Heaven Dust

If you're looking forward to the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 3 but don't want to wait until April, then let me introduce you to the new game Heaven Dust. This is a fun (yet familiar) spin on the survival horror genre that traps a lone survivor in a mansion and pits him against a bunch of flesh-eating zombies. It may not be very original, but this is easily the most adorable Resident Evil clone you'll ever see.

This is the story of a lone survivor who is stuck in a mansion with a bunch of zombies. He's a little confused at first, but it seems that a rare virus has turned everybody into flesh-eating monsters and he needs to escape before he becomes dinner. He'll do this by picking up items, solving puzzles and cracking every last door lock, all while picking up notes that fill out the story. It won't take long for our nameless hero to discover that he's not stuck in any old mansion, but rather a massive science lab that may be responsible for this mess.

As you may have noticed, this is an all-too-familiar setup for a survival horror game. It doesn't stop there, with almost every part of Heaven Dust playing out in predictable fashion. You'll recognize all of the cliches and, if you listen carefully, you can hear the faint sounds of scribbling as the developers go down the horror checklist. Zombies will attack out of nowhere, there's limited ammo, green herbs are good for health, there are magical chests in safe rooms, mind the limited inventory space, etc. It's like eating a big spoon full of comfort food.

What sets this game apart is the presentation, which is both slightly overhead and kind of adorable. I'm not saying the game is good for younger players, but it often feels like Resident Evil Kids. Our hero and the zombies have a cutesy look that is a lot more charming than scary. It's an odd juxtaposition, since the story remains deadly serious and the backgrounds aren't that far off from what you get in gorier horror games. The character designs suggest a goofier take on the genre, but that's definitely not the case.

One thing I really like about Heaven Dust is the way it gets around the problem of limited ammo. This is still a game where every bullet counts, but I found that I could still play aggressively and not be left helpless. It helps that you can collect randomly placed bullet shells and combine them with gun powder that you can purchase at every vending machine. And since you get tokens for killing many of the zombies, there's an incentive to keep shooting down bad guys and buying more stuff.

I also really like the gameplay. It may not seem like a big deal at first, but seeing the mansion from an overhead perspective makes getting around a lot easier. It allows you to look into areas you haven't opened up yet and navigate through the labyrinth of rooms with relative ease. Better still, the combat is as easy as targeting a zombie and shooting it a few times. You don't have to worry about aiming or head shots or any of that, just lock on and shoot. The developers have done a great job streamlining so much of the survival horror experience.

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But is it scary? The sad fact is that nothing about this game is frightening. The cartoony characters blunt any fear you might have had, and there's never a twist or moment that makes an attempt to be terrifying. The scariest part of Heaven Dust is just trying to avoid zombies in a narrow hallway, but that's hardly an issue when you load up on ammo. This is also one of those times when the overhead perspective works against the horror. It's simply not as scary when you can see the zombies coming in all direction. Part of what made Resident Evil so effective is because hellhounds could burst through a window at any time and a zombie could be around any corner, but there's nothing like that here.

I'm also not a big fan of the puzzles found in Heaven Dust. A good chunk of these involve you reading the notes and using the clues to crack a three-digit code. These are fine in theory, but the game relies too much of them. Relying on diary entries, emails and notes to clue you into puzzles has always felt like a crutch to me, and it's especially annoying when the writing is middling at best. The game is at its best when you're lugging batteries and levers around the mansion in order to manually move puzzle pieces. The only thing worse than having to solve another three-digit door code is getting stuck behind a box you've been pushing, which happens a lot more than you might expect.

On one hand, Heaven Dust scratches the survival horror itch by marking off all of the cliches you know and love. It's full of zombies, puzzles, items and virus intrigue. That said, it's never scary and the story doesn't do enough to stand out from the countless other games where you're stuck in a mansion. The cutesy look is at odds with the story and tone, and I never want to hunt through a bunch of notes to solve a three-digit code ever again. You've seen and done all this before, but Heaven Dust is an enjoyable survival horror game that is a great alternative for people too scared to play Resident Evil.