So as well as having the added responsibility of showing off the new Wii Zapper, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles on Nintendo’s console needs to salvage some respect for Capcom when it comes to Resi-themed, on-rail shooters. Worryingly, on the evidence we saw at E3 this week, we’d say the game has a distance to go before it achieves redemption.
The problems start early, and quickly mount up like a pile of decomposing limbs. The graphics are instantly noticeable, and not in a positive way. Frankly, we found Umbrella Chronicles to be ugly. The fact that the game was positioned all of fifteen feet away from the eye-massagingly gorgeous Super Mario Galaxy didn't help it in this respect, and it came off looking decidedly rough around the edges. We’ve already mentioned this in our hands-on report of the Wii Zapper, but we’ll say it again: Resident Evil 4, a two-year old title and GameCube-to-Wii port, is considerably better-looking.
Action? If only.
It’s not simply the lousy, derivative art direction, or the tired, clichéd visual indicators (you’ll be amazed to hear that the game is packed with red barrels that explode - explode! - when shot. Who would have thought, etc.). Everything is at least three shades too dark, the character models are hardly elaborate, and the death animations - a crucial part of any light gun shooter, you’d think - are limited and underwhelming.
The weapons are just as mediocre. There were only three available in the demo version at E3, and although there will certainly be more in the finished game (rockets and grenades have been confirmed), why bother if they’re all going to feel the same? In fact, if they took away the icon in the top-left corner that tells you which firearm you’ve got equipped, it would be near-impossible to tell whether you were carrying the handgun, shotgun or SMG. The only perceptible difference can be seen in the impact the bullets make, with the shotgun producing a broad spray of shrapnel.
What’s more, it’s all terribly easy. We’re willing to be somewhat forgiving on this point - this is a work-in-progress, after all - but right now, you’re given far too much time to take aim. We’re well aware that Capcom promised to make Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition nice and easy for granddad, but now it appears that Umbrella Chronicles could befall the same fate.
The game’s zombies shuffle towards you at such a leisurely pace that you almost feel a twinge of guilt in taking them down, while the beasties that are supposed to be swift and deadly in these kind of titles are way too tentative. The zombie dogs, for instance, simply crouch there for an age before attacking, as though waiting for a belly-rub. We don’t want this - we want these foul, eternally damned creatures to launch themselves at us, intent on chewing our nose off. Yet it just doesn’t happen. The other Resi games might be renowned for creating tension and suspense, but this has all the edginess of a game of bridge. Any slight moments of difficulty come about because of the twitchy reticule, though in the title’s defence, the Zapper should probably take some of the blame for that.
Put your feet up - there's another fifteen minutes before they reach you.
However, perhaps the most worrying aspect of the game’s inadequate Santa Monica showing is that there’s not exactly a great deal of time left for Capcom to right the wrongs. If Umbrella Chronicles was down for a Holiday 2008 release, we’d be confident that the issues we’ve mentioned could be corrected. Yet Capcom has committed to a 2007 release date, giving itself just over five short months to get things in order. And given that the last stages of game development are reserved for debugging and testing, we’re not massively confident that the Resident Evil franchise will be getting the light gun experience it so obviously deserves. Here’s hoping we’re proved horribly wrong. Over to you, Capcom.
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