Intro:
First off, the only Resident Evil experience I have is playing the original PS1 version (though didn't beat it because I couldn't stand the voice acting and camera angles). I'd always wanted a Zombie survival horror First person shooter, but never could find one other than bad "House of the Dead" ports for the PC, which weren't quite up to par with something along the lines of Half-Life 2...
Half Life 2 helped curb my hunger (so to speak) for the whole Zombie genre, but the zombies didn't really play a huge role in the game. Resident Evil had all I wanted, but as I said, I couldn't stand the camera angles... Plus, traditionally, I'd been a PC gamer, and there hadn't been any decent ports available.
When I saw RE: Umbrella Chronicles advertised, not only with a first person view, but with Cooperative gameplay, I had to have it. I had some doubts viewing some YouTube Videos, as to how good it was going to be... Since the sample footage's voice overs didn't really pack the emotional kick that games like HL2, or Bioshock, or other games with high production values traditionally have...
Well I'm here to say that it's not an issue. Voice acting isn't 100% awesome, but it is much better than previous installments (from what I've seen on the net).
Onto pros and cons:
The GOOD:
I picked up 2 licensed Wii zappers (which came with Link's Crossbow training, which would be a great deal, but now I have two copies of Link's Crossbow training.... Sort of wish there were a way to send it back to Nintendo and get a couple bucks back, but it's neither here nor there.)
The Wii Zappers are a great concept, though paying $20 for a piece of plastic only meant to hold your Wii-mote and Nunchuck is truly a ripoff if it weren't for the additional game (Crossbow training). I plan on getting a Perfect Shot handgun off amazon.com as soon as I get a few more bucks in my wallet (Paying for 2 wii zappers and the RE game cost me $90!)
Anyone looking to buy RE, I'd recommend 1 wii zapper, and the Perfect Shot handgun on amazon, which has a near perfect 5 star rating.
The Zapper takes some getting used to, because it is rather small for an adult. Playing for a consecutive 3 hours made my hands and shoulders ache. That's my biggest pet peeve is the ergonomics of it, it's not ....RIGHT.
Though painful for extended play, it does the job. The ability of holding the Wiimote and nunchuck with two hands makes for steadier aiming and better accuracy. A problem that arises is when RE: Umbrella Chronicles asks you to hit the "A" button, which is located on the top of the apparatus, and is hard to reach while keeping your finger on the trigger. I think this can be changed in the settings, but never bothered to look.
Back to the Game (The Good):
Graphics - 9/10: The graphics are superb. Everything is high quality and very sharp. The shader effects of being outside in the rain and all are very immersive and well done. Characters, monsters, they're all very nice.
Monsters may all look the same (as in all dogs look like the same dog, all 'lickers' all look the same, etc) there are a wide variety of monsters, so you won't really care or notice... The human zombies are varied, though you'll get some that look the same, they try to avoid having the same zombie character models in 1 area.
The environments are fully destructible. You can pretty much shoot and break any object... Lights, boxes, windows, etc all can be broken realistically, and often hide files you need to collect to get a better score.
The dumb thing about this "Find the Files in each level" thing is the places you find stuff... I'll shoot out a light, and an object will appear... ???? How'd it get up there is what I wanna know!
Sound - 8/10: Sounds are well done, voice acting not absolutely perfect, but great anyway. You'll hear the same zombie growl right before you turn a corner and bump into a hoard of em, so that's both good and bad.
Gameplay 7/10: The reason I don't give it a straight 9 or 10 is due to the STUPID "dodge by pressing a button" sequences that come up every once in awhile, either in the level or in a boss fight. 80% of the time, I don't have enough time to press the right button, and if I do, it doesn't recognize it, and I die or get hit. What happens is a sequence comes up in a cutscene, where you see a truck or something coming at you, and a button pops up on your screen and you literally have about 2 seconds to push it ***REPEATEDLY*** or you die... and dying lowers your score, so you essentially have to restart the level if you want a good score. I don't know if I need new batteries in my Wiimotes or what, but both my friends and I had a hell of a time getting through some of these levels with those features. I wish they'd eliminate them or find some other way to do it... Waving the Wiimote around like an idiot is the worst, because it almost never works.
Another thing that irks the hell out of me is the fact that my friends and I wanted to start on Easy and work our way up... And we're dying as though it was set to Hard mode! I mean we're highly accurate guys, we get a lot of critical hits most of the time, but the fact that it takes wayyyyyyy to much ammo to kill a zombie is just ridiculous. The later levels especially. The thing I hate most is the fact that a shotgun blast to a zombie's head won't blow it up, even if you aim for the critical spot for a 1 hit kill... 1 hit kills are only achieved with the basic pistol, or by luck with any other weapon, though it's rare. You'll shoot a zombie in the head 10-20 times before it goes down for good, and in the meantime, you'll have other zombies in the back spraying acid vomit on you and another one is grabbing you for a bite to eat. The game is virtually impossible on the harder modes due to the reloading factor. At least with CO-OP, while you're reloading, the other guy can blast enemies back with his shotgun.
I'll have to test the normal and hard modes, but if they're harder than "Easy" then I'm in for a world of hurt.
I must be doing something wrong...
Boss battles can be rough, but they usually have a pattern, so once you figure that out, you'll be doing ok.
Overall, I'd say this game is worth a buy, or at the very least, a 5 day rental. It's hard as hell, so make sure to have a friend to help you fight the Undead. There is a lot of fun replay value in trying to get a higher score because you can buy upgrades for guns and unlock new sub-missions. If you liked arcade shooters like House of the Dead, then this game is really going to appeal to you.
