Operation Raccoon City � A Next Generation Outbreak?

The Resident Evil: Outbreak series was a rather short running sub-series to the original Resident Evil series. It featured eight characters trying to survive the outbreak and escape from Raccoon City before being nuked. Not only did it contain a single player campaign, but it also featured online co-op. The series saw its end when Capcom shut it online servers down back in 2007. However, some rumors have surfaced hinting on a possible new online game in the Resident Evil universe that could be the next Outbreak game.

Last November Kotaku claimed to have received a leaked document saying that Slant Six (the developers behind SOCOM: Confirmation) was working on a team based Resident Evil game. A new site, Stickskills, is claiming that the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine is confirming these rumors.

Code named �Operation Raccoon City�, the game takes players back to the zombie infested streets of Raccoon City in 1998 during unmentioned events in the same time frame as Resident Evil 2 and Nemesis. You play as one of four new characters: Vector, Beltway, Bertha, and Spectre, who are members of the Umbrella Security Services because I guess the UBCS is too cool to play as. (They also claim that Hunk is unlockable.)

According to Operation Raccoon City, the USS are the one�s responsible for the original leak of the T-Virus and have the premiere objective of basically being the �bad guys�. There are two other factions that will be available to play as. The US Spec Ops is basically the �good guys� who are sent to Raccoon City to repel the USS. (Which I guess makes some sense since there were a few underground, anti-Umbrella organizations at the time. Leon ended up joining one after Resident Evil 2 before becoming a US agent. So could this be the same organization who recruited him?) The other faction is the bio-engineered weapons (B.O.Ws) themselves. No characters or playable monsters have been announced or rumored yet, but we can expect there to be at least four characters per team in order to keep balance with the existing known team.

Each character plays a special role to the team and has his or her own abilities. For example, it is said Vector can cloak himself in order to make stealthy moves against the opponent or stir up a group of zombies to turn them rabid against the opposing force. Zombies can now sense a player with three senses. They can now not only see and hear you, but also can now smell you causing you to be a bit more cautious.

Operation Raccoon City seems to be focusing heavily on team based cooperation. Objectives for the scenarios will consist more than just surviving for a period of time or getting from Point A to Point B. Remember, there was three opposing forces. Not only will you and your team need to keep yourselves alive, but you�ll also need to take down the force that is after you or might be standing in the way of your goal. For example, the article mentions how the demo of the game showed an object for the USS being to kill Leon Kennedy while the goal of the US Spec Ops was to intercept their mission and keep Leon alive.

As for the gameplay, it�s not going to be anything like the older games. There are no details on how the game will actually play, but Slant Six is saying you can expect it to be action based. �This is not a one-versus-one game where you've got one clip full of ammo and zombies on you,� states the article, �If you've ever thought of those times in an RE game when you thought, 'I'd wish I had a big gun', that's what this game is.�

There is some information on players being able to gain experience from their fights which they can then use for new weapons or upgrade their characters abilities. Experience points can be gained from killing zombies, monsters, and other humans alike as well as surviving. Though I�m sure you can also earn points from healing a party member and doing other necessary things in the game.

We can hopefully hear some official information in the near future, especially with E3 coming up. So keep your eyes and ears open for upcoming news. Personally, I am not sure how I feel about this. It sounds pretty damn good but I�m still skeptical.

Source: Stick Skills

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