Not so good RE4 is better

Reviewed by kngzmexican on November 22, 2007  |  report this review

GameSpotScore: 7

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii marks the latest in a string of efforts to use the heavily atmospheric settings and gruesome undead abominations from Capcom's number-one survival horror franchise for the purposes of a point-and-shoot action game. It's also the most successful, due to a number of factors, including a more intuitive control scheme and more authentic locations. Umbrella Chronicles has the texture of a Resident Evil game, but it still basically handles like an arcade light-gun game. This means it's easy to pick up, but it's also got a fair share of tired genre conventions. Still, there are some exciting moments, and the Resident Evil minutiae it contains should thrill fans.

Much of the game's authenticity comes from the fact that rather than tell an entirely original story, Umbrella Chronicles puts you through the events of the first few Resident Evil games, which the game presents as a report on the final hours of the now-felled Umbrella Corporation, the conglomerate responsible for all these gee-darned zombies. Over the course of the game, you'll revisit the events of Resident Evil 0, the original Resident Evil, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. The narrative is understandably truncated, and the game focuses more on establishing a grimy atmosphere and re-creating specific, memorable moments than consistent storytelling.

Topping it all off is an all-new scenario that takes place in 2003 and sees the reunion of the original Resident Evil tag team of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as they hunt down the last vestiges of Umbrella in a frozen industrial complex, which doesn't quite live up to its exciting potential. There are also a number of side missions that often revisit environments from the main missions, showing you what characters like Rebecca Chambers and fan-favorite Albert Wesker were up to at various points in the series. Considering that most games of this nature tend to last a scant hour or two, it's a little impressive that it can take more than four hours to complete a single run-through of all the missions.

Resident Evil: Survivor and Resident Evil: Dead Aim, the two US-released light-gun games that preceded Umbrella Chronicles, both made fair-to-middling attempts to cross-pollinate traditional arcade-style light-gun games and their more dynamic brethren, first-person shooters. There are still traces of this in Umbrella Chronicles, such as the ability to look around a little bit using the Nunchuk's analog stick, but most of the touches that this game puts on the light-gun formula are for the effect of making the experience feel more Resident Evil. What really defines the action is its methodical pacing. There are still plenty of moments where monsters will appear out of seemingly nowhere and run at you at full speed, but a lot of the time you're dealing with the predicament that's key to all Resident Evil games: too many zombies, not enough ammo.

While y

Better Than 4, But Still Just An Arcade Shooter

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Dive into the story you never knew

Reviewed by rytard on February 14, 2008  |  report this review

Great jump in quick action! Not quite as movie-like as the other games, but contains more action. Sweet weapons and level design. Best arcade shooter out there right now!

intense enough for die hard fans and easy enough for casual gamers.

Reviewed by message704 on February 19, 2008  |  report this review

Well where to start,I personaly think the game is great I'm a huge fan of resident evil and I've followed the series for over 10 years now and theres been some good and some bad from it.First off I'm starting to believe that capcom is finally getting the hang of making light gun games,because before RE survivor left a bad taste in my mouth but now I taste sweet victory at last with an entry into the series that actually fills the gaps and does'nt make up an entirely different story with nothing to do with the originals.The game play itself is not demanding of you to the point you would rather beat it with a hammer then play it,I've let friends who have never played and who are casual gamer have a go at it and after about ten minutes they had zombies in different peices also I would like to add that if you happen to have the zapper like I do it does give you more a sense of realism then most hunks of plastic they offer,and the graphics are not bad at all in real time,escecially since it's in first person.And in most cases that's where many games get ugly because you get a first hand look at gritty and dull texture or bad detail.I will admit that the story is not as deep as the others but in a nut shell the game serves it's purpose by giving a solid shooting experience all the while filling in on unknown story plots.I think resident evil the umbrella chronicles is a jewl of a game that not many game consoles see in the first year and a half of it's existence,I would recomend it to any fan and to anyone not afraid to jump a little while playing games.