by norm stovall normstovall@gmail.com
For Nintendo Wii
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles kind of surprised me with how fun it is to play. While not your typical Resident Evil game, it still retains the campy yet spooky atmosphere and the well-designed graphics that the series is known for. With Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, you are given the chance to play through various key events in the overall RE storylines that involve the Umbrella Corporation. It doesn’t include ALL of them, but the game does share a good bit of the story that you may have missed before, and a lot of gaps are filled as well. As for the game itself, it’s quite a departure from the previous games. In this game, you use the Wii Remote (or Wii Zapper) to move the targeting reticle around on the screen, aiming your firearm or weapon. To shoot, you pull the trigger or B button on the bottom of the remote. Although hitting your targets is a little tricky at first, once you get the hang of it, it becomes a lot of fun. You can pick up items with the A-button when prompted, and you can switch weapons on the fly with the directional pad. To move your point of view, you can use the joystick on the nunchuck. Although you don’t really need to move your head around to see very often, it does come in handy upon occasion. When it comes to controlling the movement of your character, you don’t. The game runs entirely on rails, which means the game progresses constantly, save the few instances where you have to smash open a door. It might seem a bit slow at first, but after a few levels you get used to the pacing and can really focus on mastering your technique.
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is nothing revolutionary or amazing, but fans of the series will surely want to pick this title up, if for nothing else, to experience the back-story behind all of those enigmatic characters that make Resident Evil so interesting.
For Xbox 360, Playstation 3
So now that most of us have gotten our feet wet with Guitar Hero, developer Harmonix has decided to take the formula they created one step further. With Rock Band, not only do you take control of the guitar playing as you would with Guitar Hero, you also control the Vocals, the drums and the bass lines. (Although not all at the same time – bring a friend, please.) Some people may be a bit skeptical about this, as they should be. I mean, it’s one thing to rock out with a toy guitar in front of your TV, but getting a group of friends to rock out with you is another story. The thing is; playing Rock Band is a lot of fun. With TONS of hit rock songs to play through and more promised to come in the near future via digital download, it’s hard not to recommend checking this title out. If you are a fan of music and have friends to invite along, you’re all set.
Playing Rock Band should be somewhat familiar to those of you who have played Guitar Hero, though the addition of drums and vocals do make the game more of a team dynamic to master. Along the top of the screen you’ll see a scrolling karaoke-style text box with indicators on when to sing high, when to sing low, and when to trail off. On the center of the screen, the drumbeats are displayed scrolling downward toward you. Once the note hits the bar at the bottom, just smack the indicated drum with the drumstick. It’s pretty easy in theory, but a little more difficult in practice. As for the guitar parts, you can play just as you would in Guitar Hero, hitting the notes scrolling toward you by holding the corresponding button on the fret of the guitar controller and strumming down on the strum bar. Since the boxed set only comes with one guitar, you might be glad to know that the Guitar Hero controller also works with this game, but only with the Xbox 360 version. If you need a bass player, this will come in handy, as they are currently not selling guitar peripherals outside of the boxed set, and at 180 bucks a pop, you can’t really make good use of two of everything else.
In regards to how well the game actually works, people all over the place are ranting and raving about how much fun the game is to play with friends. As a matter of fact, that is almost all they are raving about. It should be known that Rock Band, as played solo, is nowhere near as rewarding as it is with a group of friends. Additionally, online play seems a bit stunted, as there is no option for co-op career mode. Having said all this, I still think Rock Band is worth the entry price, unless you absolutely do not have friends that will play with you. For these people, I would suggest getting Guitar Hero 3, as the single player reward factor and online multiplayer features are better suited for going solo, even though the game itself isn’t limited to that. Plus, you don’t have to hear yourself sing.
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