Resident Evil Outbreak

"A new RE that can actually stand out as being unique from the others"

After reading some of the reviews on gamespot and ign I wasn't sure if I was gonna buy the game, they gave them an average score of 7. Suprisingly both sites felt the game needed more in both online and offline feature and I can only partially agree with them. I think however this game is still promising and is at least worth a rent.

Graphics/Videos 9/10

Although graphics and video presentations are not the most valued part of the game they are still always important in order to give the game that perfect score. I think the graphics as well as the videos were just great in this game. The graphics were completely detailed and if anything they helped you get a good scare. The levels and textures are very different and Capcom was able to show as much detail as possible. Things such as fires, water and broken furniture laying on the floor looked completely realistic. The cut scenes, although not too many of them, all looked very good. They also did contain some parts of story and did reveal small secrets. The best video would have to be the introduction. It's very long and shows how the virus begin in Racoon city. It's something you can't miss.

Gameplay 7/10

Gameplay, in my opinion must be the best part of the game. In Outbreak there were several small glitches and things that seemed out of porportion. The controls feel clumsy at times, especially at the beginning, there were defineitly some things that they could have improved. The biggest part that annoyed me about the gameplay was the item menu where you stored items you received throughout the game. Not only did the game contain a lot of items to be picked up but also appart from one character you only had 5 spaces to store items into. Here's an example of how annoying this inventory could get.

If your inventory was full and there was an herb you could pick up right beside you. You were also damaged a bit. Instead of there being an option letting you use the herb to heal yourself instantly, you had to put the herb in your inventory, drop one of your items out of the inventory that you probably needed. Heal yourself with the herb and then pick up the item you dropped. This is just a small part of the inventory they could have improved.

The other part of the gameplay that somewhat bothered me was the monsters. Now although smarter they are less viscious. Sometimes they could be even right beside you and would take a long time to attack you. The zombies can now open doors and break through windows and such but still I think they weren't as aggressive as in the other games. The ammo in this game seems somewhat infinite and you don't really need it as much, as you can use melee weapons to fight or push and kick monsters.

Now putting the bad part aside, Outbreak introduces in this game team-developed gameplay. Where usually you are surrounded by 2 characters who are there helping you out, sharing items with you and attacking monsters together with you. All of this sounds great but there were some glitches in this too, things like walking through the ally characters like they were ghosts. Them greedily picking up items that you really need. They also won't shut up. This is possibly the biggest annoying part about them. They will keep saying the same things over and over again.
After a while you don't notice it but at the start it can bring a lot of discomfort. Ooops, I've gone back to the bad again. Oh well, but the one thing you will like about being with them is that they can easily save your life and will share just about any item that you request. So if you got Yoko right beside you holding a shotgun, what are you waiting for?!

Sound 10/10

Still got that beautiful horror music, the crunchy bites of a zombie biting into a corpse and the cool foot stomps on the floor. It's all still there and sounds better than before. Outbreak continues the traiditional perfection of sound that all other RE games had. Sound will not dissapoint you for sure.

Overall, this game is at least worth 2 rents. The puzzles are still there and so are those crazy zombies. I enjoyed playing the game and it still has the ability to give you a few jumps of that couch covered in potato chips or have your heart pumping at a faster rate. Ignoring the somewhat clumsy gameplay on this game, an unfinished touch to it, the game still will keep you coming back to play some more. Although I have not played the online part, I definietly do wish to give it a try. Resident Evil Outbreak is still a great game even though with some glitches, they are still too minor to keep you from playing the game. I encourage everyone to give it a try.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/04