Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, known as Biohazard: The Darkside Chronicles (バイオハザード / ダークサイド・クロニクルズ) in Japan, is an on-rails shooting game for the Wii developed by cavia and Capcom. The game was released on November 17, 2009 in North America. It was released in Europe on November 27, 2009 bundled with the Wii Zapper accessory.

Plot
The game's plot revolves around the personal stories and tragedies in the series. Its main focus is retelling the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil Code: Veronica, and a new chapter is featured. For the Resident Evil 2 segment, the player takes control of protagonists Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, with Sherry Birkin acting as an escort character in one chapter. The Code: Veronica chapter features Claire, accompanied by fellow Rockfort Island prisoner Steve Burnside and later her brother Chris Redfield.

Operation Javier
In 2002, somewhere in South America, Leon S. Kennedy and his partner Jack Krauser are searching for Javier Hidalgo, an ex-drug lord who had been reported to be approaching Umbrella, Inc. However, when Leon and Krauser reach the nearby village, they discover that the people there have been turned into zombies. Some zombies have the Sacred Snakes indentation, meaning that they worked alongside Javier. Leon and Krauser find their guide who, before he dies and has his body taken away by a water-bound BOW, says that the girl (Manuela) "brought devils to this village." Fighting their way past more BOWs, Leon and Krauser eventually find the girl, but have to face the creature that took their village guide. They successfully chase it off after Leon shoots the bell tower which causes it to fall on the creature. Krauser asks Leon to tell him everything about his encounters with BOWs. The scenario resumes after the Resident Evil 2 scenario.

Due to rising water levels, the survivors make their way to the water dam, where Javier and his BOWs await. Javier releases the monsters to attack Leon and Krauser while attempting to retrieve Manuela. It is revealed by Javier that Manuela is his daughter and that he had been tampering with the T-Veronica virus. The "Game of Oblivion" incident from Resident Evil - CODE: Veronica is shown. Leon and Krauser discover that Manuela has been receiving regular doses of the T-Veronica virus to contain her illness. At this point, Krauser finally pledges to Leon that he will view Leon as a worthy partner. Soon after, they learn that the reason Javier has been kidnapping young girls is because he was trying to extract organs to perform transplants in order to cure Manuela. Almost immediately, they are confronted by the gigantic monster that ambushed them back at the church, who they soon learn is actually Manuela's mother. Having the same illness as Manuela, she mutated due to the failure to keep the virus in check. Right before dying, she shoots out spikes from her body, one of which pierces into the arm of Krauser, wounding him. After defeating Manuela's mother, Javier merges himself with Veronica plant. He begins to mutate and attacks Leon and the injured Krauser. Manuela assists Leon and Krauser in the battle against her father by using T-Veronica, at the risk of turning into a monster herself. The three survive, and are rescued by helicopter. The US government takes care of Manuela, and Leon and Krauser's story continues in Resident Evil 4. In Resident Evil 4, Leon discovers that Krauser now works for Wesker and they engage in battle, which ends with Leon critically wounding Krauser.

Memories of a Lost City
This scenario re-tells the events of Resident Evil 2, leading up to when Leon and Claire face G (a mutated William Birkin). Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy have just arrived in Raccoon City, when they learn that the city has been infested with zombies and other monsters. They then decide to go to the police station, hoping to find answers. Claire and Leon are together much of the time, only briefly splitting up. When they meet Ada Wong, Ada fights alongside Leon, Claire and Sherry.

Game of Oblivion
A re-imagining of Resident Evil Code: Veronica, where Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside remain together and attempt to escape Rockfort Island in a seaplane, while having to contend with the psychotic Alfred Ashford, and eventually, his sister Alexia. In this iteration of the story, their father Alexander Ashford appears in a video, which was recorded shortly before he became the monster known as Nosferatu. Also, Alexia is portrayed as a much darker and sociopathic person, killing Alfred herself once she awakens and taking almost childlike pleasure in toying with Chris and Claire upon confronting them.

Krauser's Hidden Story
A hidden story of the game which tells the thoughts of Krauser. This scenario follows right after Krauser's acceptance of Leon in the middle of the game. As the trio goes deeper into Javier's hideout, Krauser's faith is shaken when he discovered the background of Leon. As he learns more about Javier's intentions with the virus, he finds himself beginning to accept Javier's thinking. The injury sustained during the fight against Manuela's mutated mother causes Krauser to lose confidence when he found himself having to rely on Leon, rendering his thought of what is going to happen to him after completing the mission. During the final battle against the mutated Javier, Manuela uses her T-Veronica virus to fight her father. The demonstration of the T-Veronica virus helps in convincing Krauser that the dark side is the path he has to take, especially when he believes that the military will throw him aside once they learn of his injury. After the mission, it was discovered that there's no way to heal Krauser's arm. Krauser soon begins his search of Wesker for power.

