Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
In November 2010, a rumor emerged about a new multiplayer-focused Resident Evil title. This wasn’t the first time that fans had experienced online multiplayer and co-op in the franchise thanks to 2003’s Resident Evil Outbreak. Developed by Slant Six Games and set around the same period as Resident Evil 2 and 3, Operation Raccoon City featured 12 characters among its two sides – the Umbrella Security Service and US Special Ops.
Along with a single-player mode, it had a mode where both teams faced each other. Zombies, as you would expect, were also involved and actually offered some interesting mechanics. A bitten character would slowly lose life and eventually control, attacking their team until killed but gain certain bonuses before fully turning. There was even a Heroes Mode for playing as legendary characters like Leon, Claire, Jill, Ada and so on in a free-for-all.
So what happened? The cover system, among other things, felt extremely bad. When killed as an infected, your teammates could simply revive you…unless you’re playing with the AI, which means you’ll stay dead, possibly forever. Gunplay is bland and boring; ammo is rare, which makes sense for a solo survival horror experience but results in a tedious time when playing online; and that’s not counting all of the glitches. Despite selling relatively well, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has been trashed by critics and fans of the series.
