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yienwae

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#1 yienwae

Member since 2009 • 38 Posts

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is based on Capcom's famous Resident Evil series. Specifically, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. Released on November 17, 2009, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is exclusive only to the Nintendo Wii. The game is a rail shooter and is rated 'M' for language and gore. Opening Summary The game opens up as a story in which Leon S. Kennedy, agent of the United States Government, is on a mission somewhere in South America. The year is 2002. 4 years after his experience the Raccoon City incident (Leon's first and only day as a rookie for the Raccoon City Police Department). Leon meets up with SOCOM Special Forces Specialist Jack Krauser. This would be his first ever mission and interaction with Krauser. The mission is titled "Operation Javier". Leon and Jack make their way to a flooded village in which they are supposed to meet up with their guide in hopes of being led to Javier's castle. After a series of events and encounters with BOW's (BioOrganic Weapons) that include zombies, giant frogs and spiders the two discover that their guide is mortally wounded. Under his dying breath, the man makes reference to a girl and then dies. Leon and Jack decide to locate the girl, and after another series of encounters, discover her in a flooded church. From there, they meet the first BOW Boss. Upon defeating it, Jack asks Leon about his history with BOW's and it is at this point Leon begins his flash back of his experience at Raccoon City with Claire Redfield (Resident Evil 2). This would open up the mission called "Memory of a Lost City" and later "Game of Oblivion" (Resident Evil: Code Veronica). Review Presentation If you are not familiar with the Resident Evil franchise, you are still in good hands with this game. The introduction is straightforward enough for people to understand who the primary characters are. There is enough of a storyline involved to keep you informed with the dark memories of Leon and why he is somewhat 'hardened' by his Raccoon city experience. When the characters eventually switch to Leon and Claire, you have a quick understanding as to who she is and why she is there. Though brief, it is enough to keep you in touch with what the characters represent. While there is enough of a storyline in place to keep you updated on the situation, it was somewhat disappointing in the area of Leon's interaction with Ada Wong (who is encountered during Resident Evil 2). In my opinion, not enough time was dedicated to the development of their 'emotional' connection and the relationship comes off as too brief and somewhat unsatisfying as to why Leon has a hard time letting that part of his heart go when it comes to her. This emotional connection is referenced during Leon's closing remarks with Ashley Graham in Resident Evil 4. However, if Leon and Ada's relationship stemmed from the small interactions they engaged in during the Darkside Chronicles, it would seem unfounded with the exception of one specific event that occurs later on during the game. I could see why he would be attracted to Ada. The creators took care in making her beautiful yet mysterious. Aside from this, the game, storyline and presentation is adequate enough to keep your attention on the relationship(s) of the characters. On the plus side, I found Claire Redfield's emotional connection development with Steve Burnside more realistic and satisfying than that of Leon and Ada's. However, at the same time it is understandable that Claire and Steve's connection was more realistic due to the fact that all of Resident Evil: Code Veronica found Claire and Steve together for more than 85% of the game as opposed to Leon and Ada's time in Resident Evil 2 (roughly about 5%). Perhaps there could have been a way to have Ada spend more time together with Leon and Claire during their adventures in the sewers. This would have given the creators more opportunity to build on Leon and Ada's relationship. Leon's relationship with Jack develops as they adventure together in South America. It is apparent that their partnership has formed a professional 'bond' between the two of them. Another thing that people may consider a negative is the fact that neither Leon nor Claire (or Claire and Steve) had the ability to engage in alternate paths as in the original games. This could explain the reason why Leon and Ada's relationship interaction suffered in this game. However, even then, I believe that this could have been handled differently without having the separate paths. While this could be a strong argument, I always believed that in a real life situation, the two characters would have remained together and not separated as in the original games. I think that this adds to the realism of the storytelling (I cannot imagine Leon reminiscing about taking path A while Claire did path B). I believe that it is obvious that these two would have a stronger bond with each other by staying together and that is what this game is trying to