New 'Resident Evil' zombifies writer's sense of fun.

In an age where video game production costs continue to rise, "Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City" is of a breed of game that I truly believed to be slowly dying out; a badly executed product from start to finish with almost no redeeming value. Drab, broken, and just not entertaining in the slightest, the only thing of worth in "Operation Raccoon City" is the "Resident Evil" name.

The game sets itself up during the events of "Resident Evil 2" and "3," following a group of Umbrella black ops agents. The game provides a hypothetical situation within "Resident Evil" lore; namely, what would happen if Umbrella agents were to interfere in key moments of the Resident Evil franchise, such as the infamous Raccoon City outbreak, or the escape of series protagonist Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield.

In concept, "Operation Raccoon City" is a sound idea that I would encourage another developer to revisit and attempt once more in the future. Unfortunately, hopes at seeing the premise done right don't change how horrendously executed it has been done with this game.

"Operation Raccoon City" is a shameless attempt to be Capcom's answer to numerous amounts of squad-based shooters on the market. Despite the numerous problems of the game here and there, perhaps it would have been relatively successful if the squad based and shooting mechanics weren't broken on a fundamental level.

The game has no assigned button for taking cover, opting instead for an automatic cover system based on your angle and proximity to solid objects that can be hidden behind. Unfortunately, the mechanic has a tendency to be finicky, which means that you can spend a good chunk of the game running at a structure trying to take cover or trying to avoid the object only to shift into cover automatically, which wears on the nerves really quickly in heavy fire fights with rogue Umbrella operatives or when you're trying to reach your destination as quickly as possible, trying to survive the new zombie types ripped straight out of better zombie themed shooters, such as "Left 4 Dead."

The Cumbersome cover mechanics are exacerbated by the overall weak gunplay. The weapon selection made available doesn't seem to matter much, since most of the guns of the game have almost the same effect. I've wielded sub machine guns, assault rifles, and semi-automatics, and the only weapons that seemed to have any differentiation from one another were the pump-action shotgun and the bolt-action rifle, which had similar effects to one another.

The art direction and soundtrack don't exactly help to get the blood flowing, either. The soundtrack doesn't do much to inspire tension or fear in the environment, but the graphics really wear on the eyes after a while. Almost everything in the game is the same drab shade of grey and dark blue, which can easily bore you to sleep in a matter of minutes.

Not that you'll actually need your brain to suffer through the game's insufferably short length- which can be beaten in an afternoon- because the AI of both the enemy and single player squad mates is horrendous. There isn't much tension in battle when you can walk right up to an enemy that's staring directly at your right shoulder and beat him to death while he continues to shoot at a target that doesn't exist. Clearly marked mines planted all over the area? Not a problem, as your allies are drawn by an incessant desire to progress no matter what stands in their way, so you don't even have to waste bullets disarming them.

Obviously, this game was made for play with friends, as multiplayer is the only option that allows you to circumvent the stupidity of your partners, which will often have you running to the end of each stage, fighting as few enemies as possible. But, considering that it doesn't change the broken cover system, terrible enemy AI and boring stage design, I refuse to recommend it. Playing "Operation Raccoon City" on multiplayer is the difference between taking a bullet in the middle of the woods and taking one 20 feet from a hospital. One option may be preferable, but they both end in pain.

I actually expected Capcom to have a higher level of quality control than this. They and Co-developer Slant Six Games should be ashamed of themselves. "Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City" will go down as a stain on this franchises record and is easily one of the worst games that I have played this year so far.