It is funny how in every iteration of the Resident Evil series we have always been fighting the Umbrella Corporation. Well, that is about to change in Operation Raccoon City. Here we take up the role of an elite Umbrella agent tasked with various acts of corporate shenanigans. It is fun to play the enemies’ side for once, and even better that Dan Birlew enjoyed it enough to document it for us noobs. Yup, even the bad guys can benefit from the work put forth by BradyGames.

This is one of the better laid out strategy guides from BradyGames. It begins with a small breakdown on all the characters along with each playable class. Considering there is a need to pick a character to stick with relatively early in the game, this info is handy in speeding up that decision. From there a full on breakdown of the game follows with even the differences in the 360 and PS3 control scheme getting some attention.

Following the mechanics and nitty-gritty of the inner game workings, enemies and weapons receive some attention. While the weapons have minimal stats, the enemies are nothing more than pictures with small descriptions of what they do. It would be nice to see some vitals here, but knowing that the zombie dog is going to pin you to the ground is better than nothing.

Upon completing the formalities, the main story walkthrough begins. Each chapter receives a map breaking down various weapons, ammo, and monster locations. From there it dives into what to expect as you work your way through the mission. I didn’t have many issues here and found the flow of the walkthrough worked well and provided enough to aid me on my undead slaughtering tasks.

I ended up using this guide as though it were a textbook for the game, meaning I would study small portions of it and then go take the zombie-slaying quiz. I would study the maps to get an idea of where ammo and data packages were while getting a clue of what enemies to expect or traps to watch for. I did this in small chunks as to not spoil any of those “spooky” moments, but yet just enough to keep getting me from checkpoint to checkpoint.

One piece of design I really enjoyed, and this may seem minor, is the little table of contents printed in the upper corner of every right hand page. Being able to close the guide and pick it back up later while still quickly and easily finding the section dedicated to where I was is pure awesomesauce. It honestly made navigating through the pages a breeze. In addition, noting how collectables like the typewriter were used to save games in the older Resident Evil games added some nostalgia to the guide while showing the author was up on his lore of the series.

My biggest issue with this guide was in the security camera location maps, although I cannot entirely lay blame on the book for this. The mini-map in the game and the broken out floor structure of the guide just do not work well together. I was lost more often than I was shooting out the watchful eye in the sky. I eventually just gave up and went about finding these on my own and forgetting about the maps unless I was completely clueless and needed some guidance on general locals.

I am glad I had this guide to hold my hand through the game, because it is scary and such. The maps can be a bit troublesome, but they were good for study material and did come in handy in the Versus mode. There are just enough helpful hints and tips to get players through the game, but nothing that are so glaring as to take away from the experience. Those who are stuck or just need to know where the flamethrower is, this is the strategy guide for them.

SGR Rating 4/5

Author: Dan Birlew
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions Available: Paperback
Acquired via Publisher