Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Review - Fail.

Resident Evil is the kind of game franchise that either gives you nightmares, causes your first heart attack (and you realize you are a bit of a masochist), or offers one of the best horror puzzle games you have ever played. Expecting Capcom to hold to its reputation, fans purchased its new installment, Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City for the Xbox360 and PS3.  Even with the terrible reviews from sources such as IGN and GameStop, I gave the game a chance and I must say that my devotion was definitely tested.

The game begins with you as a member of the Umbrella Corporation on a mission within Raccoon City during the story for Resident Evil 2. The mission then goes haywire when more than one time your team gets abandoned or screwed over and you must find a way to survive in order to proceed. The interesting part of this game is the alternate perspective of the plot that occurs in Resident Evil 2. The game incorporates a great deal of the characters from RE2 as well, however, though this is an interesting aspect of RE, the game is severely lacking in qualities that makes an RE game; Resident Evil ORC is a practically a “Left 4 Dead” with the RE title on it. The game involves no puzzles or any elements that made the franchise famous. What is worse is the AI glitches too many times or is useless and dies out; I have a term for such AI: zombie bait. The melee weapon and attack is pitiful for the characters you play. These are supposed to be trained military and yet they swing blades around like a chick about to die in Scream. The levels are sadly too short with a plot that is awfully linear and even though the concept behind this game is interesting, I would not have purchased this had I known beforehand that Resident Evil ORC is only an echo to Left 4 Dead or SOCOM.

Ultimately, I understand that CAPCOM was probably looking to fill in some gaps until Resident Evil 6 is released. However, why is the trailer that was released last year contain content that players would be able to play classic players in a "Hero's Mode Versus mode?" Where's that in the game? Oh wait it's hiding in versus online mode. Thanks for making it very obscure! Resident Evil ORC does have potential and maybe this was only a Beta for a better game or a DLC that will soon come out to satisfy angry fans. All in all, if there was ever a time to petition a game to be changed, it would have to be this one.