Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles

Sept 24, 2007

E3 brought us Resident Evil 2's Racoon City and Leipzig debuts Zero's Ecliptic Express - a train-based slog featuring escaped convict Billy Coen, co-star of RE0. While eerie in its odd state of abandonment, seeing a level from one of the graphically enhanced chapters of the franchise couldn't match the visual freshness of RE 2's PS1 sights pumped through Wii.

The enclosed carriages of the Express allow for more of the interior damage that won us over when the game was originally shown. Alas, while blasting lightbulbs is fun, zombie killing remains staid. With Ghost Squad wearing its silly lightgun heart on its sleeve, the plodding nature of Umbrella Chronicles' foes takes away a lot of the fun.

The demo took us through event-free carriages, but we know it concludes with the Scorpion encounter and that this beast is downed by judicious gunnery and QTE-dodging moments. And this demonstrates one key problem - shooting is secondary to the gimmicks of the main games. Avoiding boss hits should require shooting prowess, not mad hand waving. Maybe it'll work better in practice? We have doubts.