Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

Gameplay

Immerse yourself in the darkness of the Resident Evil universe like never before as the latest instalment in the chilling franchise unleashes untold evil on Wii.

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles follows on from Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles by casting you headlong into an arcade-style shooter where every turn you take could shed new light on the shadowy history of the series or bring you face to face with darkness beyond your wildest nightmares. With the Wii Zapper in hand (the game can optionally be purchased bundled with this accessory) you’ll have the firepower to take down scores of mutated foes. But don’t let that comfort you too much – it’s going to take more than an itchy trigger finger to overcome what lies in wait this time around…

The story begins in 2002, with US Government Agents Leon S. Kennedy and Jack Krauser sent to South America to investigate the mysterious disappearance of young girls as well as rumours of a new viral outbreak. From here, events unfold that will recall a dark journey into the past where the betrayals and horrors of Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica come full circle. Could what has gone before hold the key to halting a deadly biological terror that has resurfaced to threaten humankind?

Expect to find yourself drawn in by a gripping storyline as Resident Evil favourites like Steve Burnside and Claire and Chris Redfield encounter a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred and everyone runs the risk of being consumed by the dark side.

To make the terror more tangible than ever, The Darkside Chronicles employs innovative gameplay additions designed to make you feel like you’ve been dropped directly into the spine-chilling world it depicts. As well as boasting breathtaking visuals and an eerie soundtrack, the game accurately mimics the first person point of view by using an in-game camera that shakes and tilts to mirror the motions of your character. So, if Jack is running at full speed to avoid an imminent zombie onslaught, expect the in-game camera to bounce and shake accordingly. As well as taking you closer to the action, the effect calls on you to exhibit an extra level of skill as you continue in your attempts to take aim at enemies and let rip with your weapons of choice.

Other additions include a new sub-screen which allows for weapon configuration and use of recovery items at any time, as well as a new dynamic difficulty system that modifies the game’s difficulty level based on the skills of the player – making it easy for first time players to jump into the action whilst ensuring hardened Resident Evil fans meet a challenge that matches their prowess. You’ll also be able to see how you compare to other Darkside Chronicles players around the world by posting your best scores on an online leaderboard via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Capping the experience is a two-player co-op mode that lets you team up with a friend to face evil together. With the interactions and conversations between the two characters taking place as you play, you’ll enjoy a more seamless and intense storyline progression, as well as the obvious benefits that come from having two guns instead of one.

Step into the gloomy past of the Resident Evil series once more as you fight for the future of humankind in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, only on Wii.

• Experience environments from classic Resident Evil titles – including Raccoon City and the hidden Umbrella Laboratory - and savour all new scenarios as you play as Jack, Claire and other favourite characters from the franchise.
• Feel closer to the action than ever before thanks to stunning state-of-the-art visuals and a new game camera that accurately mimics the first person point of view.
• Share the terror with a friend in co-op mode and see how you shape up compared to other Darkside Chronicles players via an online leaderboard.
• The game’s dynamic difficulty settings adjust the action to suit your skill level, ensuring the experience isn’t too terrifying for first time players or too simple for experts.
• Collect gold as you play to upgrade and customise your weapons, and locate special Resident Evil collectable items throughout the game, including old documents and movies.
• You can purchase the software separately or bundled with the Wii Zapper accessory (the Wii Zapper is not required to play the game)

Note to parents: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles has been rated 15 by the BBFC, meaning it can only be supplied to people aged 15 and over. If you are concerned about your child’s access to content intended for adults only, please refer to our section on Parental Controls by clicking here, to ensure your child will not be exposed to content unsuitable for its age.

Interview 1

Watch our interview with Masachika Kawata and Kentaro Noguchi, producers of the game. This interview was conducted during the Japan Expo (Paris, 2009).

Interview 2

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles takes players on a spine-tingling journey through some of the most memorable moments in franchise history from an entirely new perspective. Following on from The Umbrella Chronicles, the game once again calls on players to take aim at evil with the Wii Remote as they encounter terror around every corner.

We spoke with the game’s producer, Masachika Kawata and Kentaro Noguchi from game developer Cavia to find out more.

