| Resident Evil Outbreak | |
|---|---|
North American box art |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom Production Studio 1 |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Director(s) | Eiichiro Sasaki |
| Producer(s) | Katsuhiro Sudo Tsuyoshi Tanaka |
| Artist(s) | Yuji Imamura Yoshihiro Ono |
| Composer(s) | Akihiko Matsumoto Tetsuya Shibata Etsuko Yoneda Mitsuhiko Takano Kento Hasegawa Masato Kohda[1] |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
Resident Evil Outbreak, known as Biohazard Outbreak (バイオハザード アウトブレイク Baiohazādo Autobureiku) in Japan, is a survival horror game with online playability for the PlayStation 2 initially released in 2003.[2] It was developed by Capcom Production Studio 1.[3] This game was the first in the Resident Evil series and the first survival horror game to feature cooperative gameplay and online multiplayer support,[4][5] although online support was not available for the PAL versions of the game. Outbreak was produced by Tsuyoshi Tanaka, and depicts a series of episodic storylines in the fictional location Raccoon City, set during the same general time period as Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Outbreak was followed by a standalone expansion entitled Resident Evil Outbreak File #2.
Contents |
The beginning of Outbreak is set a couple of days after the initial outbreak of the fictional T virus in Raccoon City, moments before the crisis erupts into complete chaos. The game starts with the eight characters at J's Bar, unaware of what is happening until a lone zombie wanders into the bar and attacks one of the employees named Will. After that the characters must make it through the city. The game ends in the final moments of the same incident, with the player attempting to escape Raccoon City before the US government launches a missile strike to eliminate the threat posed by the T virus. The player controls one of eight characters, or numerous supporting characters who can be selected in their place. Gameplay events transpire across various regions of Raccoon City and span over a period of several days.
There are 5 Scenarios in this game:
The player chooses a scenario, difficulty level, and a character. The difficulty level is tied to what enemies and items the player encounters as they progress through the scenario. The game has five scenarios, each of which has an event checklist consisting of special actions that the player must perform to reach 100% completion. Upon doing so the player will unlock "Infinity Mode" in which all the player's weapons never break or run out of ammunition.
Each scenario also has "SP" items. These are invisible items hidden throughout the level, and are randomly generated on two paths. There are twenty scenario items for each scenario, and twenty items specific to each character hidden across the five scenarios. If acquired, these items unlock new costumes and the option to listen to their ad-libs.
Players could connect to the internet servers using a broadband connection and a network adapter. Account registration and login were required. Once players connected and logged in, they could then choose between Free Mode and Scenario Mode. Free Mode took place in a lobby and allowed players to create their own games, scenarios, and difficulty level. Scenario Mode would choose the scenario and players automatically. When a player first started online, they would begin on the Outbreak scenario and progress from there. If the player wished to stop playing, they could save their data and start off from the scenario they were up to at the time. If the player had beaten a scenario, they acquired a star by their name.
On December 31, 2007, Capcom shut down the US servers for Outbreak and on June 30, 2011 for the JP servers.
According to an interview with producer Noritaka Funamizu, the first concept of Biohazard Outbreak, as it was known originally, was before the release of Resident Evil 2 in 1998. With growing interest in the concept of network gaming over consoles, Shinji Mikami, the director of the first Resident Evil, suggested to Funamizu that he should have a try. Early on in the design, Funamizu made a small multiplayer minigame where the player must survive the longest; the team decided to remove it due to its failure to encourage team work (players would instinctively run away from the horde rather than help one-another), arguing that what made Resident Evil scary was its lack on multiplayer, forcing gamers to play on their own. The team then chose that the game would follow its own story like the other games in the series, but keep the option for multiplayer.[6]
The ad-lib system was chosen over conventional microphone chat because the development team argued that it would ruin the atmosphere. Instead, limited chat options were used for conversation between users - a player would walk up to another and deliver a line from a particular conversational category (eg. "help" and "go" categoies).[6]
Capcom released various pieces of media in 2002, including pictures featuring the eight main characters wandering around the Arklay Mountains and a trailer demonstrating the ad-lib system and character communication.[7] Later that year the game was renamed "Biohazard Network". By October, eighteen different scenarios were in-development, with even more in the concept phase.[6]
Not long after this the title was changed again, this time toBiohazard Outbreak (Resident Evil Outbreak outside Japan), and the number of scenarios wasvreduced to the five scenarios closest to being finished. Another five scenarios that did not make the initial cut, though were complete enough to be featured in the E3 2002 trailer, were developed into the sequel Resident Evil Outbreak File #2.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 70.78% (38 reviews)[8] |
| Metacritic | 71%[9] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | B-[10] |
| Allgame | [11] |
| Eurogamer | 5/10[12] |
| GamePro | [13] |
| Game Revolution | B-[14] |
| GameSpot | 7.2/10 [15] |
| GameSpy | [16] |
| GamesRadar | 9[17] |
| GameZone | 8.3[18] |
| IGN | 7.6/10 |
The game received average reviews and sold about 1.45 million copies, reaching the 32nd position in the list of Capcom's best-selling games.[19]
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