Bury the Shovelware: Resident Evil

Bury the Shovelware: Resident Evil - Deadly Silence

by Kaes Delgrego { Oct 29th 2008 at 11:00AM }

Seeing as we're fast approaching Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate to try to find a "scary" game to examine for Bury the Shovelware. I could have easily gone the "it's so bad, it's SCARY" route, but I thought it would be nice to avoid lame sarcasm. I spent most of this week's Top 5 gushing over Resident Evil 1 & 4, which reminded me that the PSOne original was ported to the DS in early 2006. Surprisingly, I never looked into it. Perhaps it had something to do with the mixed (but not terrible) reviews it received. To get to the point, now's the perfect time to take a closer look. Is Resident Evil: Deadly Silence shovelware? Let's find out.

Pedigree

On paper, this project looks easily reasonable. The original was an instant classic, and this version was both developed and published officially by Capcom. They could have easily farmed this out to a lesser company, but they decided to keep it in-house. The DS is perfectly capable of supporting PSOne-era graphics and audio, as we've seen fairly impressive graphics on the handheld before. And from what I'd read before playing this version, Capcom was adding touch-based controls and minigames into the mix. Although use of the phrase "minigames" in this neo-casual market can elicit a full-hearted "uggh" from most core gamers, I had faith in Capcom as a developer. After witnessing their beautiful port of this same title for the GameCube take full advantage of the system's capabilities, I expected the same for this version.

The Critics Said

As previously stated, the critics were mixed but usually far from labeling the game as terrible. The game holds a 71% average on Metacritic, with individual scores pulling fairly evenly from both ends. The positive outliers maintained that the original game holds up well and is implemented fairly well on the handheld, while the negative ones argued the exact opposite. This is purely speculation based on my analysis of reading other reviews, but it would appear that many scores seemed to reflect the reviewer's opinion of the original. For example, the Detroit Free Press asked if "this trip down memory lane worth $35? The Rebirth Mode is the most justifiable reason, and even then, the case isn't that strong." On the other hand, My Gamer noted that "RE DS doesn't score many originality points, but it doesn't have to. RE was, and still is, a classic, and having it available in the palm of your hand is nothing to complain about."

Rap Sheet

The FMV is heavily compressed, but then again the DS isn't the most popular handheld console based on its video presentation or high storage capacity. I haven't completed the entire game, but most of it seems to be here (to the best of my knowledge).
Hmm, the bad acting has yet to age to kitsch enjoyable. But that's probably an argument for another time.
They really missed a golden opportunity with touch controls. This game could have been given a huge boost by using complete touch controls for maneuvering. Anyone familiar with pre-Resident Evil 4 iterations in the series will know that perhaps the only downside of these wonderful games are the somewhat awkward controls. Although you get the hang of it after awhile, it's still never quite perfect. Using something like the touch-guided walking implemented in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass or a "tap to go here" control method similar to any of the classic LucasArts adventure games would have worked beautifully.
The touch sequences are interesting. Swiping at enemies with the stylus instead of taking aim with the standard button controls does switch things up a bit. However, the scenes pop up seemingly out of nowhere which requires that you quickly finagle the stylus out of its slot. Perhaps this was intended as a form of immersion to recreate the feeling of quickly getting a weapon out if a real life enemy were to suddenly approach. Either way, it's not overly great or terrible.

Silver Lining

Fans of the original will be happy to find that the port is near-perfect, as veterans simply seeking a portable version of their favorite zombie-slasher can simply choose the "classic mode," which forgoes all DS-specific additions.

Though the original asking price of $35 was a bit steep, copies can now be found on eBay for about 20 bucks. As I hypothesized earlier, the amount of enjoyment that you receive from Resident Evil: Deadly Silence will likely be directly related to how much you liked the original PSOne game.

Our Deduction

Examining this game is really making me question my deductions about the DS port of Myst. It mainly comes down to this: my deduction about Myst was that while ports are perfectly acceptable for fans of the original game, they must be intelligently utilized on the new platform. A main complaint about Myst was the lack of a cursor, which made the game tough, especially for those who've never played the original (this included me). I didn't definitely label the port as shovelware, but if forced at gunpoint to pass judgment on the game, I'd lean in that direction.

Yet similar critiques could be applied to this port of Resident Evil. To the best of my knowledge, there's no other recently released game on the DS that is controlled in the same way. In 1996, we toughed our way through the tough controls because the game was so new and unique. As someone who's very familiar with the original, I can imagine someone who played the original Myst thinking that it works better on the DS than Resident Evil does. I would still disagree, but the argument is fair.

It's a bit of a cop-out, but I think this game will be enjoyed best by fans of the original. I'd maintain that the additional modes and core game make this the better port than Myst, but that may be a product of my own bias. You could create a convincing argument to the contrary. And if you've got one, I'd love to hear it.

In gaming, the term shovelware refers to any game in which time and effort were eschewed in favor of turning a quick profit. Bury the Shovelware takes a closer look at these titles, typically those that inhabit the lower end of metascores. It attempts to: 1) find out where and how the developer went wrong 2) identify common traits present in most shovelware 3) measure how long the game can be suffered.

