The Resident Evil: Chronicles series reminds me of those end-of-the season episodes of your favorite television shows. You know the onestheyre season recaps, sometimes with additional scenes or footage. Chronicles does these episodes one better: They shift the games style, turning our third-person survival horror series into first-person, on-rails shooters.
Now, if you know Resident Evils backstory, theres not a lot of new stuff here. I mean, there are some new revelations, and a couple surprises (that Ive been asked not to reveal by Capcom, even in my review), but most of the game revolves around the plots of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. Theres a couple additional episodes with original material, like one set before the events of Resident Evil 4 starring Leon S. Kennedy and Jack Krauser (rendered in pretty spectacular lighting on the Wii), but for the most part, were seeing settings that were familiar with, in a way that we havent experienced them before.
The best parts of the game are when youre shooting. The worst parts of the game are the lengthy cut-scenes when you have nothing to shoot at. If you strip the game down to its skeleton, its a handheld-camera-Duck-Hunt, featuring long sequences of no ducks.
Now, I know that the Resident Evil story is important to a lot of the series fans. Unfortunately, the games designers treat the story with a certain indecisiveness, as if torn between reverence and apathy. Given the amount of time that were not fighting zombies, or tounge-headed half-breeds, you'd think that the story really was important to Capcom. But consider this: if you have a cutscene where a police officer is dying on the floor, and you give the player the freedom to shoot their gun at the walls constantly, they will do so, undermining your drama.
Nothing makes a serious scene more ridiculous than constant, random gunfire. If you're going to concede that the player needs to be able to do somethingduring the cutscenes, then perhaps the cutscene itself needs to be taken in a different direction. Or if you believe the story to be important, then it must be treated as such, with control wrestled away from the player.
Is the game groundbreaking? No. But it is enjoyable, in that mindless, Saturday morning way. It's not revolutionary, but it is silly fun. The new camera is nice, and reminds me of the forced angles of early Resident Evil games, in that it builds tension by limiting our point-of-view. For Resident Evil fans, or fans of arcade shooters, this game is a no-brainer. But for players looking for a frightening few hours, or even a story delivered with single-minded clarity, they'd be better served playing an actual Resident Evil game.
score 8.0 out of ten
verdict It s a junk-food action-shooter. Bring a friend, buy a pizza, and youll have a good time. This isnt a game well be talking about in a few years, or even in a few months. But hey, not every game needs to be great. Right?
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