Umbrella Corp casting call

Details on Wii's Resident Evil: Umbrella Corporation Chronicles are continuing to ooze out in the run-up to its Tokyo Game Show debut - including the list of returning playable heroes (and villains).

Each chapter in Chronicles unearths a different section of Resident Evil history, with protagonists to match: Jill and Chris return to Resident Evil 1's mansion, Claire and Leon hit the Racoon City Police Department beat again, Jill and Carlos fight their way out of Racoon City and, finally, Leon and Ada reunite in that ill-fated Spanish village.

Several not-so-secret characters will be unlockable, including Rebecca Chambers and Albert Wesker (!), and every character will carry their customary weapons and melee attacks, now all controllable through a Wii-mote-and-Nunchuk reworking of Resident Evil 4's control scheme.

And, perhaps the best news of all to the more bloodthirsty among us, an arcade mode will do away with the story and puzzle-solving distractions and get down to combo-count zombie-mashing, like RE4's terrific Mercenaries minigame.

We'll have more on Umbrella Corporation Chronicles when it shuffles out into the bright lights of the Tokyo Game Show this weekend.

September 19, 2006