Resident Evil: Deadly Silence

"Good for both, RE Vets, and RE Noobies."

Resident Evil: Deadly Silence for the Nintendo DS is a great game. It's got pretty much everything you could want in an RE game. Now, lets face it, the original game is ten years old, so theres not THAT much CAPCOM could have changed, without changing the game entire, thus getting rid of the "Remake" part of the game. Lets get further into this.

STORY ( 8/10 ): Raccoon City has been reporting grisly murders in the nearby Arklay Mountains. Murders increase in numbers, and the severity. Finally, the city sends in its S.T.A.R.S. Alpha and Bravo team to investigate. After finding dead bodys in the grassy feild, the teams rush into a nearby mansion with hellhounds chasing behind them. Only a few made it in alive... But maybe it was better to die then to enter that mansion...

The story doesn't really pick up until near the end of the game, where you start to figure things out about the zombie ridden mansion filled with Giant Spiders, Hunting Demon Frogs, Crows and Evil Bees. It has a lovely plot twist thrown in as well, which pretty much sets up the rest of the RE series up to date. Its got pretty much everything you'd like.

GAMEPLAY ( 6.5/10 ): The camera angles are slightly tricky to get accustomed to, as well as the controls. You have to imagine yourself as the character your playing as (if your character is facing the left of the screen, you will need to press UP one the D-pad for the character to proceed left). But once you've played the game for maybe 15-20 minutes, you'll get completely passed this, and will be accustomed to the games inverted gameplay. Zombies run out of hidden hallways sometimes to give you a scare, Spiders seldomly drop from the ceiling to make you need a new pair of shorts (or hope to god your not wearing a thong, ladies ;D ), and 'Hunters' (agile, giant hunting lizards) chase after you. And you are able to take out the hords of enemies with a selection of weaponry (Handgun, magnum, shotgun, flamethrower, bazooka [with three types of ammunition], and a rocker launcher). In 'Rebirth Mode' you are awarded with touch screen capabilities (such as giving mouth-to-mouth CPR, various puzzles throughout the game, getting zombies off of your neck and other things). One of the major ones being the Knife Battles. Where, everytime you enter a room, theres a chance you will need to kill a bunch of enemies in a first person view with your knife. These events also sometimes require use of the microphone, so they'll keep your thumbs and lungs occupied.

DIFFICULTY ( 8/10 ): Surviving the masses is just one problem. Making it further out of the mansion is another thing entirely. The puzzles are sometimes quite confuzing, which will have you scratching your head for quite sometime (requiring slight math knowledge, memory games and common sense). You really need to think of yourself as the character, would you try to flip light switches in a dark room? Yes. Would you move a bookcase that looks moveable? Yes. Would you check desks with drawers in them? Yes. You need to think outside the box. You have to have Ink Ribbons in your items to be able to save. And if you don't, then you don't get to save. This adds to the survival aspect of the game. Save only when you really need to. You are also advised not to go around wasting your ammo, as it can only be found in select areas (and sometimes awarded as knife battle prizes in small amounts). For players scared out of their minds for the first time playing the game, going "Oh my god, I can't waste ammo, I can't get touched, I cant screw up, oh my god!!", there is a "Easy" setting available, where the ammo you find is doubled and the damage you sustain is nearly halved.

REPLAYABILITY ( 7/10 ): There are different modes to the game (Normal/Easy), each with their own pros and cons, and each with a different character, so then that means you get a different view on the games plot for each mode. For people who played the PSX version, there is still reason to play this, as the Rebirth Mode pretty much changes most of the gameplay (some items are located in different locations, knife battles etc.), and the mini game "Master of Knifing" is unlocked as you complete the game. The game is also muliplayer, although it requires your friends to have their own DS and copy of the game, the Co-op and Versus mode are fun in their own aspects.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

This game is good for new players to RE, and for the seasoned vets, who crave a second (or third) coming to the mansion where it all started, and smoke out the hords of evil beings. It also nullifies the excuse that the "DS only has kiddy games" or how "All the games are for simple-minded 10 year olds". I doubt young children would be able to grasp the solution to the simplest puzzle in this game. Fans of any survival horror game, fans of mind-boggling confusion, fans of Resident Evil/Dino Crisis... PICK THIS GAME UP!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/07