When it comes to survival horror games, perhaps no series is more synonymous with the genre than Resident Evil. Though Resident Evil has made for some great action adventure games, Resident Evil hasn't ever done well when you shift the game into a first person perspective…well, at least it hasn't until now. Though the on-rail shooter doesn't do anything new and is nothing more than an arcade peripheral shooter, it still manages to be a pretty fun (and admittedly scary) time.

THE STORY SO FAR
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Resident Evil: UC from here on) plays like an interactive journey through the history of the Resident Evil games, taking you through the events of Resident Evil O, Resident Evil, and Resident Evil 3, which is a plus for those players who might have played one of the games before but never knew the story contained in those games.

Based on recollections from playing the original games, it seems that Resident Evil: UC pretty much hits all the proper story marks, giving plenty of CG and in-game rendered scenes to advance and let you know all the key details into the history of the Umbrella Corporation.

Besides retelling the events of the original games, old fan favorite villain Wesker has a completely new story (or at least one we can't recall ever seeing before) that lets us follow the bad guy and get invested even more into his world of deceit and treachery. Wesker's unlocked stories aren't just interesting from a mythology standpoint, but they just so happen to be some of the hardest missions in the game; the first Wesker file boss, for example, took us multiple times until we were able to perfect it, and even then we only barely survived the fight.

GAMEPLAY
Since it's possible to play the exact same game through either by yourself or with another player, we're just going to rope all the gameplay mechanics and thoughts into this one section.

The game isn't so much a first person shooter like you'd think of when it comes to games like Halo, Call of Duty, etc., but rather the game plays more like an on-rail shooter along the lines of the Panzer Dragoon series to be more precise (minus the flying dragons of course). The game can be played with just the standard Wii remote and nunchuk, but as its genre lies in the roots of the lightgun peripheral genre, Resident Evil: UC feels much more engaging and fun if you've got an actual lightgun in your hand; it really does immerse you into the game even more than the standard format. If you don't have the money for either Nintendo's lightgun or a third party manufacturer, you'll be happy to know that both control types work fine no matter which way you go.

Though you can make your character look in different directions, generally you can play almost all of the game without having to move your viewpoint away from the one the on-rail walking presents to you (the only time we really found need in the ability to look around came when we saw out of the corner of our eye an item and need to quickly move to see it again so we could grab it). Outside of the ability to manually move your view, your main combat moves have to do with the actual shooting and fighting, having one finger be attached to the firing of your weapons, the ability to draw your knife out and swipe with your remote to kill enemies too close, and being able to throw grenades as well for when the action gets too hard for you.

The fighting is confined to a reticule on the screen, representing where your Wii remote or gun peripheral is pointing. As you run out of bullets you can manually reload whenever you want with a quick flick of your wrist, or you can try to fire a bullet when you don't have one and the game will automatically reload for you. When it comes to your weapons your default handgun has infinite ammo, but for weapons like grenades, shotguns, rocket launchers, and Uzis you only have so much ammo and need to find them hidden throughout the levels to load yourself back up for battle. You can also get stars based on your performance through the game, which you can use to upgrade your weapons, such as giving your shotgun more starting ammo, and you can then use these upgraded weapons to go through levels and hopefully perform even better. A big part of the game comes from the proper micromanagement of your weapons and being able to reload when it's safe, and also knowing the proper weapon to use for the proper situation and the proper enemy type.

Each level basically comes as a two-part section with usually a checkpoint in the middle you can start back at if you die, and then there is usually a continue spot right before the boss fight for that level; once you've beaten that level you move on and keep experiencing the story. The boss fights are the coolest moments, often requiring you to shake your controller or quickly press a button, letting you do such moves as diving out of the way of a charging enemy. The bosses are also quite difficult, making it so that you need to memorize their attack patterns, knowing when to fight and when to attack certain areas so they don't hit you. The nice thing is that there is replayability in the game, making you want to go back and try to get the best possible rating and score you can get, plus there are the hidden Umbrella files that are nice to collect and read. The Umbrella files are often hidden, needing you to do something like shoot a painting off a wall to find it underneath, and there are multiple files in each level you'll play. Some levels have branching areas you can take as well, so you'll be able to experience some replayability in those situations as well.

GRAPHICS
Graphically the game is pretty good, though the textures and environments are always too dark and a little muddy looking at times as well. Though the environments aren't always the most attractive things to look at, the zombies and other larger enemies and bosses look much better, and are also nicely gross and disgusting when you get up close and personal with them.

AUDIO
There isn't much in the way of great background music, but when it comes to the ambiance of a spooky and seemingly lifeless place, Resident Evil: UC will cause you some scares thanks to even the smallest possible noise. Plus, the game also sounds great when it comes to the loud cries of a zombie and the powerful, screen shaking blast of a grenade blast.

IN CONCLUSION
Though the game isn't amazing, it's still a pretty good time for those players looking for a lightgun game to have on their Wii. Resident Evil fans will get the most from their time with the game, but if all you want to do is hold a weapon in your hand and blow holes in zombies, you should fulfill your desire for zombie killing with Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

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