Dead Aim is a hybrid third and first person Survival Horror shooter that leans a bit more into the action-side of horror than most of the previous titles in the series otherwise. While the title would suggest that Resident Evil Gun Survivor 2: Code Veronica is the direct sequel to Resident Evil Survivor, this game serves as a much more appropriate sequel given its greater similarity in style. There’s some updating to the controls, graphics, and gameplay as you might expect from a game in the same style game coming out on the next generation of consoles, but the gameplay in Dead Aim parallels quite closely with Surivor’s. Though it’s certainly not my favorite style, I actually don’t hate the experimental iteration these games provide for the early series. I wouldn’t consider Survivor to be great by any means, but I appreciate it for what it is. I’d count Dead Aim as in some ways more of the same, though it also manages to be a step up as well.

The gameplay is on average improved from Survivor and is mostly functional for what it’s doing. The controls are a little jank with turning and movement all being on the same control stick and I found the sensitivity of the first-person aiming took a lot of getting used to, but on the whole, the game is plenty playable. It helps that, with a few exceptions, the enemies are pretty easy to dodge, meaning you don’t need too much mastery of the controls to make your way through. Despite feeling like I never quite got good at the game, I didn’t struggle for most of it, aside from some of the final boss segments. The map traversal and exploration is strong though. I felt that it delivered much better on portraying the best parts of Resident Evil Gaiden’s ship exploration through a far more playable medium. There’s a good balance of the feeling like there is a good map full of twists and turns and keeping you from feeling totally lost.

The presentation of the game is decent. It looks about how you might expect from a Survival Horror game of the PS2 generation with dim lighting, notable shadows, and blurry but striking cutscenes. The character models also generally are pretty distinct and striking, making them easy to track, though the details look kind of awkward in the face, especially close up. My only other complaint about the visuals is that the choice of environments with the ship interior, sewers, and sterile labs makes for somewhat dull scenery to showcase, with a few exceptions.

The game really leans into an action movie cheesiness that—while it isn’t executed as well—foreshadows the eventual release of RE4 two years later. Though I found it a little less interesting from a lore and world-building side, the game’s story is generally pretty fun and easy to follow in that action movie context. You play as Bruce McGivern tracking down a rogue Umbrella operative, the Sephiroth lookalike, Morpheus, who has threatened China and the US with missiles of T-virus in hopes of obtaining a hefty ransom. Working alongside Bruce is Fong Ling, a Chinese agent also hunting Morpheus down. Morpheus takes some of the new t+G virus and becomes a sort of sentient super monster capable of shooting electricity and making for a regular menace as you explore the ship. The story really isn’t too complicated and is pretty easy to follow, if shallow at times. The voice actor for Bruce has a pretty hilarious accent that’s worth a listen too. It's hard to take things too seriously most of the time, but the world-building the game offers is a decent—if somewhat irrelevant—addition to the RE world.

All in all, Dead Aim isn’t a great game, but it’s not all bad and I found that I did actually enjoy the three or four hours it took me to finish it a good deal for what it was. It’s probably skippable for most people interested in just playing the “main” RE games, but especially if you enjoyed RE: Survivor, there’s actually a good deal to enjoy here. My feelings are thus ultimately not far from how I felt about Survivor. I wouldn’t recommend it highly as a core game for the series, but for what it’s doing as a short action-shooter Resident Evil game with a digestible length and story, it does a decent job.

My other Resident Evil reviews:

• Resident Evil (1996) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 2 (1998) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 (1999) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor 2 – Code Veronica - ★★
• Resident Evil Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil Gaiden - ★★
• Resident Evil 0 - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Outbreak - ★★★
• Resident Evil 2 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 VR - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 Remake - ★★★★★

A 3rd Person + Light Gun survival horror cocktail mixed by cavia for Capcom back in 2003 - and it tastes bitter. Enemies and item management all feel Resident Evil-y enough, but the action sequences when you switch to FPS mode are just not good or fun to play. You switch between a female character called FongLing or the main protagonist Bruce McGivern who is very, very lame, and all the voice acting once again is gloriously terrible, but at this point that’s something I expect and adore with this franchise.

The game takes place on a big ship where everything looks the same and it often feels like a creative choice to not have to put any effort in to design and/or to be able to reuse those grey, metal textures. Large portions of the game has little to no music but when it kicks in it’s either pretty laughable or pretty darn banging.

Some music, like the Save Room tune, is surprisingly funky.

I’m not gonna say Dead Aim did not show potential, a Playstation2 exclusive, third person RE-style action/horror adventure would’ve been fantastic and timely for myself and fans alike, but some choices made are borderline unforgivable and strange, and ultimately leaves you disappointed and hopeless in front of the TV. Not even any redeeming “so-bad-it’s-good” qualities to be found like RE: Survivor at least had sprinkled throughout it.

Once you realise the aim is dead, in Dead Aim the game, the game is dead.

[2.3] / [5]