside from the replay value provided by the non-linear scenarios, the game has a collection mode where you can buy movies, music, playable NPC’s, extra modes (new difficulty levels, solo single player etc.) and so on. The points are earned upon completing each scenario, and naturally, the better the rank, the more points you get.

The game certainly isn’t flawless by any means, and I’ve already mentioned some of the graphical issues. However, the main problem is that the loading system is designed with the HDD in mind, without it, the loading time is about 12 seconds on average between rooms (it’s less sometimes at 8 sec depending on the area). It’s not something that can’t be coped with after half an hour; if the loading takes more than 12 seconds, I advice you to run through a lens cleaning disc with bristles. The scenarios themselves are satisfying to play through the first time; afterwards, four out of the five can be completed in less than half an hour. Of course, you’ll have to take several shortcuts and skip on some items to achieve the best times, and you get rewarded with points to buy several items as I explained earlier. The problem is that the game’s enhanced gameplay engine makes you crave more scenarios, and of course, if the game’s replay value options aren’t your cup of tea, then the excitement might not last long.

Even with its flaws, Biohazard Outbreak is a great game with the most enjoyable gameplay in the series, even though it’s still a side story that takes you back to Raccoon city. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll love it but even if you’re not, chances are that you’ll like this one since it fixes the control issues of the past games and adds more to the gameplay. I highly recommend it even if online play isn’t your cup of tea or are unable to take the game online, because the offline play is sufficient enough. If you are able to go online, then check it out to get a taste of online survival horror, a one of a kind experience.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/15/04