Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

18 cert Xbox 360 (Also Playstation 3, PC) Capcom ****

Yet another instalment in the stubbornly resilient zombie franchise, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is a mixed success; departing slightly from the original series and taking inspiration from other games, for better and for worse.

This time around, you’re playing as employees of the sinister Umbrella Corporation, cleaning up a zombie virus outbreak in Raccoon City. As well as the countless zombies, you also have to deal with US military presence. Fighting for the bad guys is novel, but for a series with such a rich mythology, the story is surprisingly shallow.

The co-operative mode works reasonably well: Playing as part of a squad, you can invite players to join you in a public campaign, or you can just play it through in a private party with friends. There are also options to play an online versus mode, with two competing teams of up to eight players.

Operation Raccoon City doesn’t feel especially like a Resident Evil instalment, but instead calls to mind the Left for Dead games (another third-person, co-operative zombie game) and strategic combat titles like Ghost Recon. The duck-and-cover mechanic, meanwhile, echoes Gears of War.

The slight departure in gameplay might alienate legions of hardcore Resident Evil fans, but those who enjoy intense, third-person shooters should be satisfied. The controls are less sophisticated, but easier to master than in previous RE games, there’s a decent variety of enemies, weapons and locations, and the objections are clearly mapped out (not too much wandering around aimlessly). It also takes itself agreeably seriously. Any game in which you shoot zombies to the sound of Beethovens Moonlight Sonata is okay in my book.

The biggest problem, for this writer, was the non-playable characters artificial intelligence. Marvel in disbelief as your teammates wander into tripwires, appear oblivious to gunfire and (most heinously) block your view and line-of-fire. They really are an incompetent bunch. Whatever about a zombie uprising, at least we know that we can outsmart computer-generated soldiers.

JOE GRIFFIN