Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

We’re almost happy with that. Alas, as successful as Chronicles is as a fan-pleasing piece of Resident Evil cake, it’s a very ordinary shooter. Not very pretty and not very fleshed out, Umbrella Chronicles looks more like a GameCube port than a Wii-exclusive. For such a crucial recap of the series, you’d think Capcom would’ve put some more effort into the graphics and level design. Instead, you’ll slog through areas you know you’ve seen before on PS2 and GameCube (literally - these seem at times to be the same backgrounds), every so often being jumped by the obligatory zombie or mutant or whatever. Then, when you get to the boss, it becomes an endurance contest instead of a thrilling struggle. The tension, the anxiety, the fear of Resident Evil is long gone and instead, we’re left with an un-scary ghost of games past.

Although the design choices made along the way are often confusing, the game Umbrella Chronicles finally became isn’t the disaster it was seemingly destined to be. Lest we forget, Capcom has no strong record for quality Resident Evil side-stories, and a particularly bad reputation for lousy lightgun games - think Resident Evil Outbreak - so it’s a miracle the clearly micro-budgeted Umbrella Chronicles worked out as well as it did.