Box Art
Game: Resident Evil Dead Aim
First Released: February 13, 2003, PS2
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation 2
Rated: M, for Blood, Gore, and Violence
First Released: February 13, 2003, PS2
Developers: Capcom
Platforms: Playstation 2
Rated: M, for Blood, Gore, and Violence
How I Came To Play This Game
Crowd of Zombies
I was planning to play Resident Evil Dead Aim for a while now. I had already beaten most of the Resident Evil games, so I wanted a new one to play. I wanted to learn more about what was going on in the world of the game. I ordered my copy offline and received it in the mail. I believe it was a huge improvement over Resident Evil Survivor.
Story
Fight with T-091
A mid-western town in the United States known as Raccoon City was destroyed when a biological substance known as the t-Virus was leaked from the Arklay Mountains in 1998. The Umbrella Corporation refused to abort the experiments. When a large amount of the virus is stolen on an ocean liner, Bruce McGivern is sent by USSTRATCOM to take back the cruiser and stop the spread of the virus. The game also includes Fong Ling, Chinese agent working for the MSS (Ministry of State Security), one of China's most ruthless intelligence agencies. She became known in the intelligence community when she was ordered to arrest her brother, who happened to be a fierce anti-communist and pro-democracy activist. He was later executed. This game starts on board the Umbrella-owned ocean liner, Spencer Rain, which has been infested by the t-Virus stolen from Umbrella's Paris labs by bioterrorist and former-Umbrella employee Morpheus D. Duvall, and its secret B.O.W. cargo intentionally released. Morpheus holds the world hostage, with the US and China at ransom for $1 billion - if they do not pay the money, his followers will launch missiles from an undisclosed silo with the warheads being replaced with the t-Virus. Bruce McGivern, a member of USSTARTCOM's "Anti-Umbrella Pursuit Investigation Team", a U.S. government task force with the sole purpose of taking down Umbrella, is sent in. Alongside him is Fong Ling, sent by the Chinese MSS. Although they share the same goals and common enemy, their respective governments are against working together. During Bruce's investigation, he is found by Morpheus and held at gunpoint on the foredeck. A surprise attack by Fong Ling with a grenade allows Bruce to escape into the ship, with Morpheus being injured in the explosion. He later infects himself with the experimental "t+G Virus" in order to avoid an otherwise-fatal wound. After a brief encounter with the mutated Morpheus in the cargo hold, Bruce escapes into engineering with the aid of Fong Ling. Regaining power to parts of the ship and discovering important items, the two gain access to the bridge - with Bruce killing the infected captain in the search - to find that the Spencer Rain is on a collision course with a nearby island. Running outside to escape the ship, Bruce is forced to fight Tyrant 091, which had escaped containment before Bruce's encounter with Morpheus. Once it is defeated, Bruce jumps into the ocean and swims to the shore as the liner is destroyed. Briefly exploring the island, which is shown to contain an abandoned Umbrella facility, Bruce moves down into its waterways in search of Morpheus. Making his way through a series of underwater channels, he discovers that the island was used as a waste disposal facility for failed B.O.W.s until its was recently lost in a biohazardous outbreak. Deeper in the facility, Fong Ling has escaped from "Pluto", a failed experiment which Umbrella lost track of, later rejoining with Morpheus. It is at this point that they discover that the Chinese have given in to Morpheus' demands and have agreed to pay up, arranging for a orbital weapons satellite to kill Fong Ling with a targeted laser device. Bruce correctly deduces that the satellite is tracking a chip in her tattoo, and proceeds to dig it out with a knife. With the chip destroyed, the satellite ceases its attack. The two make their way to a storage facility to transport to the underwater Bio-Sphere where the missile silo is a part of, but Bruce is forced to fight Pluto before he can reach it. With the Pluto defeated, the two their way down the elevator; Morpheus makes a sudden re-appearance, sending the elevator crashing to the sea floor. The two operatives survive the crash and explore the facility, finding that Morpheus' own bioterrorist organization has already been compromised by another t-Virus outbreak. Fong Ling is captured by Morpheus, who uses her to play a game with Bruce - try to save her, or abandon her to complete the mission. Bruce chooses to save her, allowing Fong Ling to provide logistical support as he searches for the missiles. Unfortunately, a greatly-mutated Morpheus prevents him from reaching the missiles in time, though further damage causes the G-mutant to expand to such a size that the missiles simply impact him and explode. Bruce and Fong Ling are revealed to have escaped the underwater facility's destruction by use of an escape boat floating to the surface. With her own government believing her dead, Fong Long has nowhere to go but the United States; Bruce re-assures her and they kiss as US-STRATCOM sends in a helicopter to pick them up.
Pros And Cons
Story
Final Boss
The story was new for the time. Being on a ship was a new setting for a Resident Evil game. Also, it was pretty groundbreaking to try to combine the t and G viruses into one.
Characters
Main Characters
This game has to have the least amount of characters than any other Resident Evil game. There's just the main protagonists and the bad guy. The bad guy was just as evil as Alexia and Wesker were. The game also hints a possible love interest between the main protagonists.
Gameplay
Hunter Elites
The gameplay of this game is like no other Resident Evil game. When walking around, the camera is fixed behind the character's back in a 3rd person view. The game only goes into a first person view when using a gun. I think that is a huge improvement over Resident Evil Survivor. One problem is that the movement controls are flawed. Pushing forward and backward on the analog stick move you forward and backward. That is fine, but pushing left or right on the analog stick only moves the camera. It should cause the character to turn also. This makes moving feel really weird. Also, I think they should have had a different button shoot than the one you aim with. After playing Resident Evil Survivor, I was used to using the X button to shoot. A lot of the enemies are really hard. The final boss barely gives you enough time to hit him before you're dead. Also, when fighting Morpheus for real, he will not give you a chance to do anything. The only thing you can do is tap the dodge button as fast as you can and hope it works.
Graphics
Pluto Attacks
The graphics were very good for a PS2 game at the time. However, sometimes the character's heads seemed out of proportion. Everything else looked very realistic. It was nice to see Hunters and Zombies in this style of graphics.
Music
This game has a weird music video that plays if you wait long enough at the title screen. The end of it is hilarious, so you should see it. Here is a link to the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Orf1DYVKy4
Releases
Box Art
Resident Evil Dead Aim was originally released in Japan on February 13, 2003. It was later released in the United States on June 17, 2003. Then it came out in Europe and Australia on July 9, 2003. It has only been released for the PS2.
My Rating
I give this game a 8/10. There were still some flaws, but most of the ones from Resident Evil Survivor are fixed. This game is obviously the best of the Gun Survivor series.