Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
North American box art
Developer(s)	cavia, Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Masachika Kawata (Producer)
Engine	Physics: Open Dynamics Engine
Platform(s)	Wii
Genre(s)	Rail shooter, survival horror
Mode(s)	Single player, two player co-op

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, known in Japan as Biohazard: Umbrella Chronicles (バイオハザード アンブレラ・クロニクルズ, Baiohazādo Anburera Kuronikuruzu), is an on-rails shooting game and the seventh main installment in Capcom's Resident Evil series. The game was released on November 13, 2007 in North America, November 15 in Japan, and on November 30 in Europe, except for Germany, where the game is not available due to the lack of a USK rating.

Development

The game was co-developed by cavia and Capcom and produced by Masachika Kawata who was behind the PS2 port of Resident Evil 4. At E3 2006, Capcom officially announced that development was already underway for an exclusive Resident Evil game for the Wii and mentioned that it would take advantage of the console's unique Wii Remote controller, giving players a new experience. Members of Capcom's Clover Studios, who created such games as Viewtiful Joe and Ōkami, have been called upon to help develop the game.

A short clip of the game was shown on the Nintendo World event on November 3 2006, where 2007 was revealed as the release date. On April 6, 2007, the official Japanese website went live containing an official teaser video. On April 13, 2007, the official Japanese website updated with a second trailer, character profiles and screenshots. A Japan-only release of the game came with a limited edition collector's Biohazard box featuring several items. Christian Svensson, Capcom's senior director of strategic planning and research, stated the game would support 480-progressive scan and 16:9 widescreen resolution. A trailer was included in the Resident Evil 4 Wii edition, which shows the mansion from the original game and areas of Raccoon City. At its pre-E3 press conference on July 11th, 2007, Nintendo announced that the Wii Zapper peripheral will be compatible with the game.

The game was initially going to play similarily to Resident Evil 4. However, in an interview with Famitsu, the game's producer Masachika Kawata revealed the reason for the drastic change in gameplay. According to him, "Wii users like easiness" and that a RE4-style game is "too complicated" for Wii users to enjoy. Masachika Kawata then elaborated that "complex operability can be an obstacle for Wii users", and that he purposefully had to "compromise to a lower difficulty level" and "reduce enthusiast-only elements".[1]

Scenarios

The game follows the story behind the downfall of the Umbrella Corporation by revisiting scenarios from Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. It concludes with an assault upon an Umbrella stronghold maintained by Sergei Vladimir. In total, there are four main chapters with ten additional playable scenarios, divided up into a total twenty two levels.

Train Derailment

All scenarios in this chapter take place during the events of Resident Evil Zero.

• Train Derailment: A summation of Resident Evil Zero, divided up into three levels where the player chooses between Rebecca Chambers or Billy Coen.
• Beginnings: Reveals Albert Wesker's actions during this timeframe. The T-Virus escaped in Umbrella's Management Training Facility due to James Marcus' attack and Wesker must escape from the facility in order to pursue his next mission, luring the S.T.A.R.S. team to the Arklay Research Facility. After successfully reaching the surface, Sergei Vladimir confronts him and, not noticing Wesker's betrayal and unknowingly mistaking his actions as failure, dispatches a derivation of the T-103 Tyrants called Ivan to punish him.. Wesker barely manages to escape.

Mansion Incident

All scenarios in this chapter take place during the events of Resident Evil.