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of horror games coming to Wii recently, with more on the way in the near future. Why do you think this increase is taking place? Is it simply a natural process because of the number of people who now own a Wii?

Obviously, Wii has a huge market now and we couldn’t ignore that. Also, Resident Evil has traditionally had a very high affinity with Nintendo hardware, so it was simply a natural process for us.

And in terms of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and the prequel, Umbrella Chronicles, they both use the features of Wii very well, so it had to be Wii in order for that gameplay to actually exist.

Is it true to say that the “Darkside” in the game’s title signals a return to the more horror-like and darker aspects of the Resident Evil series?

That’s true, yes. In Umbrella Chronicles it was more of a shooting game than anything else, but in The Darkside Chronicles we tend to pursue the horror aspect and the dark atmosphere that Resident Evil as a series is associated with.

In Umbrella Chronicles, we extracted some elements out of the Resident Evil series just to suit the shooting gameplay. But this time we have really featured Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica, and we would like to tell those stories from a different point of view.

Some fans consider Resident Evil 2 to be the “definitive” Resident Evil experience. Is that something that was at the back of your mind when you were creating this game and how did you go about meeting people’s expectations?

Certainly, that was something that was in our minds, and that’s why we’ve included as many features as possible from Resident Evil 2.

To give an example, people in certain online communities have already been discussing how Tyrants* are going to appear in this particular title, and we’ve worked to maximize the potential of Wii in bringing Tyrants to life in a way we hope will satisfy fans.

*Tyrants are a recurrent type of enemy from the Resident Evil series.

Part of the suspense of the Resident Evil games has traditionally come from exploring your eerie surroundings. How do you go about recreating that suspense in an on-rails shooter where you’re getting more of a “guided tour” of your environment?

As you can see in the game, graphics are an important factor. But, in fact, we’ve also put a lot of effort into the sound – the atmospheric sounds in the game are very intricate. It’s unfortunate that it has been hard to show that side of things in public shows like the Japan Expo., where there’s a lot of background noise. But we would like to stage the horror and create that tension with all the senses, not just the visual.

When you say “horror game”, I can think of a good Wii title, which is Dead Space: Extraction from EA. But I’m certain that Darkside Chronicles isn’t going to be any less of an experience in terms of horror.

In terms of gameplay, what are the main differences players will notice between The Umbrella Chronicles and The Darkside Chronicles? For example, the “shaky-cam” portions of the game have been getting a lot of attention. What do they add to the experience?

System-wise, we have implemented a menu system where you can see your stats easily. In Umbrella Chronicles, the game tended to be a little bit difficult for beginners because you couldn’t stop the game. But this time, via the menu system, you can stop, check your status, heal and change weapons according to your situation. So I think this way it has lowered the barrier for people who haven’t played these types of games before.

Also, co-op mode in The Darkside Chronicles stages a more realistic atmosphere – showing your partner on-screen as you play.

With the shaky-cam, there are two main purposes. One is to stage reality, so you can feel as though you are actually there. The other purpose is to increase the overall quality of The Darkside Chronicles as a shooting game. The rationale behind the second point is that, while most games up until now have given you a camera that encouraged you to shoot and made it easy to do so, we wanted to make something that you had to overcome in order to score a good shoot – rather than us staging an easy shot for you. Within the developer, Cavia, there’s someone who can get a perfect score - so it’s not impossible!

There are obviously other features that we would love to tell you about, but we’re working very hard on them and you’ll have to wait a bit longer.

The game looks fantastic. How have you gone about getting these impressive results?

One of the main things has just been our continued research and development since The Umbrella Chronicles. We were able to pick up where we left off after that project.

Another key thing is the fact Cavia has a team of specialists working on optics, where they specifically tune lighting and shading and their work has been put in place. There have been a lot of features, graphics-wise, which are not typically implemented on Wii titles that we’ve worked hard to include.

What are some of the things that will keep players coming back for more in The Darkside Chronicles?

We are planning on implementing an online leaderboard system so people can compare their records with each other. We have a lot of ideas in the basket, but we’re growing short on time, so hopefully Cavia can pull them off! (laughs)