Resident Evil Outbreak Impressions

At its pre-Tokyo Game Show press event, Capcom briefly showed off a new version of its upcoming online game, Resident Evil Outbreak. The focus of the demonstration was to display another of the game's scenarios.

The previous scenario shown back at ECTS took place in and around an area known as J's Bar. This demo took us to the laboratory seen at the end of Resident Evil 2, which as you might expect, was full of zombies. The game was being played in single-player mode, which appears to be quite different than the online game, as it instead gives you two computer-controlled characters to help out. The AI will have a mind of its own, though, and depending on things like character compatibility, the AI may help you out when you're in need, or it may just be the type to run off when things get hectic. Either way, you'll be able to attempt to boss the AI around by using the right-analog stick on the PlayStation 2. This context-sensitive control says different things depending on your current situation. If you're being attacked, communicating will call for the AI to come over and break up the zombie attack before you get too beat up. Beyond that, you can give items to the AI characters and essentially use them as mobile inventory extenders. The AI will do various things to help you, such as healing or helping you to your feet when you're knocked down.

The game's single-player mode will differ depending on which of the game's eight characters you choose. You'll see different cutscenes, for example, when you choose different characters.

The game's main menu displayed an "install" option, meaning the game will feature support for the PlayStation 2 hard drive. It's unknown if this will be an optional or a required component, though. It will, of course, also be an online game for up to four players. The maximum number of players will change depending on which scenario you're playing, but four is the high limit.

Resident Evil Outbreak will come to North America sometime in 2004. We'll have more on RE Outbreak from the Tokyo Game Show floor later this week.