Tags: capcom, joystiqfeatures, myst, port, resident-evil, resident-evil-deadly-silence, residentevildeadlysilence, survival-horror

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jojockamo @ Oct 29th 2008 12:37PM

This was the first Resident Evil I played and beat! I found it to be great since I missed it the first time around on the PSone!

Kaes Delgrego @ Oct 29th 2008 1:06PM

Wow, that's certainly a good counterpoint to my column! Just for clarification, when you say "the first Resident Evil I played and beat," did you ever have any previous experience with the series? I'm curious if the controls were completely new to you, or if you were somewhat familiar with them.

empty2002120141 @ Oct 29th 2008 1:08PM

I respectfully disagree with this article, although there are points which are really good like the original asking price. It should've been a bit lower.

As for the videos, the succeeding FMVs mid game are far worse, but as the author says, the DS isn't exacty a powerhouse in that department.

And as for the controls, comparing it to RE4 is just plain unfair. I for one am completely okay with the controls left as they originally were. Let's face it, after RE4, most RE fans and just about everyone who's only played the recent iteration dissed RE's 1 to 3. Awkward they may be, the way I see it, it actually helped in elevating the suspense especially in panic moments. Also, RE4 isn't the survival horror game anymore, just a plain (but great) action game.

While I can't accept this game as shovelware on the DS, it certainly does have its flaws. A port with just a few additions to combat just doesn't justify that high a price. Although, for long time RE fans, the game is well worth it.

Kaes Delgrego @ Oct 29th 2008 1:11PM

You make excellent points. I apologize if it came off that way; what I meant to say is that I think ifsomeone who had only played Resident Evil 4 (or 5) were to pick up this game, they might be very turned off by the controls. I'm not saying that's fair, but that's how I assume most would react to the game's controls. Though, as evidenced by the first comment, I could be very wrong! Let's hope so; the game is great. For the record, I don't consider this shovelware, but it's somewhat difficult to validate this game and label other ports (Myst) as shovelware.

Thanks so much for your response! :)

Shoyz @ Oct 29th 2008 3:01PM

I played the originals back on the PS1 years back, and loved them.

Recently, I've played the DS one. I played it until I got stuck, needless to say I loved it as well.

Then I played RE4, and was blown away. Probably my favorite game of all time.

Finally, I tried RE0 (GC Only), and found the controls just fine. I think it depends on the person, though I think it's safe to say that Resident Evil for the gameboy color was awful. (:

SecretAgentHam @ Oct 29th 2008 1:27PM

this game was amazing...still is. i remember trying to hunt down a copy on release week. glad i did cause i havent seen it anywhere else since then. i wouldnt label this shovelware but then again, i've played the RE franchise since the first...on psONE (directors cut) and the original version on the saturn. awesome franchise, NUFF SAID! buy this game!

Kaes Delgrego @ Oct 29th 2008 2:39PM

Yup, that was my main point: this isn't shovelware, but it's tough for me to make a definitive judgment as I'm a fan of the original. Though according to jojockamo's experience, it shouldn't matter either way.

Thanks for reading! :)

SecretAgentHam @ Oct 29th 2008 2:45PM

anytime! love this site. thanks for responding to so many other peoples comments! (including mine!) makes these blogs even more personal. i think more bloggers should take this up, really adds to the sites credibility. WILL COME BACK AGAIN! (as always :P)

Kaes Delgrego @ Oct 29th 2008 2:50PM

It's my pleasure! You guys are the best. :)

jojockamo @ Oct 29th 2008 1:52PM

Only like 5 mins of game play on the PSone. Got to the Dogs jumping out the window, kept dying. Controls made it frustrating. I was still frustrated with the controls on DS(which were new to me), but stuck to it and got use to the set up. I very much enjoyed it after that. I had enjoyed it so, that I picked up a used Gamecube copy of RE to play through. I wanted an "updated" version. I haven't got though it yet, too many new games being released. (Oh, I have only played through on classic mode)

I wanted to see what it was about the series/games everyone liked. It Still held a creepy feeling on those little screens with headphones on. Even though its been years since it came out, with everything I heard, read, and watched on the RE series, there was nothing spoiled for me. It was my gateway to the series. I picked up the RE Umbrella Chronicles for Wii when it came out, and a copy of RE4 on the Cube a month ago. I heard too much about "4" to pass it up.

Kaes Delgrego @ Oct 29th 2008 2:38PM

That's pretty fascinating. Either I'm underestimating the likeliness of the average gamer's leniency or you're a very tolerant individual. Thanks again!

Pixel-One @ Oct 29th 2008 2:04PM

I have to say that grouping genuine ports in with the "Bury the Shovelware" seems a bit unfair and misleading. As with Myst, it was fairly easy to see from the beginning that this game wasn't shovelware at all, and the whole critique came down to deciding whether it was a decent port or not.

Perhaps DSFanboy should look into a new feature, something like "Port Town" (F-Zero reference) in which you would assess the quality and neccessity of DS ports specifically, rather than grouping them in with shovelware. And with the number of ports on the DS, there'd be no stopping that column for a long time to come.

