Janky zombie blasting MP.
When Resident Evil is brought up, the first thing that crosses most people’s minds is likely horror, puzzles, and action. Multiplayer is probably the last thing someone would expect, and even that it would be more in tune with the Outbreak spin off. So here we are, a purely multiplayer focussed Resident Evil spin off…. and it’s surprisingly not bad, but it comes with a price.
J.A.N.K.Y
Umbrella Corps sees players grabbing a soldier and going to war with other players in various modes of play. These objectives are nothing we haven’t seen before. It just so happens that the levels these multiplayer maps take place on are some of Resident Evil’s old favorites, like the ganado village from Resident Evil 4 and more. It’s almost like getting a wild ride of nostalgia when doing battle with other players and traversing the environments.
MSRP: $29.99
Multiplayer: Up to six players
How long to beat: Three hours
Price I’d Pay: $15
Meanwhile, zombies can attack, getting in the way of the objectives. It comes off feeling extremely tense and fast paced,which is the best take away from the title. The agility of the player being able to climb up on select surfaces, over walls, taking cover, and crawling through ducts leads to many fun moments of surprise during the fights.
The animations that hold all these together though look extremely rough and jarring. The camera is way up close to the character. Interacting with the environment, while fast, also feels extremely cumbersome. Seeing characters crawl across the room looks more like an awkward slide, and the hit detection and response from enemies can feel disjointed also. If there was one way to describe the overall visuals and animations of Umbrella Corps, it’s definitely rough.
Playing with friends or random folks seems fairly easy to get into, but getting with a good group can really bring the experience together, even with the rough spots abundant in the game. Granted it feels like the player is extremely fragile and can go down quick. For those wondering there is a single player experience as well, but it’s bare minimum with nothing really reminiscent of a campaign and only featuring the monster enemies from the original games (damn those killer crows) and not AI bots for humans.
Fun but limited in scope.
As far as a Resident Evil spin off, it’s definitely an interesting one. I expected to really dislike the entire experience, and instead enjoyed it for what it feels like: an arcade style MP experience with a Resident Evil flair. It really shouldn’t be looked at as anything more. The price is still a bit too high in my opinion, but for those looking for an interesting Resident Evil take on MP, I imagined way worse. What we have is fast and fun, but limited. If the core elements here don’t keep players entertained, there isn’t much to bring them back later aside from some free DLC levels coming in the near future. There is the sense that this was a quick and dirty project, created for who knows what reason, but here it is, and it’s only recommended for players extremely curious.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.