This anticipated sequel was marred by a reckless camera and other technical annoyances.
THE GOOD
-Interesting story with plenty of RE nostalgia
-Nice assortment of weapons and upgrades
-Good audio
THE BAD
-Shaky camera generates many other issues
-Precision aiming is almost impossible
-Surprise attacks bring unavoidable/unnecessary damage taken
-Computer AI is useless
-Grainy in-game graphics
OVERVIEW
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is the second RE on-rails shooter for the Wii; the first game being Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. The Darkside story begins with Leon S. Kennedy and Jack Krauser as they search for an ex-drug lord named Javier Hidalgo. The duo's first stop is a poverty stricken village somewhere in the deep jungle of South America. As they enter the tiny town, the two notice that it is eerily quiet. Then, a man staggers towards them with a weird look in his eye and tries to muster up an attack but is quickly subdued. Seconds later Leon and Jack come to the realization that they are in the midst of a zombie outbreak and are quickly overrun. As the two veteran soldiers battle their way through hordes of infected people and powerful BOWs, they find a mysterious girl named Manela. Before pressing forward with their main objective, Jack asks Leon to explain his past experiences in Raccoon City.
At this point, in the adventure, the focus switches towards the events that Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield encountered in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. The plot switches back and forth from the present timeline with Jack and Leon and the rehashed games in the Resident Evil anthology. The story and characters offer plenty of nostalgia for fans of the series and also does a good job in telling an exciting tale for newcomers. There is plenty of creepy, Resident Evil style storytelling presented throughout the entire game.
GAMEPLAY
The Darkside Chronicles does a superb job telling an exciting tale but the gameplay has many problems and most of them start with the terrible camera. The developers were trying to make the gameplay feel realistic by shaking your field of view but what they failed to realize is that by doing this, they made the entire experience nauseating. As I progressed through each mission I found myself taking a few breaks just to alleviate my vertigo.
The controls, by itself, work well just like its predecessor. Firing your weapon is a simple point and click with the Wii Remote while cycling through equipment is done with ease because you have the ability to preset items on the Nunchuk analog stick. Unfortunately, the camera does an excellent job jerking your view around which makes precision shooting next to impossible to pull off. By the time you finally line up a critical shot the game is already shuffling you around; this aspect is really nerve-racking.
Another irritating aspect to this on-rails shooter is the fact that you end up taking plenty of unavoidable damage. This is successfully accomplished with the lack of precise shooting, a camera that shakes the crap out of you and the addition of some cheap tricks. There were many times, in the first level alone, where your character would turn around and there would be a zombie or two in such close proximity that unless you pulled off a lucky headshot you knew there would be a first-aid spray coming your way very soon. I even think that the game likes to mock you in this regard because there is an impossible-to-achieve "no damage" bonus multiplier flashing zeros each time you finish a mission.
The Darkside Chronicles can be played with (or more accurately, suffered through) a friend and this is the best way to play because your computer controlled ally is an absolute bust. Your AI comrade rarely fires his or her gun and can also take damage which leaves you with another burden to carry in an already dreadful experience.
There is one positive aspect worth noting and that's in regard to weapon upgrades. Much of this system was rehashed from the previous game and still works well. You have the option to enhance certain aspects (fire power, reload time, etc…) for each weapons you find to aid you in taking down the enemy. The money you uncover by shooting random objects is used to purchase these improvements.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
The cut scenes are really well done but for some reason this didn't transfer over to the in-game graphics. The grainy and pixilated environments and characters are just awful. It's almost as if the in-game design was an afterthought that was forgotten until the last minute of the game's development.
The soundtrack does a fairly decent job creating a suspenseful atmosphere. The sound effects are just as eerie as the predecessor and there were a few surprise moments that startled me in my first play through. Also, each of the characters presented had believable voice acting that fit well.
CONCLUSION
The Darkside Chronicles is a dreadful on-rails sequel. There are a few shining aspects like the weapon system and sound effects that were appreciated but the nauseating camera brought about too many other problems which made this game an absolute horror to complete. There are plenty of other on-rail shooters for the Wii that are much more fun to play. There may be plenty of Resident Evil lore to sink your teeth into but the terrible gameplay will certainly leave a bad taste in your mouth; even for hardcore fans of the series.