Resident Evil Outbreak

"On a Good day, you get this score."

ON A BAD DAY, you get a mere 7. Why? I'll explain.

Resident Evil Outbreak (RE:O), is a great multi-player game. In fact, its the only one so far (RE:O 2 is coming out sooner or later, grab it if you LOVED this and want more.), so if you always wanted to experience the horror or playing in Raccoon City with your friends or relatives, then its a worthwhile buy.

Game play (Single Player) - 5
Your on your own on how to judge this mode. I for one, found it frustrating beyond all belief.
First off, you cant choose your 2 AI partners. Go figure. Second, if your AI partners aren't playing to your viewpoint, then well you got problems. For example, lets say im Kevin in Decisions, Decision (Final Scenario). I have expressed my frustration with this on Resident Evil sites, and now i say it in this review... CINDY IS A MORON. Realistically, who, in their right mind, drops bullets...for weak, unusable, pesticide spray?? And an assault riffle for a Iron Pipe? Is she serious? My god, I pity blond women if they're all like Cindy. Others, like Jim and Alyssa, just wont shut up! "HELP ME!" "JUST DO IT!" "AHHHHHH!". I wish Friendly Fire was introduced into single player; i would've abused that to no end. Sometimes, the AI wont use healing till they're so battered and bruised it wont matter if they used it anymore.

On the plus side, most of the crew are smart enough to fire, help you up when your in red, and they're excessively giving; thats right, you can trade a key item for that cool grenade launcher! And they wont care if its their only weapon or not!

Commands are come and go with some, others just wont listen and rather die. In my opinion, if you get your AI to work properly, you'll be a death squad (3 shotguns firing at once is pretty deadly.).

Game play (Multi-Awesome-Player) 9
Oh yes, the meat of the game lies in Multi player. After registering your account and such, you have two options:

Scenario Mode (Named Downtown)
This mode randomly throws your and 1-3 more people into a room that you or others have entered. This is good and bad; you can get the awesome RE player who can kill Thanatos in his final mutation with only a handgun, or the idiot player who acts worse than Cindy or had the worst connection ever. But the upside is you play through all 5 scenarios without having to make another room (or whichever scenarios are left depending on the one you play). And your teammates change, so be wary to adjust your playing style after each scenario.

Free Play (Named Uptown)
This is the juiciest part of RE:O. You don't get random people, but make a server (I strongly recommend announcing your mode and if Friendly Fire is on, since those two are key for your friends/partners to know), and let the people join. You also should announce the map name and password if you intend to have a private play session with your friends (over the phone or by an instant messaging program), because people flock to your map or leave it alone like its the plague.

Major note for BOTH modes: Depending if your in HDD mode or DVD-ROM mode will definitely affect how many players you get; HDD is less common since for some odd unknown reason its only with the FF-XI game (Why the hell is that?). So think about it; sacrifice players for better game play, or go with the slow loading between rooms and take the plentiful people?

Another note: Picking Downtown will result in un-organized game play, while in Uptown you can tell what your going to do, what others should do, and how ammo and weapons should be distributed along with healing.

Graphics: Easily some of the best RE has to offer, though not as good as Resident Evil 0 or Resident Evil (Game Cube Version). I particularly like the facial expressions when they change from normal to "zombie", and how detailed the environments are. You can count the beer bottles in the bar (though why would you when a mass amount of zombies are coming to get you).

Control: Boosted from normal RE, you get two new things to use: a reload button, which varies from gun to gun, and a specialty activated by R1 and O (or any cancel button and ready button). The specialty is different from character to character, and some have two. Five Words: you got to love reloading.

Sound: Another step up, but noting extraordinary. Zombies moan, guns sound like guns, and the old menu noises are here. Same old sounds.

Plot: Plot? Whats that? The reason you play the game? Its not here. It flew to Hawaii. Its temporary replacement is this: You and a bunch of other people must escape Raccoon City. Thats about it; no "kill the bio-hazardous monster" (though you do it), no "take down umbrella", nothing like that. Just save your ass and if its convenient the asses of others.

Overall: 7-9/10
The HDD makes single player more enjoyable, while Multi player suffers a bit from the lack of people using it. AI can piss you off or be reasonably smart. In other words, luck of the draw is what makes the game fun or frustrating.

Rent/Buy?
Oh please. Buy it or Cindy will hit you over the head with a lead pipe for being an idiot. Renting is a waste of money.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04