Inside the Darkside

I recently put away my copy of Darkside Chronicles to make way for other games but that doesn't mean I'm done with the game. Far from it as the amount of content and unlockables packed into that game is simply staggering especially when compared with its predecessor. I have heard from my friends that there is an artbook released for the game but other that a recent sighting on Play-asia I have seen little of this to convince me its worth getting. So when the book went out of stock on Play-asia yesterday I went into my usual panic mode and started googling up on the book. Sure enough from what I can see online it does look like an artbook similar to the one released for the first Umbrella Chronicles game.

A quick search online and mad rush trip downtown was all it took before i finally added the book to my collection late last night. It cost quite a bit more than the first book but hopefully judging from the sheer amount of content in both game, this will be a much more worthwhile book too. The number of pages certainly doesn't feel like so but it's hard to resist with such a nice cover and it's Resident Evil after all.

Intercooler Impressions

The last time i bought anything from Nyko I ended up not using it much as there is only so much lightgun games one can play. I have kept the perfectshot back in its box since my early plays of Umbrella Chronicles and have yet to even dust off them for my recent Darkside Chronicles run.

The Intercooler TS is an entirely different matter, fitted onto my Playstation3 it will form part of my console and function as much as the system. It has to be up to speed and frankly if it cost a bit more it would be worth the money too. Thankfully the price of Intercooler is on par with the other third-party brand I saw in Singapore, in fact its worth every dollar considering how much it will be used and how well it works. The common complaint i often hear of the product when reading up on it was the loud noise emitted by the fans when operating. That much is true but the noise doesn't bother me much as i'm used to the noise of the built-in cooling fan of the ps3 by now. The intercooler fits on to the back of the playstation3 where the vents are, a big difference considering all USB-powered fans fit onto the front vents of the playstation3. At first i didn't understand how the Intercooler could work placed onto the back vent with all the exhaust vent blowing out from there but i think that's where its temperature sensor could come into play. The sensor senses the temperature of the playstation3 from the exhaust air emitted and regulate the Intercooler fan speed accordingly. The four fans of the Intercooler works together with the in-built fan to improve the air circulation inside the system by blowing into the system and exhausting the hot air out of the system. This is achieved with one pair of fan blowing in one direction and another pair blowing in the other, at least from what i can tell studying the fans at work since the fans only run when placed in right position and temperature. I rarely hear the built-in fan running anymore since installing the intercooler, not because the Intercooler is so damn loud but because it does such a good job that the in-built fan doesn't even kick in.

Ready, Aim ..... Misfire.

Despite having both RE Chronicles, i have never experience the game on multi-player mode before. Playing RE5 co-op with a friend is an entirely different experience as you hardly ever notice how good your partner's aim is except at the end of the level when the statistics are revealed. The truck chase when you and your partner are hoisted to the vehicle's guns firing at incoming vehicles does offer a similar experience to the RE Chronicles game on the Wii. You share the same viewpoint from the back of the truck as your partner, and things can get really distracting when you start to notice where your partner is aiming at. I was never really good at this chapter, in fact i downright dread it but beating it with a live partner has got me curious to try the Chronicles games on multi-player too.

The Square Peg

Darkside Chronicles brought back a lot of fond memories, i knew even before i begin that i would be revisting these old games really soon but what i didn't count on was having the urge to play UC and RE4 again. During its height a few weeks back, i was playing as many as six RE games on different system and the process has made my progress on RE2 really slow. After all RE2 could be finished on one sitting and here i am, having started before i finish Darkside Chronicles but have yet to finish both ClaireA/LeonB scenario. Part of that was also because the newer RE games tend to swap the square and circle buttons around for the run and gun commands. So in an effort not to confuse myself, i refrain from playing RE2 whenever i'm close to playing RE5 and that has been quite often as of late. Over time i seems to have developed a dexterity over these controls so swapping around has been less and less of a problem.

Maybe i should attempt to finish RE2 in one sitting like back in those days when i was trying to unlock the gatling gun and unlimited ammo.

