Shampoo-Girl's Full Review: Resident Evil: Outbreak for PlayStation 2
Quick question: What does Capcom's Resident Evil series have in common with the stock market? Well, for starters, they both have their highs and lows, with Capcom's Resident Evil Outbreak being the stock market's equivalent to the 1929 crash. Having enjoyed most of the other titles in the Resident Evil franchise, I found myself curiously drawn towards RE:Outbreak, which I had initially assumed to be a much improved title in the series. RE:Outbreak turned out to be the biggest disappointment ever, surpassing even RE:Survivor. If Mystic Quest was a huge disappointment for most Final Fantasy fans, then RE:Outbreak has got to be the black sheep of the Resident Evil series.
RE:Outbreak is just awful in so many ways, that I don't know where to begin. Instead of improving the quality of gameplay with every sequel, Capcom took a giant step backward with this extremely poor offering. The biggest gripe by far with this game lies with the overly choppy controls which results in sluggish character movements. The control format retains part of the original RE layout but it must have gotten tweaked the wrong way with this game. The supposedly 'new and improved' layout makes targeting even more difficult and this obviously does not sit well with many gamers. The sluggish response time makes your character a sitting duck for that half second or more before his/her move kicks in. Sorry Capcom, but that's not the correct way to score points with us gamers.
The poor controls aren't the only big complaint here. The next negative thing on this game's demerit list lies with its unusually long loading time. This loading time is comparatively longer than most other PS2 games I've played so far and it happens everytime your character enters a new room. Try going through 10 rooms then adding the total loading times up and you'll probably get a good 5 minutes or more. Heck, I could take my dog out for 2 laps round my backyard or maybe even prepare 5 cups of ramen noodles for everyone in my household in between scenario loads. Sorry, I'm cheap and I don't believe in shelling out more money for a HDD.
So what else is there missing from this game that most of the other RE games had? If you're one of the many disappointed former RE fans who answered 'Fear Factor', I applaud you. Instead of being scared stiff, I found myself feeling angry, cheated and frustrated at the lack of quality gameplay. Additionally I realized I was cussing way too much at how unresponsive my character was on screen. It didn't matter if I had chosen Kevin or Yoko or even Alyssa, they all moved as if there was a bowling ball chained to their feet. While on the topic of character selection, I'd have to give this aspect of the game a very minor plus point. Still, this is hardly enough to save RE:Outbreak from being a totally sucky game. The characters are dull and they each come with a limited and overly repeated set of dialogues. You get to choose one of them as your main character with the others tagging along as NPCs. These NPCs are supposed to help you out but most of the time, they'll probably end up becoming 'excess baggage'. Some of them can be downright stubborn too. Give them a nice weapon and they'll go on a shooting spree then die off somewhere.
Fumbling around the inventory screen is something most people will find themselves doing 90% of the time when getting attacked by zombies. More bad news for in-game characters with guns: There is no auto reload feature so you'd have to pull up the inventory screen to manually reload while getting chewed up by zombies from all sides. Unlike previous installments, the game does not pause when you pull up the inventory or map screens. Imagine frustratingly fumbling around with your possessions and getting your foot chewed off by zombies at the same time. If this is a trick by Capcom to add some kind of adrenaline rush, it obviously isn't working. Zero points there.
With the exception of the characters, there is a somewhat significant graphical improvement over past installments. The backgrounds appear to be a little more shaded and less colorful compared to previous titles like Code Veronica. Most scenes are very poorly lit so a slight adjustment from the game's default display settings is recommended for people with projection TVs. The characters have that stiff, cardboard type look, which reflects well with their sluggish movements. Camera angles can be confusing as well as highly annoying. You could be 2 feet away from a zombie but still can't see him because of poor camera positioning. The cutscenes nice but nothing extraordinary. The final verdict? Slightly above average graphics, so-so sound, horrible gameplay. Don't be surprised if you find this game being pushed over to the clearance section in a hurry.
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