Game Review: Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles

Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Two years ago, Capcom's relentless milking of "Resident Evil" lore took an inspired turn in the form of "Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles," which presented old series storylines through the fresh eyes of an intense, arcadey light gun-style shooter that proved a great fit both for the franchise and the Wii remote's particular capabilities.

Where that game didn't go, "Darkside Chronicles" does, revisiting the events of "Resident Evil 2" and "Resident Evil: Code Veronica" through basically the same setup, albeit with the kind of tinkering one would expect from a sequel with two years' worth of learned lessons in its corner.

Most welcome is the new default assignment for the nunchuck attachment's joystick, which now allows players to quickly switch between different firearms with a quick flick in any corresponding direction. The stick's former task - a limited manual control over the camera - is no longer, but considering how useless that control was in "Umbrella" and what a time-saver this new trick is here, it isn't missed at all here. "Chronicles" still supports playing the game with just the Wii remote, but the extra functionality the nunchuck provides - combined with the game's allowance for reassigning one-button melee attacks and healing to any button on either controller - is pretty invaluable.

Elsewhere, "Darkside" doesn't mess with what made "Umbrella" work, though it also doesn't overcome all of that game's aggravations. Most exasperating is the inability to switch to a new weapon once a reload animation kicks in: When a monster is clawing at your face and you're helpless to do anything about it because your character is slowly reloading the shotgun, you'll find out just how annoying it can be. The camera once again falls prone to bouts of unnecessary shakey-cam-itis, but it shows restraint more than not.

Tallied up, the formula still works. A little creative liberty is needed to transform what was a solitary horror adventure into a mindless arcade romp that accommodates two characters at all times - like "Umbrella," "Darkside" supports two-player local co-op - but the stories ultimately survive the transition and arguably benefit along their journey. The action is as crazed as one expects from a light gun-style game, but the storytelling does get its due, and a brand-new storyline does a nice job of filling in some gaps the old games never addressed.

As has become an extremely welcome tradition in more modern "RE" games, "Darkside" offers a ton of replayability for players who want it. A long, winding weapon upgrade system allows players to max out weapons and carry their arsenal from one completed game into a brand-new game, and players who invest the many hours needed to max out their weapons can parlay that firepower into higher end-level scores and rankings. "Darkside" lacks any sort of online multiplayer component, but for the right crowd, the game's online leaderboard system provides a much more valuable utility.

----

More game news

Game reviews

Copyright 2012 by Mclatchy -Tribune News Service