• Nightmare: Covers Rebecca Chambers' ordeal after the events of Resident Evil: Zero, but before she met up with the two protagonists of Resident Evil. Upon reaching the residence at the Arklay Research Facility, Rebecca falls asleep, exhausted by the events of Zero. Awoken from a nightmare by fellow Bravo team member Richard Aiken, the pair sets off to find other survivors from their team. While unable to locate the rest of Bravo team, Rebecca witnesses Sergei Vladimir exiting the mansion with the T-A.L.O.S. prototype, carried by another of his modified T-103 Tyrants. Eventually Rebecca and Richard are attacked and pursued through the mansion by the Yawn. Richard nearly sacrifices his own life to save Rebecca, leaving her to take care of him until the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team members arrive.
• Mansion Incident: A summation of Resident Evil, divided up into three levels where the player can choose between Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine.
• Rebirth: Albert Wesker awakens in basement level four of the Arklay Research Facility, resurrected by a special virus sample he received from William Birkin and discovers that the Tyrant has been destroyed and the mansion's self-destruct system has been activated. He attempts to get Umbrella's data but discovers that it has been backed up to a supercomputer called U.M.F.-013 by Sergei Vladimir. Furthermore, his access privileges to the mainframe have been revoked by Red Queen. With minutes to spare, Wesker changes his plans and fights his way out of the mansion. At the very end, he finds the exit blocked by his long lasting test subject, the nearly immortal Lisa Trevor, whom he defeats.

Raccoon's Destruction

All scenarios in this chapter take place during the events of the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, while also using maps from the Resident Evil Outbreak series.

• Raccoon's Destruction: A summarization of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, divided up into three levels where the player can choose between Jill Valentine or Carlos Oliveira.
• Death's Door: Covers Ada Wong's mission to bring the G-Virus sample back to Albert Wesker. Although heavily injured during the events of Resident Evil 2, Ada survived and returned to the surface. She attempts to rendezvous with a contact at the Apple Inn, but finds him already dead. Wesker then contacts her via phone and informs her that she has failed, and that her betraying them and rescuing Leon S. Kennedy would have consequences for their organization. Ada shows Wesker a tissue fragment of Birkin's dead body serving as a sample of the G-Virus, at which point he tells her that Raccoon City is about to be destroyed and a helicopter with an Umbrella officer is the only possibility to leave the town, thus saving her life through the information. Ada defeats a Mutated T-103 Tyrant, and uses the grapple gun she got from the dead contact to board the chopper. Inside the helicopter, Sergei Vladimir and an unknown individual talk about stealing the computer core, U.M.F.-013, from his own company.
• Fourth Survivor: A retelling of the bonus scenario introduced in Resident Evil 2. It covers special agent HUNK's mission to return the G-Virus sample to Umbrella. Radio interference causes the player to pick up a variety of transmissions, such as the police's futile attempts to fight the zombies, the last broadcast of a surrounded radio station, advertisements for various Umbrella products, and the dying pleas of HUNK's teammates. HUNK makes it to the roof of the police department and is picked up by a rescue chopper.

Umbrella's End

All scenarios in this chapter are new. They take place in 2003, five years after the destruction of Raccoon City, and one year before the events of Resident Evil 4.

• Umbrella's End: A three-part story dealing with Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine attacking and securing Umbrella's most important remaining facility, the Russian stronghold in the Caucasus region where the Red Queen supercomputer and all of Umbrella's data is being held. Anticipating an attack, Sergei Vladimir unleashed the T-Virus in his own facility, along with the most powerful B.O.W.s the company had to offer. Jill and Chris penetrate deep into the facility, ultimately destroying Umbrella's most sophisticated bio-weapon, the T-A.L.O.S. project.
• Dark Legacy: As Chris and Jill unintentionally cause a diversion, Albert Wesker also infiltrates Sergei's stronghold with a much more insidious mission. Sergei soon confronts Wesker, and sends two of his Tyrants to kill him. Wesker proves to be more than a match for Ivan thanks to his superhuman abilities, and continues his infiltration of the facility. In the end, Wesker faces Sergei for the last time, who transforms himself due to a virus that mutates him into a monster. Wesker defeats him and steals all the data Umbrella accumulated over years of research, and then wipes the computer clean. By gaining the data, Wesker starts his plan to revive the Umbrella Corporation under his command, as revealed in Resident Evil 4 to be his main objective.
• During and after the credits, more about the storyline is revealed. It is stated that the Umbrella Corporation was finally found guilty on all charges of its involvement in the Raccoon City outbreak, though the prosecution remained quiet about how they acquired the necessary information. An anonymous witness close to the suspect also implicated Ozwell E. Spencer personally, starting a global manhunt for the Umbrella founder. At the very end of the game, Wesker is shown entering the same command room that he uses in Resident Evil 4. He places all of the stolen Umbrella data into his computer, allowing him to take possession of all the company's assets and information, and promises that he will meet Spencer again and usher in a new era for himself.

