Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Resident Evil Outbreak

Written by John Scalzo on January 31, 2003

First Impressions: A zombie on the Internet, didn't I see this on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Everything is going online nowadays. There I've said it. And as the first journalist to ever state the importance of things going online I'd just like to take this moment to pat myself on the back. (time to turn off the sarcasm meter, John)

If you're done groaning at the obligatory opening to any article written on the ever-expanding cadre of online console games we can move on. At this point nearly every online console game can be fit into three distinct categories. You have your sports franchises with your Maddens and your 2K3s, then there's the deathmatch and team battles of something like MechAssault, and of course your massively multiplayer online role playing games like Final Fantasy and Everquest. Capcom would rather create something truly unique in the online world and this is where Resident Evil Online fits in.

Resident Evil Online roughly takes place during the time frame of Resident Evil 1 and 2 (by the time Capcom is finished they will have created a game to cover every corner of Raccoon City during those few days). Resident Evil Online will open by placing you and up to three friends in the role of one of eight characters. They are Yoko, a mysterious Japanese woman; Kevin, a member of the Raccoon City Police Department; George, a surgeon; Alyssa, a reporter; Jim, a railway worker that is obsessed with puzzles; Cindy, a waitress; David, a plumber; and Mark, a security guard who is still haunted by his tour in Vietnam. The four characters not picked will become NPCs that you will interact with in the game. Capcom has stressed repeatedly that these will be not be the elite commando types like the previous games have featured. Instead they will be real people placed in unreal circumstances. Of course when you read through that list Kevin the cop kinda stands out, doesn't he?

Putting aside the debate of whether including a cop negates the regular people angle aside we see that Capcom has some very lofty ambitions for Resident Evil Online. Resident Evil Online will not be a persistent world, basically this means no experience points, no leveling up, and no gold to collect. Then this begs the question, how will Capcom keep track of players as they progress through the game? That hasn't been finalized yet, but what we do know is that Capcom has planned some truly fiendish things to do to your teammates. The example they provided was that one mission would include one character trapped in a room. They could try to escape. They could wait to be rescued. Or they could be torn limb from limb after trying to escape and being overrun by zombies. Another mission Capcom described would include your team agreeing to meet at a certain spot at a certain time. If not everyone is there then the remaining teammates can decide whether to wait, hide or go on without the missing. And all of this communication is created through picking one of several pre-written speech bubbles. Capcom has said that these speech bubbles will also come into play as you interact with NPCs. If you say the wrong thing to an NPC they turn and run, help you out, or may just open fire on you. Of course there's also the option that they'll mutate into one of the legions of the undead and try to munch on your juicy flesh.

The point of all of these examples is that Capcom is hard at work adapting the world of Resident Evil for online play. And in my opinion the series is a natural fit for an online world like this where teamwork is essential. The good news is that Capcom knows that even though Resident Evil is going in this brave new direction it will need some familiar aspects. The first of which is all of the zombies, dogs, and Lickers we love (there's a Jerry Springer episode gone wrong). Of course like any good game sequel, many new creatures of the night will make an appearance in Resident Evil Online. Capcom has also said that when zombies have killed one of your teammates they will eventually rise and become a zombie themselves. The question is whether or not the player that previously controlled the human character will now get to control the zombie and chase his former friends. I'd like to see it happen, but something tells me if it was Capcom would have mentioned it.

What we do know for sure is that no gameplay footage has actually been revealed yet. Several trailers are currently making the rounds, and while they show some impressive looking CG scenes, that doesn't mean a whole lot. They're more than creepy, but at this point it's too early to go by anything more than your faith in Capcom. Of course after Maximo I will forever have faith in everything Capcom does.