game on THURSDAY | JUNE 30, 2016 | PAGE 17 THE BLADE | toledoblade.com From Bandai Namco Entertainment ‘God Eater 2: Rage Burst’ Out this week ‘Umbrella Corps’ a glitchy disappointment By WILL HARRISON BLADE STAFF WRITER CAPCOM A screen shot from ‘Umbrella Corps.’ Umbrella Corps Grade: System: Playstation 4, PC No. Players: 1-6 Published by: Capcom Developer: Capcom Genre: Tactical shooter ESRB Rating: Mature Grades: Outstanding; Very Good; Good; Fair; Poor. Getting a video game fin- ished and certified requires hard work that consumers of- ten overlook. Impressive graphics and memorable voice actors are important, but de- tails and polish are the critical difference between quality and disappointment. A truly horrible game is a digital natural disaster and re- minder that most games strive for quality. Umbrella Corps is a hurri- cane whose destruction leaves sadness in its wake. A third- person, competitive multi- player shooter set in the Resi- dent Evil universe, Umbrella Corps is the hint of a good idea ruined by a complete lack of execution and completion. With environments, weap- ons, and monsters from the Resident Evil games, Umbrella Corps has the player take on the role of a shady cor- porate agent fight- ing for survival. The paper-thin story sees name- less, faceless oper- atives fighting for survival in two on- line modes and a single player, time trial campaign. The main mode is a 3-on-3, one-life death match set on small, claustropho- bic maps. Players will have one life per round to kill the enemy team, sans re-spawning. The round ends when the entire enemy team is down. The closest comparison is Counter-Strike, but with zom- bies. Monsters from the fran- chise litter each map to act as a hindrance and as a potential trap. On the downside, there are only so many zombie de- signs and I saw the same woman in a busi- ness suit over and over. As long as a player’s “zombie jammer” is intact, the creatures won’t cause much trou- ble. Take too many bullets and the jam- mer explodes, sig- naling the dinner bell for the formerly docile foes. The one-shot, one-kill idea when combined with the environmental haz- ard of the zombies is original and compelling. Scenarios oc- cur where one player might be a better shot, but might not do as well fending off a dozen zombies on a lunch rush. These scenarios lead to some genuinely, terrifying mo- ments — something that has gone missing from Resident Evil games as of late. A cover- based combat system is effec- tive at making matches feel tactical, at least until zombies become active and blood be- gins shooting everywhere. Ugly, secondhand art de- signs, loose controls, and abys- mal performance issues turn a neat idea into a Dumpster fire of frustration. Umbrella Corps looks and plays like a PlaySta- tion 2 game. This might be why so many of the textures and character models look as if they were directly lifted from Resident Evil 4 , an 11 year-old game. More than a few of the maps look like exact size and scale copies of locations from past Resident Evil games. If this is the case, then there’s no rea- son for Umbrella Corps to run in such a sluggish way. The frame rate skips at ran- dom between a full 60 frames and a glitchy, sluggish night- mare. At times, it appeared as if the game could not handle more than two enemies on the screen at once. I can only assume that the engine wasn’t properly tested and optimized, given how low- quality the game’s textures ap- pear. Too much of Umbrella Corps feels like it went from the developer’s computer and straight to store shelves. Con- trol glitches and wonky char- acter physics further bury what should be a great game con- cept. My character walked straight through zombies and moved at full speed while crouching. This all occurred while zombie dogs ran around in circles, oblivious to the world. The capper on this ugly experience was the unstable online matchmaking. More than a few times I had to wait up 15 minutes for a match, only for the server to discon- nect seconds later. While I had some fun wit the ranked modes, the game’s inability to behave like a pro fessionally designed product ruined the experience. M sincere wish is that anyon who worked on Umbrella Corps doesn’t put it on the resume. Umbrella Corps is a publi service announcement: Good games exist. Fun, beautifu games with sharp controls compelling art designs, and balanced gameplay. None of those things ar here. Buyers should beware and look elsewhere. To borrow from anothe zombie franchise, Umbrella Corps is the sign of a co demned hospital from The Walking Dead that says “Don’t open, dead inside.” Trust tha sign and look elsewhere for competitive multiplayer expe- rience. A copy of Umbrella Corps on PlayStation 4 was provided by Capcom for review purposes. ‘Street Fighter’ update The oft delayed story update for Street Fighter 5 , originally set to re- lease at the end of June, will release on July 1. The cin- ematic story ex- pansion will in- clude two new characters fo purchase — Ibuki and Balro — who were last seen in Street Fighter IV. A trailer announc ing the release also teased Jur and Urien, the last two DL fighters set for 2016. The story update is free and will be available on PlayStation 4 and PC. Contact Will Harrison at: [email protected] or on Twitter @DoubleUHarrison.