Kaes Delgrego @ Oct 29th 2008 2:34PM

"Port Town," I like that idea a lot! I just may steal it from you. :)

I've changed the standard practice a bit since we began, but a game appearing in Bury the Shovelware isn't necessarily shovelware (see: N+). Instead, I'm taking games that could be or appear to be shovelware and trying to determine if they are.

Though I'm not necessarily saying that either Myst or Resident Evil DS are shovelware, I think that a sloppy port can easily be considered shovelware.

In fact, according to Wikipedia: "Shovelware is often used to refer to conversions from one media format to another (also known as 'porting'), in the manner floppy disc collections were aggregated onto CD-ROMs."

Though a strict gaming application is quite different, the general idea is there: rushing a product out to turn a profit. Either way, it's very debatable and you make a good argument. Thanks for you input! :)

Bones3D @ Oct 29th 2008 6:28PM

Hmmm... "Port or Deport"?

Shoyz @ Oct 29th 2008 2:49PM

'requires that you quickly finagle the stylus out of its slot'

..Am I the only one that holds the stylus, and the system with both hands at the same time?

Pixel-One @ Oct 29th 2008 2:51PM

Nope. For games that I know will require the stylus, I always hold it at the same time as the system. It's never particularly bothered me at all.

Shoyz @ Oct 29th 2008 3:03PM

I do it for any game. It feels awkward not doing it :v

jojockamo @ Oct 29th 2008 4:42PM

I don't know if its a matter of leniency or being tolerant. I think "we" or I as a gamer will allow and/or tolerate some things from my games. Weather it be lesser graphics, the games' story, game play or the controls we play through "it" to get to the end. (there are somethings just too bad to tolerate for some) This is what I did with RE on the DS. I Pushed through the controls, after that, I was fine with everything else. I have friends that have to have the "biggest" and "best" graphics. I on the other hand run with story and game play. (as a whole though, controls have got to be at the very least, decent) There are key features(which very per person) that must be in place, for each individual to enjoy a game. I felt RE had enough of those features to fully enjoy it.

Middlemoor @ Oct 29th 2008 5:12PM

I bought RE:DS, as one of my first titles. It was actually one of my reasons for buying a DS. To be fair on the control issue, the touchscreen menus are handy and there is the added 180 turn and knife button. I actually prefer the graphics on the DS over the PSOne original. The FMV scenes are admittedly grainy, but if my memory serves me correctly - they were anyway. You also have to consider the new "versus" mode, which I will probably never try but i'm sure hardcore power-gamers do appreciate. I wouldn't call it shovelware, the additions (like the map) are purposeful and enjoyable without ruining the classic feel of the game. As that one reviewer said, "RE was, and still is, a classic, and having it available in the palm of your hand is nothing to complain about."

Pworm1000 @ Oct 29th 2008 5:27PM

I having been playing Resident Evil since I was 6(or whatever year it came out, Im sure it was 96 though...) and this was a trip back to the days of old when i picked it up release week. The controls by the way, have not changed from RE1-CV/X to RE4, the button layout is the same, and the controls are still tank, its just the camera perspective. It's a nice perspective in the new games, however, I wish we could get zombies back, not infected villagers. Resident Evil 5 may bring this to us. Getting back on topic, I do not see why we don't have Resident Evil 2 and 3 on the DS. The second was on the N64, so that should be portable, three may be more of a task, but i would still love it.

Alex @ Oct 29th 2008 6:01PM

I picked up this game in a bargain bin at local video game store, I played the first minute of the game, right where the guy see's a puddle of green goo, and says "I hope this isn't Chris's blood!"

I turned the game off and sold it.

nicolas @ Nov 18th 2008 8:49PM

it had an option to change the blood color. bad call to sell it. its cheap and a classic with some new optional twists.

Alex @ Nov 19th 2008 12:22AM

really? I swear I looked for that kind of option all over the menu's. oh well, I was never into RE1, if they do a DS version of RE2.... then I'll be in the business.

Ianiscool @ Oct 29th 2008 8:28PM

I played RE 4 and loved it. Then i tried the gamecube version of this game. I couldnt stand it. after RE 4 i just couldnt do the controls. Now I know i shouldnt get this game. Its not for me. I wasnt sure if it was a port or its own game.

Marzz @ Oct 30th 2008 7:52AM

The only problem that i have with this port is the squishy DS lite D-pad makes running and turning at the same time difficult, but that's a problem with the system, not the game.

The game is incredibly faithful to the PS1 version. I never actually beat the PS1 version, because it came out when i was too young and still in my "must play fast-paced action games" phase. I did, however, beat the REMake for the Gamecube, but it never quite caught my interest as much as the PS1 version did.

Having the classic Resident Evil, in the palm of my hand, allowed me to spend a lot more time with it than i probably should have. I played and beat the game multiple times over the course of two or three months, most of that being at work, on lunch breaks. I was hoping that Capcom would see it fit to release more of their PS1 classics on the DS, such as Mega Man Legends... But it may not ever happen.

But my point is, had the DS version not been released, i never would have finished the original RE. It's definitely not shovelware, but in fact, an extremely well done port.