The 50 hours club

For a NBA player, scoring 50 points in a game puts them in the same elite group of player along the likes of jordan and kobe. On a similar note, given my preference of games very rarely do i invested over 50 hours into one game so these games that do take up 50 hours of my time belongs to an elite group of their own. While i don't believe i have spent over 50 hours on any one game on the ps3, there have been several Wii games lately that deserved that honour. There was Okami Wii and most recently Umbrella Chronicles also joined the elite club as i have gone back to playing it after finishing Darkside Chronicles. The big difference here is i only finished Okami once and that alone took more than 50 hours to do while i must have finished UC a number of times to have reached 50 hours. Some games erased your playtime instead of accumulating it on your subsequent play so there is really no way to know how many games there are which i actually spent more than 50 hours on.

So what are some of the games in your 50 hours club?

Seed of Destruction

One of the most compelling aspect of a great villain is how they went astray, if the villain doesn't have an interesting origin then he's probably not that great of a villain to begin with. As i inches closer to the end of Darkside Chronicles, i'm intrigued with character development of Krauser from a true blue american soldier to the power-crazy mercenary in Resident Evil 4. From the moment Javier's B.O.W tear into krauser's left arm in the middle of the boss fight, i begin to see the seeds of destruction being sowed to giving him his own hand of doom in RE4. I got really excited at this point [cue geek moment music] so much so that i stop playing because i already had enough of my fix for the day. When I first started, I wasn't paying much attention to krauser probably because i was too caught up with how good Claire looked and also because i knew you won't get to see how krauser ends up being presumed dead in RE4. After all, Leon didn't know that when they meet up again and the fact Krauser knew nothing about B.O.W at the start of the Javier mission didn't help either.

But unlike the Russian Umbrella stronghold chapters in Umbrella Chronicles, the Javier chapters seems to play a greater importance in the RE saga as the box art clearly describes how the timeline of the game begins with Leon and Krauser in 2002 with flashbacks to the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica. While the flashbacks ends up taking the bunk of the game's playing time that doesn't necessarily mean the Javier mission won't be of anything significant. Hopefully there are further development to the krauser character and the ultimate payoff would prove to be more satisfying than how Capcom decided to leave the Vergil character in DMC3.

Rule #32: Enjoy the Little Things

One of my early gripes with Umbrella Chronicles was that you never get to see your character or partner enough. Even though it's a lightgun shooter, i must admit i sometimes i enjoy watching my characters breaking out of the zombie hold just so i can catch a glimpse of them before them pull back behind the camera again. This time around on Darkside Chronicles while the camera stays behind the character at all times, it turns and faces your partner every now and again so it never feels like you are sitting on an amusement thrill ride but rather witnessing the events through the eyes of the character which is how it should be. The camera also shake and bobs around in a frantic motion to convey a sense of panic in the character movement and really make the game all that more difficult. Your partner also actively engage in the gun fights with the undead unlike in the past when they are too bust engaging in the conversation to even lend you a hand. Sometimes you have to get your partner out of a fit but it never happens too often for it to be a pain and often times, your partner is usually more capable than you are.

The other little things including seeing your character guns while re-loading and even the amount of shells your character sticks into the chamber depends on the number of rounds actually used, making re-loading time much more crucial in the heat of the battle. While this makes the game more of a first-person shooter than a lightgun shooter, it's a decision that i applaud because of my strong attachment to the characters. There is even an option to turn on the laser sights for all the weapons making it feel like a first-person shooter of Resident Evil 4. While all these little things may have blurred the lines between first-person and lightgun shooter in Darkside Chronicles, it's making me enjoy the game just a bit more than the first one.

Darkness Falls

After what seem like forever, my copy of Darkside Chronicles has finally arrived. Using free delivery during this time of the year can be very risky, i remember my RE4 Wii Edition going missing a couple of years back during this holiday season. Luckily Play asia was able to compensate my loss with another copy of the game and i regret i was not able to repay their good deed by devoting more time to that version. Rest assured this will not happen with Darkside Chronicles as i almost 50 hours into the first Umbrella Chornicles.

