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The Weekly Reporter's Review: Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

February 15, 2008

Spencer places the latest Wii installment of the Resident Evil series under his umbrella, eh, eh.
by Spencer Snell

SpencerPirate_1.jpgEach week a different member of the Living and Arts staff will present a new review of anything ranging from the latest chart topping blockbusters to obscure potato chip flavors; always insightful and always through an honest perspective, the WRR gives a critical picture into today’s content rich world.    

    Resident evil has taken on many forms over the years, but none are even similar to the newest installment Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

    The rail shooter is a common arcade style of first-person game, where the player has little or no control over movement and is instead lead through the game (as if on rails) while attacking an assortment of enemies. The future of this genre can be found in Capcom’s newest game Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. This title is a summarized version of the Resident Evil game series including the most important scenes from Resident Evil 0, and Resident Evil 1-3 as well as an all-new campaign Umbrella’s End.

     The game follows the rise and fall of the international pharmaceutical company, Umbrella. The company is actually a front for the true purpose of the organization: developing biological weapons of war constructed via mutated humans, or even the living dead, as well as an assortment of animals all injected with different strains of the Tyrant Virus, or T-virus.

     The most common recurring character is Albert Wesker, a high-ranking employee of The Umbrella Corporation disguised as a member of S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service, a fictional police force secretly funded by Umbrella, and stationed in Raccoon City).  Wesker takes center-stage as the primary antagonist and narrator of Umbrella Chronicles.  The game shows the other, darker side of the Resident Evil series (yes… a darker side of a game with evil in the title).

     The Wii displays its viability as a dynamic system in Umbrella Chronicles, and makes the players feel like they have walked into an arcade. The controls are tight and responsive, and the Wii-mote syncs up very well with tube televisions. But when I took this game to my big-screen I noticed a small amount of lag time with the game reaction, a minor inconvenience for such an excellent game, and if the player’s big-screen T.V. has progressive scan (a format that uses fewer pixels and a faster frame rate to project an image) this is not a problem.

     In addition, the co-op is incredible. The pressure of the game is significantly diminished when the player has a buddy around to attack the zombie mauling the player’s side of the screen. However, the targeting reticule for player two looks very similar to player one’s, so sometimes friends will get their cross hairs confused. In addition, both players share a health bar, so if the friend in question isn’t too good at games the other person will need to pick up the slack. Regrettably, only 12/22 of the game’s missions are co-op enabled; regardless it’s an awesome two-player game.

     The graphics are exceptional, as is the music. In conjunction with surreal lighting and other factors they add immensely to the horror element of the game. At some points the players actually feel like they’re trapped in a life or death scenario surrounded by zombies on all sides. This game, much like the Resident Evil movies, was made for people who have played the games; however, the game is built so that even those who have just seen the movies, can enjoy the story and game-play. This game is a must have for a Resident Evil fan.

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Written by Spencer · Filed Under Games, Living & Arts, The WRR