I feel relatively confident in stating that Resident Evil Wii: The Umbrella Chronicles is probably the best video game of all time.  Granted, prior to this weekend’s Arcadia Festival in Montreal, I’ve played exactly one video game this year, and it was online strip poker against Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. But this is way better, though not quite as hideous. Granted, it’s an on-rails first person shooter, a departure for the generally third-person main Resident Evil series, but despite how limited that makes the gameplay, there’s a genuinely visceral thrill involved that’s lacking from some of the later instalments.

Line-ups to play the game at the Wii booth.

There’s a story, of course, filling in some details as to how the events of the first game link up with the various sequels, but it’s all just framework for shooting zombies in the head. Read World War Z for the writing. Play this if you want to shoot things in the head but stay out of juvie.

Invisible Text For Line Breaks

The Wii wireless gun-mote or whatever it’s called helps give the game an immersive feel that almost compensates for the constraints of the on-rails system. The levels are based on locations from previous games, with the last few chapters being wholly original creations taking place in Umbrella Headquarters, and the only distracting element seems to come from the subtitled dialogue from the character’s partner, which provides a running commentary of the obvious. Seeing a hideous monster assemble itself from giant leeches is frightening. Hearing about it while it’s happening like the colour commentary of a college football game is not. Thankfully, however, that doesn’t make shooting it in the head any less satisfying.

Rows of pods for growing Wii fans.

   

alkratina@comicbookbin.com