Friday the 13th Weekend

Had some friends over for the weekend to help me dust off some RE games in preparation for Darkside Chronicles out this week. First up was Degeneration which I manage to watch for a bit on Friday evening while waiting for my dualshock 3 to charge. I enable the enhanced viewing mode to view the storyboards alongside with the movie and much to my surprise, almost every scene from the opening zombie attack on the airport was storyboarded. I really have to see if these storyboards made it onto the Degeneration book I bought a while back.

On Saturday, we played a bit of RE4 Wii edition just to check out the Wii controls and since I had a save file with everything unlocked, we could practically try everything the game had to offer. I was pretty clumsy getting a feel of the Wii controls again on mercenaries mode so needless to say, I didn't survive very far on that one. I did try the story campaign with the Chicago typewriter and the game was a lot of fun, having an automatic weapon with unlimited ammunition. I often forget how you never really get a powerful automatic weapon on RE4 to play with so much so that I'm considering to speedrun through the whole game using the typewriter.

The highlight of the evening of trying to view the Jill sandwich scene in REmake with her unlocked RE3 costume which I assume should be pretty obvious why if you are a RE fan. Since I haven't really speed-run through REmake before, it was pretty hard figuring what I essentially had to do in order to get to the closet room and later to trigger the scene. Disappointment was in the air when I realised that by meeting Barry in the hallway, he subsequently wouldn't come to your rescue later at the shotgun room. Definitely something to come back to later which shouldn't be too difficult now that I remember how.

Got some nice presents too at the end of the day so I have to think of something for Christmas now.

Winter Comes Early

Talk about surprises, here i am not keeping myself up to date only to realise Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is scheduled to ship later this month! Last time i check, Wii was still the top dog of the console sales every month and Darkside Chronicles won't be out until sometime during the winter holiday seasons. My, how things have changed over the course of a few months, now the game's only a week away from release so either development of the game was cut-short or the guys at Cavia/Capcom really bust their rear to get the game done earlier than scheduled. Or winter is coming earlier for this year. Best not to speculate but either way this is certainly good news for me as my Wii has been sitting idle for a good few weeks now.

I was playing a bit of Madworld but i really couldn't get into the groove of playing so it's probably a good idea to put it aside in anticipation for this. I have seen a recent trailer of Darkside Chronicles and the game is shaping up to be a lot better than i expected, in fact it looks a lot better than what i remember its predecessor to be! Of course it's been quite a while since i last boot up Umbrella Chronicles so i will probably have to dust it off this week to see before i can make a fair comparisons when my copy of Darkside Chronicles arrives.

Wii Edition Impressions

I finally finished playing Resident Evil 4 on professional mode last night, the entire run took roughly two hours more than my previous and seeing that i clocked a Leon death count of triple digits, i suspected a lot of the time was spent replaying some of the more difficult set pieces in the game. I had my copy of the Wii edition ready with me so by the time the credits finished rolling, i immediately popped in it for comparisons.

Sure enough, the Wii edition is indeed enhanced 16:9 widescreen so you don't have the black borders if you are on widescreen display. A couple of minor issues worth noting, Capcom has included all the game demos that played when the game is left idle from the previous versions and had enough sense to change the gameplay scenes to Wii controls so that's a really nice touch. The game manual also has a couple of extra pages introducing the supporting cast of RE4 which i really liked, complete with classic quote from the game and a portrait shot. The bonus trailer of Umbrella Chronicles included does a good job of tempting gamers to buy it but i wished Capcom didn't try to disguise it by sneaking it onto the extras menu and calling it a bonus video. No shame in advertising your product if it's a quality game and Umbrella Chronicles certainly deserves much better.

Now onto the game itself the controls are as great as what reviewers have raved about, it's hard to believe the Wii controls lend itself so well to the game without dumbing it down. I like the little buzz from the Wii mote speaker when Hunnigan radios Leon and kinda wish Capcom would have included her dialogue onto the speaker ala No More Heroes but seeing it's a two way conversation between Leon, it would be a little difficult to realised. I do foresee the inventory menu being a bit cumbersome with the Wii controls, Capcom should have just went all the way and implement a drag and drop function for that whole part. Of course the big question remains whether the previously-ps2 exclusive Separate Ways campaign was completely redone in the original Gamecube game engine but unfortunately you still have to finish the main campaign in order to unlock it. Perhaps i can steal a save file from somewhere just to see for myself first.

