review
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POSTED 14/4/12


RESIDENT EVIL: OPERATION RACCOON CITY

Capcom
PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Hey kid, rock and roll. Raccoon, ooh, my soul...

What was that all about? Well, perhaps we should explain our obtusinosity. Gameplay-wise, Operation Raccoon City has about as much relevance to the Resident Evil franchise as a 40 year-old David Essex ditty. Plus, of course, raccoon puns rock.

Kind of a fantasy detour from the plot somewhere around RE2 and RE3, this third-person shooter sees you inhabiting the stompy-wompy boots of an Umbrella Corporation death squad member out to cleanse anything linking the company to the T-virus outbreak. Or something like that. The good news? You can actually move and shoot at the same time. The bad news? Save for the setting, and much fan-coddling referentiality - it’s a Resident Evil game in the same way that Street Fighter’s an updated Frogger.
 
We’re talking clunky SOCOM in RE drag. You pick your squaddies and go into battle against virtually bulletproof grunts, undeadies and the occasional odd giant mutie boss gruntbuggly. You can customise you, but you’re stuck with your fellow fighters as they are. Generally, that’s drool-puddlingly stupid – like walking in front of streams of bullets wondering if they’ll be friends with them stupid. Then there’s the cover mechanic, which has you as a kind of weaponised Post-it note, adhering to anything you get near, whether you wish to or not.

Still, there are funky touches, depending upon your level of glee at gore-play. Wound humans near zombie collectives and they get more excited than a stoner in a KFC dumpster. Watch out for their upchuck though, or you’ll be joining the “brains!” chorus line hyper-quick smart. While the single-player option is skittish due to that aforementioned cohortular crayon brain syndrome, get a group of real people happening and you’re more likely to extort some enjoyability from proceedings.

Hey kid, boogie too, did ya? Raccoon.

take me back to the start...

 



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ALL WRITTEN CONTENT COPYRIGHT © AMY FLOWER 2008-2018. GAME IMAGES COURTESY OF RESPECTIVE GAMES COMPANIES.