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Who doesn't like to have a good old #2?
Publisher: Capcom/THQ Australia
Mon, 10 October 2005
by: Australian Ninja
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Plagues of zombie pimps and the smell of hot lead in the morning, count me in! Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 is a unique game that throws the franchise into the world of online team based game-play. Sounds exciting - team up and shoot those zombie bitches with your mates - Why not? Well, I didn't get to play any online stuff, so that means my AI partners (two of them) in the game acted like, uh, AI partners. You know what I mean - total morons. Running around in circles saying the same piece of speech repeatedly until you mute the volume. Oh how I wish I could have shot that good-natured but simple-minded AI partner. Lucky for *name censored* I was unable to shoot him or I would have, repeatedly.
When I first loaded up Outbreak File#2 I thought I was playing Resident Evil on PS1 again. Only after playing it on a bigger screen did I notice the significant graphical improvements. Those 3-D character models no longer "get jaggy wit it." Now they look clean and crisp. However, that first impression is still valid - this far into the PS2's lifespan how truly odd to see a game that looks like it belongs on yesterdays console. Worthy of note is the (mostly) free roaming camera, the ability to walk in all directions with the analogue stick or classic control with the digital controller.
That said, some interesting elements are contained in the Outbreak series. Firstly, instead of one to two characters, there are masses of playable characters to choose from (masses being more than five). In addition you must choose three characters for your team. Ah, this is sounding a bit too much like a certain fighting series but stay with me here. The idea of having several characters is that whether in single play or online you must work together co-operatively as a team.
In spirit this R.E. game is the closet to the Dawn of the Dead films. Average Joe's caught up in the middle of zombie-pa-looza land. The absence of any recognisable characters makes a dramatic impact on the game. These strangers are all fine characters but we don't really get the chance to know them. When it came to Claire, Leon, Chris and Jill I really felt some attachment for the characters and wanted to survive to see just what happened next. With these newcomers – let's just say when they died I was struggling to pay attention.
 | | When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke? |
One of the welcome changes in Outbreak #2 is the HUD display on screen. Basically the items, files, weapons etc are selectable on screen rather than loading a separate screen. The kicks, the tackle (for hitting enemies), breakable doors, are other sensible additions. It would have been nice to hit zombies with the butt of the rifle too.
Among the less than welcome game mechanics are: The 100 hit combo needed to break those damn doors and dumb A.I. partners.
What would a Resident Evil game be without obscure item collection? Outbreak #2's items are scattered everywhere. Enter a room / outside area and you may think you've accidentally picked Mr. T for your team. The Glinty McSparkle is quite dazzlingly distracting as items beg for you to pick them up. But you can only hold around four items. Enter A.I. partner's stage left, two of them even. In addition to being good zombie bait, they are also walking storage chests. Store another four items each for relatively easy retrieval. Unless you can't find your partners which tends to happen frequently. The item storage chests are gone altogether so less time costing backtracking, the typewriters are still there but require no ribbon to save. The dim-witted zombies that beg to be put down… priceless.
I quite liked having a whole roster of characters to choose from. The characters are a reasonably diverse cross section of Raccoon City. They all look interesting and somewhat appealing to choose with their own strengths. A brief sentence details each characters specialty. One character was described as "A master of unlocking things" I kid you not. But whom should I choose for my team? The guy with strong melee attacks, the lady with lock picking skills, the health recovery dude, the guy with weapon upgrade ability or the hot looking woman. All are useful abilities (especially being hot) but which ones would I need in times of crisis, times of extreme danger and hot passionate encounters such as when being chased by a zombie. Or by a zombie dog or bee or zombie dog that shoots zombie bees at you when it barks.
A great feature of the game is the ability to talk to your partners via simple commands. For example "stay here", "let's move" or addressing them by their name. Swapping items on the run is a good idea but needs refinement. Often I would request an item and my character's partner would walk away or try to give it to me unsuccessfully. Handing over and requesting items from A.I partners are cool elements and I'd like to see them perfected and incorporated into future Resident Evil games.
I guess I would call myself an old school gamer in that I enjoy many old, even ancient video-games but mainly because I sometimes play on the school jungle gym and personally believe that video-games are primarily meant to be fun. In Outbreak #2 being chased by a relentless zombie elephant (cool factor of nine/ten) that can leap over high walls and bust through walls and survive dozens of gunshots is NOT fun. When that same elephant magically knows exactly where you are like a bloodhound and chases you in circles forever is not fun. Except when the elephant busts through the wall and snares your moronic A.I. partner(s) with it's mammoth sized trunk and you watch them flailing; screaming for your help - and you walk away - now that's fun.
At least I chose the hot woman for my team; my cold dead zombie-fied corpse will be a little warmer with her by my side.
What was good about previous R.E. games: Strong characters; tightly knit story; edge of your seat shocks and surprises; scripted events; bizarre scary monsters and zombies; boss battles and a strong motivation to survive to see just what happens next to those jaggy moving polygons; I mean characters.
