Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles First Look Preview

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, the on-rails shooter released for the Wii early last year, led some to criticise Capcom for milking its biggest-selling franchise. But that did the game a disservice. It was a fast-paced romp through the first four Resident Evil games (chronologically), with excellent graphics (for the Wii) and fun two-player co-op play. And, crucially, it sold over a million copies worldwide. At Captivate 09 Capcom took the lid off the sequel, The Darkside Chronicles, and took press through a live gameplay demo of the game’s first half hour.

Although plot details are thin on the ground, it looks like The Darkside Chronicles will focus on the story, locations and characters from 1998’s Resident Evil 2, for many the best Resident Evil game. As Capcom begins the live gameplay demo, the similarities reveal themselves to be stark. Like in Resi 2, The Darkside Chronicles lets you pick from two playable characters: rookie Raccoon City Police Department cop Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who’s in town searching for her missing brother (in multiplayer both are playable). And like in Resi 2, the game begins in a charred city street at night. Abandoned cars are aflame, eerie music haunts the air and the night sky lends a sense of dread. Zombies are everywhere, slowly ambling towards the screen. Leon and Claire stand together, desperate to escape, desperate to make their way to the Police Department, taking shots with their trusty handguns at zombie skulls. They pass through the gun shop from Resi 2 – once again the shopkeeper can’t be saved. They pass through familiar streets, open familiar gates and face off against familiar enemies. The trailer that Capcom shows before the gameplay demo begins details lickers, a giant crocodile and, wait for it, the T-103. The demo ends at the entrance to the Police Department, a place any Resi 2 fan knows is full of horrors. It’s just like it was a decade ago, except this time it’s in first person.

Other returning characters include sexy temptress Ada Wong, Resi bad guy Albert Wesker, Sherry Birkin (the little girl Claire spent so much time protecting), and her father William Birkin, the mad scientist who injects himself with the G-Virus after his work is nicked. How they all fit together in the plot isn’t known at this point, indeed how much the game strays off the Resi 2 path will be interesting for fans to discover. The official blurb from Capcom says the game features “a brand new storyline that will fill in missing pieces of the “Chronicles” series”, but we don’t know how extensively it will explore previously unseen areas and reveal previously untold story. Whatever the case, Resi obsessives will feel compelled to eke out any new plot titbits the game has hidden within its virtual innards.

As far as improvements go, Capcom, along with Tokyo developer Cavia, have concentrated on two areas: the horror atmosphere and the graphics. Let’s start with the graphics. It’s immediately obvious that The Darkside Chronicles will be one of the best-looking Wii games ever when it’s released. The character models are well detailed, as are the many zombies that try to kill you. The Havoc-powered physics are a joy, and the zombie hit animations might even be better than those in Resi 5. But it’s the environments that steal the show. The fire effects, especially, are stunning for a Wii game. The detail on show is superb – Resi 2 fans will have as much fun spotting items and objects they remember from the classic PSOne title as they will from shooting zombies in the head.

Cavia’s chief producer Kentaro Noguchi, who’s playing the game for us, says a great deal of time and money has been spent on getting “next-gen” graphical effects to work on the Wii. “We wanted to focus on a very realistic approach,” he says. “We didn’t want it to be cartooney like some Wii games can be. We spent a lot of time and effort trying to get the latest technologies into the Wii itself: HDR, global illumination, a special system known as SH Lighting, and some special shadows and lighting filters, as well as specular maps. It’s one of the few Wii titles that’s going to look this good.”

Now onto the horror atmosphere. Capcom’s at pains to stress that one of its chief goals with the game is to try and make players feel a more heightened sense of dread. To achieve it, it’s implemented a number of gameplay tweaks Umbrella Chronicles fans will find interesting. Camera control has been completely wrestled away from the player into the hands of the developers. While this is bound to give some players the fear, Capcom insists it’s spent a lot of time making sure the camera work is top notch, so there’s no need to worry.

“It didn’t work well in the first game,” insists Capcom producer Masachika Kawata. “A lot of people may not like that, but it really does fit a horror game to have the camera removed from you. It also directly shows you what you can shoot. The game itself therefore may not be as difficult to beat as the last game, but if you want to truly master it it’ll be much harder.”

Part of making the game easier is making the action smoother, another focus point. Now, collected herbs won’t have to be consumed on the spot, but can be stored away for use later. A new sub-menu will allow you to tinker with your load out. Perhaps best of all, though, is the ability to map weapons to the Wii Remote d-pad, allowing you to switch between the handgun and, say the shotgun or machine gun, in-game at will. Thank God for that.

Capcom also points to the conversations Leon and Claire have during the game as another example of how the atmosphere has been improved. Capcom’s managed to hunt down the voice actor used for Resi 4’s Leon, as well as the voice actress used for Claire in the original Resi 2. The game’s got the original Ada Wong, too. Sherry though, has a different girl’s voice: “We tried to use the same person for Sherry,” Kawata explains, “but she’s now grown up and no longer sounds like a girl! So we had to find a new person for that.”

Perhaps more important than getting the original voice actors on board is keeping faith with the cheesy b-movie dialogue the series is famous for. Thankfully Darkside Chronicles pulls no punches in this regard. At one point crows emerge from the night sky and start attacking Leon. “Guess they want a piece of me,” he says.” “Very funny,” Claire replied. Later, it gets even better (worse). “This is like a horror movie!” Leon screams. “Bet you don’t have to do this many stunts in a horror movie.” Wow.

At certain points in the game “dramatic events” will trigger, where you have to save your partner from certain death. One of these sees Leon knocked to the ground by an explosion, leaving him disorientated and with a ringing in his ears. Claire then saved him, shooting zombies off his back. Right now it’s not clear how this mechanic will work when the game is played cooperatively – will the game force these events on players or can they be avoided?

As much as the game has changed, it will still provide an instantly familiar experience. Exploding gasoline tanks are everywhere (one section sees you blow up a zombie-filled bus with one well-placed shot to a barrel), and there are points where you can decide how you’re going to get to your intended destination. And, of course, the game’s core gameplay mechanic hasn’t been tinkered with. You’ll still be pointing the Wii Remote, moving a targeting reticule on the screen, and shooting lots, and lots, of zombies, for the majority of the game.

Capcom’s decision to make an on-rails Wii shooter based on Resident Evil 2 seems a smart one. The game sold just under five million copies on the PlayStation, and is Capcom’s second best-selling game of all time. That’s a lot of people to tempt with a zombie-filled trip down memory lane. Kawata says it best: “Resident Evil 2 is one of the titles that a lot of people say is the best in the series. If you remember playing it you’re going to see a lot of familiar places and faces.” We can’t wait.

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is due out exclusively for the Wii this winter.