Two great worlds collide in Resident Evil Outbreak; the Resident Evil series meets online play...
There are several tantalizing scenarios to work your way through as a team of up to four players. As in every RE game, there isn’t much action, a lot of puzzle-solving and lots of re-tracing your steps. The cast of characters are unique and each brings their own pros and cons to the game. For instance, if you play Yoko, you are able to carry an additional four items in your backpack, which is always useful, however she runs slower than all the other characters so you run the risk of being left behind. If you play Kevin, the RCPD cop, you come equipped with a handy magnum 45 and can kick enemies when out of ammo or trying to save up, however, he cannot carry more than 3 items.
Outbreak was designed for long hours of play. Not only does the length of each scenario depend on the level of difficulty you chose but each scenario has multiple endings depending on how you went about escaping the area or which character you used to get yourself through it. Each scenario can easily be played four to five times with different cut-scenes, items, endings and events adding substantial re-play value.
The scenarios themselves do not go together in any kind of storyline, this is one of the downfalls of the game. The first scenario, which you must beat to unlock the rest, is undoubtedly one of the best in the game. The game starts off slowly and then you are immediately tossed into a timed scenario where the idea is “Get out or die.” Some of the scenarios are a lot more difficult then others which sets a good balance to the game’s overall difficulty.
The best way to go about playing Resident Evil Outbreak is to work together as a team, pay attention to clues and stick together. There is a lack of in-game communication that bothers some players, some find it more of a challenge than anything and it adds to the level of difficulty as well, however, there are ways to work around this issue with little effort. Overall, Resident Evil Outbreak is a very well valued game with enjoyable but sometimes tedious puzzles, great characters and excellent unlockable features such as alternative costumes for your characters. I would recommend this title to Resident Evil fans but not necessarily online action game fanatics, as it has a slower Resident Evil style-pace. Capcom's first crack at putting it's successful Resident Evil series online was not in vein.