The Struggle of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

This mission is in jeopardy.

January 31, 2012

A concept only takes a game so far. At some point execution takes over, separating great games from great ideas. The concept of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City takes the world of Capcom's survival horror series and turns it on its head, both in design and story, allowing players to see events from the perspective of Umbrella and its Security Service in a squad-based shooter. In theory the game should work, expanding a franchise outside of the box it is known to rest comfortably in, giving fans an opportunity to revisit classic moments from the past.

The execution, however, betrays the idea.

Resident Evil thrives on its ability to take outlandish characters, throw them into haunting environments and pit them against unimaginable creatures. How players explore a world and how they engage with it are just as important as the actual mechanics of combat. In fact these ideas are so critical that they've often led Capcom to artificially limit control schemes and camera flexibility to make sure it dictates how the game unfolds. Operation Raccoon throws all these preconceived notions out the door, but in doing so it fails to find something equally as compelling. This might look like Resident Evil, but it doesn't capture the same thrill of Resident Evil.

When Lickers Attack

Operation Raccoon City operates with a mission-based structure, allowing former SOCOM developer Slant Six to shift the action and story to convenient settings. At the outset of each mission, the Umbrella Security Service (USS) is assigned a task, typically taking on the dirtiest errands possible - infiltrating facilities, erasing evidence of illegal activity, acquiring confidential information and protecting the interests of a corrupt organization. The first four missions of the game pit these six operatives, new to Capcom's franchise, against the likes of iconic baddies like William Birkin, Nicholai Ginovaef and the Nemesis. These encounters are bracketed with battles against United States special forces, zombies and bio-organic weapons (BOWs) like Lickers and Hunters.

In theory it should work, but based on the game's first four missions, Slant Six fails to get critical details right. From a single-player perspective, the three USS members accompanying you are utterly moronic. They'll engage in combat, but fail to competently operate with any sort of intellect let alone strategy. They'll run in front of your guns in the middle of a firefight, frequently fail to heal themselves (or you) with the plentiful herbs and first aid kits strewn throughout levels, run into the middle of overwhelming odds and even walk straight across trip mines so blatant they might as well have neon signs hanging above them. Making matters worse - you have no ability to control or direct your allies, making them a liability in every possible way.

The issues don't stop there. Brace yourself for more problems no matter how you're playing the game or who you're playing it with. As stupid as your AI partners are, the AI enemies can often be worse - even accounting that a good half of them are zombies. The special forces that oppose you might as well be the undead the way they fail to secure cover, blatantly ignore your presence in the heat of battle and primarily serve as ways to expend your ammunition. In fact, combat more or less feels like you're fighting wooden stumps that simply challenge how much ammunition can be conserved as you move from Point A to Point B.

Zombies Have Finally Returned

Slant Six resorts to some ridiculously cheap tactics in design, including humans that absorb far too much punishment, lame fetch quests that spawn dozens of enemies, and clumsy scenarios that point cameras in the wrong direction when your objective is actually behind you. Poor hit detection is an issue. Your characters move too slowly for an action game that has few strategic elements. The "snap-to" cover system works for the most part, unless you're trying to just look at something, in which case taking cover in an empty room seems ridiculous.

Most offensive in this seemingly endless list of offenses is your ability to become infected by zombies, which over time will turn you into a mindless member of the undead. While a seemingly interesting tactical problem, the way it's implemented is beyond frustrating, as your ability to heal yourself without a medic is limited to say the least. The fact that you can only carry one antidote, yet wield a half dozen grenades at the same time, is a severe oversight. Players should be able to determine their armaments prior to missions or on-the-fly.

More positive is the customization present for each of the six characters. Each member of the USS is able to work with passive and active abilities that are "purchased" through XP. Players will also be able to acquire a variety of weapons over time, allowing some measure of differentiation in the mindless combat. Slightly less promising is the fact that most of these weapons feel more or less the same.

Operation Raccoon City lives in the Resident Evil world, but fails to take advantage of the franchise's rich heritage. It fails to find a sense of gameplay that feels right, and can't even seem to recreate the atmosphere and environments that millions have come to love over the past 15 years. Granted, this is based off the first four levels, and granted, the game manages to progressively improve as the missions move onward. But a game this flawed has warning signs all over it. Going back to Raccoon City just might be as dangerous for players as it is for the security service tasked with cleaning it up.