Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City might have the Resident Evil name attached to it, but in no way does it even come close to capturing the franchise's legendary sense of atmosphere. Environments range from sterile to bland to completely forgettable, with only a few notable exceptions to break the tedium. It's an incredibly dark game, but most objects have a strange glowing sheen around them. I don't really understand this; if they wanted us to notice certain items in each environment, why not brighten the area up a bit? After all, this is not a survival horror game; there's no tension to be lost by letting us see a bit more clearly. Perhaps the developers were trying to preserve the sense of tension that is prevalent in most other Resident Evil games. However, it just doesn't work. The action is about as fun to watch as it is to take part in, which is to say it doesn't look very good at all. Enemies don't react when they are shot. They simply absorb bullets until they keel over. Zombies, on the other hand, are reduced to pulpy chunks; this makes them more fun to kill than the non-undead enemies, but only slightly.

Save for the occasional item pick-up noise, Operation Raccoon City sounds like an standard action game rather than a standard Resident Evil release. The soundtrack is consistently fast-paced, in keeping with this installment's unique direction. It makes sense; this isn't a slow, deliberately-paced horror experience. There aren't a lot of unknowns to our anti-heroes, so the urgency isn't out of place. Voice acting is shrug-worthy, but it doesn't matter; Operation Raccoon City tells an uninteresting story about a team of unlikable mercenaries. Lines range from shocked outbursts at sudden betrayals to simple mission recaps and assorted small talk. Skilled delivery or not, a poor script can't be fixed by actors. Guns unfortunately sound very weak. Combine that with the lack of hit reactions from your enemies, and you're left with a shooter that is not nearly as satisfying as it could have been.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City was built from the ground up on an undeniably awesome premise. Taking place around roughly the same time period of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, you play as Umbrella Security Service's Wolfpack Team. Wolfpack is made up of a handful of elite combatants, each of whom sports a unique set of skills but no personality whatsoever. You witness the initial T-Virus outbreak, and your job quickly goes from "Stop Dr. Birkin" to "Eliminate Umbrella's connection with the outbreak." This naturally places you in a number of potentially canon-bending scenarios that could have been interesting. Unfortunately, the poor quality of the gameplay will serve as a deterrent to your desire to see the story through.

Operation Raccoon City has very little in common with most other Resident Evil games. It's a true blue third person shooter all the way through. This game is not at all about exploration and thoughtful environmental puzzles. It's about running to the next checkpoint and killing everything that is not on your team. It could have proved an interesting take on the formula, but so much of this game was poorly executed that it doesn't even bear thinking about anymore.

You can play Operation Raccoon City cooperatively or competitively over Xbox Live. The co-op features four-player action while the competitive allows for eight. The co-op features all the grim trappings of the main campaign, but I suppose misery loves company. The competitive stuff is a bit more interesting. There are four modes, including the standard score-based Team Attack and the standard capture-the-flag variant Biohazard. Heroes is the deathmatch mode that allows you to play as well-known Resident Evil characters. Survivor is a bit more interesting: a rescue helicopter is on the way to extract you from the fray, but it has a limited number of seats. Screw your neighbor or die is essentially the rule of survival.

As a whole, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is easier than its core counterparts. However, it is inconsistent. Take, for example, the ammunition situation. Most Resident Evil games barely give you as much as you need to survive. That's all fine and good, but Operation Raccoon City has more in common with Gears of War than Resident Evil 5. Lots of bad guys attack you at once, and you'll often find yourself scavenging around the battlefield for new weapons and ammo while your enemies take potshots at you.

The action isn't usually straight up challenging, but it's full of little frustrations. To start, the gunplay is somewhat neutered by the presence of auto-aim. However, once those are all turned off, the natural aiming controls are uncomfortable and stiff. The worst parts of Operation Raccoon City are when the game takes control without giving you any logical explanation why. These moments don't permeate the entirety of the game, but their existence is unfortunate.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City tries to be a Resident Evil-flavored third person cover shooter, but there are tons of execution issues that render the gameplay stale and uninviting.

First, the cover system. It's not broken per se, but it doesn't work well. It's supposed to be a smart cover system that judges when you want to be in cover. Unfortunately, it is completely incapable of doing so. I can't count the number of times I ran up to a flipped table or random piece of cover and automatically stuck to it despite not wanting to.

Operation Raccoon City may cast you as part of a squad, but that doesn't mean you'll have any control over your teammates. That's a real shame, because they are just as braindead as those infected with the T-Virus. They stand in doorways, shoot at nothing in particular, and trip mines that are clearly armed. This is rectified by having friends accompany you, of course.

As mentioned, Operation Raccoon City's gunplay is tired and uninteresting. The amount of hits required to put enemies down is not consistent, and there is very little impact to each landed hit. You've got more tools to work with other than guns, but they aren't all that interesting either. Throwing grenades is a huge pain in the ass; you might be up against a wall with ten enemies straight ahead. You'd think tapping the grenade button would allow you to throw a grenade directly where you're aiming. Alas, your throw would probably bounce off of a wall and land at your feet. Of course, you could simply wander into the chaos and start mashing (B); the close quarters combat is ridiculously overpowered.

Fixing yourself up is different in Operation Raccoon City. First off, Green Herbs are instantly used upon pickup. Second, you are not immune to the T-Virus, and you can indeed become infected. You're no longer guaranteed to shrug off a Licker attack or a zombie bite. If you're infected, you have a limited amount of time to be treated with Antiviral Spray before you turn. It's a neat idea that would be cool to see in other Resident Evil games.

Abilities are interesting. Each character has his/her own special skills, and you can unlock them with experience. For example, Vector can temporarily turn himself invisible, while Four-Eyes can shoot a dart that allows her to control infected individuals. If the core game was more interesting or more fun to play, these additions would have been more notable.

The Resident Evil franchise is no stranger to failed experiments. There have been a few stinkers, and Operation Raccoon City unfortunately earns a spot on that list. I can't recommend it to Resident Evil fans or fans of third person shooters in general. It just isn't much fun to play.