Resident Evil: Outbreak – Review

Let’s begin by pointing out we are both reviewing this title and we’re both BIG resident evil and survival horror genre fans. We should also point out that we have no broadband connection so the whole online side of this game is not covered, however we’ve therefore researched it a bit so you’re not left completely in the dark.. and who wants to be in the dark… that’s where the zombies are.

Intro credits are very cinematic. so far it looks ace and gross. You get to choose from a range of male and female characters all of whom have their own ‘special abilities’. Controls are standard Res Evil layout, which is good for all those Res evil fans… last thing we’d want is for the controls to have changed like in another game that we won’t talk about *herm* tomb raider. We don’t feel this review will suffer due to the non online playing aspects, because, it appears you may as well be playing with the other characters as AI since for some reason voice communication was omitted from the online features, leaving you with a few standard messages like “help”, “this way” and I’m ok, how are you”.

Graphics are of high quality in game and out. It’s as realistic as a zombie blood filled game can be. When the selection screen is active the game is not paused, this means there has to be quick finger-to-button action, or prepare for your character’s death. Tactics are having to be used when carrying items, certain characters can only carry a certain amount of items for example Kevin can only carry 4, as do most characters with the exception of the wee Japanese lass (yoko?…Jono can’t remember her name). she can carry more due to her backpack…8 to be exact. ‘which is insane’ Quote from jono.

Each character has a special item only he or she can carry, this can’t be passed between characters, unlike any other items. At first the objectives are unclear, however when the game progresses the goals become more evident. Each character has their own area of expertise. It is very challenging to use the non-combatant characters, as they don’t start with a firearm and have lower defense they are therefore easier to injure and kill. In addition to the health bar there is a T-cell virus counter (how quickly the virus has entered your bloodstream) this increases when you are attacked and steadily increases in contaminated areas…’which is really cool’ (Quote from Jono).

There is all the usual weapons, Handguns, Shotguns plus a variety of make-shift weapons which include Iron bars, sweeping brushes and steel chains (these take damage with use).
Loading times are actually quite poor and sadly the collision detection is also poor, for example whilst on a ladder characters mould into each other.

Unlike the other Res evil titles this is split up into smaller scenarios. The pace is very quick, there is no lull in the action…except when going though those damn doors. Each scenario has 3 characters incorporated into the story, it is possible however to replace or add to this number. In the first 2 scenarios, the game time is about 30mins each game, once you know what you are doing, this will cause you to attempt the scenario on more than one occasion…*gritting teeth* There are the standard res evil enemies for example zombies, crows, the big green beasties that are in the new res evil film. The zombies are faster than in previous res evil titles…they actually pursue you when spotted and they are smarter than normal, they open doors and chase you…AHHHH!!!

It is strongly felt by Jono that we mention the respawning…apparently he feels slightly irritated about this. They just appear out of no where, so when you think you’re safe… but think again. They are in poor locations, for example a doorway to a room you’ve just been in, there are no zombies, however when entering through this door more zombies appear, just like magic. With the magical appearance of zombies it seems fitting to talk about the magical disappearing act by dead zombies. When a zombie is killed it fades to black then vanishes, you’d think that they would have had the body count add up, would have been much cooler.

Although the characters chatting to each other is cool for the first 2 minutes it does get repetitive and almost forces you to mute the game. A perfect example of this is Alssya (reporter chick, cool at problem solving, rubbish at everything else, says jono) when she is poisoned she exclaims ‘i’ve been poisoned, dummy’ every 30 seconds or so, but it does seem like so much more often *rolling eyes*.

You’d think that the story of the res evil and the t-virus would be getting old, however we feel that the stories are still quite good. This game explains how the t-virus actually comes about and infects Racoon City, this isn’t addressed in any other Res Evil titles. I’m sure that Capcom will think of a new res evil title and there’ll be even more farfetched ideas on the horizon.

All in all it is a good zombie killing game… but not the best res evil title out there (Res evil re-done on the game cube was better in our opinion) but this is far better than Res Evil Dead Aim…nuff said!

Review by Amanda and Jono