Log in to remove this sponsored message
Okay, so graphically Slant Six isn't all that great. They're a bit of a noob company with not too many titles under their belt. Their ability no uglify human hair and render it like wet dog isn't very becoming, but that said, GUESS WHO AIN'T PUNCHIN' ROCKS IN A "RESIDENT EVIL" GAME?
Taking heavy influences from the design of Resident Evil 2, the absolute bestestest Resident Evil ever created, ORC takes you immediately back into the days of zombies...awful awful zombies. And that Hunk guy, he's just downright dreamy. (Albeit they changed his mask and he now has big-head mode enabled)
So your team of 4 (of 3 guys and gals you can mix and match and have different skills) start off in the midst of pre-Resident Evil 2, first objective being to take back the G-Virus sample from Birken. As we all know, that doesn't go down too well. On top of that, your operation is a bit clandestine, to the point that Umbrellas own UBCS merc squad doesn't even know you exist. USS vs UBCS, take one. Few cutscenes and a bossfight later, game doesn't seem relatively 'difficult', albeit nailing the dark and gloomy and cold n' sometimes wet look of the Umbrella facilities, with plenty of red wall lights to add to the ambience. In short, looks good, albeit the lack of detail on some textures can make some areas look cheap, like a PSN download game as opposed to a full on 65$ PS3 game. (Slant Six, again, noobs, can't expect too much there. They've made like what, 3 games?) The combat an enemy AI isn't very impressive, it's basic. Shoot stuff, a lot. Shooting anyone leaves a cartoony blood splatter that could have been toned down, but dismemberments and gore are back in. No PG13 rating here. (Looking at you RE5), and for the most part, shooting other gun toting humans doesn't cause them to stagger or really react. Headshots aren't instant kills unless you're within 10 feet of the target gun-totin' human, but the ease of aiming means you can fire off 3 headshots and kill a single target only slightly slower than a single shot. Ally AI often gets stuck on invisible walls or can't pathfind their way toward you and the next objective, which sometimes results in you having to 'push' their character free to get them moving.
Before I got too disappointed with easy to kill targets I ended up triggering a battle with a swarm of lickers. That fight was good. Lots of enemies that had no issues crawling up walls and attacking you from blind spots, as well as assaulting my buddies to the point they succumbed to the G-Virus assault (licker stabs and swipes) and I had to put them down - which of course lets you resurrect them yourself and somehow turn them normal again (they dont want you playing with less than a full party of 4).
Sound effects aren't too great. Lot of gun sounds use generic effects that leave something to be desired, but the guns handle similarly to Slant Six's other PS3 title, Socom: Confrontation (the online-only one).
As far as leveling up and customization goes, you are given XP for completed missions and grabbing bonus intel or clearing secondary (hidden) objectives, like blowing up any security cameras or finding those classic typewriters. Exp is then used to purchase a few weapons or special character abilities. Characters like Lupo for example (female/assault) can unlock a special mode that enabled incendiary rounds for a few seconds (has a cooldown), while other characters like Vector can enable a cloaking device for stealth kills or grabbing a human/zombie shield. (Yes, you can feed people to zombies, lol)
Only briefly tried the vs modes, which sadly lacks a 'horde' type survival mode. They really need to add that in there. Something that trumps RE5s merc mode and doesn't involve punching 'clocks' to extend the time. Why they would include clock punching and break immersion we'll never know...
Also too many of the voice over actors try to sound all grunty and 'super badass', to the point that 3 characters (4 including Hunk) all sound the same.
One mechanic i'm liking is that the switch weapons button (primary and pistol are your options) and holding the button down changes gameplay and gives you a cinematic camera angle. Your character will autoaim with their pistol at enemies in the direction you hold and can slowly strafe in any direction with the right stick. This will let you fire shots at center mass of a target until you let go of the switch button, which very quickly changes back to your main weapon. It's not really needed, since enemies are so easy to dodge, but it could come in handy in vs mode/PVP, or in situations I just haven't encountered yet, or if you just make poor tactical decisions and don't generally watch your friggin' spacing.

That's about it so far. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't seem that challenging on normal mode. Can't recall if there was a difficulty setting, but I may have to amp it up some. Oh, I also don't like the AI's poor pathfinding. Too often do they move in the wrong directions that it causes them to get up close with zombies. You'll end up seeing 3 buddies all knifing the same target to death when they have perfectly good shotguns, assault rifles and smgs ... and no AI command system to force them to stay at range and no way to tell them to grab a green herb and heal themselves.
I've only seen bits of Left 4 Dead, but this game does seem to take a few queues from that setup. It's like a cross between L4D and RE Outbreak + Socom: Confrontation. Don't think i'll regret buying it, but do hope a demo is released so people can get a feel for if they'll like it or not. There's actually some people out there that preferred RE5/RE4s straying from what was good..... and rock punching. :\
Eh, as much as i'd like to clean up this post, the ps3 browser is absolute shit and lags like crazy just typing this.

The cursor took fifty seconds to catch up to me just typing this sentence.