Not a game I was expecting to have a "Resident Evil" title associated with it. Instead, it's supposed to be a spin-off of the series having the player play as the villians (Umbrella Security Service) where you kill a huge amount of zombies, soldiers, and mutated foes. Killing one enemy takes a ridiculous amount of bullets to drop them and the lack of ammo around makes for some interesting situtations when a hoard of enemies are gathered in close proximity and you fumble with stiff control mechanisms to dart your way to safety. It can leave you asking, "what where they thinking?". Clearly, this is a brainless third-person shooter with a boring story (as if I really noticed), unimaginative scenerios, and clunky controls stamped with a Resident Evil title on it. It felt like I was playing a "SOCOM" game set in the Resident Evil universe. Not a good combination, even if the developer's where involved in both games. There is no inventory screen to combine or store weapons, as every item and weapon is placed around areas of the game. Your inventory is limited to the four slots on your control pad that it corresponds. Resident Evil games are known for their survival horror style gameplay and item combining attributes that set the series apart from others. Recently, it is being given an action style make-over that has most fans of the earlier series repulsed. I myself am a fan of the Resident Evil series that stemmed back to the playstation 1 days and feel the series is losing it's fan base and instead trying to appease a more modern style audience, where games in the survival horror genre are slowly fading away.
Yes, this game has shooter action written all over it. And by the looks of it, the trend looks like it is continuing with the upcoming Resident Evil 6. Now, that's not to say Resident Evil 4 and 5, being more action oriented, where bad games. They were good, just not in the traditional "Resident Evil style" good. Resident Evil: Raccoon City is a short game, taking you through long forgettable boss fights and less than memorable scenarios. I think the main implication of this game was to show off it's multiplayer gameplay, which is a first in the series. Smoke, explosions, gunfire and zombies galore. There are even times when you yourself (once infected), turn into a zombie going against the human opposition. This may seem enjoyable at first, but quickly becomes just a repetitive, mediocre zombie shooter that would fit in with a weekend rental and not a full price purchase. There is no reason to replay the single-player mode and multiplayer mode may just turn your brain into zombie mush. Play it if you must, just don't expect a classic Resident Evil style of gameplay or really a great third person shooter in general, as there are others that deserve your attention more than this game.
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