Resident Evil: Dead Aim

"Aim carefully, and you'll do fine.."

The Resident Evil: Survivor Series started off very poorly, with it's first being a very ugly game, even for it's standards, and not very scary... Dead Aim brings promise to the survivor series, with creepy settings, great lighting effects, and ZOMBIES EVERYWHERE!!

Story (7/10)
You play Bruce McGavin, who's stuck on an infected ship. It starts off with Bruce being held at gunpoint by Morpheus D. Duvall. You're saved from being shot by a grenade, thrown by a Chinese woman, later to be known as Fongling. You go inside the ship, for some rather unknown reason.

All the main characters are introduced in this scene. A whopping total of three characters, excluding the monsters.

Graphics (10/10)
This game uses Silent Hill 2 Technology, seemingly. Everything not in game looks very realistic, and everything in game deserve the titles of Resident Evil and Biohazard.
The Blood stains on the ground/wall add to the flavor of horror.

Sound (9/10)
The sounds are perfect. There are new moans for Zombies, there is no head popping noise, as heard in previous Resident Evils, but the guns are so loud that you probably wouldn't even hear them if they were present. Speaking of the Volume of the guns, If you remember what the shotgun from Code: Veronica sounded like, the shotgun here is about 5 times louder. The music tracks are few but well done.

Gameplay (7/10)

Every Resident Evil has it's good and bad qualities. First, the good.

You move in third person, you aim and shoot in first person. But, you can walk in first person, by holding L1 and pressing R1. Of course, when a Zombie leaps out to surprise you, they usually succeed. If there are monsters off screen, they'll be identified as such with a beeping noise, and a flashing arrow pointing to the left/right of the screen. White means they're at a safe distance. Red means to drop everything and blow them away. This will come in handy when you need to lay enemies to waste quickly.

Depending on where you shoot a monster, you'll get different results. Shoot them in the legs, and they'll limp toward you. Shoot them in the arms or chest, and they'll most likely stumble back. Get them in the head, and they'll most likely die with a single shot. If they're in front of a wall when you end thief existence, they'll bounce off the wall, and hit the ground in a sitting position. Here's an unneeded tip: Always try to hit their head. Hunters and Frogs go down much quicker that way...

(Here's the Bad)

....That is, if you can actually get the crosshair on them. The crosshair is so sensitive, that it'll take you at least 3-4 passes to get it all set up. But by then, the creature may have moved away, or have dealt a nasty blow to you. It's especially crucial you learn the sensitivity before going up against the last boss, because too many mistakes will cost you your life.

There are too few enemies. Zombies, Bugs, Hunters, Water Monsters, toads, end of list. Why not have Lickers, Dogs, and Spiders too?

Another thing to be wary of...reloading takes a long time. Long enough for a Hunter to get a good hit or two.

The game is way too short. If you run, and grab what you need, you will beat the game in an hour and half.

Buy or Rent?
I already rented it, and so far...it'll stay that way. It's a good game, but there's not much for me to keep coming back for...other than to defeat the final boss, and blow everything I see into ground meat. If you found the game to be really fun, then I suggest you buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/03, Updated 06/23/03