New pics from the Japan expo, there is a trailer on IGN too.

Out of the Darkness Trailer

It's Voldo

Nice graphics

Last pic almost looks pre-rendered apart from the bottom left corner. Why Capcom, why on rails?

Capcom unlocked the some secret compartment of the Wii's graphics chip to make this game.  The game probably runs at 15 FPS or something.

That Tyrant shot is amazing! PLEASE fix the issues with the game before it hits, if this one is not as good as UC1 I will cry.

Weird that the youtube footage looks better than the IGN video. I think the IGN video seems slightly off ratio which adds some tiny bits of pixellation around the edges.

RE Darkside Chronicles trailer this is smoother but not as sharp.

IGN-preview

With the E3 season dead and gone (undead?) we're finally getting a chance to regroup, take copious amounts of hangover medication, and get to more coverage on all the big games from the show. As the next leg of our coverage quest begins, publishers are hitting us back up for more coverage and updated thoughts on the biggest games of the show – and when it comes to Nintendo, third party stole the show. Just this week we've had a chance to head over to Capcom and check out a new build of Spyborgs for Wii, and while we were there we took the opportunity to jump back into the survival horror Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles for an additional playthrough of the first two levels being shown.

Normally we won't replay builds we've already written about just to weigh in on the game again, but Darkside Chronicles is one of those titles that – to be frank - just didn't impress us at E3 like we thought it would. As a huge fan of Resident Evil (and having played the original Umbrella Chronicles to death) I jumped on in, started blasting zombies back to death, but was ultimately left with more questions than answers on the game. With my second playthrough of the game some of those questions are answered, while others still remain to be seen.

During cinematic transitions some zombies aren't required killing. These guys, however, very much are.

For starters, Darkside Chronicles feels like a more cinematic, hectic, movie-like experience when compared to Umbrella Chronicles. The addition of the shaky cam has been a huge back and forth for a few of us, as the game is much more fluid and unpredictable (no more train-like sliding through levels on an obvious rail) but it comes at a cost when aiming. The visuals have been improved over the original, and while I mentioned it in my initial E3 impressions it again rang true when checking the game out again; zombie deaths and reactions are much stronger this time around, and the havoc engine is to thank. Using a new physics engine zombies actually stagger back when shot, falls are more natural, and the overall movement and reaction is much better. Little things like blasting umbrellas in an outside café or knocking over cups on tables react, though it's certainly a specific set of in-game objects that react, much like the lighting system from Umbrella Chronicles and now Darkside as well. Some objects will react (lights dim when shot, or objects on a table shuffle around) while others won't.

The shaky cam is going to be the biggest tug-of-war in this game by far, and I've got a feeling it'll affect different gamers in different ways. My first playthrough with the game was hugely shocking when it came to camera movement. I'd zero in on a zombie, and just as I took a shot the camera would spin. Entering into a room the character would search left, maybe even see a zombie, and then spin right anyways, leaving me to wish I had full-on control of the camera opposed to an on-rails path that didn't feel natural to how I personally would have entered the room. Playing through those sections again sparked a few of those same feelings – the shaky cam can still be a pain if you're trying to knock as many zombies out as you can in a single run – though there are also a few specifics worth noting.

Combine gun with crotch!

First off, the camera seems to lock a bit better when actually engaging closing in zombies, using quick turns and odd angles mainly when showing off zombies that won't actually close the distance or be a real threat. It's more of a haunted house feel, where you see a set of monsters, the characters react, and then you set and shoot. It works in that context, but even still I would prefer less when firing (getting headshots is no easy task with the camera doing its own thing), and the ability to still pop off rounds and shoot at zombie fodder while the camera goes crazy is tempting, and you'll burn a lot of ammo if you decide to do anything but sit and watch during those segments. Bottom line though; when camera shakes are at their craziest the zombies you're seeing aren't a direct threat. If you don't take that to heart and ease off the trigger you'll be burning rounds and missing shots like crazy.

It's that line between cinematic feel and gameplay that Darkside Chronicles will need to tread, and really it's going to come down to a level-by-level basis. The storefront and surrounding area in Resident Evil 2 (which leads to the R.C.P.D station) is full of really fast movements, even having Claire and Leon sprinting at full speed down an alleyway during one portion. Granted you aren't blasting away at anything during those scenes (or don't have to, rather), but when you whip around to see a set of hungry zombies behind you the shake is still pretty heavy. On the flipside, however, Code Veronica has less shake to worry about, and while you'll still have the occasional issue of lining up a shot, going to fire, and having the camera shake ever so slightly and screw you up it's a lot less common and better for its subtlety.

