GENRE
	Rail Shooter
	DEVELOPER
	Cavia
	PUBLISHER
	Capcom
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-2
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	Yes
	DS COMPATIBLE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

Nintendojo was provided a copy of this game for review by a third party, though that does not affect our recommendation. For every review, Nintendojo uses a standard scoring criteria.

Wii finally has another Resident Evil game. But instead of publishing a traditional Resident Evil game, Capcom is publishing a sequel to 2007’s light gun title Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. And even with a few years' time, developer Cavia still seems challenged in making a light-gun game right on Wii, as The Darkside Chronicles takes a few steps forward, then a few steps back. This leaves us with a game that is just about as good as Umbrella Chronicles, which when compared to a regular Resident Evil game isn’t very good. For the sequel's source material, Darkside Chronicles retreads the story arcs of Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica, along with a new South American mission for Leon and Krauser, before they became nemeses in Resident Evil 4.

Yet for any shortcomings, one department where Darkside beats out Umbrella is in its visuals. The opening sequence of Leon and Krauser’s mission in South America really encourages gamers to think that Resident Evil 5, or a game like it, is possible on Wii. Cavia has done a great job trying to replicate the lighting from Resident Evil 5, but this turns out to be a double-edged sword for RE purists. One of the major complaints about Resident Evil 5 was that too much of the game was in the sun, and that really took away from the game's horror feel. While the South American levels do look great, they suffer from the same problem that RE5 did-- they're not scary. It's unclear why Cavia would set the South American missions in sunlight after the RE5 criticism, yet this may be moot since Darkside isn't scary, so having missions in the sun aren't a big break in the Darkside's experience.

Whether day or night, South America or North America, zombies and other infected enemies will fill your screen, and sometimes you'll get a chance to see whichever partner is accompanying you on the current mission. Each character has a nicely rendered 3D model, and the monsters and foes look sharp and act more realistically than they did in Umbrella. If you shoot a zombie in the leg, you immediately know it as it stumbles around-- Umbrella's zombies didn't have these location-specific damage reactions.

Audio is the other aspect of Darkside that is good. The developer got all the right voice actors to play their roles. For instance: Roger Craig Smith, who was Chris’ voice actor in RE5, returns to voice the same character in the Code Veronica storyline. Unfortunately, regardless the chapter, the protagonists will frequently yell pointless lines like “Where did it go?” and “What is that?” at awkward moments, taking away from the experience. Nothing seemed to shake Leon in Resident Evil 4, and after Raccoon City, nothing would. Yet with all the pointless chatter, you’d think Leon was experiencing the zombie apocalypse for the first time in every level he appears. The background music from the game is also up in the air. While Resident Evil veterans will quickly recognize classic themes like the Raccoon Police Station’s main entrance music, sometimes the original game music seems out of place with what's going on. Being set in previous games' storylines, Darkside clearly doesn't need an totally original soundtrack, but perhaps it should have had more original tracks.

Then there's Darkside's gameplay, which is actually simple: just point the Wii Remote at the screen and shoot zombies. Alright, there's a bit more to it, but not much and the camera doesn’t help. In an attempt to add suspense and unpredictability to the game, the camera is constantly moving and yanking around, shaky-cam style, making it difficult and frustrating to get good shots off at zombies. The game can be played with or without the Nunchuk, but unlike Umbrella, players don’t have the option to look around the environment with the control stick since the camera's positioning has been stylistically taken over. Instead, the nunchuk's control stick handles the same functions as the remote's d-pad (weapons selection), which makes playing with a nunchuk pretty pointless. While in-game, the B button shoots and the A button allows you to pick items and weapons up. Plus, as in Umbrella, if you hold down A and swing the remote, your character will swing a knife for a melee attack. Pressing – accesses the character's inventory and + uses a healing herb.

The inventory system here is one thing that the makers of Resident Evil 6 should check out. As in Resident Evil 5, weapons are tied to the d-pad, which can be great for switching them out quickly. Yet the problem is there's not enough space (directions, really) for the tons of guns and items you'll end up carrying around, like in Resident Evil 4. Cavia seems to have found a fix for that challenge: essentially they just took the two systems and put them together. When you hit –, you will be able to access all of your weapons, like you could if you started a new chapter in RE5, and also assign any weapon to any direction on the d-pad. This way, if you're up against a boss and don’t have your rocket launcher armed, after one quick switch you'll be ready to own.

As far as actions go, the A button will also let you choose paths through a level or open doors. Different than Umbrella, doors don’t show the bullet holes when shot at, which is a minor disappointment. Darkside also has lots of on-screen items that can be shot or blown up, but gamers may miss the ability to walk down a hallway and shoot pictures off the walls like they could in Umbrella.

As to be expected in a game where two characters progress through each level, Darkside supports multiplayer, and the second player can jump in and out at level checkpoints, which is very convenient for short runs. The game also utilizes the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for online multiplayer, instead of using it to compare leaderboards of scores from people around the world.

As for the mysterious and heavily promoted story elements of the game, Darkside was supposed to answer questions about the enigmatic Krauser, but gamers will end up disappointed. Without giving away too much, Cavia and Capcom seem to ignore the groundwork laid for the character in RE4, which makes the new elements in Darkside not fit well with the rest of the series' storyline.

Ultimately, if you really want to find out what happened in RE2 and Code Veronica, you're best off getting copies the originals and playing those instead. They're on multiple systems (and potentially may show up on the Wii if Capcom's Resident Evil Archives series continues) so there shouldn’t be much trouble finding them. As expected, the originals are better and more authentic Resident Evil experiences, and you'll get more enjoyment-- though not multiplayer-- out of them. Darkside Chronicles, on the other hand, is best for someone who absolutely loves light-gun games and has a buddy along for the ride.

7.0/10