Game: Resident Evil: Outbreak
Console: PlayStation 2
Game Type: Survival Horror
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Rating: M for Mature
TORONTO, Digital Journal — If you and your friends came out of the Dawn of the Dead remake chattering about what you would do if zombies suddenly invaded your town, it’s time to see if you can put up or shut up. Get ready hotshots.
Resident Evil: Outbreak takes place in Raccoon City the night the T-Virus got loose. It all starts when a dead guy walks into a bar (strangely, not accompanied by a Priest and a Rabbi) with a few thousand of his cannibalistic dead friends right behind him. Rather than playing army guys, you pick from a selection of Average Joes and Janes who happen to be around that fateful night and each has a different skill or advantage. One is good with lockpicking, another has a larger inventory than most. One starts with a weapon, one can heal her teammates. All have every day occupations; nobody is John Rambo. I love the idea of a cocktail waitress suddenly being thrust into this situation. It gives things a much greater sense of urgency.
There is a Single Player mode in which you fight through a series of levels with a small team of AI-controlled survivors. You’ll need to exchange objects, pick up people who have fallen in a fight and shoot at zombies to cover someone who is busy working on a machine or a door. In addition to your health, every survivor has a meter that tracks how much of the T-Virus you’ve been exposed to. When it reaches 100 per cent, it’s “Grarrrr…brains….must have brains…” time.
If you play online, you and three others work together to stay alive. This mode is a great idea and ahead of its time. Endless waves of zombies will appear as you and your gang try to escape. You’ll get the thrill of a brave (but suicidal) charge into a group of undead to rescue someone who has been pinned down. You’ll nervously chant “Come on, come on” while someone tries to open a door so you can escape. All the while you are forced to hold off zombies with a gun and limited ammo.
The game is really great stuff, but it doesn’t come without its flaws. First, it suffers from having too many small areas and long load times. You can actually dump some of the game to the PlayStation 2 hard drive, but it still means a lot of waiting around. Also, the game is still using a fixed “cinematic” view of the world. In the single player Resident Evils, this was done to add more atmosphere and scares. But it doesn’t work quite as well in this game because the camera has to pull back to get the other players on screen. It probably would have been best to just give an over-the-shoulder third-person camera that you could control.
I am going to sound like an Xbox Zealot now, but there’s no way around this: Resident Evil: Outbreak really, really needs to be on Xbox Live because the PlayStation 2 version doesn’t support voice communication — not even the headset that comes with SOCOM. With this limitation, you are reduced to using generic pre-recorded comments. This is a game where you need to hear your friends say “Get over here and help me!” or “Holy S**T it’s got me, it’s got me, it’s got me!” Could you imagine the chaotic, glorious fun?
Resident Evil: Outbreak is a good idea that needs a little more refinement. Hopefully Capcom will make the necessary improvements. In the meantime, Resident Evil: Outbreak still has its moments. If you’re not sure it’s a keeper, rent it first.
