Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles Hands-on
Zombies take a lumbering step in the right direction.
Since its initial unveiling our opinion on
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles seems to change on a play-by-play basis. The game began - or was hinted to be - set in the Resident Evil 4 play-style, using the same action-oriented over-the-shoulder view as GameCube's killer ap, and then later was revealed as an on-rails branching light gun game. At E3 we went hands-on with the title only to find that, despite its promising design, Umbrella Chronicles was lacking in a few key areas. Now that we've got it in-office, however, we're noticing some definite improvement to the overall execution of Capcom's next survival horror game. Read on to find out why Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles is starting to win us over.
In the past, Capcom's Resident Evil gun games (Survivor and Dead Aim, we're looking at you) weren't really the hottest titles on the market. Capcom tried to deliver a different experience, and instead made
huge sacrifices to the game's horror and all-around "Resident Evil-ness." As a loyal RE fanatic I've played through both in their entirety, and if you're wondering if Umbrella Chronicles beats them out, we can already give you a resounding "yes" on that one. The reason for its success is precisely the same reasons why previous RE gun games failed; Resident Evil: Umbrella chronicles still feels like a true RE franchise game.
Wesker has a huge voice this time around.
Umbrella Chronicles takes you through five main areas of the Resident Evil world, starting with zero, moving on through the mansion incident in the original RE, then progressing to Raccoon city in RE2, diving even deeper into the Nemesis storyline with RE3, and finishing with a new area based on the Umbrella HQ. Newcomers to the series are getting a moody, intense light gun adventure with tons of history and series tidbits sprinkled throughout to keep them in the loop, but what Umbrella Chronicles is really about is giving longtime fans a huge blast of nostalgia. After playing through over four hours of the game we've playfully renamed it as "Resident Evil: Fan Service," as it's almost as much of a tribute to the franchise as it is a full game.
In previous playthrough sessions we had some pretty harsh criticisms to deal out. Zombies were slow, there wasn't a ton of intensity all-around, the cursor had some jitter issues, critical hits were hard to pull off, and the zombies - pardon our play on words - felt lifeless. Some of that is fixed, and some of it remains, but we can tell you straight-away that we're more impressed - and optimistic - about Umbrella Chronicles now than we have been since seeing it in action for the first time. The cursor glitching is gone, but it's still a bit odd at times due to an overall lack of smoothness. For some reason Nintendo has the magic recipe when it comes to giving the IR a certain fluidity to it, and while it isn't more than just an annoyance RE: UC definitely doesn't have perfect IR control. It's close though. In addition, there seems to be no way to change the sensitivity in-game, so you'll need to handle that in the Wii home screen before booting it up.
This time around, however, there are some great strides being made. Zombies react to shots a lot more, as they'll actually pull back on a shoulder shot, drop to their knees if pegged below the waist, or blow backwards with a well-placed headshot. The "critical hit" areas are still too touchy though, and seem to be no larger than a few pixels each, so even though you're hitting the undead in the forehead, you're not hitting him in the right
part of the forehead. We could stand to have that be a bit more forgiving.
To the game's credit though, the entire experience feels a bit faster than it did last time we played it. Zombies rush at you, every enemy in the game is aggressive and pretty brutal with attacks, and there's a definite feeling of anxiety when we whip around through the levels at quick speeds. Nearly every light in the game can be shot, darkening the world in real-time as you'd expect, and since so many power-ups and secrets in the game are found by destroying objects - if you're smart you'll use pistol most of the time for "exploration" shots - you'll constantly be wanting to blast everything in the room. In our first playthrough this time around we ended up creeping our way through the original Resident Evil mansion in near pitch black.
That style of play may make the game harder, but all our level destruction got us the Assault Shotgun (Lv.1) weapon very early on. Once we beat the level, it was then unlocked for future use in any scenario, with any character. Since then we've also found numerous others, which we won't spoil for die-hard fans. In addition the lighting situations alone make for some pretty cool situations, as you'll be playing a two-player game (both players share a life bar) and one guy will be complaining that the other is constantly making the room harder to fight in. We can see diehard gamers hitting every light straight-away, or newcomers taking it slow the first few times until they build up confidence to decimate their only advantage against the undead.
Looking good. Just don't expect to blow off their heads.
The destruction aspects of the game also lead to some other interesting aspects of Umbrella Chronicles as well. Since the game is meant to be a look back on the history of Resident Evil, many of the items you're picking up in-level are bonus items on events and characters, rather than actual game-affecting power-ups. Virtually any pot, painting, barrel, crate, box, or destructible object in the world could hold either grenades, ammo, herbs, first aid spray, new weapons, or umbrella shields. When picking up the shields, however, you're actually earning post-level awards, so investigation might get you the official character profile for Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield, a journal-like synopsis of Tyrant, or even a photo and description of "the crank" from the original Resident Evil. This adds another level of depth to the game, as hardcore RE fans will want to find every file on every level, and literally complete the "Umbrella Chronicles" 100%.
Taking that idea a bit deeper, Umbrella Chronicles also stresses item management pretty well. Your pistol may have unlimited ammo, but only through exploration will you gain more rounds for your other guns. You can convivially carry a pistol, two different shotguns, a machine gun, and a magnum or the like (there seems to be no limit to inventory), but you'll need to be both smart and aggressive to find rounds for any weaponry. On the healing side of things you'll also need to scrounge around levels to find herbs which heal you on the spot, or first-aid sprays that essentially work as an extra life, bringing you back to full health as the screen goes bloody for the "You Died" finale. Some of the boss fights even make use of environmental attacks, as you'll be able to create new sections to escape to or drop chunks of a level onto bosses to deal heavy damage. It's all about knowing your surroundings, and making the most of the shots you've got.
