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Section: Reviews, Features, Opinions, Consoles, Wii, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, Shooter, Horror & Suspense

Title: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Price: $49.99
System: Nintendo Wii
Release Date: November 17, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Capcom (Cavia)
ESRB Rating: “Mature”  for blood and gore, intense violence and language.
Pros: Outstanding graphics, excellent flow, cinematic presentation, solid boss battles.
Cons: Some of the acting and dialog is annoying, shooting pictures and lights gets tedious, can leave you hanging without the right weapon.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 80/100; B-; *** out of 5

I shouldn’t have played this game so quickly after Dead Space Extraction. Dead Space brought such a new twist on rail shooters (light gun games), that Darkside Chronicles seems quite common by comparison. This isn’t entirely fair, though, because it’s still a great game.

Didn’t We Already Kill These Dead Things?

You could call Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles a sequel to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles but it’s not entirely accurate. Rather, it fits within the same universe. You play familiar characters on mostly familiar missions but the game stands on its own, as well.

As with all rail shooters, you don’t control your movement. You’re driven through the game like a car in a fun house, allowing you to concentrate fully on your targets. If you haven’t liked this type of games in the past, you won’t like this one. Although you occasionally get to choose your path, this usually amounts to nothing more than determining which hallway you walk down on your way towards the goal. There’s no freedom of exploration.

The benefit to all of this is that the developers are able to tightly integrate the story with the action. It creates a great flow, allowing the action to drive the game with minimal interruption or jarring jumps to cut scenes.

The Couple That Slays Together, Stays Together

That doesn’t mean there isn’t a story. There are actually three, all of which are loosely tied together by, well, you should know that by now.

The three scenarios find Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser in South America (new scenario), Claire Redfield and Leon in Raccoon City (Resident Evil 2), and Steve Burnside and Claire on some island off Europe (Resident Evil Code: Veronica). If you’re playing by yourself, you can pick which of the two you want to control. The decision only controls who you see onscreen with you and what weapons you excel at. Visually, all the characters look like David Bowie from one decade or another, it’s just that some have nicer legs.

Both the single-player and multiplayer versions are fine and you’re not punished if you have to go through on your own. One feature in which Dead Space Extraction excels is with the ability for a second player to jump in and out at any time. Here, you have to know from the start of a level that you’ll have a partner. If not, you either have to start over or finish the level in order to accommodate the addition or loss of player two.

Be Sure to Pack Appropriately

The variety of levels is somewhat limited and you’re mainly fighting the same enemies throughout. A few decent boss battles are scattered about, the final of which is quite epic (although perhaps too easy). There is at least one, however, where if you didn’t bring the right weapon you can’t beat it, at least not in single-player mode. The game offered up the right gun but I had no slots for it and my computer-driven partner never bothered to use it.

Much has also been said about the camera work in the game. To make it more immersive, the developers worked hard to create the experience exactly as your character would see it. This means a lot of bouncy action sequences and quick glances over your shoulder to see what’s coming. I had no problem with this. In fact, I rather liked it. It’s not nearly as hard to manage as some reports I’ve read, and it settles down when it needs to. The developers use this to convey a sense of panic or calm and it’s quite effective.

I May Not Know Art, but I Know What I Like to Shoot

What I didn’t like, however, is the game’s reliance on shooting random objects. I hate this. In order to unlock secrets, retrieve documents or even find ammo/health, you constantly have to shoot at objects including pictures and lights. This is stupid, especially in a game that requires you to save ammunition, so you’re forced to keep switching to your infinite bullet handgun in order to kill as much artwork as possible. It constantly yanks you out of the reality set up by the game, reminding you you’re actually playing nothing more than Duck Hunt. I suppose it could add to the replay value for some but I’m not going to replay a level just so I can shoot more family heirlooms in an attempt to improve my score.

But if that’s my main gripe about the game, that’s a good sign. Fact of the matter is that Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is a great looking game that offers an intense action experience. A game like this can only be done properly on the Wii, and that’s somewhat rewarding. It’s a great entry in the Resident Evil series and is a fun throwback to those who will remember these places and characters.

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Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »