E3 2009 Demo Impressions – Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

Stopping by the Capcom booth, I was able to get my hands on Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles’ Co-op mode.  After a bit of time with the game, here’s what I think so far.

First off, this game is very slowly paced.  Typically, when we pick up an on-rails shooter, we expect frantic duck-and-gun action.  Darkside Chronicles, on the other hand, has a deliberately slow approach to how it handles the gameplay, providing an added level of tension and uneasiness to the already-tense atmosphere.  The cutscene transitions between gameplay scenes creep along, the camera panning and zooming in on objects of interest.  This is all very good, and I imagine it will work very well in our living rooms – unfortunately, as you can’t even hear your own thoughts on the show floor (let alone the demo’s dialogue or cutscenes) this approach felt a bit too slow.

The gameplay is relatively simple; you aim the Wiimote at the screen to move your reticule around, “B” button fires a shot, “A” button collects items, the D-pad switches weapons and a quick waggle reloads your gun.  That’s it.  Not very robust or complex, but it works.  The aiming mechanism is just stubborn enough that trying to aim for a specific target across the screen (READ: headshot) doesn’t cause your reticule to go flying off the edge of the TV.  Even if it does happen, however, holding down the “A” button and giving the controller a quick swipe allows the player to execute quick melee strikes if a zombie is about to munch on your nose.  It also helps if there is a swarm of enemies (a portion of the demo involved us being attacked by bats) and aiming at every single one would be a hassle.

A particular design choice confuses me – why did Capcom deem it best to include only one of every item?  Throughout the levels, there are item and weapon pickups scattered about.  The camera is quite shaky and swift-moving; when a player sees an item, they quickly try to obtain it, thinking it might move off-screen.  Because of this, if one player is faster on the draw than the other, the weapon layout ends up being quite uneven between the two players.

One more thing I’d like to note: What’s with the frame rate?  There wasn’t any heavy slowdown, but the game did stutter a bit during moments action.  Very strange, as the most zombies on-screen is in the single-digit range.

Overall, however – I can’t complain.  The gameplay is solid and I’m sure I would have enjoyed the cheesy voice overs had I been able to hear them.