News

Review: Umbrella Corps Is A Clunky Unnecessary Spinoff

Published

8 years ago

June 29, 2016

Resident Evil… I recall a time when that name was synonymous with survival horror and all the things that the genre entailed. They were games that forced you to conserve ammo and rely on sparsely available green and red herbs to survive. Instead of focusing on the next big title, (and getting Resident Evil back to its roots) Capcom decided they would venture far off the path. They decided that an online shooter was the way to go. Who could blame them? That is what holds the shelf life of a game these days. So, Umbrella Corps was born.

The story and the options are pretty barebones from the get-go. A training option allows you to suit up as an Umbrella Corp mercenary and learn the ropes of the game. Training is as you would expect, boring for an experienced or even half experienced gamer. It goes through the vanilla motions of showing you how to move around the map, switch and use weapons. The highlight of the weapons comes in the forms of a nasty little hatchet that you are able to charge up in order to unleash vicious melee attacks.

Once you are all trained and ready to go. An almost empty title screen, offers you the options of a multiplayer mode that places your merc in a 3 V 3 game, where you are unable to spawn after you are killed. Loading times between these games are long and annoying. Oddly enough these multiplayer matches are 3 mercs V 3 mercs. Even more odd is the fact that zombies are peppered in on the maps. They are easily dealt with and feel like more of a nuisance than an adversary. Would it have been cool to include Hunters and Lickers and have 3 mercs V those creatures? Well, it definitely would not have hurt and may have added a little variety to gameplay.

“Leveling up

feels like a chore…”

The matches are unbalanced at best. That is partly due to clunky controls and and weapon damage that makes no sense in any given situation. Once the round is over you are awarded experience points in order to upgrade weapons and customize your mercenary.

Leveling up feels like a chore as opposed to something you are excited to do. Weapon customization is one of the few good things here. Merc armor customization is generic for the most part and will make you recall playing through better Resident Evil games where you were decimating these mercs.

Multi-Mission mode supplies you with a variety of game modes where you are able to re-spawn. This is a little more fast paced and a little more enjoyable but even at my most hopeful, clunky controls would hinder total immersion. The cover system is something that really leaves the game a long way from where it needs to be. The fact that an opponent can run up to you while in cover as easily as they are able to makes it completely useless, outside of hiding.

Umbrella Corps also offers a single-player mode. While I was playing through the multiplayer matches, I kept telling myself that maybe they saved the best stuff for single-player. Again, I was wrong. This mode consists of you mind-numbingly blasting your way through zombies and collecting DNA viles that are dropped. After a few of these types of missions, additional generic objectives are added to later missions that include, collecting briefcases, clearing areas, etc.

“clunky controls

hinder total immersion”

I’m a huge Resident Evil fan and I had a very hard time finding anything worthwhile contained in this misguided spinoff. The fascination with being a merc for Umbrella, dissolves quickly. The weapon upgrade system and the chargeable hatchet are the only shining lights that remain when all is said and done. Any fun that is had is short-lived and doesn’t give any reason to revisit. Let’s all look forward to Resident Evil 7 and try to forget this departure ever existed.

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News

Win a Stay at The Lizzie Borden House From Spirit Halloween

Published

1 hour ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Spirit Halloween has declared that this week marks the start of spooky season and to celebrate they are offering fans a chance to stay at the Lizzie Borden House with so many perks Lizzie herself would approve.

The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA is claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in America. Of course one lucky winner and up to 12 of their friends will find out if the rumors are true if they win the grand prize: A private stay in the notorious house.

“We are delighted to work with Spirit Halloween to roll out the red carpet and offer the public a chance to win a one-of-a-kind experience at the infamous Lizzie Borden House, which also includes additional haunted experiences and merchandise,” said Lance Zaal, President & Founder of US Ghost Adventures.

Fans can enter to win by following Spirit Halloween‘s Instagram and leaving a comment on the contest post from now through April 28.

The prize also includes:

An exclusive guided house tour, including insider insight around the murder, the trial, and commonly reported hauntings

A late-night ghost tour, complete with professional ghost-hunting gear

A private breakfast in the Borden family dining room

A ghost hunting starter kit with two pieces of Ghost Daddy Ghost Hunting Gear and a lesson for two at US Ghost Adventures Ghost Hunting Course

The ultimate Lizzie Borden gift package, featuring an official hatchet, the Lizzie Borden board game, Lily the Haunted Doll, and America’s Most Haunted Volume II

Winner’s choice of a Ghost Tour experience in Salem or a True Crime experience in Boston for two

“Our Halfway to Halloween celebration provides fans an exhilarating taste of what’s to come this fall and empowers them to start planning for their favorite season as early as they please,” said Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween. “We have cultivated an incredible following of enthusiasts who embody the Halloween lifestyle, and we’re thrilled to bring the fun back to life.”

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Spirit Halloween is also preparing for their retail haunted houses. On Thursday, August 1 their flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. will officially open to start off the season. That event usually draws in hordes of people eager to see what new merch, animatronics, and exclusive IP goods will be trending this year.

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Movies

’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power

Published

3 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Danny Boyle is revisiting his 28 Days Later universe with three new films. He will direct the first, 28 Years Later, with two more to follow. Deadline is reporting that sources say Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes have been cast for the first entry, a sequel to the original. Details are being kept under wraps so we don’t know how or if the first original sequel 28 Weeks Later fits into the project.

**Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes**

Boyle will direct the first movie but it’s unclear which role he will take on in the subsequent films. What is known is Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta is scheduled to direct the second film in this trilogy and that the third will be filmed immediately afterward. Whether DaCosta will direct both is still unclear.

Alex Garland is writing the scripts. Garland is having a successful time at the box office right now. He wrote and directed the current action/thriller Civil War which was just knocked out of the theatrical top spot by Radio Silence’s Abigail.

There is no word yet on when, or where, 28 Years Later will start production.

^{28 Days Later}

The original film followed Jim (Cillian Murphy) who wakes from a coma to find that London is currently dealing with a zombie outbreak.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

News

Watch ‘The Burning’ At The Location Where It Was Filmed

Published

22 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Fangoria is reporting that fans of the 1981 slasher The Burning will be able to have a screening of the film at the location where it was filmed. The movie is set at Camp Blackfoot which is actually the Stonehaven Nature Preserve in Ransomville, New York.

This ticketed event will take place on August 3. Guests will be able to take a tour of the grounds as well as enjoy some campfire snacks along with the screening of The Burning.

The Burning

The film came out in the early ’80s when teen slashers were being churned out in magnum force. Thanks to Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, filmmakers wanted to get in on the low-budget, high-profit movie market and a casket load of these types of films were produced, some better than others.

The Burning is one of the good ones, mostly because of the special effects from Tom Savini who had just come off of his groundbreaking work on Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th. He declined to do the sequel because of its illogical premise and instead signed on to do this movie. Also, a young Jason Alexander who would later go on to play George in Seinfeld is a featured player.

Because of its practical gore, The Burning had to be heavily edited before it received an R-rating. The MPAA was under the thumb of protest groups and political bigwigs to censor violent films at the time because slashers were just so graphic and detailed in their gore.

Tickets are $50, and if you want a special t-shirt, that will cost you another $25, You can get all the information by visiting the On Set Cinema webpage.