One amendment to my original playthrough – and one that's not only good to see, but also could be tweaked and improved upon – is the head shot system. During E3 the build supposedly had headshots included, though I couldn't pop a single one, and figured it was simply omitted. That isn't the case. Darkside Chronicles does include a two-tier system, which first zooms the cursor in a small amount (the icon, not the camera) when hovered over the head. Fire from that position and you'll do more damage to the enemy than a normal shot, though there's no visual change. Hit that sweet spot that was included in the first Umbrella Chronicles, however, and you can blow heads off in a bloody display. During our 15 minute playthrough I only saw two of them happen (one with machine gun, and one with a pistol) but they are in fact in there. After the demo I mentioned to Capcom – and very much stand by the idea – that with as much shaking as there is in the camera headshots could stand to be a bit more lenient, or the sweet spot itself could be made slightly larger.

Headshots are in. Hitting them is no easy task though.

They're great when they happen, but lining up that perfect crown shot is no easy task. It was tough in the first game until you got the feel for it, and with the camera movements this time around it looks to be even tougher; something I would personally tweak. From what I've seen in the demo, no other body parts can be blown off, though that's obviously a trade-off. House of the Dead Wii had full limb breaking and it lag-popped every time it did a major one, so I'd much rather see a game run smooth than have limb dismemberment. With that being said, the bar is raising, as HOTD does include it, and EA's own Dead Space Extraction is also going that route.

And while we're on the topic of smoothness, there was a huge difference in the cursor movement this time around than at E3. Capcom ensured me that this was the same build, so I can only assume the spotty cursor – which truly was worse on the show floor than the first Umbrella Chronicles was; puzzling at the time – was a victim of the insane bright lights, hundreds of remotes, and multiple systems all crammed into a controller's line of sight. Whatever the case may be, the cursor is smoother now, leaving only some slight framerate issues to tackle in the coming months.

A sign of things to come...

Based on what we've seen thus far Darkside Chronicles is sgoing to be a whole lot more of the same from what fans of Umbrella Chronicles expected. In its preliminary state the game still has some of the same "usual suspects" of the first game, including some iffy framerate, similar weaponry, and the must-have cheesy voiceover that RE fans have come to expect, but it's also improving on a few specific elements as well. The game is very much a tour of the Resident Evil world, and if you were anything like me when the first game came out it was as much about seeing the worlds recreated as it was leveling up guns or actually "gaming" with the product at all. A few specifics, such as the weapon sharing system and the ability to keep herbs for when they're needed are nice additions as well, so while I still consider myself in the "cautiously optimistic" category as far as Darkside nailing all the must-have elements of a AAA light gun shooter it still oozes fan service and is an obvious step above what the original game offered.

Hopefully the team can keep the often-chaotic shaky cam in check, and slightly easier headshots with a locked framerate would go a long way in my book. Other than that, bring on the lickers.

Triple update today for all you.........

New videos

http://ll.lo.video.gamespot.com/d3/gsc/2009/07/169_resident_evil_dsc_gameplay_1_wii_071609_400.flv

http://ll.lo.video.gamespot.com/d4/gsc/2009/07/169_resident_evil_dsc_gameplay_2_wii_071609_400.flv

Darkside Chronicles comicon trailer

They entered the womans house, then it was like 4 minutes before they walked up the stairs.

As an experience first time through okay, but repeat play throughs are going to pee people off.

BTW I didn't post it here but in GGWeekly I posted a ton of new comicon footage. Some nice stuff there, IGN is the place to go.

Given the success of Resident Evil 4, you might be wondering why the developers decided to stick with the lightgun elements in The Darkside Chronicles rather than something similar to the style of RE4. Masachika Kawata, chief producer of Darkside Chronicles, addressed this question in a Q & A session with Capcom-Europe.

“Yes, naturally Resident Evil 4 on Wii was a huge success. Having said that, Umbrella Chronicles didn’t do badly either. However, we regretted the fact that all the scenarios, storyline were not included in that particular title, so therefore that was our regret and we wanted to work on a new title in the same style and we worked on Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica.”

FUCK you Kawata