Resident Evil: Deadly Silence Reader Review

Resident Evil Deadly Silence is a remake of the 1996 classic for the Nintendo DS. The game features two game modes the classic mode which is identical to the original and the rebirth mode which takes advantage of the DS's unique features. For instance you will use the stylus and mic to solve extra puzzles that didn't feature in the original and encounter more enemies. It's up to you on which mode you choose to play, once you've decided you're ready to play the game. Upon starting the game you have to choose a character. You can play either as Jill Valentine or if you want a more difficult time you can go as Chris Redfield. Anyway the story is laughable because the voice acting is so bad. When you fire up the game you will see a man running away then yelling as blood spurts at the screen. I would liken the game to the Evil Dead series in the acting being so bad it's funny.

The game plays remarkably well, it will take you some time to get used to the controls but once you do you will enjoy the game. The controls are simlar to that of Resident Evil 4. You can hold the right trigger then fire with the B button. In the rebirth mode you'll use the stylus but once you get used to the system you'll be fine. As Jill or Chris a member of the S.T.A.R.S Alpha team you are trying to rescue the Bravo team who have got into trouble. The game in general will keep you on edge more than Resident Evil 4 did with different enemies from dogs to plain old zombies appearing from nowhere.

The weapons in the game are varied from the standard handgun to the the powerful Magnum that can get one shot kills on weaker enemies. You won't get these better weapons until you progress further into the game though which gives you the incentive to keep going. However you will have to manage these items carefully which adds an element of stategy to the game but at the same time can frustrate when you need health but can't pick it up because you didn't offload that weapon that was empty. You may also be shocked with the graphics which don't look nice but Resident Evil didn't look that great. I think it's amazing that Capcom could cram everything onto the cart and considering the game plays okay the graphics are pretty much irrelevant.

Despite what I said earlier about the voice acting being rubbish which it is, if you haven't played the original the story will keep you engrossed and you will have a desire to play through it to find out what is really going on. Throughout the game you will have to do some backtracking for items you previously coudn't attain but after you're up to a certain stage in the game you will become more familiar with your surroundings and it's really just a case of A to B. The game also features co-op and versus modes to play with your friends which were not featued in the original.

Resident Evil DS is a port but a port of a classic to a system that can now add a classic game of yesteryears to it's repertoire. It's dated and you can have it finished very quickly if you know what you're doing but for what it did at the time it's a game that deserves to be revisited and a game that first timers should definitely check out.