Disappointment of E3 07: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles

Well, if Sega is testing the waters with Ghost Squad, do you think we’ll expect to see a Wii version of House of the Dead 4? Dispite not being graphically adequate, it has rumble and the Zapper attachment makes the remote like a sub machine gun.

Those are the problems?

Its still early. Their are more than just zombies in Resident Evil you know…

@Wengus - I hope Sega brings over House of the Dead 4 and other light gun games from the arcade. They have a big catalog.

@EvilHero - I think the problem is that it isn’t fun to play. It’s not exciting like a light gun game and it doesn’t have suspense like the other Resident Evil games.

I’d have to agree. I haven’t tried the game, but the whole issue of using the wii-mote rather than the light gun eliminates a large element of what makes light games fun. I mean the fact that you have to have an indicator icon of where you shoot is sign enough that it will not be as fun. Where i’d primarily like light guns to go towards is getting the damn recoil thing in time crisis arcades in! Last i saw of those for home was in Kentia Hall years ago!

Spencer, how does it compare to the Biohzard Gun Survivor games?

@the_importer - its about the same scale as Gun Survivor 2, where you’re in FPS mode minus walking around. I guess the main difference is you have a knife and the story isn’t a spin off.

its about the same scale as Gun Survivor 2, where you’re in FPS mode minus walking around. I guess the main difference is you have a knife and the story isn’t a spin off.

So it’s simply a game to with a popular name made in order to take advantage of the fact that the Wii could be the ultimate FPS game console but it turns out to be nothing more than another Red Steel?

I am a huge Resident Evil fan and I cant wait for this WII title. RE has been a hit cult classic for years and this is going to sell well. The game might get better before the actual release.
It will be a great game to go through and see the old areas all over again. CAPCOM IS DOING THEIR THING….

I was having high hopes for this game, since it’s supposed to be the first game that uses the zapper. And yes, I was looking forward to revisiting the old places again in the railer shooter form. Guess we’ll just have to see.

@Anthony - I’m not saying it’s not going to sell well, it will. And I don’t think Resident Evil is a cult hit. We’ve seen Capcom make some great Resident Evil games and they can do much better than this. The problem is Resident Evil has an identity crisis, part light gun game, part survival horror.

I think the main problem with Capcom is not to make new franchise, but more like keeping them alive after a long period of time. I can’t think of a single old Capcom franchise that I would purchase a new title. In a period of 5 years, then can come up with more titles in the same franchise than Nintendo could make Mario and Zelda games, no wonder I get tired of them. They should give a break to Biohazard, Rockman, Street Fighter characters, work on new franchise for 5 or 6 years and then bring the old ones back.

I really hope they don’t bring House of the Dead 4. It wasnt that good. As for Resident Evil UC. I am going to wait and see. there is still some time to fix the game.

I would assume the reason why its not exciting or fun was because your just fighting slow zombies.

I would imagine once you run into Hunters or the Tyrant, things will pick up and be faster paced.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Spencer, you failed.

You say that there are only three to five zombies on screen maximum, and then you show a screen shot where I can count at least ten zombies (including one lying down on the left).

Did you even play the demo?

@Tron - Sorry that I failed in your eyes, but the part you’re mentioning isn’t playable in the demo. The first screen shot is from the demo level where you play as Jill. Capcom gave me access to a bunch of other screenshots some are from the demo and some aren’t.

For what it’s worth, I thought Umbrella Chronicles was brilliant at Capcom’s Gamer’s Day before E3 and I hated playing it at E3. The difference maker, for me, was the Wii Zapper. It turned a really interesting, precise, fun shooter that you could play with very small wrist movements into a silly, imprecise arcade game where I was flailing this giant gun all around.

I wanted to rip the controller out of the Wii Zapper.

I think the problem with your review is that you put down Umbrella Chronicles in it, and not the UC *demo*. The zombies move slow, and it’s kind of ugly-ish. Harsh, anyone?

If 3-5 slow moving zombies in a demo is one of your major complaints, and a screenshot of yours clearly shows 9-10, doesn’t that tell you that your article should inform its readers that this game still has a chance to be better than what you played? Because it doesn’t. Even after you updated your article, it was only to say that this was your opinion. Do you really think it has no chance of improving itself?

This article as is leaves me thinking that you’re just bashing a game simply for the controversy of bashing it. Someone that trusts your word may not pick up a game that you give a bad review. You know that, right?

All criticism of an article aside, I love siliconera. I recently discovered you guys through gonintendo a few months back. Please keep up the good work!

@Rogue - I see what you mean, but this isn’t a review. It’s impressions. The demo didn’t stand up to the House of the Dead series and it’s on par with the rest of the Biohazard Survival games which are mediocre at best.

@Chris - Fair point, I only played it with the Zapper. Maybe it’s better without it.

@Spencer One question I have, Now is the game just bad or is it something they can fix. the vibe i am getting from your writeup is that the game is a lose cause.

@Grim Santo - it’s not a lost cause. Some awesome boss battles could help it, faster moving zombies, similar to the House of the Dead games. Maybe make more zombies jump out at you instead of slowly walking out of predictable spaces, bringing the “scare” factor that Resident Evil is known for back. That would be awesome.

zombies jumping out i can see, but they have always been slow moving other the then the crimson heads from RE1 remake. Like EvilHero said about, the game could pick up a lot when the other monster from the RE world show up.

That is why i am going to wait a see on this game, until i play it for myself.

Also, I think it being two fast pace like House of the dead would feel wrong for a Resident Evil game.

On a side note, Resident Evil has had it share of crappy games. Resident Evil: Survivor & Resident Evil Outbreak being two of them. People aro 50/50 on Resident Evil 0. though i like it myself.