Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Preview

With the recent release/announcement of the next chapter in the main Resident Evil series, Resident Evil 6, it’s very easy to forget about the next installment in the Resident Evil universe ‘Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.’ Capcom has made it a habit of changing up the Resident Evil series over the past few years and that looks to hold strong here as Operation Raccoon City looks to be quite a departure for the series in a number of ways.

The plot of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City take place in 1998 during the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. You play as either a member of The Umbrella Security Service as you attempt to eliminate all evidence that the Umbrella Corporation was the cause of the T-Virus outbreak from behind the scenes, or The United States Special Operation Forces as you strive to expose Umbrella and all of their evil ways. When playing as each of these factions, the player will be given the chance to make several key decisions that will ultimately shape the future of the Resident Evil Universe such as whether or not to kill Leon Kennedy, the main protagonist of Resident Evil’s 2, 4 and 6.

The story mode will allow for the player to play through a unique story that will have you working behind the scenes of Resident Evil’s 2 and 3 as the struggle between Umbrella and the United States government is taking place. The multiplayer is a bit of a departure for the Resident Evil series as Operation Raccoon City will allow for up to eight players to team up online and attempt to survive the night in Raccoon City as either the U.S.S. or US Special Operation Forces.  Operation Raccoon City will give it’s players twelve different characters, six for each side, each one having their own combat specialties ranging from recon to medic to sharpshooter.

There will also a few exciting games modes in Operation Raccoon City including the much anticipated ‘Heroes Mode’ which is an online multiplayer mode that assigns a hero from Resident Evil past to each of the players involved and looks to see who can reign supreme and be the last hero standing. The ‘hereoes’ that are involved in this mode is what has gotten most fans excited, the heroes that will be available are Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliveira, Ada Wong, Hunk, Nicholai Ginovaef and a new character named ‘Lone Wolf.’ There has also been a secondary mode recently announced, exclusive to the Xbox 360, called Nemesis Mode which, you guessed it, allows a player to take control of the behemoth monster from Resident Evil 3 and rearrange the faces of your enemies.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City releases on March 20th for the PS3 and Xbox 360, and May 18th for the PC. Stay tuned to Go!GamingGiant for a full review of the game as soon as we are done getting our zombie fix!