Resident Evil Outbreak

"The game that will save the series"

Resident Evil: Outbreak is a unique title in the Resident Evil series because it is online. Never before have you been thrust into the world of RE with such immersion and detail.

Gameplay: 10/10

The gameplay of Resident Evil: Outbreak (henceforth called 'REO') is near perfection. With up to four players in a server it would be boring to have each character play exactly the same way, so Capcom decided to let each person pick a different character to play as. Each character has its own set of special abilities that set them apart, but is balanced enough to keep any one person from having an advantage. For instance, Kevin has the ability to aim his pistol precisely to shoot deadlier bullets.

The fact that you are playing online opens the door for limitless possibilities. If one person is damaged enough to be limping, teammates can help by giving them a shoulder for support. Trading items between players is not only extremely easy to do but also vital to survive when wounded players need medicine. And on particularly hard scenarios players can speed things along by doing separate tasks.

Another advancement in the series is the increase of weapons. In this game nearly all non-key items can be somehow converted into a weapon (my favorite is through a series of combinations a newspaper becomes part of an explosive) and because of that, a reliance on guns is not necessary. Sometimes I beat entire scenarios using only a knife and it's not that much harder than when using guns.

An addition to this entry in the series is the ability to join the zombie ranks! When your virus gauge (a separate gauge from health, it increases as you are bitten) reaches 100% you transform into a zombie and can kill your teammates! To prevent people from playing REO for the sole purpose of killing each other, Capcom smartly made it so you can only be a zombie for three minutes. Also, as a zombie the controls are much harder to use and you are limited to only one attack; charge with your arms outstretched.

The loading times are shorter than in other RE's (3-5 seconds per door) if you own the expensive hard drive adapter (which we will call 'HDD' from here on) which I reviewed this game using, but if you play in DVD-mode (not using the HDD) the loading times are significantly worse, around 15 seconds for each door and cinematic event. It is unfortunate that the only way to fully appreciate this game is to spend lots of cash on the HDD on top of what you already paid for the game, but once you notice the difference you will be happy you made the purchase. The flow of the game is no longer interrupted every minute and the experience much better.

My only gripe about the gameplay experience is the difficulty of communication during games. In the server lobby you can talk to other players using a keyboard or controller, but during games there is no typing to each other or using voice communication. What you can use is a series of preset sayings like ''Come on!'' and ''Thank you'', and an interesting 'ad lib' function that makes you spout obscenities (hey, this games is rated 'M' for a reason) and have short conversations. While this is OK for the most part, you are occasionally separated from your teammates and have no way of locating them except by luck once you're lost because you cannot tell them to ''Wait!'' if they are not in the same room as you. Although this aspect of the game could be improved upon, it does not detract from the gameplay enough to keep it from being fun and exciting. In some ways keeping communication to a minimum is better, as people could potentially ruin the experience by spoiling plot elements and saying unintelligent things (a problem for some other online games).

REO is broken up into five scenarios of varying length and difficulty that involve players trying to escape from Raccoon City. Each scenario is very different from the other four and provide hours of gameplay each with different paths, secrets, and endings. There is also a rumor of new scenarios being available to download for those who own the HDD in the future.

Although REO has a singleplayer campaign, I would not recommend this game to those who do not have broadband Internet access (broadband is required for online play). The single player game has the same scenarios that the online game has, except minus all of the fun. There is little teamwork because all your AI partners do is hog items and follow you around. REO is meant to be played online, and by playing it offline you are not doing justice to this fine game.

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics of REO are flawless. It is one of the best looking games on the system (quite a feat for something played online) and is one of the few Resident Evils to be fully three-dimensional. To aid in possible camera angle problems your view pans and changes as your character runs around, meaning you are never caught in a position where you can't see what you are doing. The player models are fantastic and detailed, including the zombies.

The amount of detail put into each level is amazing. From humongous monsters to the tiny features of alleys, the level of the artwork is as high as it could it be. The cinematics that are interspersed throughout each scenario obviously had great effort put into them, also.

Sound: 9/10

Standard Resident Evil fare with a creepy minimalist soundtrack that jumps from a single piano to an entire orchestra of music at a moment's notice. The sounds of the zombies have progressed as well with over twenty different types of grunts and cries. Each character also has their own speech that has been professionally recorded.

One problem with REO (and with the Resident Evil series in general) is the B-movie caliber script. ''The road is barricaded so therefore you must continue on foot,'' is a prime example. There are so many other ways the speaker could get the same message across, but the way he says it as one monotone sentence cheapens the game's experience. It's about time Capcom wrote a quality script.

Replay Value: 10/10

You will play this game for many hours before you get tired of it. Each time you play the items' locations are changed along with the placement of zombies, so the same scenario is different each time you play. There are four difficulty levels, ranging from ''Man, this game is tough!'' (easy) to ''This is the twentieth time I've tried this difficulty setting and I still can't get past the second corridor!'' (very hard) which pretty much guarantees you'll be at it for a long time.

Also, as you play you accumulate 'player points' which can be used to purchase additional pictures, backgrounds, costumes, sounds/music, and modes which greatly adds to the replay value.

Story: N/A

I can't give this a story rating because there isn't really a story. As a separate game from the main Resident Evil saga, it doesn't further along the storyline. The story can be summed up in one word: Escape. That is the goal of the entire game; to escape from Raccoon City. The scenarios are hardly connected and each play as more of a series of events and not really one long game.

Overall: 10/10

Resident Evil: Outbreak is the rare title that branches off from the standard Resident Evil series and succeeds. Such a unique and involved experience should not be missed by any Resident Evil fan.

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