Monday 14 Apr 2008

Have you still got Resident Evil: Survivor stuck in your mind from the PS1 days? Do you still burst out with frantic cold sweats at night? Have you attempted a lightgun game since? If I were you my answers would be something like: “YES”, “YES” and “Hell NO!” If a Resident Evil franchise goes off the track (that being what it’s known for – survival horror) like these lightgun games or *cough* Resident Evil: Online *cough* one expects the worst. However, PS1 days are gone and it seems the terrible lightgun games, featuring this franchise, left with it. Yes, it’s a good news day son!

I’m personally a massive Resident Evil fan and have played RE: Zero, RE1 (Remake), RE:2, RE3: Nemesis, RE: Code Veronica and RE4 and loved every bit of each those games. If you missed out on several of those games I am glad to tell you that this game follows the history of the franchise. It might be told in haste (squeezing 40 hours into 10), but for those waiting for RE5 next year that have no idea who Chris is and why he’s in Africa; this will help explain many of those things, as there is an overabundance of secrets to discover in the game. It even gives us veterans more details on the horrific happenings in this story. It’s a completist’s dream!

Good ol’ Zombies

This game features Resident Evil Zero, 1, 2 and 3 and has all the old baddies like Hunters, T-Virus and the good ol’ Zombies. The bosses of old are also in the game and I found them relatively entertaining in this day and age.

Let’s get into the game play - the Wiimote is used as your gun and you point it straight at the TV as you would a lightgun game peripheral. The trigger button “B” is your shooting button (“duh”) and to reload your gun you flick it, like those in the arcades back in 1995. Keep “A” pressed and slash forward with the remote and you are replicating a stab with your handy knife. One can also plug in the nunchuk and use the analog stick to look other directions while the camera automatically guides you through the game. I must warn you that my wrist was literally quite painful near the end of the game from all the reloading – you have been warned! Just as a side note, you can use the Wii Zapper with this game, but I never got around to that.

Graphically this game is actually very impressive. So far Mario Galaxy and Zack and Wiki were two of the few games to really show off the system and RE: UC is actually very atmospheric because of this. All the locations are represented very well in full 3D. Keep in mind that the games that are represented here were all pre-rendered backgrounds (still pictures) to keep high detail on the PS1 and GameCube respectively back when they launched and this conversion has not lost an inch of the detail, well done Capcom! Capcom had to please their fans by keeping the soundtrack exactly the same and did so, so nothing special here if you’ve played it before, still creepy as always.

Something that was obviously thought of from the beginning was the co-op in the game, as it is well represented throughout and if you have a mate to play with it is the most important reason to play this game (Must say, I’m glad that co-op has really taken off this generation on all platforms!).

Overshadowing negatives

What I have not touched on yet is the negatives and unfortunately this game has them as well. To such an extent that some of the above positives are overshadowed by it. Lightgun games are known for being short pick-up-and-play games, not in this case. Seeing that you travel through all the locations in the Resi universe it does take some time and becomes a bit stretched out. Playing Ghost Squad is short but it is like a 100m sprint into Angelina Jolie’s arms and RE: UC is a slow train to the farm to visit your Gran.

The single player mode is exceptionally difficult, you actually require a friend to play this on co-op and easy is in fact NOT easy.

Unfortunately those two combinations really spoil the game as a long but difficult game is going to leave some never seeing all the greatness in the story that is Resident Evil. Although there is some nice scenery along the way, Chronicles is a journey you’ll be happy to take on just once, then pass it on. If you’re not the kind of person that handles challenges by yourself very well take a “rain check” and stick your “Umbrella” back in the cupboard.

Pros: Explains the Resident Evil franchise; graphically it’s very impressive; Wiimote suits the control scheme very well.

Cons: Far too long for a lightgun game; very difficult if you do not have a friend.

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Contributor:	Dawid

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