foxxy

User Score
8.5

Presentation - 8.0
Gameplay - 8.0
Value - 8.0

This may be a little biased, but as a gamer Resident Evil is one of those franchises I hold a strong emotional atachement to. I grew up playing Resident Evil, the first one being RE2 to be exact. When I heard that the Umbrella Chronicles (which I enjoyed, but could have been much better) was getting a sequel I was delighted. When I heard it would allow me to re-visit Resident Evil 2 you could only imagine my anticipation. I spent the better part of eight months squealing with delight at every new trailer, I was initially disspointed that it would be a rail shooter but I quickly got over it and learned to except the Darkside Chronicles for what it is: a frantic, fast paced, well done, shoot em up that allows me to revisit the glory days, and a little more.

Starting with the bad:

The shaky cam is an effect I actually enjoy, normally done during moments when you really don't even need to shoot; just immerse yourself within the atmosphere. This effect has, and may turn off many gamers but I assure you that it grows on you over time.

The length:

Well, eight hours is very good for a rail shooter, but with no real sub scenarios, I am a little dissapointed, with the games theme hinging on the dark sides of characters, a few even brief sub scenarios of Wesker, Chris, Ada Wong, and so forth would have fit the bill perfectly.

Boss Battles:

Well, the bulk of them are actually very good. But the game has this thing when your battling a boss, its health bar depletes, either the game wants you to kill it in a specific fashion, or you need to fend it off until it regenerates its health for another match. This wasn't too big of an issue for me, but alas for some gamers it might be.

On with the good:

everything else.

The soundtrack is phenomenal, lovingly re-aranging classic tunes of Code Veronica and Resident Evil 2 truly makes the player feel that they are revisiting these locales. The new music for the Operation Javier scenario is tremendously well done as well, with its South American flair to it. It really shows that Capcom invested a lot of time, and a lot of money into this game and it helps.

The graphics have been touted as being "Near 360 Level" and I beg to differ...somewhat. I feel that many developers, try to squeeze the most they can out of a wii for certain things, and ignore the rest. Take the Conduit, near Xbox360 level character models against PS2 backgrounds. RE:DSC actually corrects that, the bulk of the game looks smashing. Other than some lip synching issues, and some uneveness in the visuals department for the most part the game squeezes out some of the best graphics I've ever seen on the wii. Real time lighting effects, normal/bump mapping, shadows, incredible lighting effects and texture work. The animations are a real treat as well, the subtle physics of Claires ponytail bobbing up and down as she walks up the staircase are grand. At its worst, it looks like a fairly well done PS2 game in some areas, and at its best it looks like what the wii is truly capable of meaning the graphics are "more 360 than PS2 but still not quite 360 level" Capcom; you've really outdone yourselves this time.

The gameplay is simple:point and shoot. In that sense its accesible, but still challenging. I feel that rail shooting never truly gets old, nor is it ever truly "fresh" its a comfy level of reliability. The game delivers with good pacing, not every moment is meant for shooting the living daylights out of everything that moves, although the environmental activity of destroying objects to uncover hidden items is encourage. Just like Umbrella Chronicles the game has a subtle, specific playing style. It wants you to score headshots, it wants you to shoot the zombie in the leg so it stops moving so you can destroy that painting in the background. I also enjoy the dynamics of having a partner character onscreen, and while their AI could stand to be improved, it could also be worse. They actually can be of a bit of help at times.

The replayability is very good. It costs a fortune to upgrade your weapons fully, with three difficulties at the games begining you can find one that matches your level of prowess. Two playable characters per scenario, with very subtle differences here and there is also nice. Since the gameplay never gets completely stale, don't be surprised if you find yourself replaying it here and there throughout the months.

Overall I would give this game an 8.5/10

it delivers on all the aspects it could, and I feel that if you're a long term Resident Evil fan, or just like shooting zombies in the head its worth a try.