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Name: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

Another Resident Evil game from CAPCOM has graced our presence this year, The Darkside Chronicles however isn't your usual Resident Evil type affair, it's a rail shooter, a genre that seems to be getting more and more popular on the Nintendo Wii. Much like its predecessor, The Umbrella Chronicles, The Darkside Chronicles takes place during the main Resident Evil games plot lines, not offering a different environment, just a different perspective to an already established story. Darkside Chronicles doesn't always stick to its source material however, often making you question what is and isn't true.

The game starts you off in a South American village which is more reminiscent of the African slums of Resident Evil 5 to stop an ex-drug lord from dealing with the Umbrella Corporation in many nefarious ways. You play as Leon with your side kick being Krauser, this part of the game is new to the series and during the brief time you'll spend blasting your way to the end you'll get to grips with the controls and weapons you'll be using throughout the rest of the game. This isn't the end of the tale however, once you manage to reach the end of the South American village and, as always, defeat an over-zealous monster intent on eating you alive, or dead for that matter, you are whisked off to an all-too familiar scene, that is, Racoon City. This is where fans of Resident Evil 2 and 3 will really start to enjoy the game because you'll be revisiting the Racoon City Police Station bringing with it a nice smell of nostalgia. The Darkside Chronicles takes you through parts of Resident Evil 2, 3 and Code: Veronica, it doesn't follow the source material exactly however, one of the minor points is when Leon and Claire are split up between a crashed tanker at the start of Resident Evil 2. Since Darkside Chronicles offers co-op gunplay the game puts both characters together to battle it out, this is understandable to some degree but most of the time you are left wondering whether what you saw is how the story did play out or how it should have played out. This isn't to say the game isn't something you'll enjoy, far from it, but it's best to take what you see with a pinch of salt, even if what you see clearly doesn't follow the same direction as you may have previously played through in earlier games.

With this being an on-rails shooter you don't get many choices, the odd occasional change of path is welcome but one of the main points about the old Resident Evil games was the eerie music and exploration of dark areas which had you wondering what exactly would be round that next corner, the on-rails shooter element loses this ever-so needed feel since you're rushed along at a pace which doesn't give you chance to take in what made the other games so great. You get plenty of weapons at your disposal to deal with the on-coming hordes of zombies and monsters; from the good old infinite ammo pistol, to shotguns, Uzi's, crossbows, grenades, and more, each has its own purpose and as much as anyone loves going in guns blazing, ammunition isn't as abundant as one would hope so using these other weapons only when absolutely necessary is paramount. One of the strong points about the weapons is the ability to upgrade them at the end of a round, depending on your success during a chapter you'll be rewarded with various amounts of money, you can also pick money up throughout the game, albeit in small amounts, this money can be used to upgrade any of your weapons - from there damage, to the reload speed and more, it adds a nice touch but the high cost of these upgrades at the start of the game can make it feel like a goal you'll never achieve.

The major problem with Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is its camera system, unlike many other rail shooter games where you're stuck in a first person perspective with a still camera, Darkside Chronicles throws this approach away and tries for a more realistic look and feel by making the camera sway and shake with your attacks and movement. Does it work? It does, it makes it more realistic but this is far from being a good thing. As one can imagine, having a swaying camera while trying to shoot at a horde of oncoming zombies is far from ideal, accuracy suffers hugely from this and in the end it becomes more and more annoying the further you progress. It certainly doesn't help matters when you have to target specific areas of a boss monster to kill it and your character is doing tumbles and god knows what else trying to avoid the monster, it leaves you wondering who had the great idea to keep this in the game as default and not as an option, perhaps on a harder difficulty.

The controls are fairly simple because of the game type, you use the Wii Remote to move your on screen targeting reticule, B to fire and the D-pad to switch between four weapons which you can carry, you can also use the Nunchuk for this purpose if you so desire. Sometimes you'll come across areas where you'll need to dodge an attack by shaking the Wii Remote and others where you'll need to press certain buttons in order to dodge an incoming attack, this is especially apparent during an end chapter boss fight.

One of the main highlights about the game is its added co-op gameplay for you and a friend, unfortunately there is no online support available apart from online leaderboards where your scores are ranked but playing the game with a friend can alleviate some of the frustrations you'll otherwise have playing alone. Since the games stories differ somewhat from there source material such as the Resident Evil 2 chapter, you'll be teamed up with Claire Redfield who the second player will take control of, friends cannot however jump into a game mid-play, you both have to start at the beginning of a chapter. As previously mentioned, upon playing you'll find and receive numerous amounts of money to upgrade your weapons, this is shared between the both of you which certainly doesn't help matters due to the high cost of the upgrades early on.

Graphically the game is fairly good to look at, the areas of old have been fully re-created and leave you wondering, if not hoping, one day you'll get to play the original Resident Evil games fully with these, if not better, upgraded graphics. Sounds and music wise, the game has, as all Resident Evil games have, a good soundtrack to accompany it, it doesn't however give the same suspense as some of the other games do and while playing through the chapters from previous games you'll hear that the music has changed, not always in a good way. The character cast voices haven't changed however and you'll hear the familiar voices of some of the more well established characters come to life like Leon, Claire and Cherry.

Ultimately, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is a difficult game to recommend, it shouldn't be approached from a new players perspective looking to try their first hand at an on-rails shooter for the Wii. Dead Space: Extraction or House of the Dead: Overkill would be more suited, but for players looking to get in on some nostalgic action which most classic Resident Evil fans crave so much, the re-visiting of areas from Resident Evil 2, 3 and Code Veronica more than make up for some of the games pitfalls.