Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

"A disappointment, but still the better than any of the Gun Survivor spin-offs"

Resident Evil is one of my favorite game series' ever. The GameCube had an excellent remake of the original RE, but the remakes of RE2 and RE3 were cancelled in favor of working on new games. RE4 was released and, being a more action-oriented game, attracted new fans to the series.

In 2006, Capcom announced that they would be making a full 3D, Wii exclusive RE game that would contain the stories of RE0 through RE3, as well as a new story to fill in the gap between CODE: Veronica and RE4. I was very excited that I would finally get remade versions of RE2 and 3, and new story elements. Later, it was revealed that the game would be a first-person, on-rails shooter, and RE2 was cut out. My excitement declined, but the trailers made the game look great, so I finally decided to pick it up on the first day of release. Did it live up to my expectations? Enter the survival horror... I mean, enter the review.

Story: 7/10

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles contains condensed versions of the stories from RE 0, 1, and 3. On top of that, there are new stories taking place between some of the games, including the story of how Umbrella is finally defeated.

For those unfamiliar with the series, don't worry. You don't need to have played any other game in the series to pick up the story, since this game retells most of it from the beginning. The game takes place mostly in and around Raccoon City, where a strange outbreak of cannibalism has occurred. The main characters quickly realize that they are dealing with a zombie plague, where those who are bitten become mindless creatures that want to snack on human flesh.

The stories do not have as many twists or as much mystery to them as they used to. The RE0 story is very well retold. The RE1 story is OK, but some things were cut out (Barry and Enrico are both gone) and there is less of a conspiracy tone to it since you know from the beginning who the villain is. RE3 is the most butchered by far. Nicholai is gone, Nemesis only shows up at the end rather than stalking you throughout, and you don't even visit the same locations (more on that in the Graphics section). Despite these changes in the story told through the cutscenes and dialogue, there are unlockable files to read that actually retell the full, original stories.

The real draw here is the new stuff. You can see things like what happened to Rebecca between RE0 and RE1, how Ada escaped the city after RE2, and what the series villain, Albert Wesker, was doing throughout the games (yes, you can play as him). There is a new villain also named Sergei, who was doing things behind the scenes and is shown in these new levels, which all culminates in a showdown with him in the brand new parts about the fall of Umbrella.

Based on how well the game retells the old stories, I would give the story a lower score, but the fact that there is new stuff here balances it out a bit.

Graphics: 7/10

A letdown. Capcom really pushed the GameCube, but they aren't trying as hard here since the graphics are overall WORSE than RE4. Although the textures here are usually on par with RE4's best (the only exception being Raccoon City chapters, which I will talk about more in a minute), you will see plenty of awkward looking animations. Some areas of the game give you a flashlight, so wherever you point your gun, you shine the flashlight. Too bad the lighting shaders used here aren't any better than RE4: the spot of light on walls will be made up of 45 and 90 degree angles, not round curves like it should be. Go play Tomb Raider: Anniversary for the Wii and you'll realize that the Wii can do a much more realistic flashlight than the one in this game. Another problem is that fire effects have been downgraded and look flat, like most PS2 games. Why couldn't they have just ported the awesome fire effects from RE4?

Now, about the chapters of the game that take place in Raccoon City: all of these environments recycle graphics from the RE: Outbreak games on the PlayStation 2. Seriously. Although they were above average by PS2 standards, they look worse than other parts of the game and should have been enhanced. In fact, the Outbreak games used predetermined camera angles, and those graphics were not meant to be viewed up close in first person, so you'll sometimes be staring at some horribly blurry texture. Most Resident Evil 3 areas were thrown out and had Outbreak areas put in their place. In other words, you won't see RE3 exclusive locations remade (no Clock Tower, Dead Factory, etc.) which is a disappointment since I have been dying for a "RE3make".