Second Opinion on NMH

I went back to playing No More Heroes in an effort to finish up my remaining batteries as soon as possible. It's been probably over a year since i last touched it, i was surprised to learn that i only spent a little over 18 hours in my first go especially since i clocked more than 40 hours on a much shorter game like Umbrella Chronicles. I still think the graphics looked great, cel-shading can do a lot to mask the technical limitations of a console and none is more apparent than here. I remember reading somewhere that NMH had ps2 standard graphics but i sincerely don't feel like that's the case.

I do agree that the game controls aren't very precise, some say you can play the game with your back to the screen, just wave the motes aimlessly and still can get by. I do believe that is possible, even more now that i'm playing on hard mode and still barely struggling despite the long lay-off. There are a lot of room for improvement so hopefully we get to see how far the sequel is coming along in the upcoming E3.

Take A Walk On the Darkside

I was quite surprised when Capcom announce Darkside Chronicles on the eve of RE5 release, because it promises a return to a generation of art style that i thought we would have all said goodbye to with the arrival of RE5. Capcom may not have given fans what they wanted but it's hard to fault them given the encouraging sales and reception of Umbrella Chronicles on the Wii. From the looks of the initial trailer, most of the key staff from Umbrella Chronicles are back for the ride along with some of the staff from the recent CGI production Degeneration and RE5. This follow-up game is of course, touted to be a semi-remake to the fan-favourite RE2 so naturally expectations are high.

Just like Final Fantasy VII, Capcom seems to be milking Resident Evil 2 in the same way by making various different offshoots with varying result, ignoring the very pleas of the fans for a remake. I enjoyed Resident Evil Degeneration a lot, so much in fact i decided to order the limited edition blu-ray box during this spring sale at Play-asia. A bit unexpected considering how much i already spent on the collector edition earlier this month but when i realised i initially wanted to get it had it not come out within a few months of RE5, i thought this is as good as a time as any seeing it's discounted by more than half its original price.

When Leon Met Claire

Since my copy of Resident Evil: Degeneration has yet to arrive, i decided to go back and play when Leon first met Claire in Resident Evil 2. To be honest, i could never agree with all the praises and accolades bestowed onto RE2 when it first came out. Sure the story was great but the game felt too short on one go and too tiresome to finish four times to experience everything (LeonA/ClaireB and ClaireA/LeonB). I never really like the guns designed for RE2 and the modifications you could do made me loathe them even more as they were virtually too powerful to fire when upgraded.

I did however like the introduction of the lickers in RE2 and thought they were the best thing in the first Resident Evil movie. After facing them again in RE2, I quickly remember how vicious they can be because they certainly weren't anything as vicious in Umbrella Chronicles. In fact there was one sequence in the You Died screen on the RE2 demo included with Resident Evil: Director's Cut which i believed was left out of the final retail game where the licker would repeatedly beat leon head to the ground with its claws. Disturbing stuff indeed.

I wonder happened to the lickers in Umbrella Chronicles where all they can do is just lash out its tongue at you or take a cheap swipe. I remember even Resident Evil: Survivor did a better job of portraying just how vicious the lickers could be. I'm hoping to see the lickers again in Resident Evil 5 or even Degeneration as they are sorely missed.

Zero-ing on My Options

Biohazard Zero Wii was just released in Japan today and i don't know what's left to say about the game that i haven't said before already. Granted i haven't actually got the chance to talk about the game seeing that i started this blog shortly after finishing the game. I was always far more infatuated with the Gamecube remake mainly for nostalgic reasons even though in reality, that game was a little less polished than this. I remember rushing through this game fairly quickly because Umbrella Chronicles was already out by then so i really didn't give this title the fair amount of attention it deserves. I wanted to play UC pretty badly then so Resident Evil Zero felt like just another obstacle in the way at that time.

