Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is an upcoming 2012 third-person shooter video game with online playability for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It will be developed by Slant Six Games and published by Capcom. The game will be a new installment in the Resident Evil series of video games and will be developed by Slant Six Games instead of Capcom. The game takes place during the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3. Capcom hopes for an early 2012 release.

Plot
The game takes place in the year 1998, during the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3, after the outbreak of the t-virus in Raccoon City. However it is a reinterpretation of the events that occurred in the original games, and players are given the opportunity to change the occurrence of certain events in the Resident Evil canon. Players will take the role of an officer of the Umbrella Security Service, part of the Umbrella Corporation. Members of the USS are tasked with destroying evidence of Umbrella Pharmaceutical, Inc.'s illegal activities which caused the t-virus outbreak, including killing survivors of the outbreak. Among their enemies are Government Spec Ops, who are tasked with exposing the actions of Umbrella and understanding the cause of the t-virus outbreak in Raccoon City. The game will see the return of major places as well as characters of the Resident Evil series including Raccoon City as well as characters; Leon S. Kennedy, and Claire Redfield. Also announced at E3 2011 is the decision whether or not to kill Leon and Claire so you can keep the storyline as it is or you can change it drastically.

Environments known to appear in the game are Central street, the street left burning by the oil truck that decimates Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield's car in the opening cinematic to Resident Evil 2, about a block or so away from the Gun Shop Kendo (It is also the starting point for Scenario A, and a joint street to Central Station, where Jill Valentine makes her escape via Raccoon's Tram system in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis). This area is showcased in the latest gameplay video from E3 2011. It is also shown in the gameplay demo from San Diego Comic Con 2011, where the members of the Umbrella Security Service overhear Leon and Claire shouting to each other after the crash, re-creating dialogue from the original Resident Evil 2. New footage also shows a recreation of the ending of Resident Evil 2's opening cut sequence. This demo also reveals Kendo's Gun Shop as another location. Another area shown is the Stagla gas station, previously from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, although it does not appear to be the same gas station Jill ends up in. The Raccoon City Police Department has also been shown in one of the trailers, and a screenshot indicates that the Raccoon General Hospital from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Resident Evil Outbreak will also make an appearance, although the screenshot appears to be of a back entrance previously unseen. Other places likely to appear due to information from the "Inserted Evil" ARG are the sewers from RE2 and Raccoon City Hall and the Raccoon Park (Information from the second ARG mission :Check The stairway in City Hall. Check out the big sewer grate in the park.) Other locations revealed by the site are the RPD and Lonsdale Yard.

Campaign Scenarios

 * No Survivors
 * Others unknown at this time.

Playable characters

 * "Vector" - Master of stealth, real name unknown
 * Hector Hivers - Explosives expert, codename Beltway
 * Michaela Heinzwaffen - Team medic, codename Bertha
 * Vladimir Bodrovski- Designated marksman, codename Spectre
 * Karena Lesproux- Team leader and a USS Commander, codename Lupo
 * Christine Yamata- A USS Field scientist, codename Four-Eyes

Objectives and Key People (confirmed)

 * Leon S. Kennedy - One of the surviving Raccoon City Police Department; confirmed to be in the game but may not be playable.
 * Claire Redfield - Chris Redfield's sister is confirmed to be in the game but may not be playable.
 * HUNK - The Clue #4 in Inserted Evil game provided a report on his abilities and mental health; He was confirmed to be a major character in the game, as the Wolfpack meets with him after obtaining the G-Virus sample.
 * Albert Wesker - During the Comic Con 2011,he was hinted to have an important role working for The Organization via agent Ada Wong &#91;1&#93;
 * Nicholai Ginovaef - In the Inserted Evil game, a letter that was for him, and a recent surveillance video of him &#91;2&#93;, escaping from zombies (in what it seems to be Fillmore School), leaving an small platoon of UBCS mercenaries to die. He was confirmed in the 2011 Gamer's day Video to play an important role in the game.

Rumoured to appear:

 * Jill Valentine - It was hinted that she might make an appearance alongside Carlos.
 * Carlos Oliveira - It was hinted that he might make a return with Jill.
 * Sergei Vladimir - It is unknown if the colonel will appear in the game, but his appearance in Umbrella Chronicles is canon, so there is a great chance that he will make an appearance commanding the UBCS and taking the UMF-103.

B.O.Ws/Non Human

 * Nemesis Beta parasite
 * Zombie
 * Crimson Head
 * Licker
 * MA-121 Hunter α
 * T-103
 * Nemesis T-02
 * Zombie Dog
 * G-Birkin

Human

 * Spec Ops
 * RPD Officers
 * Mercenaries

Areas

 * Raccoon City Police Department
 * City Hall
 * William Birkin Laboratory
 * Raccoon City Hospital
 * Stalga Gas Station
 * Raccoon City Park
 * Lonsdale Yard
 * Other places were confirmed in Inserted Evil, yet are only speculations.

