Preview
Platform:
WiiDeveloper:
Capcom Co., Ltd.Publisher:
Capcom USA, Inc.Previewed by
Justin Fassino on 2007-07-13
If there was a more disappointing game at E3, I couldn't find it.
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles has a lot of hype behind it; after all, it's essentially a snapshot of the entire
RE series and makes use of the Wii controller as a gun. The problem is, it's just not that good.
The graphics seem to have taken a bit of a hit from what you may remember on the Gamecube (though it is marginal), and the use of the Wiimote/Zapper combination actually makes the game worse than your standard on-rails lightgun game.
To begin with, the Zapper is very awkward to hold. There are two handles, one in back and one in front. The problem is that the trigger is on the front handle; this leaves the rear hand useful for not much more than having something to hold on to. With lightguns shaped like actual guns, usually the hand not on the trigger supported the barrel and provided aiming stability. This is not the case with the Zapper. Your dominant hand will be doing all the work, from pulling the trigger to aiming to stabilizing, and this is a bit unbalancing while playing
RE: UC.
But that gripe doesn't even really matter because the game is so easy. When
Capcom said they dumbed it down to be more accessible, they weren't kidding. In fact, it was probably possible to beat the demo level only using a pistol, even with the Zapper-induced crappy aim. Then again, if you could tell what weapon you had equipped at any given time, I would have given you praise; there's no sense of tactile feedback between the weapons, so aside from the bullet patterns on the screen, all the guns feel the same.
But even that doesn't matter when you play the game, because any indication of bullets hitting a zombie don't appear until they're within two feet of your view. This can lead to confusion when you can't tell if the zombie you're blasting is dead, or is just lying facedown on the ground waiting to bite your ankles. Meanwhile, another zombie is probably standing nearby just looking at you, and you'd kill him if you could if it weren't for the trembling of the reticle and overly-sensitive aiming mechanics.
Aside from that, there are a fair bit of options for playing. You can throw grenades (I never quite figured out how, because either the controls for it are woefully complex, or I'm an idiot), pick up other weapons (machine gun and shotgun), and slash the Wiimote across the screen for a knife attack. You'll never want to do that, though, because it's useless.
The E3 demo featured a segment from
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. The player is Jill Valentine, who's just met up with Carlos. At least I surmise it was Carlos. I heard his voice, but I never actually saw him in the game; he just acted as a disembodied dialogue to keep me occupied while the game scrolled through the level. On this issue, I am torn. It seems like Capcom employed the same voice talent of the very first
Resident Evil game on the PS1 for
Umbrella Chronicles; the line delivery is about the same quality. I foresee some fans liking that aspect, and others hating it.
The game isn't all negative, though. If a zombie gets too close, it doesn't automatically cause damage; instead, you can mash the Z button to counterattck (like in the
RE remake for the Gamecube), the camera will shift to third person, and Jill will whip out her taser to defend herself.
I left the demo disappointed, to say the least. This is not exactly the
Resident Evil game many Wii owners are hoping for given the details that have been made known. The game is still in development, however, and if Capcom can polish up the gameplay mechanics, it
might be a decent rail-shooter when it comes out.