The decision on whether or not to get this Wii port would have been made a lot easier had i not already own three copies of the original Gamecube version. Also given that i hardly get any chance to play my Wii these days, having another game lying around isn't exactly a comforting thought. Not the mention the issue of the Wii game being region lock so i would probably have to fork out some more cash in order to actually play this game. Oh yeah, this is easier than i thought...

Laws of Nature

I went back to playing HUNK on the 4th survivor mini-game recently after having played the HUNK side mission on Umbrella Chronicles, which of course is based on the 4th survivor scenario. I must say that the HUNK side mission was pretty enjoyable and faithful to the original inspiration, especially when compared to the Resident Evil 3 missions.

The 4th survivor is one of my favourite Resident Evil mini-game and i was pretty chuffed when i first managed to make it to the end, having memorized most of the enemy placement and routes. It's actually not as hard as one might think but of course, having a good grips of the tank-like controls and knowing which enemies to fight and which to run from helps a great deal.

4th survivor will also one of those Resident Evil mini-games that enforces the laws of nature within the Resident Evil universe so strongly that you can't help but to learn and abide by it as well.

What is this laws of nature within Resident Evil universe you say?

Simple, no two different type of monsters should ever co-exist in the one same room or area. It's a simple rule that was probably born out of the complications of programming but one that makes absolute sense when you sit down and think about it.

If say, the crows were in the same hallway as a zombie, wouldn't they be tempted to pick the flesh off their bodies since zombies do possess a body of decaying flesh? It makes complete sense to me so when the development team behind the Deadly Silence port decided to tweak with the formula and create a more challenging Rebirth mode, i was absolutely dismayed. While i adored the original Resident Evil and kinda liked the Deadly Silence port, i absolutely loathe the Rebirth mode included.

There, all my worst nightmares came to life, as Hunters, zombies and crows were all running rampant in the mansion, most of the time in the same area. You could say that this was due to the limitations of the hardware during that time so that's why you never get two different type of monsters attacking you in the one same area but think back to when you last played Resident Evil 4.

Did that game have two different monsters in the one same area?

Killer Instinct

A lot of people have been buying new consoles and handhelds lately and it's not due to any price drop either but rather the appearance of several killer app titles. You see, a killer app title is one that is usually so anticipated and hyped that it helps generate hardware sales as well ie. people who don't own console are willing to buy the system just to play that one game. A friend of mine recently got a Sony PSP to play Final Fantasy's Crisis Core, sure he has been contemplating about getting one for some time now, surveying the market and reading up on custom firmware but it took the release of Crisis Core to push him over the edge. More recently I got friends eager to take the PS3 plunge to play the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV, so i guess killer apps are not restricted to console exclusive titles only seeing that GTAIV is multi-platform.

So what are the games that would convince you to part with your hard-earned money to pick up the console to play it? For me, these games are sure to raise a couple of eyebrows but it's not like i'm saying so in order to be different. The game that led me to get a Nintendo DS? Resident Evil Deadly Silence. Sure, it's a port of a ten year-old game which i played to death but the thought of playing such a cherished game in the palm of my hands was so unimaginable for me then that i had to get one just to experience it. Sure enough, i wasn't disappointed as the DS would go on to be the hottest selling handheld of recent years thereby ensuring a healthy supply of quality games. My most recent console is of course, the Nintendo Wii and a large part of it has to do with the phenomenon success of the Nintendo DS as with most Wii users i'm sure. But it was Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles that finally convinced me to get the Wii after watching Nintendo gamers with envy playing exclusive Resident Evil and Metal Gear games over the years. So far, the Wii has not showed it's full potential like the DS but it has sold so many units now it's hard to imagine it being any less of a success than the DS.

