Resident Evil: Dead Aim Review for PlayStation 2

Resident Evil: Dead Aim Review

It's not the best Resident Evil game, and it isn't a stellar light-gun game, but Dead Aim creates an interesting, unique hybrid of the two, and that is a commendable feat.

There's been a distinct survival horror vacuum on the PlayStation 2 ever since Capcom decided to release the core Resident Evil games exclusively on the GameCube. In an effort to satiate PS2 owners while maintaining its deal with Nintendo, Capcom has released Resident Evil: Dead Aim (which goes by the more unwieldy name Gun Survivor 4: BioHazard: Heroes Never Die in Japan) for the PlayStation 2. Though not a Resident Evil game in the traditional sense, it does capture the pacing and the tone of the series fairly well, and it's generally the best Gun Survivor game released to date.

All you need to know is that there are zombies to kill, and it's up to you to kill 'em.

Much like Resident Evil Gaiden for the Game Boy Color, Resident Evil: Dead Aim puts you on a cruise ship teeming with zombies infected with the T-virus. You start off playing as Bruce McGivern, a US government agent sent to stop Morpheus D. Duvall, the antagonist in Resident Evil 0, from spreading the T-virus any further. Along the way you'll run into Fongling, a Chinese government agent who is aboard the cruise ship for the same reason, and you'll also end up playing as her. Though you'll occasionally get brief bits of back story in the form of cutscenes and documents you find on the ship, ultimately, all you need to know is that there are zombies to kill, and it's up to you to kill 'em.

The whole experience is an odd blend of standard Resident Evil fare and light-gun action.

The mechanics of the Gun Survivor games, which attempt to combine the mechanics of a traditional first-person shooter and the mechanics of a light-gun game, have always been pretty clunky. Dead Aim has its fair share of problems, but it does manage considerably better than previous entries in the series. This is thanks largely to Dead Aim's new camera system, which gives you a third-person perspective when you're not firing your gun. The switch from first-person to third-person can be jarring, but the broader range of vision the third-person perspective affords you is well worth it. Also, Dead Aim gives you an abundance of control options, as the game can be played with a GunCon2, a GunCon2 in concert with a Dual Shock 2, a Dual Shock 2 by itself, or, most interestingly, a Dual Shock 2 in concert with a USB mouse. Each has its pros and cons, with the Dual Shock 2 providing better movement control and the GunCon2 providing more accurate and more visceral shooting, but any of them will work well enough. There are issues, though, that bleed across all the control schemes, such as your character's slow turn-around rate, which, when combined with a sneaky zombie, can prove to be fatal. And though you have horizontal control of the camera while wielding a weapon, you're unable to look up and down, which is just irritating.

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Resident Evil: Dead Aim Quick Links

GameSpot Score 6.4 fair
Critic Score 6.6 48 reviews
User Score 7.3 1,101 vote
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Player Reviews

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biotyrant

7.5
good

A decent shooter that looks good and is easy to beat....... in a hour. Continue »
ducusss

1.0
abysmal

This game is likely the worst game I have ever played. Continue »

Critic Scores

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IGN 6.9 / 10
Eurogamer 7 / 10
Worth Playing 8 / 10
GameZone 7.5 / 10
Gaming Age C-
TechTV 4 / 5
Videogameslife 2 / 5
GameCritics 8.5 / 10

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