Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

"One of the Wii's most enjoyable titles, but not without its flaws"

I remember first seeing a few videos of the gamplay of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and since then I've wanted to play the game. I played the game starting with high hopes, and I was not let down.

Gamplay 9.5/10

This aspect is where RE: UC shines the most. It plays like most on-rail shooting games. If you've played games such as House of the Dead, then you'll be able to pick up on RE: UC quite easily. The Wiimote is surprisingly easy to aim with, and it has a very minimal learning curve (2 minutes at the most). On default controls, you use the B button to shoot, while A is used for different actions varying from knife swings to picking up items.

You begin with a normal handgun, while you find a total of 15 guns throughout the entire game. Each gun is customizable to increase its ammo capacity, its destructive power, and more. The guns vary greatly which only help to add to the enjoyment of the game; Guns range from common ones like Submachine Guns and Shotguns, to the more classic RE guns such as the Rocket Launcher, and Magnum.

The game is a on-rail shooter, so your main concentration should be on shooting things since all the movement is automated. You can use the nunchuk to slightly alter the screen's view, but it does not have such a big influence in that it is necessary to control the view to beat the game.

Many objects in the environment are destructible, this includes items such as barrels, portraits on the wall, furniture and more. If you plan on discovery all the items in the game (such as the files and extra ammo) you will need to make sure to make a habit of destroying everything in sight.

The retina for the Wiimote makes it very easy to aim, and the retina alone gives you ton of a useful information. It tells you how much ammo you have left in your clip for the weapon that you are using. The middle of the retina gives signals when you find something destructible, or when you aim at the critical spot of a monster.

The one big flaw about the on-rail gameplay of RE: UC is that it is both too fast, and too slow. There are moments when you're walking for a few moments, and you have nothing to shoot at or to be attacked by, so you just sit there waiting for your character to continue walking. On the other hand, there are moments when your character moves too fast, making it very difficult to pick up some of the items scattered in the background. This makes so that its nearly impossible to find everything throughout the level in one run, unless you know beforehand exactly where everything is.

The game's strongest point, is it's co-op gameplay. It is in essence, the same gameplay as single player, except that you and your partner share one life bar that is twice as large as the one for single-player. The fun factor of RE: UC takes a huge jump when played on co-op with friends. You'll soon find yourself yelling at each other to pay attention and watch for the dodge moments.

Graphics 8/10

In terms of graphics, it is easy to see that Wii is at the bottom of the barrel when compared to the Playstation 3 and XBox 360.

That said, the graphics for RE: UC are very well done for a Wii game. If anything this game seems to have the best graphics for any Wii game out now (save for maybe Super Mario Galaxy and a few others).

Sound 10/10

The music is very ominous and dark sounding. It fits perfectly with the game and helps to add to the feel of the scene. It's also pretty useful because you'll find at times that the music stops once all the monsters on the screen or surrounding area are dead, so it helps you determine if everyone is really dead (seeing as some monsters are annoyingly difficult to play)

Replay 9/10

There are ton of levels, more then half of them being co-op from the start. Once you've completed all the scenarios, all single player levels become co-opable.

You'll find yourself playing practically all levels over at least once to find all the files and weapons the game offers. Everytime you complete a level, you gain points which allow you to upgrade your weapons, and it is impossible to upgrade all the weapons with the points you receive from just one playthrough.

Story 9/10

The game does a great job doing a summary of most of the games of the Resident Evil series. The game has scenarios from Resident Evil 0, 1, 3 and includes a few new scenarios from the point of Albert Wesker that help give light to some of the plot that is not explained in the main series.

On the otherhand this game has brought about some controversy do to some of the scenarios in the game. You find that Barry is completely absent from the game, and in Jill's Scenario the actions that occur are completely different from what occur in Resident Evil 3. I'm sure Capcom purposely meant to change the plot so that the gameplay could go more smoothly, so I believe that this game is canon in the sense of Albert Wesker's point of view, but non-canon for anything involving the main series.

Conclusion 9/10

RE: UC is very enjoyable game. Definitely worth a rental at the very least, and if you have friends to play co-op with then this game becomes a must-buy for any owner of a Wii and fan of Resident Evil. It is Capcom's fan-service to all its Resident Evil fans and does well in expanding the plot involving Umbrella.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/07

Game Release: Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (US, 11/13/07)