Resident Evil: Dead Aim PS2 Review @ Gaming Target

Written by Matt Swider on August 05, 2003

Review: Capcom takes the shotgun away from the in-game characters, paints it bright orange, and puts it into your own hands in order to blow away some zombies!

There's a good chance that you, like me, have imagined what it would be like to use a light gun in connection with the gameplay of your favorite first or third person shooting game. Obviously, some one at Capcom had the same idea as the Gun Survivor series was created to do just that. Unfortunately, the three attempts made, two being spin-offs of the Resident Evil franchise and one inspired by the Dino Crisis theme, were more like shots in the dark. Still, Capcom has gone through with its fourth Gun Survivor title by releasing Resident Evil: Dead Aim for PlayStation 2. Like its light gun adventure counterparts, the idea behind Dead Aim still feels underdeveloped, though, with some significant progress intact, it results in a good rental for most gamers and a decent purchase for a select few.

Most rookies to Resident Evil games, whether starting out with Resident Evil 0 just last year or beginning with the first one in 1997, found the controls to be somewhat unnatural at first. Likewise, the scheme found in Dead Aim doesn't derail from the franchise in this way, but does break away from all generic light gun shooting games set on rails. Along with zooming to a first person view to blow away zombies, a third person perspective has been added to allow players freedom when exploring the decks of a ship and revisiting the grounds of Raccoon City, part of the plot that gives additional insight into the happens of the second Resident Evil game. Moving with the camera behind the character is yet another improvement over all previous Gun Survivor games where gameplay was limited to the zoomed in viewpoint.

Since the Gun Survivor games are its own little subgenre that's still new to players, continues to undergoing changes, and is comprised of many different control setups, the scheme must be learned by progressing through the first couple of stages. Moving the characters around is done with the use of either the Dual Shock 2's left analog stick or the GunCon 2's D-Pad located on the back of the light gun. The process is somewhat easier with a controller in hand, but the light gun comes with a better guarantee of hitting your desired target. Surprisingly, the USB mouse can also be used in conjunction with the Dual Shock 2, though my preference still lies with using the GunCon 2 over all of the other setups. Any of them can still be spoiled since turning takes longer when zombies lunge at you from behind the shadows, so an Escape Button was added to elude such attacks. While not always reliable, the idea goes a long way to steer clear of frustrating deaths or to avoid always running for cover.

When zombies do appear, their presence can be so frightening that you may want to flee in a panic. Dead Aim isn't as visually deep as the newer Resident Evil games, but the zombie animations still look creepy nonetheless. About a dozen vomit green ooze, jump from behind corners, or fall from a rope were they committed suicide as humans. Shooting them is the only way to put the undead down again and, though you may be able to send them flying backwards with more powerful weapon types, there's little to tell whether or not they will re-rise seconds later starting with the pelvis, to which their head, arms and legs are left dangling towards the ground. The unexpected nature of the game makes things scary along with the dark tones used throughout the levels, but more startling discoveries would definitely have been appreciated.

The moans coming from the wandering zombies add to the chilling atmosphere, but it's the audio in the cut-scene that can't compare to what is being done in today's games. Granted, they are a source of story information, so, you can say that the dialogue goes farther than the average light gun game. Still, more pertinent information comes from the documents and memos strewn through levels like key information regarding weak spots on forthcoming enemies. Plus, all you really need to know from the cut-scenes is that the playable two characters, Brian McGivern and Fongling, are secret agents out to stop Morpheus D. Duvall from unleashing the T-Virus.

Along with the third person perspective and gory zombies galore, there are other ways that Dead Aim duplicates the Resident Evil theme more than previous efforts in light gun adventure games. There are keys, cards and colorful switches to find along with herbs, medical spray, and much needed ammo to collect. To top it off, there's even a typewriter located in various storage rooms so that game progress can be saved. With only a handful of levels though, the adventure isn't as lengthy as one might expect a Resident Evil game to be. But, while Dead Aim deals with much less depth in comparison to other titles in this Capcom franchise, it's deeper than any generic light gun shooter on the market, so the game lies dead in the middle.