Resident Evil Outbreak

"(Offline Review) Ready for Racoon City?"

I’ve been a RE fan ever since I played Resident Evil 2. In my opinion, it was the best RE game ever released, since RE 1 and 3 was only okay, while RE: Code Veronica was a major letdown(IT’S FOR THE PS2, DAMMIT!) I was heartbroken when RE Zero and RE 4 are Gamecube exclusive, and when the next RE for the PS2 was for online mode. But then, Capcom announced that there would be an offline component. I was overjoyed. I could finally return to Racoon City.

The ruins of Racoon.

Resident Evil: Outbreak is a branch of the series where they put you in the shoes of everyday, normal men and women as they try to escape from Racoon city. Each character have special items and functions from the start. For example, police officer Kevin has a stronger pistol at the start of each chapter, while plumber Jim has a toolbelt where he can combine everyday items to become weapons. The entire game is divided into 6 chapters, with each chapter being around 1 hour + to complete. It’s pretty short, compared to other RE games, but I guess it will do.

Teamwork.

The latest and most innovative part of RE: Outbreak is the ability to play online with real people. If you’re one of those people who laughed at the previous RE’s characters stupidity (The entire city is filled with zombies, yet you try to work separately. Quite frankly, I’d do everything just to stay with another person. Safety in numbers.), than you’ll be thankful that you now have friends here. Since this review is for the offline version, the other characters will be played by AI. Each chapter consists of three characters, you and another two played by the AI.
In reality, these AI characters are there to help you, saving your ass is tight situations. Well, while I played the game, I realised that your teammates are good in only one thing. Being pack mules. Sure, they can use weapons such as pistols and such, but it is really not advisable. For example, I decided to give George, the doctor, the shotgun. When we reached the final boss for chapter 2, all the ammo was gone and he was running around weaponless. Not only that, he was CHARGING towards the boss weaponless. Needless to say, George died young. The AI also seems to like to repeat things endlessly. Alyssa kept on repeating that she was poisoned. Alyssa, WE ALL KNOW YOU’RE POISONED! SO SHUT UP! I had to turn off the volume while Alyssa kept on repeating, “I’m poisoned, you idiot.” Over and over. AI characters also have the ability to disappear when you need them the most. In chapter one, I asked them to cover me while I tried to form a barricade. Instead, they ran away, leaving me there alone, no matter how many times I called for their help.

Zombie madness

The zombies in this game are much like in the previous game. Smart yet stupid. Well, zombies are meant to be stupid anyway. Zombies can now enter doors, throw punches, and such. They, however, have a very slow reaction time. I practically ran past a hall filled with zombies without even one of them touching me. In fact, I was pushing one of them for about three seconds and he just stood there. Zombies are also stronger in this game. They survived two shotgun blasts, no small feat in RE.

All about looks.

The graphics in this game is much better than Code Veronica. However, I must lament that loading time is exceptionally frequent. Every door you open will bring you to a loading screen. This is very irritating, to say the least. There are also some graphical glitches; shotgun going through doors, characters dissolving into one another. Apart from that, graphics is okay. Not as good as the RE remake, but good enough.

Controlling the people

Controls, like the other Resident Evil games, suck. It’s like trying to drive a lorry. And this controls are made to become more complicated now since you have to send orders to teammates. I admit Capcom made it easy to issue commands by using the right analog stick, but it becomes a hassle to shoot zombies while issuing commands. I would also like Capcom to try to allow us to walk while aiming. This feature would be very useful. And also to make characters automatically run. There is no point in this entire game to try to walk slowly. Just run.

And what about the meat?

This RE has the worst story ever throughout the entire RE series. It’s just about people trying to escape. There is no sense of urgency or panic. All you are doing is to stay alive. Although that may sound like a good enough reason, it is not. Also in previous RE’s, there was a sense of fear, of fright every time you heard someone(or something) moan. You’d tense up, ready to face the horrors that Umbrella Inc cooked up. All that fear, in this game, is gone. Since you have backup, you aren’t so afraid of enemies, zombies and other things. Quite frankly, this game isn’t under the survival-horror series any more, since there isn’t any horror.

Sure, there are extras that can be bought and over 8 characters that are totally different, but this game will not attract you for long if you’re playing it offline. If you can’t play it online, I suggest you buy some other horror game. Only for ardent RE fans only.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/04