Been a while since we visited Raccoon City, hasn't it? As the Resident Evil series has transitioned more from survival horror to the action genre, so has the scene shifted from Ground Zero to more exotic locations such as Europe and Africa. These locales have provided an interesting and perhaps equally creepy backdrop for a tale of zombies and virii, though honestly, there's no place like home.
Though the action returns to the familiar, apocalypse-torn home of the Umbrella Corporation, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is veering off the beaten path to take the Resident Evil franchise in a new direction. For this, Capcom has teamed up with Slant Six Games -- veteran developers of some of the more recent SOCOM series off-shoots -- infusing the current Resident Evil formula with a tactical twist and touch of multiplayer.
Operation Raccoon City has you -- and possibly three of your friends -- take control of an elite Umbrella Corporation squad tasked to infiltrate the city circa 1998, destroy any evidence of the T-Virus, and eliminate all survivors. As if slaughtering zombies and unwilling survivors wasn't enough, your crew will also have to deal with the unfriendly advances of United States Government special agents and their public funded weaponry.
The third-person, team based shooting action of Operation Raccoon City looks like a mix of SOCOM and Left 4 Dead. No complaints from me! Aside from the cooperative multiplayer campaign, Operation Raccoon City will also feature a number of competitive online multiplayer modes. With so many different sides involved in the battle within Raccoon City, online play could be really fun if done right. Hunk versus Licker versus psychotic armed citizen versus Leon Kennedy's wafting bangs. Let's dance!