I got to spend some time fiddling around with the new South American level in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles that was just recently announced at the Tokyo Game Show. Hit the jump to see what it's like.
Earlier today at a private local event here in Los Angeles, Capcom reps were so gracious enough to invite us media guys to come visit their PR agency's local office to check out the newly announced South America level in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. The demo started off with me and Capcom Marketing Manager, Matt Dahlgren, choosing which character we wanted to play as. The only available choices were Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser. We then chose what we wanted in our arsenal such as magnum, sub machine gun, grenade launcher, shot gun, grenades and the typical handgun with unlimited ammo. I was informed that these weapons were only made available through the demo and would have to be unlocked in the final version.
We started off in a village that looked a lot like the villages in Resident Evil 5, only this time the enemies were actual zombies instead of Majini. The game plays just like Umbrella Chronicles where all the controls could be utilized with just the Wii Remote. I found out that the ability to tilt the camera slightly using the analog stick on the nunchuk that was found in Umbrella Chronicles would not be in Darkside Chronicles. Instead, the analog stick would now be used to quickly select weapons, which is exactly the same function that the directional pad has during gameplay.
There was something about teenage girls going missing from the village while we were playing. Once we fought our way through waves of zombies and gigantic, mutant frog monsters we came across one of the teenage girls in a shack who was singing a song. She saw us, passed out and a giant water monster then jumped out and attempted to, ever so violently, make good, good friends with us.
Gameplay would, once again, allow two players to play cooperatively; however, both characters will not be sharing the same view anymore. Instead, the whole game will be played through the eyes of the first player. What that means is that every once in a while your partner will appear on screen and you have to avoid shooting him. Basically, player two will see himself through the eyes of player one and will shoot through the eyes of player one. Player one will also have to save his partner at certain time of the game when they are attacked by an enemy. Depending on whom you choose to be at the beginning of the game, the view rail will be slightly different and the dialogue will also be different.
All around, it's what you would expect from a rail shooter. So far it is an enjoyable, arcade style experience much like Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and adds a few new aspects to the gameplay. I'll be featuring a review of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles when the final game is released. Thanks Capcom PR! Your office might smell like a burnt bag of popcorn but we don't hold that against you.
