Resident Evil: UC Review - 7/10
It's been almost two years since I first took on Resident Evil 4 on the PS2, and since then it has remained my most memorable zombie killing experience. So when recently i started frothing at the mouth to blast some zombie ass into the next world, I sought out Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, for a fix.
Developed exclusively for the Wii console, RE:UC expands on the detail of some of the missions from previous Resident Evil games including Resident Evil 0, 1 and 3. For all intents and purposes the storyline of RE:UC is a recap of some of the major events of the Umbrella Corporation - the company behind the creation of the BOW's (Bio Organic Weapons) which star in the Resident Evil series.
Players will be navigated through scenarios such as the Ecliptic Express Incident, and the End Of Racoon City, and play as some of the revived characters from each of these episodes.
Resident Evil: UC follows a non linear plot structure which I feel really spices up the storyline. Whereas im normally not inclined to bother with the plot specifics of a game, the shifts in RE:UC between characters, events and perspectives is deffinately intruiging. I personally wasnt fussed with the snippets of information that the game offered in written form, however the animated cut scenes between chapters were fairly entertaining.
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is a 'rail shooter' - which basically means (for those of you who may not know) that your character is navigated through the game automatically, leaving players with the sole responsibility of defeating the enemies which they encounter. This immediately takes away a large chunk of control over the game. However it also makes the game easier in that you will usually only encounter manageable groups of zombies and creatures, without the possibility that you will miss some and be flooded later when you try and run for cover. Because of this, player strategy is narrowed down to place concentration mostly on weaponry and ammunition.
You will however need to be quick to keep up with the railway pace, it can be difficult to spot all of the nessesary pickups and hit the pickup button in time to grab the items due to the constant motion.
My first Resident Evil experience on the Wii, I found the motion controls simple and easy to pick up. In this point and shoot style game you will be offered a vast range of weaponry including access to a rocket launcher, grenades, and of course the good old shotgun!
The knife and handgun are your stock tools - the knife being really handy when you are attacked by a host of leaches or midget spiders. Throughout most of the game the standard firearm is really all you need so long as you pace yourself, aim accurately, and reload whenever your enemies are drawn back. You can utilise this in order to stock up on your extra weaponry and ammo for the boss battles when they are needed most.
Apart from general weaponry, each of the characters has a unique counter attack, which is really just a fancy way of kicking off a zombie when he gets too close and tries to take a bite of you. Wesker and the boys do a number of wicked kicks and physical attackes, and yet Jill and Rebecca rely on stun guns and mini grenades for their counter attack moves, something I laughed at as I thought how sexist it all seemed.
In most chapters you will play as part of a duo and have the choice between one of two charactes. As mentioned before, RE:UC sees the return of characters such as Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers, Billy Coen and Chris Redfield.
Despite a flash of amusement, I was dissapointed to see the fearful atmosphere of the game washed away by the unrealistic character interaction and monotonous dialogue. In single player mode you are apparently accompanied by another player, however dispite a number of 360 degree turns and challenging rumbling battles, you will never see your accomplice in gameplay, nor do they once provide you with a single shot of covering fire.
The dialogue was overly simple and pointless for the most part.
My absoluete favourite line in the game came at the moment that 'Forest' a previous member of the S.T.A.R.S army zombies around a corner towards Rebecca and Chris, and in the instant that I pull out my weapon and slaughter their friend - Chris expresses his remorse without changing tone, saying, and i quote: "I'm sorry forest, ill miss our target practice sessions."
In comparison to Resident Evil: 4, I found the fear factor of Umbrella Chronicles to be noticeably dimished. This may have been due to a number of the reasons ive already mentioned, but I also feel that the game was sadly much less graphic then RE:4. I mean personally I like the idea of killing a giant spider then shooting him one last time to smush his guts across all the
walls in the room, but in RE:UC this simply isnt an option.
Speaking of creatures - a little snippet of what to expect in RE:UC: you'll encounter small leaches and other little evil creatures, as well as giant spiders and bats, rabbid baboons, experimental sharks and of course the standard zombie beings. These and the other creatures in the game are the 'guinea pigs' of Umbrella's research projects to create the ultimate Bio Organic Weapons which you face off against in the boss battles of the game.
On a side note, one of the easiest boss enemies to defeat in the game was Lisa Trevor, a sad and distorted test subject which you may remember from other Resident Evil games. Lisa Trevor was blasted away by a rocket launcher, which i was unaware that i had been carrying throughout the entire chapter, that is until it came time for me to kill her. However i felt really sad killing Lisa, the way she has been represented in the game really gives you a sense of compassion for her - an interesting addition to the storyline.
Coming back to the fear factor I feel that the spook effect can deffinately vary according to your mood. You might get some creepy kicks out of RE:UC if you immerse yourself in the game enough: crank up the sound, turn off the lights and glue yourself to the screen. Chapter 4 stepped up the spook level nicely though with the introduction of using a torch to navigate through the blacked out areas of a deserted railway. It was deffinately fun to see a dozen pairs of glowing white zombie eyes starting back at you from the darkness.
Multiplayer Mode:
Ok, so what do you do when your own mother wont come and try out muliplayer mode with you, leaving you without a buddy to battle?
You pick up a wii remote in each hand and try your best to give muliplayer a shot solo! lol
Multiplayer in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is something I'd deffinately be keen to try out for real! Essentially, you play alongside your friend with the one screen, and the one health bar. You will have individual weaponry and counterattacks, and the fun part is you will also be ranked individually at at the end of each chapter, so that you can see who was really kicking ass!
I know i know, my testing method is flawed
but i still really think that Multiplayer is a good asset to this game.
Summary:
All in all, i fairly enjoyed Resident Evil: UC, however i couldnt stop myself from comparing it to RE:4.
There was something missing, whether it be fear factor or the dimished control due to the Rail Shooter platform. However it's still worth a play, even if you arent a running fan of the Resident Evil series, because it's easy enough to play if you want to ignore the relevance of the plot.
The Rankings:
Storyline: 5
As far as storyline goes, Im giving RE:UC a 5.
Its not something everyone will understand without having been a fan of Resident Evil already, but you can ignore the storyline if you like. The game focuses on snippets of storyline from other games though, meaning that it fails to stand out as an independant game.
Gameplay: 7
For gameplay i give the game a 7. It was easy to pick up and play, and a fun way to spend a few hours!
Replay Value: 7
I was really impressed with the replay value of the game. There are 3 different difficulty options, choices in characters for most chapters, and end-of-chapter rankings on which you can strive to improve.
I replayed the game twice, and then completed a chapter in my own interesting attempt at multiplayer mode
I think given a little time i would deffinately pick it up for another replay!
Graphics: 6
The RE:UC graphics are pretty standard but good quality, and the cutscene animations were well done.
Sound: 6
What can i say of the sound? It was atmostpheric and relevant to the game, however nothing about it really jumped out at me.
Overall Score: 7
Finally im brought to the overall game score, and ive gone on the path of a 7. This is mainly due to easy of play and replayablility of the game, if you find it out there as a bargain, i'd deffinately recommend picking up a copy!
Thanks for reading!
I hope you enjoyed!
Magick
Submitted by magickstar
19/06/2008
326
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