Gamesugar

Judging by the long line required to play Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (I’m going to call it ORC for short), people must really like it. Or maybe they think they’re going to like it before they play it. One person told me he waited two hours to have a turn. When I asked him how it was, he said, “It was pretty good, I guess.” Not quite a glowing endorsement!

And that’s kind of the vibe I got from watching it: It seems pretty good, but not great.

I didn’t want to wait in line to play, so I just took some time to do an extended “eyes on” with the title, watching a number of multiplayer matches. I’m not so hip on the types of games where you run around with guns and kill things, unless they’re totally crazy like Gungrave. Remember Gungrave? The words “Kick Their Ass!” displayed on the screen before every stage. That was awesome, even if the game wasn’t the greatest.

Anyway, back on track, ORC looks to be Capcom’s attempt at an arena-based shooter. It’s kind of like The Mercenaries mode from previous Resident Evil games tossed into a blender with Resident Evil Outbreak, Left 4 Dead, and just about any multiplayer mode from today’s popular FPS games. Players run around a stage, work together to shoot the crap out of zombies and other enemies like zombies and hunters, and try to stay alive as long as possible.

In the demo you could take control of some tough-looking military personnel. One of them appeared to be a woman wearing a leather miniskirt, which was trippy. They all kind of look like The Gimp from Pulp Fiction. So, to recap, you have four Gimps running around Raccoon City. I hope there are other characters to choose from in the full game. Maybe Tofu!

Unlike the previous Resident Evil titles, your character can (drum roll…) strafe! Amazing! You can run like the dickens in any direction while firing at any and all enemies. Obviously this type of control scheme is a necessity for a game like ORC, but I’m hoping it signals that Capcom finally understands it is possible (and potentially better) to allow characters to move when they fire weapons. Who knew, right?

ORC is nice to look at. The demo stage players were running through was Raccoon City on fire. There were air strikes coming in, so things were blowing up here, there, and everywhere. The architecture of the town looked quite detailed, and the lighting from the flames gave everything an eerie glow. And perhaps most important of all, the game runs smoothly, which is mandatory for a good arena-based shooter.

I didn’t get the vibe that ORC is an actual Resident Evil game though, despite the familiar trappings of the series. It just doesn’t have that sense of dread that I’ve come to enjoy when playing Resident Evil games. It’s scarier when you don’t know what’s around the corner versus when a mob of the undead come clamoring for you.

I have a feeling ORC will be an enjoyable game, but I don’t think it’ll pull the Halo and Modern Warfare faithful away from their favorite games, which is what Capcom is likely hoping to do. Admittedly, I’m not the target audience for a game like this, so take my impressions with a grain of salt. But, in the end, I have a feeling ORC will be hitting bargain bins within six months of its release. It just doesn’t have anything other than the Resident Evil name to give it an edge over the big boys of the genre.