Kawata on RE: Raccoon City's "third-person shooter" set-up

Masachika Kawata has told Famitsu that the control scheme in Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is reminiscent of third-person shooters - something OXM and OPM both mentioned in the magazines' respective articles on the game.

"The control system for this game has been changed to something you see a lot in third-person shooters," Kawata told Famitsu (via 1UP).

"I think fans of that genre will be able to enjoy this game a great deal. You play as a member of Umbrella as you fight off not only the US special forces, but Leon S. Kennedy and the T-Virus-infected zombies as well.

"It's a chaotic three-sided confrontation that we're depicting with this TPS gameplay, and I think that's the main draw for this title. The game is set somewhere around RE2 or RE3, but it's a completely new story that we're writing - a parallel world, if you will. There'll be a lot of aspects that'll make series veterans smile, though.

"The idea for this game got its start when we thought about taking the world of Resident Evil 2 and using it to try something we've never done before with the series. It's a third-person shooter in order to take advantage of Slant Six's previous achievements with SOCOM. We've covered a lot of Raccoon City's story up to now, but I think putting the player on the side of the villains will give them a brand new experience. The main keyword during development is 'Kill Leon.'"

Kawata went on to say that several BOWs from previous RE titles, including the Tyrant, will be included in the game, but that new bosses will also be aired.

"This game is all about new ideas and concepts that aren't beholden to previous titles, so that's the sort of thing I want people to look forward to," he added.

Operation Raccoon City is around 45 percent complete, according to Capcom, and a "much more complete package" will be shown off around E3.

Check out the first teaser trailer here.

Thanks, 1UP.