Umbrella Corps (Video Game)
Ted Hentschke
|
Developed by Capcom
Available on PC and PS4
Rated M for Mature
I have mixed feelings about present day Resident Evil. On the one hand, Capcom has taken bold steps to reinvent the tired series. People are kind of over the action/horror hybrid style that Resident Evil 4 invented/perfected and that Resident Evil 5 and 6 did their best to fuck up. After the half measure of returning to horror that was Resident Evil: Revelations 2, they are once again returning to pure horror with Resident Evil 7. It’s a hard left turn, ditching the roundhouse kicks and snap headshots for key hunts and panicked cowering. Umbrella Corps is the inverse of that, taking a hard right turn away from all of the slower survival elements into pure action-land.
This might seem strange given that Capcom seemingly had learned their lesson from the failure of Operation Raccoon City and RE6. As much as I love the franchise, no one thinks, “tight, responsive controls” when they think of Resident Evil. The series has built itself off of being deliberately clunky. Even in their pinnacle action title RE4, the aiming and movement were restricted to build tension. It works in a single player environment where enemies are designed around this, stopping their full sprint a few feet short before lethargically lunging.
So you’ll be surprised to find that Umbrella Corps, their purely action multiplayer-only shooter, has maintained this aspect somewhat. It’s faster than most Resident Evil games, with a plethora of mobility options. You can kick through doors, slide over tables, pop in and out of cover, and crawl under desks and into vents. It’s pretty impressive when you get the hang of it, but overwhelming enough at first that most players will opt for the “sprint around like a maniac” option.
On the other hand, aiming is slow and unresponsive. I should mention that I’m playing on the PC, which the game was clearly not designed for. Aiming drags with the restriction of an analogue stick, making rapid spins and quick corner checks nearly impossible. Even upping the sensitivity to max, getting attacked from behind was a frustrating game of trying to sprint away so that I could turn around without being turned into paste. They attempt to mitigate this somewhat by having a “look behind” button, so at least you can stare deep into your killer’s eyes as he savagely wrecks you.
The best option is to just not get flanked, which can be accomplished through solid teamwork. Since the game is a symmetrical 3v3, it’s clearly designed around tight tactical communication and quick coordinated reactions. Cover your flanks and respond as needed, and plan your attack where they are most vulnerable. It’s a level of coordination absolutely impossible with two strangers and no voice chat. Every game starts with people vaguely trying to work together, but eventually one at a time they will all realize that they have a one-hit kill axe at their disposal. By the end, it’s 6 crazed lunatics sprinting around the map playing a hilariously uncoordinated and deadly variant of tag.
And thanks to the power of insanely generous hitboxes, I too can pretend like I have skill.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Resident Evil game without zombies. Zombies are everywhere, constantly spawning and populating the maps in an ever thickening horde. Players start equipped with a “zombie jammer” on their back, a device that makes them invisible to the undead hordes. As long as it’s active, you can walk right past them without so much as a hungry sniff. If your pack is damaged, then you’re pretty fucked. The zombies are relentless and kill you in a couple hits. You can survive the onslaught, but the constant threat and distraction makes you an easy target. The jammer goes down much more quickly than a health bar, so there’s some decision to be made in where you target.
Another plus is that the game is visually great. Zombies are unique to the level, and with zones spanning the whole series there’s a lot of variety to their look. It’s a level of detail that as a fan of the series I really appreciate. They also spawn by slowly materializing out of a puddle of gore, so bonus points for making NPC spawns interesting. The levels are well designed and visually distinct, packing a surprising amount of variable tactical depth into their various corridors and overlooks.
Unfortunately, with their lack of tactics and slobbering brain dead stupidity, I frequently mistook them for my teammates.
As a fast paced, tactical shooter, it functions. It just doesn’t do much more than that. The zombie element is certainly unique, but it doesn’t add much real depth to the combat. Weapons are all kind of samey, with little difference between the various SMGs or Shotguns. There’s a lot of customization, with various sights and silencers allowing you to build your weapon for different engagement ranges. Unfortunately, Umbrella Corps takes a note from every other modern shooter and locks all of the interesting weapons and upgrades behind a level gate. I don’t mind having to earn new stuff, but your base loadout is like three guns. The match length also means you level unbearably slow, and in a few hours you might only gain a couple of levels.
Even if all of the weapons were chainsaw crossbows and rabid dog cannons, the fundamental mechanics weight it down. Respawns seem random, and several times I’d load in just a few feet from my opponent’s backside. With how hard it is to communicate, I could crouch, vault, crawl, and climb all I wanted, I was still going to be taking an axe to the anus in the end. The gameplay types are varied and simple, but none really stood out as interesting.
Waiting for a game to start can take upwards of 10 minutes, so keep that in mind when picking between the more varied 20 minute “Multi-Mission” mode and the team deathmatch mode that people actually play.
I’m sure there’s a lot of depth here and enough tactical play to make this a very satisfying game for high level play. I can easily envision squads of dedicated players shouting commands over headsets, wiping the floor with noobs and engaging in white knuckle MLG combat with other battle hardened veterans. As a new player though, none of that was accessible to me. Through my telescope on Planet Scrub, I can see the flicker of the distant star that is Umbrella Corps’ endgame. Alas, my people are a simple one, and have neither the time nor dedication to research space travel.
As a $30 budget title, it’s worth checking out Umbrella Corps just to see if it tickles your particular gaming fancy. Unfortunately, given the hype behind Resident Evil 7, I doubt most people will know that this even exists. This was supposed to release months ago, and releasing it under the shadow of the RE7 announcement shows a clear lack of confidence. For the price, this is a game that really could have stood on its own. It’s much better than Operation Raccoon City. But as fate would have it, this is likely going to be one of the most forgotten installments in the franchise, right above Outbreak and right below Umbrella Chronicles.
-
Game
Categorized:Horror Gaming Reviews
