The latest RE takes place on a cruise ship where (surprise!) the VIP crew is infected with the T-virus. Three days earlier, the T-virus was stolen from the Paris branch of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals Development Center. The main baddy, Morpheus Duvall, is the resident madman who took control of the ship while turning his worshippers that helped him into zombies. Tough break.

Players take the role of Bruce McGivern, a slacker-type Anti-Umbrella operator who has a drawl. He later meets with Fong Ling, a hot covert operator for the Safety Department of China. The two get entangled in the T-virus mystery use their love/hate relationship to help each other get by.

The control in Dead Aim is a mix of third-person exploration and first-person shooting. Players use the left analog to move about, while the R1 trigger is used to fire. The control of the character is clunky at best. While you can run fast, turning is a chore. There is a quick 180 turn you can pull off, but simply turning to navigate down a corridor makes it a stop-n-go experience. The slow turn also makes it hard to get away from enemies that are closing in. If they're fast-moving creatures, forget about it.

The third-person mode is used to investigate. Unfortunately there's not much to investigate besides a few random notes – the game doesn't feature the usual RE descriptions of decorative items. The game contains a string of basic puzzles that are simple to solve.

Hit the R1 button and you'll step into first-person mode. Hit it once more and you'll fire. The right analog moves the on-screen crosshair and the R2 button reloads the weapon. The firing turns into House of the Dead-style action as zombies creep and sprint straight towards you. To get out of first-person, just tap the left analog to start moving about.

Dead Aim is compatible with the GunCon2 but it doesn't make for a better experience. Though it's much more fun to shoot zombies, you'll still have a hard time navigating and dodging enemies with the d-pad.

The switch between third and first-person doesn't add any depth to either mode. Having either a strict first-person mode, or a third-person action title would be a better design choice. What the developers have gotten right is the eerie, dark atmosphere to creep out even the most hardened player. Navigating through dark corridors with only a flashlight to illuminate your way is scary. The speed of the zombies and the awkwardness of their stagger doesn't make shooting a boring task and it takes a bit of skill to aim just right.

Dead Aim looks a little plain but moves at a brisk 60fps. When more than a few zombies are moving at the same time the game does slow down, but it's not an often occurrence. The music isn't standard RE fair but matches the less-serious mood of the game. The zombie moans are just as nasty as before, and the sounds of creaking doors and feet shuffles are top notch.

Resident Evil Dead Aim is an attempt at a different play scheme that falls short on both its exploration and action. The game does scare with quick zombies and limited lighting, but there's not much play to put this on target.