Resident Evil: Dead Aim

Published by CAPCOM
Developed by CAPCOM
Platform: PlayStation 2
Released - Out Now
Price : £39.99

Resident Evil: Dead Aim in more ways than one is a refreshing title. Of course, of late all Resident Evil titles have gone exclusively to the Nintendo GameCube but the fact that Dead Aim is on the PlayStation 2 isn't what I meant when I said it was refreshing. Dead Aim is primarily a light gun based shooter. Unlike most light gun based shooters though, it doesn't just play out like a series of interactive slide-shows. Let's get on with the review before I give all the surprises away.

Once again you have to deal with victims of the T-Virus. Yes once again it's zombie killing time. This time around you play as Bruce McGivern and the oriental female, Fongling. You have to stop the maniacal Umbrella scientist Morpheus from once again attempting to infect the whole world with the T-Virus. The game takes place on a cruise liner and just as you would expect all the guests have been infected with the virus so it's time to take out your gun and do a little zombie shooting.

In the first paragraph we said this was a refreshing title and that the game isn't just a sequence of interactive slide-shows like most light gun games. In fact it's quite playable without a light gun. Outside of those zombie moments you stroll around and explore in the third-person perspective. Unlike every other Resident Evil games the control feels natural and as a result it's a cinch to manoeuvre Bruce and Fongling. In this mode you get to pick up valuable items such as documents, keys, pass-cards and of course health items such as green herbs etc. Once you come across a zombie though you simply press the R1 button to enter a first-person perspective. From this view you use the right analogue stick to aim and the R1 button to shoot. Touching the left analogue stick returns you to the third-person perspective to continue exploring. It's a system that works well and helps make a light gun game feel more like a complete experience and not like shooting practice.

The Resident Evil series is famous for it's pre-rendered backgrounds but Dead Aim changes all that and everything you see is completely polygonally formed. The look of the game captures the feel of the game very well indeed. It's just as creepy exploring a zombie ship as it is exploring a mansion or train. Whilst the visuals don't match that of either Resident Evil or Resident Evil 0 they certainly look good and the framerate remains very smooth indeed. In fact for a Resident Evil game, Dead Aim has a fair bit of pace about it. It seems far quicker than any other title in the history of the Resident Evil games, which is something fans of light gun games will appreciate.

The most refreshing feature of Dead Aim though has to be the subtitles. After knocking the recent GameCube Resident Evil titles because of their lack of subtitles, I'm delighted to tell you that you can indeed turn on the subtitles (captions) for Dead Aim. This means that you can follow the whole story and know exactly what's going on. Great stuff Capcom.

The only downside to Dead Aim is that it won't take a great deal of time to finish. All in all you're looking at around 4-5 hours in order to finish the game. Whilst this seems short compared to other Resident Evil titles it is actually a decent length for a light gun game. There are 3 difficulty levels though so you'll probably want to play it until you've completed the game on the hard difficulty setting. In it's favour though, it's enjoyable whilst it lasts and you don't have to have a light gun to fully appreciate it (although it does make aiming slightly easier).

Overall Game Rating: 8.0/10
Not the most in-depth Resident Evil title ever but it's great fun whilst it lasts. It's great to see a light gun game that doesn't just feel like a series of interactive slide-shows.

Deaf Gamers comment:
Yes! At long last we have a Resident Evil game that has subtitles. Long may it continue. Thanks Capcom.