Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles took key moments from the series' early instalments and retold them in the form of a rail shooter tailored to Wii Remote controls. The player goes through the events of Resident Evil Zero, the first game, and the third instalment set in a collapsing Raccoon City, before finally reaching an entirely new chapter that shows the fall of the Umbrella Corporation and Albert Wesker's role in it. That closing storyline is the most interesting part for fans, since it fills in events the main games never directly showed.

The game handles movement itself, so the player concentrates on aiming, reloading and picking the right weapon for a given enemy. The arsenal is gradually upgraded with points earned from precise shooting and finding hidden items in the environment, which motivates replaying the chapters. Boss fights require hitting specific weak points and sometimes dodging in time with a flick of the controller, so the pace keeps the tension up even without the freedom to move around. Two players can shoot side by side at the same time, which is the most enjoyable way to experience the game.

Technically, this was very solid work. The environments are based on models reminiscent of the GameCube originals but are lit to feel dramatic in motion, and the number of enemies on screen was decent for its time. The sound keeps the series' traditional style, with oppressive ambience, growling dogs and sudden jump-scare moments. Reviews at the time were mostly positive, with critics praising the precise aiming and the story bonus while faulting the shorter runtime and the limited freedom of movement. The game was successful enough to earn a sequel, The Darkside Chronicles, and remains among the titles that play best on Wii precisely because of controls unavailable elsewhere. For fans of the franchise, it's also valuable for neatly summarizing the plot of the early games, serving as a brisk refresher on what actually happened in Raccoon City before moving on to the later instalments.