Characters

Main article: Characters in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

The Umbrella Chronicles features eight playable characters from previous Resident Evil games, including Rebecca Chambers, Billy Coen, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliveira, Albert Wesker, Ada Wong and HUNK.

Gameplay

Jill using her stungun.

The Umbrella Chronicles is an on-rails shooter. Players follow a pre-set path, shooting enemies and picking up optional weapons and health items, occasionally choosing between multiple paths. Using the analog stick on the Nunchuk, players can look around in a limited manner. In some cases, the Wii Remote can be used to activate melee weapons against enemies where the camera shifts to a third-person view, or use timed button presses in certain cutscenes to evade traps and enemy attacks. Each stage is split into individual chapters and contains save checkpoints at the end of each chapter. Stars are obtained at the end of each stage, based on the player's performance, which can be used to upgrade weapons. To unlock some levels and sublevels, the player needs a certain ranking, "S" being the best. The amount of destroyed items, obtained objects, files, critical hits and clear time affects this.

Upon beating HUNK's fourth survivor mission, co-operative mode will be unlocked for the single-player missions. When selecting characters, an option will appear on the screen to select co-op mode. Both players will play as the same character, but each player will have their own aiming reticule.

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
GamePro	4.25 out of 5
Edge Magazine	7/10
GameTrailers	8.3 out of 10
IGN	7.9 out of 10
GameSpot	7.0 out of 10
1UP.com	7.5 out of 10
Nintendo Power	8.0 out of 10
Game Informer	8.25 out of 10
X-Play	4/5

The Umbrella Chronicles has received above-average scores from critics and reviewers. GamePro praised its unlockable secrets and satisfying gameplay. They added that "The only downside to The Umbrella Chronicles is that longevity will be an issue." GameTrailers called it "fantastic overall" and a "superb entry in the genre". They praised the game for its surprising length and unlockable content, but stated that while the graphics "look good", they were sometimes "a step behind" Resident Evil 4. They added that having the game on rails actually makes it scarier, and that it's "basically a love letter" to fans of the series. IGN praised the game as having "amazingly cool" design but complained about the lack of representation from Resident Evil 2 and 4 as well as the gameplay, which they felt was too slow. On the other hand, they called the presentation "pretty impressive" and stated that "there’s no denying the fun" they had with it. Gamespot praised the easy controls and the look and feel of the game, but criticized the music, stating that "it undermines the atmosphere," and that the "on-rails shooter gameplay can still feel restrictive. 1up.com dubbed The Umbrella Chronicles "an accessible, mostly satisfying shooter". They praised the depth and strategy offered by the gameplay, but complained about difficult headshots and stated that "it never really amounts to more than its concept". They went on to call it "a surprisingly meaty experience" and praised its "welcome accessibility".

The game has sold 1 million copies around the world since its debut on November 2007.

Tie-ins

Main article: Tie-ins based on Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

An extensive line of tie-ins was created to promote the release of Capcom's on-rails shooter and to expand its storyline. These products include two comics, two novelizations and a soundtrack CD.

External links

Official websites

• Official North American site
• Official Japanese site

Profile pages

• IGN.com Profile
• Gamespot.com Profile
• 1up.com Profile
• GameTrailers.com Profile
• Resident Evil at Wikia
• Wazap! Profile