Bullet In The Head

Here are some of the bargains i managed to pick up from Play-Asia during the last Easter clearance sale, some unexpected buys if you consider the fact that i don't usually do budget reprints. Of particular interest is the PSOne Books release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which if you have been following this blog for some time now may know that I already own the Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP so this may seem like an unnecessary purchase. In reality it kinda is and i was contemplating for the longest time whether or not to get this especially when it already available for download on the Playstation Store (PSN) for the Playstation3 but ultimately i caved in as it was been discounted to USD$14.90 (from USD$24.90!). Guess I'm just not ready for the digital era and will still take a tangible copy which i can cherish and keep any day.The Dino Crisis japanese import was also too good to miss as it was only going for a meager USD$7.90 and was in pretty damn good shape for a pre-owned copy, i will definitely keep that in mind when i'm browsing through Play-asia's pre-owned section again next time.There are a couple of other things i would like to point out about both these games but i guess i will save it for later and get to the real meat of this post, the Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles Artbook.

Capcom are known for having some of the best artistic guys in the business, with their character design and art direction but the guy who did the character design for Umbrella Chronicles (Shinkiro) is just plain sadistic. Don't get me wrong, his characters are very much in line with the Resident Evil universe but if i could show you the contents of the artbook you will know what i mean. In fact, if you have played the game you will know what i mean, the proportions of some of these monsters are just plain ridicuious. Of course, artists usually have their own style of proportions which actually makes their work more fascinating, namely some of my idols like Todd Mcfarlane and Ayame Kojima (Castlevania). Ever notice most of the major bosses in Umbrella Chronicles all have insanely small heads?!?! Sure it's intentional to create a more challenging game but to the point where the characters start to look ridicuious is unacceptable. Ivan, the Tyrant bodyguard to Sergei is guilty of this but since he is of a similar series of Tyrant to Mr.X from RE2 who also happens to spot a tiny head i will let this one slide. Has anyone noticed how small Talos' head is? If he even have a head in the first place....

Gun-shy

Gun Survivor 2: Code Veronica is to Resident Evil what Rondo of Blood is to Castlevania, it's the holy grail of the series. Feverishly cherished by the fans, these games actually attracted more attention from their exclusivity status rather than how good these games are, having being denied of a release in the Western market. Though unlike Rondo of Blood, Gun Survivor 2 just happens to be pretty rare but not really any good.

Perhaps it's easier to go back to the beginning to explain how Gun Survivor2 ended up not being released in the US. Back when Capcom decided it would be a good idea to create a lightgun spin-off to their Resident Evil franchise, they decided to develop the game exclusively for the home console platform rather than putting it out on the arcades. The first gun survivor was released on the Playstation platform but due to the severe gun violence in America, the US version had it's lightgun support questionably dropped and even the title was shortened to the rather harmless, Resident Evil Survivor. With its clunky controls and rather unpleasant graphics, Resident Evil Survivor suffered poor reviews and sales though it still managed to attract some interest among fans of the series.

When it came to Gun Survivor2, Capcom have enough sense to partner with lightgun veterans Namco and jointly developed the game on the arcade platform. Borrowing elements and plotline from the recent Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Gun Survivor2 had next-generation graphics and a story that would interest any Resident Evil fans. However due to the poor sales in Japan and the restriction of lightgun use, the idea to release this game on home consoles in the US was completely dropped though it did wound up with a low-key PAL release. Unfortunately, Gun Survivor 2 also suffered from poor reviews but i happened to have a soft spot for this game as Code Veronica was one of the favourite games in the series. Looking back, Gun Survivor serves as a nice compliment to Resident Evil: Code Veronica similarly to how Umbrella Chronicles summarises the early Resident Evil games. It's a nice game to relive the moments of your favourite game, just too expect to learn everything from playing these games...

At Your Service

With most game franchises having established a history of more than two decades these days, it's not uncommon to find fan service games popping out here and there. Often deemed by Gametrailers as a "loveletter to the fans", fan service games are usually filled with nods and references to past games in the series, which of course only makes sense to long-time followers. I love the concept of fan service games as i believe when done right, can elevate a downright mediorce game to a great one such as the case of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Other times, it can even turn a solid game into an even more memorable one, like Metal Gear Acid 2 though i could be blinded by the cel-shaded graphics and 3D images of Sabra girls to even notice the flaws in that game.

So by default, since i never played Final Fantasy VII before and made little sense outta Advent Children, it would make even a great game like Crisis Core seems mediorce to me as i am unable to spot the references and tribute to FFVII. Oh how i envy you guys....