Resident Evil: Dead Aim

Gameplay

Dead Aim uses a third-person view when moving, but switches to a first-person view when aiming and firing a weapon, with a dot in the center of the screen to help the player aim. It is one of the few Resident Evil games that allows the player to move while aiming, and the game also supports the PS2 light gun and USB mouse.

Plot

In the year 2002, 4 years after the "Raccoon City Incident", the Umbrella-owned ocean liner, Spencer Rain, has been infested by the t-Virus stolen from Umbrella's Paris labs by bio terrorist 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 fore deck. 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. Restoring 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 it was recently lost in a bio hazardous 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 an 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 make 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 bio terrorist 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 Ling 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.

Characters

Development

Dead Aim was announced in 2002 as a PlayStation 2 game expected to be released in Japan some time in 2003. Like Gun Survivor 2, it was not expected to be released into the United States at the time.

Capcom's January 15, 2003 press release demonstrated a working build of the game, revealing that, unlike the previous three Gun Survivor titles, Gun Survivor 4 (planned to be known as Resident Evil: Dead Aim to the now-confirmed U.S. and European markets) would interchange between first and third person camera angles depending on whether or not the player is aiming a weapon. The GunCon 2 light-gun controller was also confirmed to be compatible with the game. The conference expected a June 2003 release date.

Despite its June release, Dead Aim still made an appearance at E3 2003 just a month prior alongside the Nintendo GameCube release of Resident Evil Code: Veronica X and Resident Evil Outbreak.

Reception

Dead Aim had a mixed reception. GameSpot gave it a 6.4 saying, "It's not the best Resident Evil game, and it isn't a stellar light-gun game, but Dead Aim creates an interesting, unique hybrid of the two, and that is a commendable feat." IGN gave it a 6.9 praising it as the best in the Gun Survivor series, having stellar graphics, but criticized it for its cheesy dialogue and unoriginal premise. X-Play gave the game a 4/5.

The 2005 crossover game Namco × Capcom featured Bruce and Ling as playable characters.