The first Resident Evil game to be released based on supplementary material and the first game on Nokia N Gage 2.0 system. In this case Degeneration (Mobile) is based on the Degeneration CGI film and incorporates many aspects seen from the film.
History
Utilizing the same 3D engine first seen in the Resident Evil 4 Mobile Edition game, Degeneration plays very much like an extension of the same formula set in Harvardville Airport. The game boasts the best looking graphics for any Resident Evil cellphone game with a fully 3D environment for Leon S. Kennedy to explore.
The game is divided into small chapters as previously seen in Resident Evil 4 with Leon completing simple objectives whilst battling the undead. As opposed to the CGI film much more time is spent in the airport with the ultimate goal being to prevent infected planes from taking to the air on their auto-pilot system. Further expansion takes place in the form of new B.O.W.s within the airport confines. Cerberus and even a Tyrant T-103 with more than a passing resemblance to the Rockfort Island T-078 model, which you fight in a plane's cargo hold.
Development History
Degeneration was a major project and one of the flagship triple A titles for the relaunched N-Gage platform. Originally the N-Gage was made to be a competitor to Nintendo's GameBoy, but sales were extremely poor, and the two specialist phones were soon discontinued. Undeterred Nokia re-released the concept of the N-Gage, this time incorporated into newly released mobile phones. The N81 being the first model to receive the gaming treatment, now most premier Nokia models have the N-Gage platform built in ready to download new titles.
Degeneration was outsourced to developer IdeaWorks 3D who used the Resident Evil 4 engine and maintained the "over-the-shoulder" perspective. Similar items and the same art design in terms of weapons and ammunition has also been recycled from the game as well.
2D Version
A 2D Version of the game was also released for other cell phones, this version utilizes the same system as the 2D version of Resident Evil: The Missions, however, the game is linear and has no alternative routes, As with the more advanced version of the game, the plot is non-canon.
Plot
The plot is very loosely held together with the dialogue between missions, during the events of Resident Evil: Degeneration, Leon S.Kennedy is given various objectives via Ingrid Hunnigan in order to rescue civilians and prevent the virus from leaving the airport, all whilst surviving against various monsters. The plot is non-canon due to contradictory events taking place during Resident Evil: Degeneration.
Gameplay
Gameplay consists of a fixed first person view with the gun visible at the bottom of the screen, the player is able to aim in several different directions on the same fixed screen, various monsters rise in front of the player with an attack meter and a health bar, the player has to attack the monster in order to prevent it from attacking, whilst draining the monsters health with attacks, due to several monsters appearing at once, the player has to prioritize the greater threat. During gameplay, various items will appear on screen to aid the player, such as green herbs (Healing item) and grenades (damages all enemies on screen at once).
During the course of the game, missions will provide the player with a specific weapon for such a mission, these weapons cannot activelty be changed. Each weapon possesses a different trait, such as the Desert Eagle needs to be aimed for a longer time to increase damage, whilst the shotgun is damaging without prolonged aiming but needs frequent reloading. The player is also awarded with various special items to lessen the drawback of certain weapons, such as a laser scope that shortens aiming times, only one of which can be equipped at the start of each mission.
There are 50 missions total, all have different requirements that have to be met in order to proceed, these include rescuing survivors by supressing their attackers whilst avoiding shooting them accidentally, killing a set number of monsters or collecting several items within a time limit.
Enemies
Zombies and Cerberuses are the main enemies througout the game, however, there are also several tyrants of unknown origin which serve as bosses, all tyrants are the same and appear similar to that of the mutation of T-103, with elongated claws on each hand, The tyrants can run along the screen to avoid getting shot, whilst their attack bar grows.
Canonicity
While based on the movie, the cell phone game bears very little resemblence to the actual events that occur and goes out of it's way to make up an entirely new plotline, along with the introduction of events and creatures not seen in the movie. Furthermore the game was developed by a third party. With these in mind, it is not considered canon.