Gameplay
The Darkside Chronicles is an on-rails shooter. The player's partner is seen on screen during gameplay. The player can use Green Herbs freely but the only time a First-Aid Spray can be used is only after the player is killed by an enemy. There is a new evade move to set The Darkside Chronicles apart from other on-rails shooters. There were also changes to make the game more appealing to casual gamers. For example, head shots were made easier for players to perform and a status screen was implemented. The game automatically adjusts its difficulty, depending on the players' skill level. Other new features include online leaderboards and a system to tell the players' reticules apart from each other in a co-op session. The upgrade system has also been well expanded. You can now upgrade each aspect of your weapon from Power, Rate of Fire, Capacity, Reload Speed & Stopping Power. The pistol is now fully upgradeable as well. This added 'replayability' to the game, which was one of the Creator's main aspects of Darkside Chronicles.

Tofu Mode
Tofu mode can only be unlocked if all scenarios are completed. The Tofu mode takes place in the same Raccoon streets map in "Memory of a lost city" scenario just backwards. The Tofu grows more difficult to kill the further you go into the scenario.

Development
The development of The Darkside Chronicles as an on-rails shooter was decided because Kawata considered it the best way to retell the scenarios that could not be included in the previous game. With this title, he wanted to put a much bigger emphasis on horror, employing a camera system that will try to convey a sense of actually being in the game. To research realistic camera shaking in hectic situations, one of the team members went out in town for a day to make motion tests with a camcorder. Another important aspect to create the game's atmosphere was achieving high-quality graphics, which cavia used all their resources for. Kawata was very satisfied with the result and went on to say that the only thing really setting the visuals apart from next-generation consoles is the lack of HD display. He also mentioned that there is a plethora of attractive content to use for more games in the Chronicles series and the decision of their development would largely depend on cavia's future involvement.

As the game's development began before the production of Degeneration and because of the different timeframe, Kawata ruled out connections to the CG film and Resident Evil 5, though he hinted at the appearance of new characters and the exploration of the Birkins' and the Ashfords' family ties.

Soundtrack
For the music of The Darkside Chronicles, series veterans Shusaku Uchiyama and Takeshi Miura have been brought back to compose and arrange tracks for the retelling of the games they originally worked on, with Uchiyama being responsible for Resident Evil 2 and Miura in charge of Code: Veronica. Part of the soundtrack has been recorded with a group of over 40 musicians known as the Tokyo Chamber Music Association and a chorus of 30 singers. The orchestral arrangements were done by game and anime composer Yoshihisa Hirano who is also highly experienced with classical music.

Reception
IGN gave The Darkside Chronicles 8.1 out of 10. Compliments were given to the graphics, music, playability, and longevity of the title, but the camera was said to be mildly distracting and the story can be confusing for those unfamiliar with the Resident Evil franchise.

GameSpot gave the game a 6.0 out of 10. They stated "The only thing scary about this light-gun game is the dreadful shaky camera."

AceGamez scored the game 85%, praising its simplicity but criticizing the erratic difficulty at higher levels, saying this made "the game insanely difficult on any setting above Easy. An awful lot of enemies appear so close to you that you have to land headshots just to avoid a nasty bite".

In November 2009 Capcom was forced to defend the game from the allegations from the Christian Church of England, which said that it glamorizes violence and promotes the occult, with spokesperson Leo Tan stating: "This is scaremongering and typical religious hysteria. You cannot blame society's ills on video games. It's just absurd."

The Darkside Chronicles placed at number 151 on NPD Group's year-end 2009 sales ranking. In Japan, the game began as the third best-selling game in the region at 73,000 units sold. In France, the game sold a poor 16,000 units during its debut.

Metacritic's overall rating of The Darkside Chronicles is a '75' [Generally favorable reviews]. It's highest rating of '92' which came from "AtomicGamer" said: "In essence, what the game may lack in exposition or narrative complexity it makes up for in nostalgic capital, a refined weapons system and a classic Resident Evil feel." SOURCE: www.Metacritic.com