Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

In late 2007, Capcom released Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, an arcade-style shooter for the Nintendo Wii. Umbrella Chronicles, though it moved the series into a new genre, in fact went back over old ground, its plot being substantially based on three previous titles: the original Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero, and Resident Evil 3.

Now it seems we can expect a follow-up in the same vein – Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Like Umbrella Chronicles, Darkside follows to an extent the stories of past games – this time it's Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica – but it will also apparently explore new areas of the series' story.

While gameplay will be loosely the same as Umbrella Chronicles, Capcom and developers Cavia are at pains to stress the difference in feel that they're aiming for. Though it's still a shooter on rails, they are aiming to place more emphasis on horror this time, rather than just dumb action (I say 'dumb action' with affection, by the way – it isn't meant as a put-down). In single-player mode (yes, thankfully the game offers two-player co-operative gameplay too), you can see your partner on-screen, which adds to the realism – as does the ability to dodge attacks. Excellent camera work is anticipated as well, which I guess makes up for the loss of control in this style of game.

Another exciting bit of news on Darkside Chronicles is the plan to incorporate the difficulty system used for Resident Evil 4 & 5; that means the game will recognise the skill of the player, and make itself harder or easier as required. It's a good use of the technology, as it means the game can cater to crack-shot Resident Evil die-hards, while still remaining accessible to slightly more casual players. This is, after all, the Wii we're talking about: there will be folk out there just after an easy zombie-blasting arcade experience. Other fans of the series will be just as happy for the story.

All things going to plan, things will be going bump in the night once again around the end of this year... Keep it locked to NZGamer.com for all the latest.