The Resident Evil Chronicles games were first released for the Wii but now it's available, in HD, on Playstation 3.
The game is a simple rail shooter, but it does feel a bit special knowing it serves as a cool recap of the Resident Evil franchise. Gets you all caught up with the story without having to play through the originals if you don’t feel like spending hours with each game. Makes me wish some other franchises would borrow this idea.
In the Wii version of the games, head shots have always been easier to accomplish in the Darkside Chronicles so I was hoping they would address the issue with Umbrella Chronicles, but there’s still a noticeable difference between the two.
Umbrella Chronicles has players jump right in playing as Rebecca or Billy (or both if you’re playing with a buddy) while Darkside Chronicles have players in the roles of Leon Kennedy and Krauser. What makes this unique besides gameplay from their full fledged counterparts is that characters don’t split up to cover more ground, but stick together and even though it takes away from the fear factor, it is a cool alternative and allows the chance for more character interaction and dialogue. There are even some extra levels in both games that take place in between the main RE games. For example, we get to see how Wesker escapes from the mansion after he is presumably killed by the Tyrant in RE1. We also get to see how Ada escapes from Raccoon City.
I’ve played through the game with both the normal controller and the Move controller and both function quite well. Obviously the Move controller gives you more of a realistic feel rather than using your standard controller and if you can fork up the extra dough, buy an extra Move controller for a friend to play along.
Many of the voice actors return to play their roles with the exception of maybe a couple (like Billy) and the music and sound effects are just what you would expect from a RE game (that’s a good thing).Being a rail shooter, the game might not be anything revolutionary, but again, it’s nice to see a different approach to the franchise and I really enjoyed being able to play through all the games within a short amount of time. If you are an RE fan and haven’t played the Wii version of the games before, I suggest you buy it now.
There are two games in the series: The Umbrella Chronicles and The Darkside Chronicles. You can buy them both together or separate at the Playstation Store.
- J'Tonello
The Good:
- A convenient way to quickly catch up on the RE mythos
- A new take on the games where characters partner up instead of going their separate ways
The Bad:
- Darkside Chronicle’s shaky camera can feel nauseating
Score: 8.0 / 10
