I have admit that I've never played a Resident Evil game before, but because of my love of all things zombie, decided that I would set things straight with the release of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.  The game I think runs parallel with RE2 & RE3, but in a behind the scenes kind of way.

You play as a member of the Umbrella Security Service - you even get to choose who you play and what your strengths are.  Your job is retrieving virus samples and destroying all evidence of Umbrella's involvement in the viral outbreak. It's a great concept, and one that had me extremely excited to be jumping into the RE world. Unfortunately, Operation Raccoon City's potential is wasted by a combination of naff gameplay and horrible team AI.

As a third person cover shooter, it borrows heavily from Gears of War, but doesn't execute the concept with the same degree of style or ability.  As I mentioned just before, your team mates AI is terrible and in essence they only end up getting in the way.  But that isn't necessarily the worst of it.  No, the worst part is that you seem to have been kitted out with rubber bullets instead of the hollowpoints you were hoping for.  What this means is there is no point trying to get a head shot on your human adversaries, because you'll still have to shoot them numerous times IN THE HEAD to kill them.  Better to just unload a clip into their body-mass.  What this means when you're up against a boss style zombie, is you'll be emptying you limited supply of ammo without doing much damage at all, resulting in numerous deaths and plenty of groundhog day experience and you repeat various parts of the level over and over again.

But bullets and team mates aside, there is something else letting Operation Raccoon City down.  That's the atmosphere.  This is a zombie game, you are an elite squad going up against an unknown enemy and it feels like you're just going through the motions.  I wan't to be so freaked out I would have to play with the light on and my wife holding my hand.

Sadly I was just frustrated and bored.

Dim lights
Capcom has announced that Resident Evil 6 is in full development and scheduled for release for the Xbox360 and PlayStation3 on November 20, 2012 with a Windows PC version to follow. Blending action and survival horror, this latest instalment in the multi-million selling franchise, is the most ambitious, immersive and feature rich title of the series to date and promises to be the dramatic horror experience of the year.

Resident Evil 6 portrays a world where an escalation in bioterrorist attacks across the globe has led to widespread fear among the population. In an attempt to quell the panic and curb the bioterrorist activity the President of the United States has decided to speak to the nation but not before the very location of the address itself comes under attack. With the President’s safety compromised the situation for the rest of the world seems hopeless.

In a first for the franchise, Resident Evil 6 sees series favourites Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield come together to face this unprecedented threat. They will be joined by new characters, each with their own unique perspective and involvement in this relentless dramatic horror experience enacted on a global scale.

Since the landmark release of the first Resident Evil videogame in 1996, the franchise has firmly established itself as a truly worldwide entertainment brand and mainstay of contemporary culture with a series of live action movies, CG anime, manga, novels and numerous merchandising lines. To date the Resident Evil series of videogames has achieved global sales of over 47 million units, while the live action movies starring Milla Jovovich have grossed in excess of $525 million dollars at the box office.