This version also shows off a pretty nice improvement to the overall presentation, but it's still far from perfect. The intro for the game uses clips and teasers for not only RE: UC, but also shots from each of the original games as well. Likewise, the main interface looks like an office setup (classic RE menu design), which allows you to slide through folders and files, change any control configurations you'd like, or outfit your character before starting the level. This is where the new weaponry comes into play, as you'll select someone like Chris Redfield, and then go through any found gun in the game and pick it as your starting alternate weapon. The more you play, the more options you've got for each scenario, and from what we can tell you even keep extra rounds from previous chapters in your weaponry. Finish a portion of one level with tons of ammo to spare, and you'll start with it next time you play any other level in the game. Nice touch.
Once you kick into a level you'll get a brief overview of Resident Evil story at that point. In the mansion incident, for example, you'll be treated to the original GameCube intro showing from what looks like a static view monitor while Wesker details what his mission was, and how he used the dogs as a way of luring Alpha team into the mansion. Again, this is all fan service, but that's what RE: UC is all about. Once in the actual levels themselves you'll go down the same routes and through remade rooms of classic areas, many of which are identical to how you remember it. We saw the game's grabbing power instantly while playing here in IGN LA, as people walked by and stopped, asking things like "Wait… is that where the dog jumps through the window?" or "Oh nice, we don't have to find that damn crank this time around. Thank God." Areas are instantly recognizable, and it makes for some pretty fun memories. By the end of today's play session we had a group of about five people watching - and eventually trading off - as we ripped through one of the most classic environments in gaming history: The Mansion.
As another quick note, checkpoints litter the level as you go, not only giving you a restart location should you die and ranking your play thus far, but also taking a moment to auto-save. Even if you turn the system off completely it will save that progress, asking you if you'd like to continue from your saved game next time you load your file. This keeps RE:UC from getting old too fast, as you can play a long time and complete an entire game equivalent, play for a short time and beat one of three chapters in a level, or go even shorter and progress from checkpoint to checkpoint in what ends up being ten minute bursts of play.
There are still some issues though. For starters, the game's frame-rate is anything but perfect, topping out around 30 frames and occasionally dipping to just over half that by our estimates. You still can't - and we assume will never be able to - blow off chunks of a zombie's head or decapitate them, which makes for some odd visuals as you blast a monster in the face with a shotgun at point blank range, or put 60 shots of SMG into a crimson head only to have him look identical to when you started. You also deal with the fact that, while some objects break away with a single shot, others are still indestructible, so you'll need to feather the trigger constantly to test the virtual waters and see what exactly is hard collision, and what could contain the next game-changing power-up.
At this point it's already too late. Just waggle, and pray.
The different control methods - four total - are decent all around, but the game doesn't allow for full customization, so you'll have two Wii-mote selections, and two Zapper selections total. As a nice thought, however, the use of analog movement for general head-turning can actually be assigned to either both players at once, or only one, so if you're playing this M-rated game with a younger gamer - God forbid - they'll at least have only as much control as you give them; just keep in mind you're sharing a life bar, though your grenades and weaponry is person-specific. As a side-note, we played through a chapter of the game in 2P mode by ourselves, playing with two Wii-motes and leaving all camera movement to the computer and had a blast. It was hard as heck, especially when involved in RE4-like cinemas where button combos or motions are needed to avoid injury (each player doing a different move than the other), but having an auto-shotty in one hand and an SMG in another is one heck of a rush: Just remember which cursor is which.
Visually the game could grow a bit still, especially in the outside levels. When in controlled worlds like the mansion or inside the train cars the game looks pretty solid, but once you start dealing with open worlds, or low-lighting forests and gardens, you start to sacrifice a ton of visual quality. Character models can also be a toss-up, as some of the models - such as hunters and a few zombies - look great, while others are a bit too basic or textured poorly. In addition the reaction animations can string together weird, so while you can ground a zombie with one shot to the knee, the next headshot may trigger a standing reaction again, basically auto-raising the target upright again to show off the next animation, and returning him to a mobile state afterwards. On the flipside, the game's audio is pretty solid, including even sounds that come from the Wii-mote as you reload or spin new rounds into pistols, and boss battles are pretty well-constructed including scripted moments, general visuals, and battle patterns.
We still have a long way to go in Umbrella Chronicles, but even in this preview-only copy of the game (which is still so preliminarily that screens and video aren't allowed) we're already seeing the game start to come together. At this point we'd estimate it at about an eight hour game in single player, as it looks to be five chapters, three levels in each, with an average of about a half hour a piece, factoring in more or less depending on how dedicated you are to finding extra content, or replaying sections for more weaponry.
Overall we're enjoying the game far more now that some key changes have been made - even despite some still-annoying issues - and are eager to see how polished the experience can get before its final release. Die-hard Resident Evil fans may want to start paying more attention to this one as we near its release; there's some definite entertainment to be had.
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What the heck is going on!? I love RE! But no one would be willing to sit through the ENTIRE game with me in one sitting.. I need to be able to save!! 
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