Capcom have been making Resident Evil games for over ten years now, with around half a dozen original games (excluding spin-offs) that have been re-released in different guises and on different formats over the years. With Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Capcom have given us, basically, three heavily condensed Resident Evil games presented from a first person perspective - the same games that fans have already played, re-imagined with a few choice extras to convince those not already sold on the idea of a Resident Evil light gun shooter that might not offend at the same level as the Survivor series. This re-hashing of one of gaming's greatest franchises begs the question: at what point will fans finally quit the series and put an end to Capcom's overt exploitation? My guess is when Capcom stop making great games, which won't be today, as The Umbrella Chronicles is an extremely well made light-gun shooter that'll make fans of the series forever forget the nightmare that was the Survivor series.

Depth and longevity has always been the light-gun shooter's Achilles heel; arcade-goers do not need lengthy games, nor do they need complicated control schemes. Indeed, the nature of the venue discourages both of these qualities. Home ports have always been as bare-boned as their arcade counterparts, regardless of what developers claim (note to aforementioned developers: training missions do not constitute "added gameplay"), which has always sufficed for fans of the genre. The frugal gamer, however, has traditionally looked elsewhere to get more bang for his or her hard earned buck. But Umbrella Chronicles was not developed with the arcade gamer in mind; tt was, as most are surely aware, designed solely with the Nintendo Wii and the home market in mind.

Because of this, Umbrella Chronicles is surprisingly long, with what can only be called a ton of hidden items, levels and weapons to unlock, as well as a bit (an admittedly tiny bit) more depth to the core gameplay. The game doesn't lose the classic feel of an arcade light-gun shooter, however, packing plenty of intense combat into its ten to twenty hours (contingent upon your level of OCD) of gameplay.

The Umbrella Chronicles doesn't stray too far from the norm as far as light-gun shooters go, but if the Resident Evil: Survivor series is any indication, we should be thankful for this. Thus you are led around each level on-rails (i.e. you don't control your character's movement), viewing the action from a first person perspective and using the Wiimote to aim the onscreen crosshairs at the many mutated foes that are out for your blood, shooting them or slashing at them with your knife before they can get close enough to do you harm. However, there a few diverging paths to break up an otherwise wholly linear game and using the nunchuk controller's analogue stick allows you to look slightly beyond the central frame of reference, a feature that is useful for destroying environmental elements (crates, lights, barrels, etc.) and in some cases necessary for fending off foes. Unlike most light-gun shooters, your character is given a few weapons to begin with and by the end of a level you will in all likelihood possess an arsenal upwards of a half dozen to select from. Grenades act as bombs, while the knife can be used to fend off close range combatants and remove environmental barriers. You're also given a pistol with unlimited ammo and a second weapon of your choosing (shotgun, machine gun, grenade launcher, etc.) with limited ammo.

Throughout the levels you'll find ammo pick-ups, new weapons, herbs and first aid sprays to restore your health, and documents concerning all things in the Resident Evil universe. Capcom have also implemented certain Wii-specific controls - you wield your knife by holding A and making a slashing motion with the remote, while you shake the remote vigorously to dodge attacks and counter-attack a grappling zombie. This latter use can be problematic, as you lose your line of sight during the counter-attack and when the screen re-centers you'll spend a fraction of a second aiming the controller. If there are enemies nearby then this downtime will likely cause you to take a hit. During certain cut scenes and boss battles you also have to dodge an incoming obstacle or enemy by pressing A, B, A+B, or swinging the remote back and forth. This gets tedious during some boss fights and downright annoying during the cut scenes, where your character often dies if the correct action is not taken. You're allowed to restart, but you restart just before the point where the cut scene occurred, thereby incurring no penalty for your error and nullifying any importance that said error might have had.

With the exception of certain flying and slithering adversaries, each enemy you encounter has a weak point wherein a single shot will take it down. This is, usually, the head - of course - though other combat elements are at play as well; if you shoot a zombie in the leg for example, it will stumble slightly. Shooting a zombie in the shoulder knocks it off balance and delays its charge, while shooting it square in the chest does very little. This attention to detail gives the game a defensive dynamic that's absent from virtually all other light-gun shooters; it is underused, but implementing something similar with stronger monsters wouldn't make sense (even in the context of a videogame about zombies!)

Nintendo's Wii Zapper peripheral, the machine gun shell that you can plug your Wiimote and Nunchuk into, can of course be used with The Umbrella Chronicles, but it's a bit clumsy and difficult to use. To reload you must shake the remote and shaking the entire Zapper is a bit awkward. The array of actions you'll perform - shoot, reload, change weapons, hurl grenades, use knife, and look around - is also much easier performed without the Zapper. Nintendo's Zapper isn't the only one on the market though; others will surely perform differently, especially the smaller, pistol-shaped guns that don't have the Nunchuk plugged into them as well.

Resident Evil fans are certainly familiar with unlockables and The Umbrella Chronicles continues this trend with a handful of bonus missions and scenarios, items that serve no purpose other than to chronicle items used in the original games, weapons, and more. This, coupled with an extensive supply of new and old documents found scattered throughout each level, results in a replay value unheard of for light-gun games; unlocking everything will take upwards of twenty hours, while simply rushing through each mission will take about half that time.

For a system as supposedly underpowered as the Wii, The Umbrella Chronicles certainly looks impressive. It doesn't quite have the textures or lighting of, say, Halo 3, but it looks every bit as good as the Resident Evil remake on the Gamecube, though that doesn't sound so impressive in this increasingly high definition world. Still, few gamers will be dissatisfied with the visuals, nor will they be dissatisfied with the sound or presentation, both of which are classic Resident Evil.

Against all the odds, Capcom have continued to produce quality titles in the ageing Resident Evil series. Resident Evil 4 was a breath of fresh air, while Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles recaps the events prior to the latest installment. Its biggest flaw, no doubt, is its unoriginal gameplay; the few twists on the light-gun formula are minor and largely inconsequential, giving the impression of original gameplay rather than actual original gameplay. Still, fans of the genre will undoubtedly appreciate The Umbrella Chronicles for delivering a lengthy, enjoyable gaming experience, while fans of Resident Evil will delight in replaying those early episodes of the series from a whole new perspective.

Reviewed by Casey Cantero for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).