accomplish. Quite successfully I might add. Presentation: B+ (very close to an 'A' but the somewhat lacking storyline on Leon and Ada really played a role in bringing this down). Graphics The graphics on this game are excellent. The creators utilized innovation to make this game look really good on the Wii. Although this is not Xbox 360 or PS3 material, this game proved that the Wii has wonderful graphic detail capability. It is evident when Leon and Jack first enter the flooded village in South America. Though the detail would not do anything to frighten the other two higher grade consoles, this definitely did the Wii justice. On the downside, there were instances in the game where the voiceover dialog was not matching the characters. Sometimes the dialog would occur about half a second before the characters lips would start moving. This was noticeable, but I was not overly irritated by it. Graphics: A- (would have been an A+ had the voiceovers been synchronized). Sound Capcom really tried to develop the shock value in certain areas of the game by giving special care to the cinematography. And for the most part, they did a decent job. When I first played this game with the lights off, I actually jumped on a few situations. The music built up the tension as intended and the sound effects were realistic. You knew something was about to happen just by hearing some of the sounds. The voiceover acting was on par with Resident Evil 4 and 5. Some believe that it was laughable or cheesy. I thought it accomplished what it had intended. Sound: A- Gameplay This is an area where many people can disagree. I believe that a person's tastes will determine the amount of the satisfaction one will have with the gameplay. The first person point of view was awesome. Some critics would note that the camera was too shaky and often look too 'Cloverfield' or 'Blair Witch'. The concern for this was that it proved challenging to players to get a good aim at the creatures due to the shaking of the camera. This primarily occurred during moments when the characters were either running, had fallen down or were in some sort of state of panic. In my opinion, this added to the realism of the game and the moment because it revealed that the characters were not cold, unfeeling robots that could just aim and shoot without feeling fear or concern for their lives. Also, the ability to aim and shoot while breaking into a full sprint was difficult because the characters were fleeing for their lives. Again, this added to the realism of the game. Another improvement was the simplicity of the weapons interface. Players now have the ability to assign which weapons can go on the d-pad. This is a welcomed improvement to the game. One thing the creators attempted to do to add realism was show one of the protagonists on the screen during various moments in the game. I enjoyed seeing Claire or Jack every so often. It reminded me that I had a partner in this fight for survival. In two player mode during this time, the 2nd player's ability to shoot would be disabled. This situation also occurred when a zombie would have a particular character in a grapple situation. It was then up to the partner to shoot the zombie so that control could be relinquished. This could be considered a negative for some team players. I thought it was a nice touch of realism in my opinion. I do not play many rail shooters, but I found this one particularly enjoyable when I compared it to its predecessor (The Umbrella Chronicles). Gameplay: A Lasting Appeal I recently completed the game and there are some extra features. The most obvious is the addition of various costumes for the main characters. I have not unlocked all the costumes so I will share those once everything has been unlocked. This has a decent replay value and I believe that go back and playing as a different character will at to its longevity. There is also a 'secret' mode that is unlocked once you complete the game on the first round. More on this later. Lasting Appeal: B Overall, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is a great game. I found it satisfying and refreshing to revisit Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica from a different perspective. I highly recommend it! Two thumbs up. Overall Grade: A

15 years ago

JebranRush

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#2 JebranRush

Member since 2009 • 1401 Posts

That's nice but I thought that was what the user reviews section was for.

15 years ago

lancea34

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#3 lancea34

Member since 2007 • 6912 Posts

Your Wall of Text almost crashed my computer.:|

15 years ago

maxgil2

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#4 maxgil2

Member since 2004 • 785 Posts

Shakey camera just added to the difficulty when it comes to boss fights & can be a pain at times.. imo they should hav added the option to tone it down ...the problem with this is those who does suffer motion sickness will prolly be put off. Im ok with it ..got S & A ranking so far on the levels I've played on Normal Difficulty

15 years ago

suntaice

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#5 suntaice