A mid-western town in the United States called Raccoon City was destroyed when a mutagenic viral weapon known as the "t-virus" was leaked into the nearby Arklay Mountains in July 1998, followed by the release of the t-virus into the sewers of Raccoon City itself in September of the same year. The resulting incident forced the United States government to destroy Raccoon City via surgical missile strike after most of the population was infected with the leaked viral strains, becoming zombies. Although the Umbrella Corporation was implicated in the incident and severely pressured by outside influences to confess their crimes and abort their research, they refused to do so, conducting further research into the strains in clandestine, secluded laboratories. When a large amount of a recently developed hybrid viral agent known as the "G virus" is stolen from the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals Development Center in Paris by a former Umbrella researcher, Bruce McGivern is sent in by the U.S. government to retrieve the virus and neutralize the threat.[3]
This game begins somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean on board an Umbrella-owned luxury ocean liner, the "Spencer Rain" in September 2002. All personnel on board have been infected with the t-virus stolen by former researcher Morpheus Duvall. The player assumes control of Bruce McGivern, a member of the Anti-Umbrella Pursuit Investigation Team, a US government task force devoted to investigating and preventing the illegal activities of the Umbrella Corporation. Unlike the previous two Gun Survivor titles in the Resident Evil universe, this game features navigation from a third-person perspective as the player moves the character around to explore the environment and avoid encroaching threats. Combat is still undertaken in first-person view.[4]
The story also features Fong Ling, a Chinese agent for the Ministry of State Security. Ling is ordered to infiltrate the hijacked vessel in the Atlantic Ocean in order to eliminate Morpheus and obtain the G virus. Initially apathetic towards the presence of a rival operative, Ling must ultimately utilize Bruce's combat prowess in order to survive their precarious situation.
