I have a funny history with this game. I was a pretty big fan of the first few Resident Evil games as they came out and was excited to get my hands on any of them I could find, and though I didn’t hear about this one coming out until it was out, I jumped on Outbreak pretty much right at release without bothering to look before I leapt. So it wasn’t until I was booting it up that I discovered the rather unique premise of the game: that it’s an episodic scenario-based online game that maintains the RE gameplay in most respects, but plays significantly differently given that context. There are a number of problems with how it plays as this online game was on the PS2, during an era when online console play was barely a thing people were aware of, let alone capable and willing to use much. Thankfully, the game is still fully playable solo with other characters controlled by AI, though the AI is pretty terrible and the gameplay experience regardless is confusing and rather jank. I found it so frustrating to play and so disappointingly unlike the RE experience I had come to expect that I made it about halfway through the first scenario before I turned it off and didn’t play it again, which was rather unheard of given I was still a kid who had to ask for new games and only got so many, especially full priced at release.
Revisiting the game now in the 2020s, I have a newfound appreciation for it. Truthfully, I still think on balance there’s a lot wrong with it. But there’s also a sense in which the game is pretty ahead of its time in a lot of ways. While that in itself is a problem of a sort, an older and (hopefully) wiser me is able to appreciate the game for everything it’s trying to do as well as the complement it provides to the main series. Since the game is entirely divided among 5 scenarios, each taking anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours on a first playthrough, I’ll talk about the game generally, then go into each scenario for an idea of what the full package is like.
First, the online play. Well, I don’t have a ton to say about it because I have never played it online. I believe there is a fan server or something that allows people to still play it online today, but I don’t really know anyone interested enough to toy with it. Of course, this day and age, you’d likely be playing on voice chat, but when it released, especially if you’re playing with randos online, you’re stuck with your only real communication being your characters’ body language and the kind of confusing spoken voicelines you can issue, which are not always helpful. Given the way these games work, I also imagine the online play could be frustrating with people picking up key items and not knowing what to do with them or getting into binds and wasting resources. The game does give a good deal of ammo and weapons so no one is left totally without, but the healing can be scarcer and I could see some…not as good players burning through that quickly, making the scenario significantly more difficult. But I'll try not to speculate too much further on a mode I never really played.
But even in offline mode, some of the game’s features for the online play still get in the way. For instance, the AI for the characters you aren’t controlling is kind of bizarre and all over the place. Sometimes they’re shockingly helpful, solving entire puzzles and finding important key items for you so you can ignore dangerous segments. But other times they just kind of wander around grabbing up random items, getting hit, and spamming the hell out of voice lines. Further, the game implements a viral gauge that gradually fills over time and turns you into a zombie once it maxes out. This means you may have to put your allies down eventually, but it also functions to encourage people to move along and cooperate to finish the scenario (and not go afk). However, the game keeps this feature in when you’re playing single player. While it’s not a terrible mechanic, it does get in the way of giving you the option to more leisurely explore and enjoy the game’s environments. Given the key areas and events Outbreak provides a different perspective on, which encourages exploration and examination, it’s really annoying to be so pushed along even in single-player where that constant urgency is less necessary.
Despite my issues, the game does still manage to deliver in some form the classic Survival Horror gameplay the games in this part of the series are known for. The addition of other characters and the more dynamic environments certainly add a different kind of action-based tension and feel, but the managing resources and hunting for the right path forward or the next key for proceeding are still there. And perhaps most importantly, the game’s premise expands on some of what is great about RE3: it presents another perspective on the Raccoon City outbreak. But where RE3 has to introduce its own new grander plot threads, we get to experience this story through the eyes and actions of a bunch of average every day people who—mostly—aren’t too caught up in the most important events of the overarching narrative. The characters' stories in Outbreak thus offer a distinct complement to the main series, showcasing the strengths and talents of regular individuals rather than the main series’ hero protagonists. Additionally, these stories still manage to provide insight into pivotal moments during the city's collapse, all the while offering glimpses of various parts of Raccoon City, including nostalgic revisits to classic locales from prior games. While the narrative at times is a little awkward, it is still pretty fun as a Resident Evil fan to experience these events through this new lens. The Raccoon City incident has been visited and revisited A LOT in the series despite technically being destroyed in the second game and this isn’t even close to the last game to do so in the series. But I think this method of highlighting the trials and perspective of a handful of mostly normal citizens is one of the more interesting approaches the series has taken even to this day and is something I’d like to see more of (we got a hint of this with RE2 Remake’s Ghost Survivors mode). This point is frankly a lot of the reason I still enjoy the game some despite its many issues.
