Resident Evil Outbreak (PlayStation 2, 2004)

I have played every game in the Resident Evil series and I was really excited for this game to be released. I was very disappointed upon first playing it. The thought of a Resident Evil game with eight different playable characters and a few who play along side you was a god send...until I put the disc into my playstation 2.

The Ugly: One of the truly awful things about this game, are the incredibly long load times. Everytime you go through a door you have to wait 30 seconds until you go into said room...by the time you enter, you forget why you went there. The controls are absolutly terrible...It takes a long time before you get used to them, even after you get used to them, they are STILL awkward! The inventory screen interface is terrible, the game still keeps moving while you are trying to do things in your inventory, which makes it hard to equip an item. You have Extremely limited inventory space, you can hold 4 items with most of the characters.

The Bad: The graphics could be better, especially the zombie renderings. The voice acting is the worst I have ever heard and your allies A.I. are just about at the retarded level. You can ask your partners to do things, but they rarely follow thru. Your allies run around like total idiots and rarely help you. The zombies are pretty weak and easy to get away from. What story there is (and there isn't much) is total crap. It's hard to figure out what to do or where you are supposed to go amidst all the confusion. Weak unlockables...low replay value. Not one continuous game, utilizes scenarios instead...which is done horribly. There is almost no transition from one to the next.

The Good: Eight playable characters all with different special abilities. Online mode, which (hopefully) makes your allies less retarded. Can be fun if you figure out what you are supposed to be doing before you either give up, or are killed. The music is as great as any other RE game. You get bit by a zombie? Well you'll have to hurry up and finish the board before you turn into one. Cutscenes look great as always.

Capcom could have done so much with this game, but instead they made a great idea, a horrible mistake. I have beaten this game and when I was done I just felt empty, like I had wasted my time. I haven't played Outbreak File #2, but I am guessing it is better than this installment...get that instead. Outbreak is maybe worth a rent or borrow, but don't pay over $10.00 for this one.