We know now that light guns plus Resident Evil is a solid combination thanks to the Chronicles games on Wii and PS3, but before that Capcom tried (and tried) various formulas to far less success. Resident Evil Dead Aim on PS2 from 2003 was my first taste of light gun Resident Evil, and it was kind of a mess. Click to read more and watch (non light gun ... crazy, right?) gameplay right here.
I reviewed Resident Evil Dead Aim when it came out for GamesFirst.com. I don't think anyone on staff actually had a GunCon peripheral, and I didn't either, but the game is playable with a normal controller as well so that is how I played it. I did eventually get a GunCon and tried the game again, and I honestly don't think it added much to the experience.
You see, Dead Aim isn't just a light gun game. It actually plays mostly like a normal Resident Evil game where you can freely explore the environments via a third-person camera, pick up items, solve puzzles, and do all of that good traditional Resident Evil stuff. When you fight enemies, however, the camera switches to a first-person perspective so you can use the light gun. As you can imagine, controlling the third-person actions via the terrible controls on the GunCon wasn't too fun, but the shooting was stellar. Likewise, moving around in the environments with a controller worked great, but the shooting sections where you just move a cursor around the screen aren't so hot. It was a game that was wildly mediocre, although for totally different reasons, regardless of what control style you used.
It was a forgettable experience that most people didn't experience in the first place, so no big loss. The main character looks like Paul Walker, though, so there's that.