While it’s not a game I’m inclined to play a ton, there is a surprising wealth of content to the game. For one, each of the scenarios is fairly distinct and none of them feel like just a repeat of a prior scenario. Their combined length isn’t much different from the full length of the mainline games from around this time. There’s also a TON of unlockables which includes a harder difficulty, cosmetics, concept art, etc. The different scenarios also have different ways of progressing through them, which the game tracks, providing a sort of checklist almost like achievements for all the different things you can do and find in each scenario. Further, while it’s not super common, different characters can have special cutscenes in the right scenario, presenting a bit more story on a replay. I’ve heard of some of the game’s biggest fans actually obtaining 100% of the game’s unlockables and achievements, completing each scenario on each difficult with every character many times, etc. Even if I could never see myself doing that with this game, it’s pretty impressive that at least for people who enjoy it, there’s a ton to the game.
Below are my brief thoughts on each of the scenarios:
Outbreak
This feels like one of the most core scenarios of the game which is unsurprising for the game’s titular scenario. Outbreak has our heroes enjoying a night at Jack’s Bar in Raccoon City as the zombie outbreak in the city has just started to spread. All is normal until a zombie stumbles into the bar and starts attacking people. A horde follows closely afterward, forcing the characters to flee to the higher floors and rooftops to get to the streets and seek the safety of a police barricade while reacting to their world suddenly being turned on its head. I’d probably put this scenario as the second best in this set. The continual pursuit of the zombies following you deeper into the Bar as you take too long trying to find the keys and tools to progress presents a very real sense of discomfort and urgency that overlays perfectly with the scenario’s theme of presenting that fateful moment when the Raccoon citizens first discovered that their city was all but lost and their own lives were in peril. As capturing some of that everyday-person’s perspective to me is part of the goal of Outbreak as a whole, it’s hard not to feel like this one nails it best in this set. I also find that while I generally don’t like how much pressure the game puts on you, this is the one scenario I really appreciate it since it parallels the themes of the scenario’s narrative.
Below Freezing Point
This scenario is about in the middle for me though it does avoid some of the game’s weak points at least. There are relatively few enemies and pressures, which allows you to explore at least a bit more leisurely. There’s also an intriguing mystery presented right away with Yoko’s (one of the playable characters) connection to the Umbrella lab that she apparently does not remember. We also get to revisit Birkin’s lab from Resident Evil 2 which mostly maintains its layout from that entry.
The Hive
This ended up being the shortest scenario in the bunch for me. In The Hive, we return to Raccoon General Hospital, which was featured previously in Resident Evil 3, though we mostly only go to the rooms that were inaccessible in that game. This scenario also quickly introduces a pursuer enemy in the form of a man covered in leeches who is near indestructible for most of the scenario and will pop up any time you linger too long in one room. This mechanic is honestly more annoying than interesting, especially since in offline mode, the AI characters just don’t know what to do with the monster. The exploration of the hospital actually has some decent layout and puzzle progression, but it’s frustrated by yet another mechanic meant to shove you along in a way that sounds neat, but ends up being just frustrating. The boss of this scenario is also quite terribly designed, if fairly easy once you know what to do.
Hellfire
This scenario I consider the worst in the bunch. It takes place in a large hotel full of fire and zombies. Conceptually I don’t mind this scenario too much and appreciate the motif of the flaming hotel and its cramped quarters and necessary side-paths. Unfortunately given the near uniformity of so many of the halls and rooms, it is extremely difficult to track where you’re going and where you need to be. I spent a good half of the scenario basically remembering where I needed to go next but not remembering at all which hall it was in or how to get there, etc. Further, the hotel itself simply isn’t all that interesting, making this scenario fall surprisingly flat considering its strong premise.
Decisions, Decisions
This could be considered the “main” scenario of this set. This scenario takes nearly twice as long as most of the rest in the game and features a fairly massive map with tons of rooms to explore. The title comes in part from the greater freedom you have to approach the scenario and accomplish things in a different order. But the ultimate ending tends to come about the same regardless. You explore a mansion that brings to mind the series roots in the Spencer Mansion, especially with the recurring familiar tyrant enemy that stalks you throughout the scenario. Otherwise, much of the scenario involves traveling to different parts of the mansion and its inevitable lab areas to craft a t-virus cure of sorts before you finally escape to the streets only to engage in a climactic showdown with our pursuer. Despite its length and apparent complexity, I found this scenario fairly intuitive. It usually feels somewhat clear what areas you can go to and where you need to use what items, which is good since given its length, it could be really frustrating to get lost in, especially during one of the online sessions the game was designed for. The scenario also boasts far and away the most intense and detailed boss fight of the overall game.
Ultimately, the saddest thing about this title is that its ideas mostly aren’t too bad, they’re just way ahead of what the console and community were capable of and ready for at the time. Today, the game’s biggest challenges wouldn’t be difficult to design around at all, especially with online play being far more integrated into the average game than the PS2 was capable of. I really doubt we’re ever going to see a remake of Outbreak but one could argue that it might be the game in the series that would benefit most from it considering that its basic premise fell so flat with the tech of the time. But that point does go to show that there is actually a lot about this game that is at the very least interesting. I wouldn’t recommend this title for people with merely a passing interest in Resident Evil. But for someone who has played most all of the games and enjoys the deeper perspective the game offers of the series events, it really isn’t all bad.
My other Resident Evil reviews:
