Resident Evil Outbreak File #2
Resident Evil: Outbreak File #1 was a game with lots of fresh ideas and promises, but failed to deliver them. The result was a game that was close to unplayable. On top of that we, inhabitants of the small continent Europe, were rewarded for our long wait with a removed online mode. The good: this time Capcom left it in. The bad: it’s still not playable.
File #2 continues where File #1 ends, not a second of the story line is skipped, and therefor the games look-a-like a great deal. Same characters, same weapons and pretty much the same gameplay are just some of the (same) features. So what’s new then? Not much really. Now you’re able to walk around while aiming (which makes the game a wee bit easier) and the loading times have been shortened (although they still appear quite frequently). Try showing me both games over a year and I will have a hard time separating them. That ain’t a good start for a sequel.
The grand new thing for us is the online mode, which introduces the biggest challenge of File #2: the search for players. First take an average of 190 fellow gamers that are logged in. Now subtract a big chunk, as most of the players are either inactive or already in a game. Alright, fine, search for half an hour and you’re ready to go. Now what? Apparently Capcom thought it was better to make sure the tension is preserved so they set us up with a handful of one-liners instead of proper communication techniques. Those irritating, monotone one-liners are completely useless. “Sorry”, “Help”, “Thanks”, “Yes”, “No”, how are we supposed to issue commands with those? Totally cut off from communication, two groups have formed, the veterans and the newbies. The veterans just finish the missions by themselves and the newbies behave worse than the already crappy AI. And if all that isn’t bad enough, there are the cheaters as a third (luckily smaller) group. Don’t think Capcom is actually fighting them, imagine the player count dropping some more!
By playing the online mode I started to appreciate the AI more. Although the manual declines it, the computer controlled players have become even stupider, if possible. One thing I can guarantee: it’s funny big time. At a certain time my partner started to blow bees to smithereens with a Grenade Launcher. Losing that ammo, the only thing I could do was to fight the boss with a handgun. Why worry about land mines, when your partners will clear the area for you? One time there was a CPU player running in circles while screaming “Help! Help!”. When there’s no enemy in sight, that’s not normal. It doesn’t end here, since it’s possible the characters that ‘help’ you don’t like your character. Then they’re just standing there with no remaining ammo right in front of an enemy and they still persist in answering “No” to your “Come here”. In File #1 they were stupid, now they’re plain retarded.
Oh well, maybe it’s all for fun. File #2 is giving you the opportunity to learn that even fleas (goodbye creativity) mutate. In the first chapter, located in a zoo, there’s actually an elephant chasing you. An elephant! Next to being hilarious, it’s not scary at all. The meaning of the word “horror” isn’t really present throughout the game. That elephant did give me some trouble, as the heavyweight had blocked me completely. He just stood, gigantic rear in my direction, in front of the gate I had to go through. As I’m not a fan of elephant backsides, the only solution was to restart the level, after which he did run along. This isn’t the only annoying bug. Enemies are able to respawn on the very same spot you just killed them. On rare occasions, they even warp from one place to another, which makes aiming a tad harder.
There isn’t a lot of difference to see in graphics between #1 and #2, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it looks bad. Sad, but Capcom shot themselves in the foot by showing with Resident Evil 4 how it could be. We’re just used to better by now. The music and general sounds are also pretty much identical, with different voice-acting being the sole difference. By now, it’s been made clear enough this is just File #1 with some new levels tossed in.
Do you really need to read this conclusion? Check out the score and you’ll know enough. The only reason for you to buy Resident Evil: Outbreak File #2 is to quickly test it out before the multiplayer dies completely. That’s really the only reason I can think of. Oh well, honest is honest, a Resident Evil that isn’t creepy but quite funny, it’s a rare breed.
4.0