Outbreak #2 lacks the character development of previous games. It has almost no story to speak of. I got that "been there done that" feeling when I once again journeyed forth into Raccoon City. The characters don't have the same charisma to them as previous characters and as a result I tended to care less about them. But then maybe Capcom were aiming at that. After all it's about team play and strong personalities may get in the way of the online players personalities. I mean if you play Doom or Counter-strike online do you really care about your characters personality?
Having not played the game online (as it was designed to be played) all I can say is that offline single player is not really worthwhile. I can see the potential for fun in the online mode if you are a die-hard Resident Evil fan. I don't want to give an unfair impression of the game based on this factor. Fact: I like the Resident Evil games, but my personal bias is that I do not like this particular one. The game is not broken, just rough around the edges. It's not like it's "Resident Evil: Survivor" - that game was broken. If you're more of a casual action game fan the slow paced movement of the characters and clunky controls in Outbreak #2 may be enough to put you off alone. Just to clarify, I've played most other Resident Evil games and the control scheme never bothered me at all. But if you've played other Capcom action games such as Devil May Cry, Resident Evil 4, or Dino Crisis 2 then play Outbreak you'll probably wonder what the hells going on with the slow pacing, controls, loading screens, slow motion running etc.
Having a gun is all good fun when it's loaded. But when it's not, uh-oh. So it's bloody marvelous that the powers that be bestowed upon our character a nice front kickand the ability to reload on the spot. Say a zombie goon lunges at you – it's been known to happen – you pull the trigger; click; click; empty clip. Then you bust a move in this case a swift kick into his chest buying you time to dodge, reload and then take him out with a sweet sweet led kiss of death. Aw, poor zombie. He was so cute the way he groaned and stumbled around. He enjoyed a bit of skin eating and he was always good for a laugh. Now he's doing his best Captain Scarlet laying-on-the-ground impersonation.
Back in the day pointing a shotgun point blank at a zombies head usually resulted in fragments of skull and brain flying gloriously in all directions (good luck getting those stains out). So why is it then in Outbreak #2 when I shot a zombie point blank with a shotgun tilted upwards at his head he fell to the ground and disappeared. What happened to the chunks of heady goodness? Reality check: Almost no story, characters we don't know and now David Copperfield zombies. Just where do they go when they fade away? Perhaps to a parallel universe along with yesterdays gaming conventions.
The music in Outbreak is traditional R.E. Nothing remarkable. Though it's of such a high quality to begin with that you don't really notice how well the ambient sounds effects and music smoothly blend together.
Those wacky sound effects are good but lack the "oomph" or bass of previous games where it counts. In particular the old favourite shotgun was more like the meow of kitten than the roar of a lion. A stark contrast to the shotgun of old that sometimes was too loud and resulted in much turning down of the TV volume and complaining from the family.
A welcome addition in the weapons department is the assault rifle (AK-47 style). Its rapid fire is devastatingly efficient when you absolutely have to kill every last zombie in the room.
 | | This dude is both upside down and inside out. |
I really missed the gory over the top splatter fest intro FMV as seen in Resident Evil's two and three. Outbreak's intro juxtaposes a relaxing melody with still images. It's moody, artistic and not at all in your face. Perhaps the influence of Gran Turismo and Gran Theft Auto resulted in this melodious soft parade of still images. It's pleasant but damn it I wanna see the streets running red with crimson zombie juice baby.
The gameplay of previous R.E.'s went something like this: Kill Bill; oops that should say "zombie" find obscure items / key; avoid stronger enemies; access new areas with items and trigger scripted events; fight Boss; lather rinse & repeat.
Outbreak is more like: Items items everywhere but not a chest to hold them in. Find obscure items; kill zombie; access new areas; get lost; wander around in circles wondering what to do next; meet up at the Winchester pub for a drink; then fight hordes of zombies. A simple mission brief detailing the main objective at the beginning of each stage would suffice. The next step is walking around the entire map several times vainly searching for clues and missed items then turning the game off in frustration.
In previous R.E. games there was some sense to progressing through the game, Outbreak just stays confusing the whole time and it didn't really feel like I progressed even when I did. Get to a new area and then realize that I have no idea what the ultimate objective of unlocking that door was. I found a broom in a supply closet and another bloody herb and am now clueless what to do with next.
Outbreak #2 is broken up into stages or 'scenarios' so that you play segments of the game at a time. You can save during and after a stage and even go back to previous stages to earn a better rank. It's nice to play a good chunk of game and know that it will end and you can save your progress. However it further erodes what little story and continuity that exist in Outbreak #2.
So it's another Resident Evil. If you like that kind of thing, if it's your bag baby then all my complaining will not stop you from traveling to Raccoon City yet again. For those that do there is ten tons of crap to unlock. Many extra playable characters, marvelous extra costumes, several merry art galleries, maniacal save data to import from Outbreak File #1 (and a glitch that lets you unlock stuff easily if you own both games – you'll have to look it up yourself). Lest we not forget the unlockable merciless movies (FMV's) and multitudes of extra playable stages. I think that's quite a mouthful to swallow. One more thing, play it online or don't bother and that's the bottom line.
by: Australian Ninja
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