Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

"Despite a few flaws, easily the best light-gun shooter on the Wii to date"

Here's my review for Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

Story

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles is has actually three separate portions of the game, “Train Derailment”, “Mansion Incident” and “Racoon's Destruction.

‘Train Derailment' (Resident Evil Zero) Tells the tale of S.T.A.R.S member ‘Rebecca Chambers' and Runaway Prisoner ‘Billy Coen', as the train they're travelling on is derailed. The two escape from the wreckage and stumble upon a secret Umbrella training facility.

‘Mansion Incident' (Resident Evil) Team Bravo, have been sent into a mysteries mansion, contacts have been lost, and Team Alpha has been sent in to find them. Unfortunately the Mansion is overrun with Zombie's and most of the Team Bravo members are dead! In this portion of the game you play as Team Alpha members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as you scout the Mansion, and several other locations in search for survivors.

‘Raccoon's' Destruction' (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis) Takes place a few months after the ‘Mansion Incident'. In this final stage in the game, we follow Jill and Umbrella soldier Carlos Oliviera. The two are trying to escape Racoon City which has, as the title of the stage suggests has faced massive destruction from the T-Virus. And of course, who could forget ‘Nemesis' the biologically engineered creature, that serves only one reason… To hunt and kill all of the surviving members of S.T.A.R.S!
8/10

Graphics/Visuals

Great, although not a lot improvement over RE4. The enemies are greatly detailed, and the characters themselves all look interesting. The backgrounds and Environments all look fantastic, the textures are all very nicely detailed. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles sports some very impressive visuals, making it one of the better looking games on the console.
8/10

Sound/Audio

I assume Capcom has deliberately kept the dialogue and voice acting as cheesy as possible. I absolutely howled in laughter at Chris's line as he shoots Forest, while Wesker has a pseudo-English accent that's absolutely hysterical in places. It's just so terrible it's funny! The soundtrack is very good adding to the suspense, adding mood, to the many different locations in the game.

Sound: 7/10
Music: 7/10

Gameplay

Lightgun shooters have always been a lot of fun, but somehow, they've never felt quite as good on a console. Luckily Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles proves it can be done. The ‘Train Derailment', section in the game starts out very slowly. For a Lightgun shooter, the gameplay is ludicrously slow. The Zombies seem to be moving at a snail pace, before they eventually reach walking speed when they get within lunging range.

Luckily once your done with the, Resident Evil Zero portion of the game, the game gets much better. As you reach the ‘Mansion Incident' section in the game, it really starts to motor up. You'll be wasting bullets in between attacks, to make sure you've got plenty for the harder zombies, and saving your grenades and magnum rounds for the bosses (which I might add are awesome) and saving your green herbs for the last possible minuet.

Once you're up to the ‘Raccoon's' Destruction' portion of the game, things really start to heat up. The difficulty level really jumps up, and you'll be facing hordes of Zombies, and the fights with you-know-what and you-know-who are heart-pumping, adrenaline-filled bursts of sheer, intense excitement.

The real highlight in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, is the multiplayer. It makes playing through the main game, even more fun with a buddy! Plus there's treasure trove of extra content, with files on each character with plenty of background information on the Umbrella. The ranking system also adds extra replay value, with some additional stages only available by getting an A rank or above on some levels.
8/10

Controls

As far as controls go Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is excellent, providing your not using the Wii Zapper. Aiming with the Wiimote is simple, yet a lot of fun. Veteran light-gun players will be able to jump in and play, for others though, it may take a little time to get used to. The main problem with the Wii Zapper, is that it simply isn't suited to the games control method. It feels awkward pressing and swinging around the Zapper while aiming at Zombies.
8/10

Now for a quick revision…

Story: 8/10
Graphics/Visuals: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Music: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Pros

+ Excellent Gameplay
+ Fun Multiplayer
+ Great Story; fills in the gaps in the franchise
+ Very nice visuals, some of the best on the Wii

Cons

- Starts off slowly
- Controls are very awkward with the Wii Zapper
- No Online Play

In Conclusion

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is a great edition to the series, providing excellent light gun gameplay and it does a great job filling in all the plot holes in the series. Highly recommended for fans of the series and light-gun fans, alike.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/25/08, Updated 03/23/09

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