Burton's Bytes: A date with the undead

WHEN Capcom announced it was working on an online version of the popular Resident Evil franchise everyone agreed it was a terrific idea.

The original games were fantastic single player experiences but nothing beats teaming up with a fellow human being for a bit of undead action.

Unfortunately, we'll never know. Capcom has decided to drop the online element for Europe.

So what are we left with? After all, Resident Evil: Outbreak was designed from the outset as a multi-player game - by stripping away the online support, Capcom is running a risk of emasculating its latest adventure.

Luckily, Outbreak always offered a single player element and it's this game we are being offered in the UK.

Set during the original Resident Evil 1 & 2 time period, Outbreak sees the return of Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy. An outbreak of the secret T-virus bio weapon has turned the residents of Racoon City into shambling undead and created horrific monsters from their pets.

The secretive Umbrella Corporation is behind the outbreak. Special forces operatives Redfield and Kennedy are battling to control the spread of the virus and bring the culprits to justice.

Amid the wreckage of the city are a few frightened survivors. They must find a way out of the nightmare before the Government gives the go-ahead for a cleansing mission. And the only way to be sure the T-virus is wiped out altogether is to drop a low yield nuclear weapon on the entire town.

So at its heart, Outbreak is pretty much your average Resident Evil adventure, pitting your character against the usual assortment of characters more usually spotted in a Lucio Fulci movie.

You can tell Outbreak was designed as a multi-player game. The narrative that drove the previous games forward is much more episodic this time.

That's perfect if you are a gamer who can't devote hours and hours to your hobby - not so much fun if you enjoy a sweeping narrative that really propels the story forward from one set piece to the next.

Each episode is pretty much a stand-alone story. Outbreak is more like one of those Amicus multi-story movies like Tales From The Crypt or Vault of Horror than Night Of The Living Dead.

You start out in a bar as the zombies pour into the streets looking for flesh. Later on you get to see inside the Umbrella Corporation and examine a lab where the virus was created. There are also episodes set in a hospital that's been taken over and a hotel that's full of zombies and burning down.

As each short story starts you choose your survivor. Each one has unique properties (the policeman has a handgun, the plumber can fix things and the journalist can pick locks) so choose well and your progress should be assured.

Your allies are controlled by the PS2 and their help can come in handy, particularly when you are hanging from a window ledge about to fall.

Don't rely on them too much, though, because sometimes they go missing - running off to hide from a hideous zombie or exploring a darkened room.

The gameplay is pretty much standard Resident Evil. You dodge the undead, solve some brain bending puzzles and escape to the next room. All the usual items are present and correct: the herbs you have to mix into healing potions, the health spray, the keys and, of course, the fire arms. Your character can also break off parts of the scenery to defend him or herself. A lead pipe makes a handy club when you have run out of bullets.

Thankfully, Capcom has tweaked the infamous character control to make your survivors more agile than their predecessors. Control movement is simple: just move the left analogue stick in the direction you need to go.

Interestingly, because the game keeps running even if you are doing nothing, there's more of a sense of not being in control this time around. This boosts the sense of unease as the game builds steadily throughout your adventures. It also makes the game harder to play because the zombies are both faster and more plentiful.

PS2 owning fans of Resident Evil have waited patiently for this game to arrive ever since the franchise upped sticks to Nintendo's GameCube. Is it worth the wait?

Outbreak isn't a classic in the mould of the first two Resi games but it still fills a satisfying gap in the PS2 horror back catalogue. You could say it's dead good, in fact.