It takes place inside a zombie infested cruise ship, accidentally caused by none other than the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. At first glance, Gaiden looks like a top-down shooter with zombies. Awesome, right guys? Guys?...
To kill a zombie, you hold down B to move the crosshairs over the enemy and engage in battle mode. You are then taken to a first person perspective, shooting the enemy Mario Golf style. The red box in the center line moves back and forth, with its speed depending on what type of weapon you are using. This is partially where Gaiden falls flat on its face for two reasons: You can only run away by killing the enemy, or by forcibly taking damage. If a zombie approaches you, you are then forced into battle mode regardless of the ammo you will keep running out of. It's a fun twist at first, but when your trying to get to the other side of the ship, it gets annoying real quick. Once out of ammo, you are forced to use the weak combat knife.
Aside from this, RE Gaiden plays and feels like a traditional Resident Evil game. Too make things more simple, I will break down the rest of the review into two categories:
:::Good for Survival Horror Fans:::
The first part of the game is spent exploring the cruise ship, and hoarding off zombies along the way. As plot develops, most of the ship becomes already explored making you find ways to get into other places, usually with keys. Often times, you will find yourself in a frustrating situation because you either ran out of ammo AGAIN, or cannot find the item you need to access your current destination. This can be solved by exploring areas hinted by cutscene dialogue, or by finding a map on the internet IRL.
There's plenty of gameplay to be had, with the average gamer spending about 20 hours before beating. In many ways, it does feel like the classic RE titles, but too often does it drift off into a zombie filled match of Blues Clues. Example: Plot development says I need to get into this room, but its locked. I have already went inside every current unlocked door on the entire ship, and am out of keys/items used to unlock other doors. So now I need to rummage through the entire ship starting from the general vicinity in order to make progress, all whilst avoiding zombies, and not finding sufficient amounts of ammo. Ammo conservation has always been a factor in Resident Evil, but Gaiden took that a bit too far. Which brings us to the next section:
:::Bad for People Who Want to Shoot Zombies:::
Why you may ask? Because most of the time, you won't have enough ammo to shoot them with. And despite the large amount of zombies, 80% of the game progression lies in exploration and gaining access to certain rooms. You do pick up kickass weapons along the way, like shotguns, grenades, and a rocket launcher, but only so much ammo is available to collect. And once you've used ammo, it does not reappear. But you know what DOES reappear? The zombies!!! This has been the primary roots my frustration with Resident Evil Gaiden.
Final thoughts: I still think RE Gaiden is a good Survival Horror game, but it needs some work in order to be one of the Game Boy's best. Fans of the series and genre will probably like it, if they can get past its flaws (and yes, the dialogue is still hilariously cheesy.) I personally think this game kicks ass a portable gem, but don't expect it to be perfect. Nowadays, you will find more enjoyable Game Boy titles at much cheaper prices, but others might be okay with having to spend at least $20. It's not a common cartridge, but hey, at least its not as rare as Shantae!! ^_^
