Weekend at Bernie's
After the destruction of Raccoon City via both zombies (Resident Evil 2) and a nuclear missile (Resident Evil 3), Umbrella are essentially up the creek without a paddle. To make matters worse, samples of their various viruses have been stolen from their French research labs, and been used to infect an Umbrella cruise liner. Government Agent Bruce McGovern lands on the ship, seeking the mysterious Umbrella operative Morpheus Duvall. Bruce is saved from being shot in the head by Morpheus when an unknown Chinese girl throws a grenade down where the two are standing. With Morpheus seemingly dead, Bruce sets out to find out who this mysterious Chinese girl is.
Cross breeding
The first three Survivor games all seemed to fail in the one area - control. While the other games in the series either attempted to use first person control (via the D-Pad on the back of the G-Con, or Dual Shock 2) or on-rails control, Resident Evil: Dead Aim combines the more tradition style of walking around and exploring, solving puzzles and the like with the gunplay. The new style of gameplay is fairly well executed if you're in possession of G-Con 2 or Gun-Con 45, but still kind of hazardous if you're relying solely on the Dual Shock 2, though a USB mouse can be plugged in and used for aiming. A combination of the light gun and the pad is the way to go. Control isn't perfect though, as you tend to get stuck on objects, and sometimes surrounded by a lot of zombies.
Dead Aim features a familiar arsenal of weapons and items from the Resident Evil series, as well as a few additions exclusive to the game. You have all sorts of pistols, machine guns, shot guns and grenade launchers at your disposal, as well as the life saving green herb, and the new herbal medicine. While the main enemy is the ever-so-versatile zombie, a few familiar faces return, including Hunters and the Tyrant. Dealing with the larger and faster enemies can be a slight problem due to the control, not to mention that the hit zones on the enemies aren't 100% accurate. Enemies aren't really evenly distributed though. You can run through a stack of rooms without seeing a single zombie, and then encounter 8-10 in the next room. Puzzles have been toned down from a traditional Resident Evil game and there's more fetch quests as opposed to illogical puzzles, making things a little easier for novice players.
You could say that toning down the puzzles is a bad thing, given the length of Dead Aim. While it's longer than previous Survivor efforts, this game doesn't really have too much to offer when the main quest is over and done with, which could take between 6 and 10 hours, depending on your skill with a G-Con. When you do finish the quest, you get the option of playing with either character throughout the entire game, but nothing more.
The rotting flesh look is in fashion
Resident Evil: Dead Aim is easily the best looking Resident Evil game on the Playstation 2. The character models have been designed in a similar way to the ultra high detailed models from the Gamecube Resident Evil games, and while they don't look as good as their Gamecube brethren, they're definitely good in their own right. When the high detailed models are combined with the realistic animations, you get a relatively believable game. There are even a few subtle animations there for good measure, including heavy breathing, sighing, and eye contact with monsters.
The development team have done a good job of creating a cruise liner for the game, and the overall environment of the boat is pretty impressive thanks to the use of real time environment modelling, as opposed to the pre-rendered backdrops of most Resident Evil games (they look good now, but they won't age as well as you think). Environmental special effects such as lighting have been put to good use (as always), and help to create an unsettling mood throughout the game. Unfortunately, Dead Aim does have a few hiccups. The frame rate will sink faster than a fat woman in quicksand when you run into more than 8 zombies, which happens in a few points of the game. There's also a few clipping concerns in regards to zombies and walls. Thankfully, Capcom have included a 60 Hz mode for full screen, full speed play.
Dead Aim's soundtrack continues the Resident Evil series tradition of being both creepy and ambient. The score does change pace whenever you're in a dramatic situation, such as an important cut scene or a boss fight. The voice acting is of an average standard, though the subtitles don't match what the actors are saying at all, which can somewhat funny and annoying at the same time. Sound effects are on par with what's usually provided by a Resident Evil game, though I think it's time that Capcom offered some sort of significant surround sound support.
Out of ammo
Resident Evil: Dead Aim is definitely a step in the right direction for the ailing Survivor series. There are still a few major kinks to be worked out, mainly in regards to frame rate, but the game is still much more playable than any previous iteration in the series. That said, the game still isn't worth a purchase for non-fans, due to the lack of length and easy nature. Resident Evil fans owe it to themselves to seek this one out for a rental or play test.
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