Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

'Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is an upcoming 2012 third-person shooter video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, co-developed by Slant Six Games and Capcom, and currently scheduled for a release on March 20, 2012 in North America and March 23, 2012 in Europe. It is part of the Resident Evil series, being set around the same time as Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and the two Resident Evil Outbreak titles.

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
The game contains these current scenarios:

Containment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XagVLpbkvok&feature=related
 * Objective: Infiltrate in the Birkin's laboratory and steal the G-virus sample.
 * Areas: Umbrella Underground Laboratory.
 * Characters: HUNK.
 * Enemies: UBCS, G|G-Birkin, SpecOps, Cerberus.

Corruption (3rd Chapter)

 * Objective: Destroy all the evidence of the Umbrella participation in the outbreak.
 * Areas: Raccoon City Hall.
 * Characters: Nicholai Zinoviev.
 * Enemies: Zombies, Lickers, SpecOps.

No Survivors

 * Objective: Find the cop and kill him.
 * Areas: Stagla Gas Station, Kendo Gun Shop.
 * Characters: Claire Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy.
 * Enemies: Zombies, Hunters, Lickers, SpecOps, T-103

Betrayal

 * Objective: Unknown
 * Areas: Unknown
 * Characters: Unknown
 * Enemies: Zombies

Witness (1st Chapter)

 * Objective: Unknown
 * Areas: Unknown
 * Characters: Umbrella Security Soldiers and Birkin
 * Enemies: Unknown

Rogue's Gallery

 * Objective: Unknown
 * Areas: Unknown
 * Characters: Unknown
 * Enemies: Unknown

Danger, High Voltage ! (4th Chapter)

 * Objective: Unknown
 * Areas: Unknown
 * Characters: Unknown
 * Enemies: Zombies

Gameplay
There are six playable characters in the game, Vector, Beltway, Lupo, Spectre, Bertha and Four Eyes. Each have their own unique abilities; Vector (real name unknown) is the team's recon expert and is equipped with a cloaking ability, Beltway (real name Hector Hivers) is proficient in the use of explosives, Bertha (real name Michaela Heinzwaffen) is the team's medic, Spectre (real name Vladimir Bodrovski) is the team's surveillance class and sharpshooter, Four Eyes (real name Christine Yamata) is the scientist of the group with the ability to program the Bio Organic Weapons (BOWs), and then there is Lupo (real name Karena LesProux) who is an Assault class/Team Leader as shown in a recent trailer. Alongside the single-player mode, the game will also offer four-player co-operative gameplay, which pits the USS against the US Special Operations task force.

The zombies in the game will be able to attack the player in a multitude of ways. A zombie that gets too close to the player will usually attempt to grapple the player, prompting the player to rapidly shake his analogue stick to avoid infection. Players who are unsuccessful in doing this will be "invisible" to nearby zombies for a limited amount of time whilst they are infected before their death in game. If a player is successfully bitten and later runs out of time after becoming infected, the player will lose control of their character and begin attacking their former teammates until shot in the head, allowing the player to respawn.

The game also utilizes a bleeding mechanic, meaning characters who have been badly wounded will be deemed "bleeding out", giving their screen a blood red hue and making them a higher priority target to nearby infected than the others.

There will be additional enemy types in the game besides zombies. BOWs that can be confirmed from E3 are Hunters, Lickers and Tyrants. Furthermore, the player will be able to control them under certain circumstances.

In December 2011, Capcom unveiled 'Heroes Mode', an online multiplayer feature allowing you to play classic hero characters such as Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira, plus the villains Ada Wong, HUNK, Nicholai Ginovaef and an all-new character, called Lone Wolf.

Multiplayer
These Multiplayer Modes have been confirmed by Capcom for the game:

A team deathmatch style gametype. The goal is for one of the two teams (Spec Ops or USS) to kill the other in order to attain the highest score.
 * Team attack -

The goal is to escort samples of the G-Virus back to the base of your team.
 * Biohazard -

A competitive twist on survival game types; the goal is to survive until a rescue helicopter arrives, while fending off the other team.
 * Survivors -

The goal is to fight against your opponents' and defend your own team's iconic characters.
 * Heroes Mode -

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.

All playable characters begin the game with a standard handgun and a combat knife. The selectable weapons are separated into six categories including shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, machine guns and submachine guns with each category containing between 3 and 6 weapons. Players may choose only one before the campaign begins. Other weapons, like handguns, flamethrowers and grenade launchers are confirmed in game, but it is unknown if players can select these, start with these, or need to obtain them in the game. The "magnums" (and/or revolvers) category are not yet confirmed. Currently, the grenade launcher just uses explosive rounds ammo, despite the acid, incendiary and nitrogen rounds from RE2 and RE3.

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 minigun from his movie appearance. Claire Redfield uses a Penn Arms L1 rather than her signature M79 Grenade launcher against the USS. Also, in Claire's render, she is shown using a shotgun rather than her canon bowgun. Nicholai Zinoviev uses a H&amp;K PSG1.

It is unknown if classic characters like Leon and Claire use their trademark sidearms, the H&K VP70 and Browning HP, but both weapons were confirmed to be in the game. During the Heroes Mode trailer, Carlos Oliveira and Nicholai Zinoviev was showed using a SIG P226, as the standard sidearm of the UBCS. The render of Ada Wong was shown using the Blacktail and Jill Valentine with the Samurai Edge.

Another weapon pack was taken from Resident Evil 5, with weapons like the AK-74, H&K MP5, H&amp;K PSG-1 and others. Alfred Ashford's sniper rifle from Code: Veronica was confirmed to be in the game.

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 along with the proximity bomb used by both Beltway and Nicholai.

The knife has special action techniques merging with martial arts attacks to kill enemies. Blades includes survival knifes, machetes and daggers used by Wolfpack members and classic characters in the Heroes Mode.

Downloadable weapons
Operation Raccoon City is the first game in the series to include DLC weapons, currently eight in total: Machine Pistol, Combat Shotgun (Armsel Stryker), Perforator (Kel-Tec KSG), Combat SMG (TDI Vector), Anti-matérial rifle (Barret M87), Matilda (H&K VP70 burst), Cowboy Shotgun, and Classic Launcher (M79). Some of these weapons are based in country-like style and others have notorious designs.

Development
The idea for the game came about during the development of Lost Planet 2. 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: Operation 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."

On March, 2011, Masachika Kawata estimated the game to be 45% complete. According to Kawata, there were discussions on introducing new "Bio Organic Weapon" enemy creatures into the game.

The May 2011 edition of the Official Xbox Magazine, 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."

Awards
According with xbox360achievements.org, the game includes 50 achievements with a total of 1000 Gamerscore. Is more probably when these achievements are the same for the PS3 trophies

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 worldwide release in March 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

 * 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.
 * The North American PC version of the game will be sold exclusively as a digital download.
 * This game seems to have the most playable characters in the series so far.