Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles: - A Perfectly Evil Rental

Capcom has been one of the Wii's biggest supporters since the console's launch. It came as no surprise then to see that a new Resident Evil would be hitting Nintendo's quirky new console. This game came to be known as Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and to the surprise of many, the game turned out to be a light-gun shooter. The looming question is this - does Umbrella Chronicles rise above the other, mostly mediocre Resident Evil offshoots? Yes, it does.

For this outing Capcom has gone back to the very roots of the Resident Evil series. The latest installment, Resident Evil 4 took place after the mysterious crumble of the worldwide super-corporation villain of the original games with little clue as to what happened. Umbrella Chronicles retells the story of the original Resident Evil games (minus RE2) while adding new chapters, and a brand new finale that tells exactly how Umbrella was destroyed.

Resident Evil purists will have some problems with this game's story. Events and scenarios have been slightly altered to fit the design of the game. I personally had no problem with the changes, but I can see how others would. Another problem is that the re-telling of the past events is pretty barebones. Because of the chapter setup there are gaps in the story, and the only way to effectively piece these segments together is through already knowing what happened by playing the Resident Evil games in question. Capcom botched their storytelling quite a bit here, but because this is a light-gun game it's forgivable.

What I found to be particularly cool in regards to story is the fact that you can find various memos, notes, and letters in the many environments. This is a throwback to the standard Resident Evil formula, and even though it's such a small feature these documents help you to understand the story better while adding to the atmosphere.

The game is played like your typical light gun shooter, but with a few twists involving the Wii-remote. You aim the remote at the screen and fire the trigger to shoot enemies. Umbrella Chronicles is easier than most light gun shooters in that the game gives you an on-screen reticule which gives you a lot more accuracy in aiming. Besides that all the staples of the genre are in place - multiple types of weapons, hordes of enemies, and action that takes place completely on rails. This means that your characters will automatically move through the environments in set paths, but occasionally you're given a bit of choice.

Umbrella Chronicles features a diverse arsenal chock full of goodies. You've got everything from your standard handguns to the magnums, various types of shotguns, and the almighty rocket launcher. The standard handgun has infinite ammo but everything else is limited (save for the knife). The various weapons can be found laying around in the many areas of the game and can be picked up by highlighting and pushing the A button. A big part of the game's strategy is managing your ammunition and saving up for the big boss fights. It's not as easy as it sounds - far too often you'll find yourself cornered by zombies and other ghastly creatures.

If this release suffers from one major problem it's the hit detection. You can blast away at zombies but a lot of the time you won't knock them back when it seems like you definitely should have. The different sections of the body react when hit but these reactions are completely unnatural. This holds especially true with the various boss characters. You'll notice the awkward detection the most when facing off against your standard zombie enemies. Shooting them in the forehead causes their head to burst, but hitting them anywhere else in their noggin causes some really weird animation where their head simply tilts in some very unrealistic ways. This is one area Capcom should have spent more time on.

Another problem, albeit much smaller than the last, is the fact that Umbrella Chronicles lacks the scare factor the series is known for. Resident Evil is a very scary series and this aspect couldn't be reproduced in a lightgun shooter. This is very disappointing. Don't get me wrong - there are a few moments here and there that are pretty atmospheric and creepy (the subway station lit only by your flashlight for example) but in general this isn't a game that you should avoid playing at night.

The best part of the game, in my opinion, is how well the areas from the original games were recreated. Umbrella Chronicles sends you through environments from Resident Evil, Resident Evil 0, and Resident Evil 3. These areas include the train, the original mansion, and various places around Raccoon City. Even the smallest of details has been reproduced, and because of this, Umbrella Chronicles is an intense nostalgia trip for fans of the series.

Besides aiming, the Wii-remote is used in a few other ways. When being attacked by enemies (or environmental hazards) on-screen indicators will tell you to wave the Wii-remote or press a combination of buttons to dodge. Unfortunately you're only given a window of a second or two so it can be extremely difficult to pull them off on time unless you know they're coming. These are moments are pretty common and serve the purpose of keeping you on your toes quite well.

Though there are some definite problems with the gameplay they can all be overlooked once you start playing the 2 player co-op mode. Half the fun here is in blasting away at zombies with a friend, and it is only if you plan to play with a buddy that I would recommend this title to people who aren't big fans of the Resident Evil series.

Umbrella Chronicles is a very pretty game. Amazingly enough Capcom was able to render the entire game in realtime (instead of using pre-rendered backgrounds) while still maintaining the 'look' of Resident Evil. With that said it's worth noting that some of the textures in the environments are pretty weak. It's obvious that most of the effort was put into the characters here - and they look really good actually. Overall I would say that this is one of the better looking Wii games, even if the framerate does take a dip every once in a while.

The game's soundtrack is also very well done. The music has the very distinct Resident Evil style to it, and instead of just throwing in the music from the older games Capcom opted to give this game it's own soundtrack. The voice overs are as terrible as they ever were though. Capcom seems to have a hard time finding worthwhile actors, but this is something the series is well known for and it's actually very fitting of the B movie nature here. Sound effects are generally good though you'll mainly only hear footsteps, gunshots, and explosions.

Controls are no real problem here. Capcom gives you the option of using just the Wii-remote, but you can also plug in the nunchuck attachment which offers slightly more control. Basically you can look around a bit with the joystick if you have this plugged in. The on-screen reticule reacts well enough with the Wii-remote's pointer capability. The only problem I have is the fact that the game doesn't always correctly register when you wave the Wii-remote around to shake off a zombie. Umbrella Chronicles is one of the games released alongside the Wii Zapper peripheral to spotlight it. While I haven't actually gone hands on with it I can say that this game functions perfectly well without it.

Final Recommendation
This is a must rent for any fan of the RE series. I say 'rent' only because the game is pretty short and doesn't offer a ton of incentive to come back to it. It's also worth taking a look at if you're a big lightgun fanatic. Overall Umbrella Chronicles is a lot of fun and has surpassed my expectations.