Cover Art

Credits

Platform: Nintendo DS Also available on: N/A Developer: Capcom Distributor: Nintendo Year: 2006 OFLC Rating: MA15+

Resident Evil: Deadly Silence is the second horror outing on the Nintendo DS, but the first to "contain explicit scenes of violence and gore". In spite of it's shiny new subtitle and boss cover art, Deadly Silence is nothing more than a hardcore way of calling it basically what it is: Resident Evil DS. Having seen screenshots from various media outlets both in print and online, I'd already established that the game would be using the same graphics engine applied to the original model. That's right, we're talking way back in 1996 here, but that's beside the point – the game does actually run like a dream on the tiny little DS card, a damn sight better than it did on any other platform it appeared on in fact. Getting back to the point, what I wasn't expecting, in spite of the game having the same graphics as the early instalments in the series, was that the game would essentially be exactly the same as the 1996 release. Admittedly, there is the option to play both classic (an unaltered version of the original) and a new 'rebirth' mode, but when you strip it back, rebirth is barely any different to the classic, outside of a few new enemy placements and some tacked on moments of touch-screen interactivity. So if you're considering picking this title up, bear that in mind.

There may be some people here who've never played the original for whatever reason. They may have played the incredible remake for the Gamecube, but having played that myself, and loving it, my mind was blown to rediscover how much time and effort had actually gone into the remake. So much so in fact, that it makes you wonder why they even bothered with this one. I know it's the 10th anniversary Resident Evil, but there are better ways of celebrating than re-releasing the original. Unless they plan on releasing parts 2 and 3 in a similar fashion, rebooting the franchise for the DS, I think the core Resident Evil fanbase would have been better served with something fresher a little further down the track. For newcomers to the series, it's a good place to start I suppose, but I still can't help but think "Why?". If Nintendo gamers are smart (which most are) about their game choices, they'd know that the remake for the Gamecube is going to be playable on the forthcoming Wii console, which, from the looks of things will be on the top of any Nintendo fan's wishlist, be they new or old to gaming. The other thing is, the remake is substantially cheaper.

Technically the game is proficient enough. The DS is a great system, but it's not as graphically capable as Sony's PlayStation Portable, and it shows here. The fact that the graphics, outside of some minor textural alterations for the Rebirth mode, remain largely unchanged doesn't work in it's favour either. When playing this version, you realise just how visually non-threatening this game is. The game's atmosphere is significantly lacking due to the minimal (if any) use of lighting effects, and the unchanged and repetitive character models are almost laughable. Why they even bothered putting green as the default blood colour (though it is interchangeable) is beyond me. The game is rated MA for its violence, even the kids who think they're hardcore buying this game will be expecting red blood.