‘Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City’ Drops Cinematic Trailer [VIDEO]

As a longtime fan of the 'Resident Evil' franchise, it's tough not to get excited about 'Operation Raccoon City' after watching the latest cinematic trailer for the game where, this time, zombies aren't the only threat.

Resident Evil fans, such as myself, have lived through as many highs as lows over the near 16-year history of the franchise. There have been incredible games like the original, 'Code Veronica,' and the game-changing 'Resident Evil 4,' as well as missteps like the non-canon spin-offs 'Survival,' the terrible 'Outbreak' series, even 'Resident Evil 5' was a bit disappointing. And the movies...we won't even go there.

The latest chapter in the Resident Evil franchise takes a step back to the events of the zombie-flooded streets of Raccoon City circa the events of RE2. The exciting thing about this game is that you will square off against Spec Ops team members in addition to the undead and the gigantic (pain-in-the-ass) tyrant. You will play as a member of the Umbrella Security Service trying to cover up the corporation's involvement in the outbreak, while the Spec Ops team tries to expose them. You will also be give the choice to rewrite the Resident Evil timeline by eliminating characters essential to future games like RE2/RE4 protagonist Leon Kennedy.

'Operation Raccoon City' will also feature an up to 4-Player co-op mode (instead of the poorly received forced co-op in RE5) and an online multiplayer mode where you can take on the form of classic characters from the series like Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliveira, Ada Wong, HUNK, Nicholai Ginovaef and an all-new character, called Lone Wolf. 'Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City' will be available for XBox 360, Playstation 3, and PC March 20th.

The trailer below features perhaps the best graphics we've seen in the series, at a few points I couldn't even tell it was CG. However, this video is all cutscene, for a look at how the actual gameplay click here.