Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Operation Raccoon City is geared more toward online play. If you play this game single player, you are not likely to enjoy it as much.

[Y]ou're only allowed to customise and upgrade the character you're controlling. You can determine who'll be in your squad, but you can't tell them what guns and abilities to use. In fact, AI-controlled squadmates don't even have abilities. They're just grunts with guns and act with all the intelligence of tactical awareness of action movie cannon-fodder, and it affects your offensive options. [April 2012, p.62]

Operation Raccoon City is an average third-person shooter, with good elements and annoying faults, but please... don't call it Resident Evil!

For the large part, whether offline or on, Operation RC manages to successfully inject old skool Resi charm into an enjoyably frenetic shooter. If the idea of battling rooms full of stretchy-tongued monstrosities with athletic controls in iconic surroundings has your Umbrella sense tingling, this is well worth a look.

The grenades take an age to equip and throw. Considering that chucking a grenade the moment before I die has been the only thing to get me close to a positive kill / death ratio through the years, this is a major concern.

The A.I. isn't great and the lack of offline co-op is a bummer. The online co-op is the only reason you might buy this game.

It's a shame because Raccoon City is not entirely unpalatable, most of its flaws seem as though they could have been ironed out, but it's doubtful whether it can seriously compete on its own merits with comparable titles currently on offer.

This game is a decent TPS if played online. It lacks quality though, and the terrible AI makes the singleplayer campaign a real torture. Play it with friends, it's really the only way to enjoy it.

A blasphemous non-canon story that kills off key players will tickle franchise fans, but it's mostly hollow shooting trading on the Resi name. [May 2012, p.102]

Operation Raccoon City is an endless chain of bland and repetitive shootouts filled to the brink with zombies who are nothing more than lambs to the slaughter. Rooms seem to be randomly filled corpses, Lickers and commandos, all too dumb to even tie their own shoes. [April 2012, p.72]

It's a functional squad shooter, but it's one that's probably best suited for series diehards. [May 2012, p.82]

REORC is a fan service school case in disappointment. An average TPS where coop gameplay ain't that satisfying, and probably not worthy of the Resident Evil franchise, even though some fun moments may occur.

By no means a bad game. The chance to face off against Resident Evil favourites such as Nemesis is a really interesting idea, and the constant threat of zombies will always have you on edge. Saying that, I can see the multiplayer modes becoming repetitive fairly quickly. Whilst differing slightly, the modes on offer are too similar, and all play out on the same handful of maps.

Umbrella may have filled Raccoon City with horrific creatures, but SlantSix has tainted the fabled town in its own way. It's difficult recommending a return to Raccoon when you have to endure buggy AI, clunky gameplay, and terrible glitches like disappearing floors. Yes, on more than one occasion my friends and I had to ditch whole missions because we kept falling into an empty void.

A team based Resident Evil that works alright when playing with other humans. But as a whole it's just not a very good game.

This new product from Slant Six was supposed to be a success, but it fails. There are some good and interesting ideas but its implementation it's not the best especially when combined with mistakes and poor decisions that affect the gameplay.

Raccoon City isn't really Resident Evil as we know it, then. It's trying to be something else, which is fine in theory, but it doesn't quite manage to pull it off. The campaign is sloppy, repetitive and devoid of narrative intrigue. When playing as a group of four it's fun to the same extent that most co-op games are, but there are much better alternatives waiting to take your hard-earned cash.

Unless you're going to play with others, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City isn't worth your time. Single player is infected with poor artificial intelligence, lack of useful feedback and abusive enemies. Rope in a couple of friends - or open your game up for anybody to join - and ORC improves, still beholden to many of its problems but better for the replacement of its inadequate AI with human players to help deal with its viruses.

Raccoon City is just [p]lain boring to me. There's nothing here I want to return to. The game can be fun with other people, there are a few patented Resident Evil scares, and the controls work fine (provided you're willing to put up with some clunkiness). But everything else about it is really…I dunno, "meh."

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City lacks insight. It lacks good level design, good shooting mechanics or a good cover system. It can be fun to relive some recognizable Resident Evil-moments with a few friends, but for no more than half an hour. After that, you'll crave for a game with a well thought-through design.

Maybe down the track this game will be patched in order to make it play better but I have a better idea; get it right the first time because this reviewer will never download a patch to make a game playable, that's why I bought a console, games should work every time straight out the box. This one does, barely, and that is why sadly I wouldn't bother with it.

A frighteningly flawed action-heavy spin-off that withers in the shadow of its superior alternatives.

Unworthy of the Resident Evil name. Patiently waiting for Resident Evil 6 is a lot more fun than actually playing this piece of crap. Broken shooting mechanics, a terrible cover system, abysmal AI, weak level design… A good idea on paper, an absolute terror for you PlayStation 3.

It's not enough to save Operation Raccoon City though, which ultimately is a title that feels too rushed to warrant any great investment on the part of the player. That it's sold in such high numbers (at time of writing it's number one in Japan) says a lot about the strength of the Resident Evil brand which, if ORC is anything to go by, is in danger of being fatally diluted.

A second-rate shooter that's trying to hide its flaws under traditional Resident Evil paraphernalia, such as zombies, heroes and all the other things. A campaign of the game is pointless and without any content at all. Many of the annoying flaws do make your gameplay even harder and, unfortunately, many of those flaws are even in its multiplayer that might have been different if the authors had taken it as their primary goal.

The chance to see the city from a new perspective is ruined by terrible AI, a wonky cover-system, a distinct lack of memorable moments, and a very short story.

It tries, but gets outclassed by games that have been released years ago. That´s no easy feat to accomplish.

The game just feels sloppy and unfinished. It controls poorly, looks bad, and completely misses the point of the Resident Evil franchise. Honestly, I wouldn't even recommend this game to Resident Evil fans. If you want a better co-op zombie shooter, you should probably just go back to Left 4 Dead.

The problems with the computer AI make the single player a bit of a chore, and while the online co-op action is frantic and fun, it's also chaotic and lacking a bit of flow. There are quite a few glitches in the campaign, including zombies disappearing into scenery, or just disappearing entirely, and the set piece battles are hardly jaw-dropping.

Just. Under no circumstances, though, should you go anywhere near this alone. When tackled with three AI buddies and a prayer, never has the name Biohazard felt more apt.

The terrible AI, the lackluster locations and the complete lack of atmosphere or memorable characters destroy what could have been a brilliant offshoot. In the end, Operation Raccoon City is little more than a poor man's SOCOM, and a destitute man's Resident Evil.

Strictly a game to be played with friends, but even then Operation Racoon City will leave you wondering: why?

Cynical, franchise-exploiting pump that Resi devotees should collectively ignore. [Issue#217, p.73]

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is an unfortunate addition to an otherwise great franchise. With this being the second of three Resident Evil games coming out this year it would probably be best to just skip this one entirely unless you are a diehard fan who wants to see every game in the series. This title had a lot of great potential but falls flat on almost every part of its delivery and while it may not do everything wrong what it does right is hardly enough to save this alternate take on a great franchise.