Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Game Info

I admit it, I’m late to the Resident Evil party.  The first games of the series (well, all the games in the series) have controls that are just too wonky for me, and the dastardly, mustache-twirling villainy of Umbrella Corporation has always made me laugh more than anything.  A whole universe of plot points have come and gone, and every time I think of Mr. Totally Badass Albert Wesker wearing sunglasses indoors at night and shouting “CHRIS!” at the top of his lungs, I can’t help it.  Sorry Capcom, it’s a dumb plot.

But then there’s Operation Raccoon City, a non-canonical entry inserted between RE2 and RE3.  RE:ORC has you playing as a squad of Umbrella Corporation soldiers, out to kill everyone who may know that Umbrella is involved in all these virus shenanigans.  It’s a huge departure from the rest of the series – a standard third-person cover shooter.  Plus, you can walk (and run!) and shoot at the same time.  All the normal RE tropes are still here, like skinless dogs and a couple pop-out scares, but aside the setting, there’s very little in common.  It’s actually a pretty refreshing take on the Resident Evil universe.

As a squad-based game, it has its requisite four-player co-op, which is truly the way to play.  Generally, any addition of co-op is good, but in ORC it’s downright necessary: playing in single-player mode is abysmal.  In single player, the rest of your team is controlled by some of the worst AI ever.  Your medic won’t heal you, your demolitions expert won’t blow things up.  Nobody uses special abilities.  Every once in a while, someone on your team will decide you’re going the wrong way, and try to exit through the nearest door.  If they need healing, they will run away from you.  And if you get downed, game over.  It actually makes sense that Umbrella would hire these idiots, since they’re the most laughably incompetent company in video game history.  If the whole corporation, top down, was staffed with people like these AI bots, it would really explain the plot of every game and movie.  It’s like trying to teach a toddler chess;  you get to the Fischer Defense of King’s Gambit and the kid’s throwing your blocking rook at the dog.  That took a long time to get to a chess
joke, but seriously, don’t play this by yourself.

Otherwise, the game progresses like your standard TPS.  Go through levels, shoot bad guys.  The RE flavoring adds familiar monsters like Lickers and Tyrants, and of course tons of rank-and-file zombies to bite you.  This time they can infect you as well, which is a gimmick that seems great in concept, but falls flat in execution.  Occasionally you’ll fight US Special Forces guys, who are far more accurate and better-equipped then you.  But making them bleed attracts zombies, so getting the two factions to fight each other is usually a good option to advance.  Since it’s a Capcom game, there are a million goofy little collectables and unlockables.  Ranking systems let you brag to your friends about how fast you cleared stages, or how many data things you found.  Experience gained lets you unlock a small handful of abilites for each character, ranging from the useless 5% sprint speed increase to the absolutely overpowered incindiary rounds.  XP is also used to buy new guns, and level you up (which does nothing).  It’s very standard stuff.

The graphics in REORC are functional, if a little dark.  The game happens over the course of one night, so it’s always dark, but enemies have a slightly janky glow to them, making everyone easy to see (and shoot).  There are only a few spots where it’s dark enough to get spooked by something, though.  The rest of the time, there’s generally a fire somewhere that lights up the whole space you’re in, regardless of size.  Same goes for the game’s audio – functional, with a caveat.  Being a Resident Evil game, the dialogue is pretty bad, but the voices are goofy too.  Everyone sounds out of breath and vaguely foreign.  But the voicechat is flawless, so communicating with your team goes a long way to help.

Operation Raccoon City flops in a lot of areas, but it does provide a nice spin on a well-worn franchise.  If you’ve got a friend or two who likes these types of games, this can actually be a pretty fun evening.  Even on normal difficulty, the challenge makes for some close-call firefights that are always more fun with friends.  A few different endings, including the satisfying non-canon one where you execute Leon and Claire, also add a fun end-game twist.  Definitely worth a look, if you’re a Resident Evil fan, or a third-person fan with a healthy level of tolerance for stupidity.