Audio: 6/10

Yet another disappointing aspect. Some of the voice acting is actually good, but it's mostly bad or just somewhere in the middle. Not all previous voice actors from the RE series didn't reprise their roles, and as a result most characters sound different than they did in other games. As far as I can tell, Sally Cahill (voice of Ada Wong) is the only VA who returned. The Nemesis is TERRIBLE!!! Nemesis sounds higher pitched, and more like a machine. The voice from the RE: Apocalypse movie is actually a lot better than this. Between the Outbreak graphics and the bad Nemesis voice, it seems like Capcom was deliberately trying to ruin the RE3 part of the game.

Fortunately, the sound effects and music are better. There are some decent moans and death squeals for the various zombies and monsters you'll fight. There are some older pieces of music that are remixed, which is a good thing. There are a few haunting, slow tracks, but it's mostly faster paced than the kind of thing you would generally hear in a Resident Evil game since this game is mostly action. A few action scene tracks are painfully bad to listen too though.

Gameplay: 8/10

RE: UC ditches the usual third-person gameplay in favor of first-person action. This has been attempted before by the Gun Survivor spin-offs, with little success. None of the Gun Survivor titles were good, but Capcom wanted to try first-person RE again, and they finally got it right.

From a first-person view, you can point, shoot, and slash your knife with the Wii remote. You'll need this precision to hit enemies and bosses in certain spots to kill them quickly, before they tear you apart. Weapons are cycled through in real-time: no more annoying inventory screen to break up the action. You can also use the nunchuk's analog stick to look a little bit to your sides. Constantly keeping an eye on your sides will allow you to find hidden items such as herbs, ammo, and files. These files you collect can be read just like ones in previous games (some are even ported from other games), and contain additional story information. You'll also want to keep an eye out for a few alternate paths or secret rooms.

You'll fight some of the classic monsters and cool bosses from various games in the series, and even get surprised a few times when enemies appear right around a corner. Unfortunately, some enemies start to feel overused, and there are no new enemies made for this game. It doesn't even have all the enemies or bosses from the games it's supposed to be based on. In fact, you don't even travel to all the areas from the games. RE Zero is missing Marcus's research lab, and the Water Treatment Plant. As previously mentioned, RE3 is missing most areas due to Capcom being able to easily port Outbreak graphics. Yet the Hospital is missing, despite having been remade in Outbreak. The areas you do travel to are incomplete. For example, you only see about half of the mansion level. Even though there are a few alternate paths, there simply aren't enough. I wanted more alternate paths that would let me go to the rest of the areas.

At the end of each chapter, you earn points based on your ranking (determined by things like time, enemies killed, objects destroyed, etc.). These can be used to purchase upgrades to your weapons. Unused ammo rounds are saved in your game profile (although only up to a certain amount), and can be carried over to other chapters, so you won't want to necessarily waste all the ammo you have in each chapter. There is still a little bit of ammo conservation, and the heavy weapons like Magnums and Grenade Launchers only get a small amount of ammo. But is this game really "survival horror"? No. Your handguns have infinite bullets, although you must use your shots wisely since reloading your gun gives enemies a good chance to take a bite out of you. Healing items must be found, but they are used automatically, so you won't be deliberating whether or not you should use your healing items.

The game will take about 15 hours to complete one play through of all the chapters in the game. Replaying levels to get a higher ranking is a fun challenge, and finding all of the alternate paths and files are the main reasons to go back. There's also co-op mode for most of the game's levels.

Final Score: 7/10

Umbrella Chronicles is easily the best first-person RE, but I guess that's not saying much since the other ones were bad anyway. It's a fun game, more complex than typical on-rails shooters, with some new story elements to satisfy the hardcore fans of the series. Just don't expect to see the older stories retold well, or all the areas you know and love from previous games. Newcomers, or people who have only played RE4, will probably like the stronger focus on action rather than item conservation and avoiding enemies. Overall, RE: UC is enough fan service to keep gamers interested in the series, since Resident Evil 5 won't be out until 2009.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/21/07

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