Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

"Shooting zombies in the hairline has never been this fun!"

Resident Evil. The series has certainly had its ups and its downs, with games ranging from critically acclaimed Resident Evil 4, to the “We'd rather forget it” Resident Evil: Gaiden. Those who love this series can agree on one point: Shooting zombies is fun, at least most of the time. The big question is whether Umbrella Chronicles is one of greats or one of the flops.

Umbrella Chronicles, the latest game in the Resident Evil series, is a chronicle of (wait for it..) the downfall of the Umbrella corporation, the evil company responsible for the viral outbreak. The game has the player (or players) following the events of Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil (the gamecube remake), Resident Evil 3, and an all-new scenario showing the finishing blow on the Umbrella Company in Russia. It also has side missions that show what happened to lone characters before, during, and after parts of various Resident Evil games. The game is an on-rails shooter, which to the uninitiated means that you are responsible for one thing, and one thing only: Shooting. Walking and looking is all up to the preprogrammed route, although the game gives you some light freedom in tilting your viewpoint with the nunchuck.

For this review, the game will be split into the categories of graphics, story, game-play, sound, and overall score. Each category will get a score ranging from one to ten and my reasoning behind that mark.

GRAPHICS
Umbrella Chronicles is a rather good-looking game for the Wii console. The graphics are on-par with Resident Evil 4; a game that, although showing its age, had solid graphics. Everything is in the realistic colors of brown and grey - with the occasional variants or combinations of the two - giving everything a gloomy, dull atmosphere that is appropriate for the scenario. The creatures you face all look good and quite horrifying. Aside some clipping issues with corpses (especially those of the mutated spiders), the graphics seem largely flawless for the console. I give it 8 out of 10.

STORY
RE:UC follows a gutted version of several evil games and one original story. Each game is cut into several chapters forwarded by a cut-scene (mainly at the beginning and end of the chapters) and sometimes before major plot events. The entire story is also implemented files that you find throughout the game. The files are found by shooting random background items; which gives you a good reason to shoot everything from paintings to lighting as you go through the game.

In the first level, “Train Derailment”, we follow Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen as they stumble upon the Ecliptic Express and later on a secret Umbrella training facility. Both locations have been overrun by the first T-virus outbreak. This chapter lays down the foundation for every other Resident Evil game. We also get to see what series villain and fan favorite Albert Wesker was doing before he lead Alpha Team into the mansion.

In the next level, “Mansion Incident”, we are asked to step into the shoes of Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield as they rush quickly through the manor and outlying grounds. There is not need to pick up keys or solve puzzles, but the programmers also saw it fit to cut Barry Burton and Enrico Marini. We also get to see Rebecca Chambers and Richard Aiken's journey through the mansion, and Richard's subsequent lethal injury by the viper boss Yawn.

In this level, we also get the answer to a question fans have been asking since Code Veronica: How did Wesker survive the mansion? In the sub-scenario “Rebirth”, players get to follow his escape from the mansion only seconds before it is blown sky-high.

The next level, “Raccoon's Destruction”, takes place several months after Mansion Incident. We find Jill and the Umbrella soldier Carlos Oliviera escaping the zombie-infested Raccoon City. The story here gets annoying. Unlike the other levels, where you went through in a choppy yet relatively accurate version of pervious games, this level gives you the distinct feeling that whoever made it hasn't played Resident Evil 3. The route you take through the chapters look nothing like what you travel in 3. The only similarity is that you end up in the police house at one point in the last level (note that you leave the police house behind, permanently, under 20 minutes into Resident Evil 3). Raccoon's Destruction has Jill and Carlos go on highways, in subway systems and other exciting places they never visited in Resident Evil 3.

I cannot gripe about this scenario without talking about the namesake of Resident Evil 3, namely Nemesis. This mighty hunter follows you throughout all of the original game, nearly invincible and constantly aggressive, he gave players a reason to fear his trademark scream of “S.T.A.R.S!”. However, in Umbrella Chronicles, the good boss has become a joke. His scream is metallic and whiny; which makes him sound closer to a Terminator (from the movie series) with a bad head-cold who is about to cry. You only face this behemoth in the last level of Raccoon's Destruction, and he is pitifully weak. A creature that survives countless explosions, electrocutions, acid rounds, and being gunned down by an extremely oversized rail-gun in 3 is not supposed to be killed by falling two stories from a rooftop in UC.

I am well aware, as should any potential buyers, that the first three scenarios of Umbrella Chronicles are not canon. The problem is that the first two are quite close to the Canon games and the difference in 3 is rather jarring. Any seasoned Resident Evil fan will find it hard to look past this point. The situation is made worse by this scenario's bad dialogue (worst in the game by far), including Jill randomly saying “I think so too” and “It looks that way” completely out of the blue.

The sub-scenarios, thank god, are much better. The first shows Ada Wong's escape from Raccoon city after Resident Evil 2; this being yet another big question mark of the series that longtime fans have finally gotten an answer to. The other sub-scenario shows HUNK, an Umbrella Special Soldier, escaping from the city with the G-virus. This scenario is quite unnecessary from a story point of view, and it is likely only there to make fans happy.

