Continuing The Outbreak

The Resident Evil series is taking its first jump into the world of online gaming with Resident Evil Outbreak. We had a chance to speak with the game��s producer, Tsuyoshi Tanaka, to get his thoughts on adapting the survival-horror franchise for online play and to find out how he��s making the new game just as spine tingling as its predecessors.

Why has Capcom decided to bring the Resident Evil series online?

It��s been a long road to get to the actual creation point. What originally happened is that the original CEO of Capcom, Mr. Okamoto, told Shinji Mikami [the creator of the Resident Evil series] to ��make a network Resident Evil game,�� but Mikami basically declined. Okamoto then approached Noritaka Funamizu, but he said no as well. The reason Okamoto went to Funamizu in the first place was because he created online play for Street Fighter II, and that worked really well. But everyone was saying that [online play and Resident Evil] just didn��t fit together. However, one day, while I was sleeping, I came upon the idea of how to make an online version of Resident Evil work.

What was that idea?

Before the game was being worked on, there was that notion of making a massively multiplayer online game where people could be a zombie, a dog, or a human character. Then there are the Dooms, the Quakes, and the real-time strategy games��that��s what the image of online gaming was. We had to break through that image and come up with something new, so I started to ask myself, what is fear? What is scary, or what can you make scary? What can you do to make online scary?

It occurred to us that the scariest thing we can use is the interaction between people. For example, let��s say we have one person playing as a human character and another person playing as a dog. If we made it a shooting game, then it didn��t have to be Resident Evil��it could be any other game. Again, it occurred to us that communication is scary. A friend could��ve been killed and turned into a zombie, and you could open a door thinking it was your friend, and he or she will start attacking you. You could also be waiting for a friend inside a room and he doesn��t come; then you��ll have decide if you want to leave and go out into another area filled with eight zombies. If you leave without your friend, he may think you��re a jerk, so maybe you would stay in the room and wait. There are so many things that can go wrong, and a lot of it is based on communication. If you look at the original Resident Evil, you would always be wondering what was happening to the other character. We��ve been able to capture a similar feeling for this game.

How does communication function in Resident Evil Outbreak?

There are two ways to communicate: There��s the Square button, which is used as the ad-lib chat, and then there��s the right analog stick. The right analog stick will enter one of a few preset phrases, such as Yes, Come, Go, and Thanks��just basic things that people would use to communicate. These chat commands can only be used if you��re in the same room. The ad-lib chat depends on the type of situation you��re in, your health, the item you have, and the puzzle��so you press the button and your character will say something. There are many, many pages�� worth of text. Sometimes you can press that button and the room you��re in will briefly flash on the other players�� map, so they��ll know something is going on there. But it doesn��t always mean you��re going to die. It could mean that there��s an ambush or a certain monster.

What about the single-player game? How do you keep the communication element as prevalent?

Basically, the computer-controlled characters will follow you around, but they��re not always going to cooperate with you. It��s almost like a pseudo-Internet because you don��t know if you��re going to get a good player or a bad player. Sometimes you��ll get characters who will follow [you] and do what you say, but there will be others who don��t respond to your commands. Some characters will help you when you��re attacked, but even then, some will do it sooner while others will take more time��or not help you at all.

Does the gameplay change depending on the type of character players are using?

There are two types of characters: the ones who can run into battle and the ones who should stay away from battle. The higher levels have fewer healing items and weapons, so it depends on how you use the character��s abilities. A character good at healing needs to stay in the back to heal the ones who are good at fighting. Also, if you��re the type of person who wants to play through the game once as a single character, then you��ll be missing out because each character has his own cut-scenes and ending movies.

What is the structure of the game like? Is there a lot of backtracking, or is it relatively linear?

It��s very similar to the other Resident Evil games. People who have played the game up to now have said that it��s very much like the original Resident Evil in terms of fear. There are five different scenarios with different directors, so you��re going to get a different game style with each one. It��s like the differences between Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, and Veronica, because they have different directors and different perspectives. You��ll get some that are suspenseful and Hitchcock-like, but others [that] are just pure scare scenarios like the original Resident Evil.

Any future plans for Resident Evil Outbreak, such as expansions or sequels?

Using that system and network, we could make a lot of cool games [smiles].

Copyright © 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.