Gameplay
The game has players taking the role of one of the members of a USS clean up crew. Alongside a single player mode, the game will also offer a 4 player co-operative mode as the player experiences the events of the game. Operation Raccoon City will allow the player to make decisions that could have major repercussions on series canon, such as causing the death of Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield during the course of the game.

A multiplayer mode is confirmed, which pits the USS against the Government Spec Ops, with the latter looking to uncover the situation Umbrella is attempting to hide. In addition, there are a few elements being added to the multiplayer. One of which is the presence of zombies on the multiplayer maps, including Hunters and Tyrants being spawned occasionally. This is similar to Mercenaries, but with a twist: Normal zombies can be used as shields. Being shot may cause bleeding, which causes a feeding frenzy to converge on the bleeding character. The player must hide or hold their position while the bleeding subsides and the zombies become more passive again.

Capcom-unity later announced at E3 that Lupo, and Four Eyes are new playable characters and that players will also get a chance to kill Claire Redfield. At E3 2011, the gameplay shows that if a member of the team becomes infected and their health bar runs out, the player turns into a zombie and can attack their former teammates. Gameinformer also added that the government Spec Ops might be playable team in the game and might be set out similar to the USS.&#91;4&#93;

Weapons
The weapons for the game are directly taken for Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Slant Six SOCOM titles, takes the more notable weapons for this games. A great part of the weapons are confirmed via Kendo Gun Shop webpage, via Inserted Evil in the fifth clue.

The weapons are separed in six categories yet, free to select before the campaing begins: shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, machine guns and submachine guns, and each categories has between 3 and 5 weapons. Other weapons, like handguns,flamethrowers and grenade launcher are confirmed in game, but is unknown if the players can select these, start with these, or need obtain them in the game.

Other non-playable characters and bosses use weapons not shown on the Kendo Gun Shop web page. Nemesis T-Type uses his trademark FIM-92 Stinger rocket launcher, as well as the Gatling Gun from his movie appearance. Claire Redfield uses a Penn Arms L1 rather than her signature M79 Grenade launcher against USS. Also, in Claire's render, she is showed using a shotgun rather than her canon bowgun. Leon S. Kennedy uses a Glock 17 rather than his H&K VP70. Nicholai Ginovaef uses a H&amp;K PSG1, likely in Outbreak File 2. The Samurai Edge handgun is confirmed via Kendo Gun Shop web page, probably for Jill Valentine.

The grenades in game can be used by USS members, UBCS mercenaries, RPD Officers and Government Spec Ops. Currently, just the frag and flash grenades are confirmed yet, with the proximity bomb used by Beltway.

The knife has a special action techniques, merging with martial arts attacks to kill enemies. Blades includes survival knifes, machetes and daggers used by the USS members.

Currently, only real life firearms are present in game, despite the non-real weapons like the Spark Shot and the Mine Thrower.

Downloable weapons
Operation Raccoon City is the first game to include DLC weapons, currently eight in total: Machine Pistol, Combat Shotgun, Perforator, Combat SMG, Anti-material rifle, Matilda, Cowboy Shotgun, and Classic Launcher.

Development
The May 2011 edition of the Official Xbox Magazine, to be released on April 5, shows an image of an individual in a gas mask along Umbrella, Inc. logo on the issue's cover. On November 1, 2010 Kotaku reported on a rumor that Slant Six Games, developer of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, was developing Resident Evil: Raccoon City. On its website, Slant Six Games wrote that it was currently developing "an amazing new project" that was unannounced, which was developed in conjunction with a "new publishing partner on a world class franchise."

In an interview with 1up.com, Masachika Kawata estimated the game, as of March 30, 2011, to be 45% complete.

Release
During E3 2011, french game site Play3-live.com claims that Capcom gave a release day of November 25, 2011 for europeans, however, Capcom confirmed the wordwide release in march of 2012.

A special edition of the game includes a steel cover for the game, 8 exclusive weapons and one alternate costume for Lupo, FourEyes, Bertha, Specter, Vector and Beltway.

If you pre-order the game at GameStop, BestBuy or Amazon.com, you will receive two DLC weapons different for each retailer.

Trivia

 * Originally shown as having four playable characters, that number was later increased to six.
 * According to Kawata, there are currently discussions on introducing brand-new B.O.W.s into the game.
 * In the demo, signs written on walls written in blood are seen around (often asking for HELP), this was already in the beta version of the original Resident Evil (1996), but for unknown reasons, blood signs were cut from the final product.