The final level, “Umbrella's End”, shows Jill and Chris attacking an Umbrella factory in Russia. This level has little in terms of story, but it does include some very obvious Resident Evil movie references (a perfect re-creation of the laser hallway scene and the existence of the Red Queen being most prominent). Aside the main scenario, the level also invites us to see what Wesker does just before he assumes his seat in a hidden control room and stays there until the end of Resident Evil 4.

The worse part of the entire level is the end-boss, T.A.L.O.S. It looks like a Saturday morning cartoon monster; he completely lacks the disgusting/scary vibe that you get from the average Resident Evil monster, and he has nowhere near the presence of most Resident Evil end-bosses. What should have been an intimidating creature merely made me burst out laughing when I encountered him and easily killed him with my handgun.

When you consider that this game is an on-rail shooter, the story is understandably weak, but that does not excuse the “Raccoon's Destruction” level from straying so far from the real story of the events. Finding every file gives long-time fans plenty of interesting reading. They explain monsters, characters, areas, and events in a way that is sure to satisfy anyone who has been itching for more back-story and information on the Resident Evil universe. Overall, I give it 7 out of 10.

GAMEPLAY
This is where an on-rails shooter truly has to shine if it is ever to work. luckily, Umbrella Chronicles gives a very satisfying experience. The controls are simple and tight, but apparently some people have had problems with reloading, but I have never had a problem with it.

As you play, you end up shooting and killing almost every creature from the early Resident Evil titles, everything from the relatively easy zombies, dogs, and crows to the more powerful hunters, spiders, and crimson-heads. Throughout the game there are push-button sequences. This happens during some events in the story and when a zombie grabs a hold of your character. They are easy to do, in general, but some people have problems shaking the wiimote when prompted.

Zombies, and most other creatures, are extremely resilient towards your ordinary handgun, but you can cope if you have good aim or stronger weapons to use against them. Good aim comes from hitting the critical hit spot on the creatures. In some, this is an instant kill, but in others (spiders, hunters, and Ivys) it only seriously damages it. For most monsters, the critical spot is the head (for zombies it is the forehead, around where the hairline is), but others have it in more of a heart or ‘mouth' area. Mastering critical hits is a must if you want to survive the higher difficulty levels.

The weapons you find and collect (either lying about or hidden in unlikely places - such as light-bulbs) range from extremely helpful to profound waste of time. The rocket launchers are not very useful at all while machine guns and shotguns are extremely effective against anything you might encounter. They also add some depth and enjoyment to the game, not to mention they make boss battles infinitely easier.

The boss battles themselves are usually drawn-out, slow affairs. Your goal is to chip their health down bit by bit, but it is made up for in the dramatic and engaging execution of the battles. The bosses stay true to earlier games in name and base design (such as giant scorpions, giant snakes, giant worms, giant bats, giant leech-men and giant tentacle plants), but you also get a few new creatures introduced (a strange Tyrant creature with jagged bits of black rocks covering it's body that, I'm told, is supposed to be Mr.X, and the aforementioned laughable T.A.L.O.S).

You can't talk about gameplay without mentioning the Wii Zapper. The zapper seems to have two divided camps; one group of people cannot use it as effectively as the normal wiimote (my lovely wife included), and the other group loves the zapper and find it extremely useful (this is where I fall in). I, personally, love the immersion of the zapper. Holding it firmly in both hands and using it to hose oncoming hordes of zombies down with machinegun fire is a blast. I have also found that it makes getting those crucial critical hits easier because your aim is even more steady when using both hands instead of only one. The gameplay is great, visceral fun. I give it 9 out of 10.

SOUND
The game's sound is good. It is not incredibly outstanding, and there are several very jarring dialogue choices. One thing that seems out of place is that the characters calmly talk amongst themselves about how something seems off with the mansion while they being attacked by zombies. In addition, the voice acting that follows the Resident Evil legacy, if you know what I mean. If you do not, then the voice acting is laughable and makes most B-movies look good.

The creatures, and weapons, and environments all sound good. Stand-outs are the zombies groan, the hunters shriek, and the shotguns “boom, click-clack” due to the satisfied feeling I get every time I hear them. The game's music is minimal but well executed just like most music in the series. It's not something you'd listen to normally, but it adds greatly to the game's atmosphere. Sound gets 7 out of 10, the three points removed entirely because of the voice acting and dialogue.

OVERALL
Overall, I love this game and recommend it to rail shooter fans and Resident Evil fans. If you have never liked either, however, I highly suggest you pass on this title. I firmly believe you could have more fun spending your money elsewhere. The game is great, simple, mindless fun. Resident Evil fans like myself can fully appreciate all the added information about the Resident Evil universe, making this is a title I do not regret spending fifty dollars. Overall, the game gets Eight out of Ten. (that's 8 outta 10, or 8/10, for you)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/07

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