I checked the first 3 pages and couldn't find a Resident Evil topic, which is frankly a little surprising but I don't think you guys appreciate zombie games quite as much as I do so whatever. If there is already a Resident Evil topic a mod can merge this.
OPERATION RACCOON CITY
This is a pretty fun game. It's sort of a tactical Left 4 Dead. There are six characters each with their own abilities and strengths, but for some reason you can only bring 4 with you per chapter (I always bring the same 4. I'll mix it up later but I don't think it matters much when they're all AI.) The game is always in co-op mode, but you can set it to invite-only for single-player goodness (the open slots will be filled by AI).
The chapters are about as long as a typical L4D campaign. There are checkpoints scattered about that I'm pretty sure are unmarked but at least when you die you don't have to start the whole 30 minutes over again. Once you've completed a chapter in campaign mode you can skip to it at any time in "free play" mode which I haven't done yet but I can imagine what it's like. If someone dies they can be revived pretty quickly by any other human player (AI players won't revive and if all human players die you get sent back to the last checkpoint). Levels are pretty linear with a bunch of side rooms that sometimes hold goodies but there's never really a decision about which path to take.
The main enemies that you encounter are zombies and spec ops, though you also have to fight BOWs (Lickers and Hunters, as well as a few Tyrants and The Nemesis). Spec ops soldiers are fucking annoying as shit because they wear body armor and shoot constantly and soak up bullets and fuck those guys hard. But if you're lucky you can shoot them in the torso, which will make them bleed for a bit and attract a massive rush of zombies toward them. This is fun as hell and more games should have this mechanic.
You can also start bleeding which lasts a few seconds and will attract zombies to you. The other status effect is "infected" which happens when a zombie bites you or you take too long to cut a Licker's tongue off you or some other events happen. Once you get infected you lose life at a steady rate and once you die (either from the infection itself or being killed by any other means) you turn into a zombie and your teammates have to kill you. They can choose to kill you before you become a zombie as well, but I think friendly fire is only turned on once you're infected. I'm not real sure about friendly fire in this game. There's 3 types of healing items: green herbs, which are used upon pickup and heal one person, first-aid spray, which can be stored and creates a green cloud and will heal anyone who steps into the cloud, and anti-viral spray, which can also be stored and creates a blue cloud that cures infections. Maximizing sprays by regrouping to use them on all 4 players is pretty important, especially on higher difficulties.
After each chapter is completed you get a grade from D to S based on number of deaths, number of items collected, time of completion, and number of enemies killed. Your grade translates to experience which increases your "rank" (doesn't seem to do anything) and your experience can be spent in the weapons shop to unlock new weapons and abilities (my favorite ability so far turns all my bullets into incendiary rounds for 30 seconds).
You can choose which weapons to unlock first instead of some kind of progression scheme, and even if you don't unlock anything the weapons available at the start are pretty decent. You can also pick up the weapons of fallen comrades and spec ops soldiers. Spec ops soldiers drop full ammo weapons so that's pretty neat. Despite spec ops being bullet sinks, ammo is rarely a problem in this game, though you might have to trade your weapons a lot if you can't find ammo boxes. There are shotguns, rifles (automatic and sniper), handguns, SMGs, and machine guns, as well as flamethrowers and grenade launchers that have to be found in the game; they can't be unlocked as starting equipment.
The game has sort of a sticky-cover system, but instead of a "take cover" button your character automatically sidles up to objects when you walk into them. This is kind of nifty, but I find it a little annoying because your character will sidle against ANYTHING and the animation takes a few moments that can be crucial when you're in the middle of a gunfight. There is no jumping or vaulting over cover.
If you've been living under a rock and don't know what this game is about, the story is that you are Umbrella Security Service Wolfpack Squad, and your mission is to go into various parts of Raccoon City during the outbreak and destroy evidence, including any survivors. The game takes place around the time of Resident Evil 2 and 3, but some of it happens before the outbreak occurs. It's mostly a co-op tactical shooter, without much survival-horror to speak of, but there are some creepy parts and a few jump scares every now and then.
There's a vs mode which I'll try out later.
I have this game for PS3. It isn't the best game ever, but it's pretty fun, especially for someone who likes zombies. I'd give it about a 7.5/10 so far. Maybe a bit closer to an 8. If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them.
