I wasn’t expecting much, to be honest. Simple curiosity led me to download this. Resident Evil games are not known for their smooth control systems. And my experience with virtual d-pads on the iPhone had not been good. I was very much expecting to be unable to move and to be able to give the game a righteous slating.


But something strange happened. I started the game, rested my thumb lightly on the virtual d-pad (actually a virtual analogue stick, I think) and started trying to move. And succeeded. I wandered around the starting room I was in, found a ladder, dropped down into a another room, jumped through the window, shot some zombies, found a crank handle, opened an emergency shutter and found myself at the end of the demo.

I couldn’t believe it, honestly, so I tried the demo again. And again I managed to get through the whole (incredibly short) demo without bumping into walls or finding myself rooted to the spot.

No, the controls weren’t perfect. The 180-degree turn move worked one time in five, seemingly at random. Lining up head shots took more time than I’d like. But, hey, that’s Resident Evil for you!


I put the game away for a bit, then came back an hour or two later. It still worked. And then again, just before bed. Same again. Oh, yes, it’s clunky, of course it is – but the controls actually seem to work reasonably well. Who’d have thought that Resident Evil of all things would convince me that in certain circumstances virtual d-pads could work?

Will I be buying the full game for £3.99? I don’t think so. The controls are clunky, still, even if they’re far better than I thought they could be. I also worry that later enemies won’t be nearly so accommodating as I line up shots as the initial shuffling zombies. As a piece of technology I’m very, very impressed – I wouldn’t have played through the demo four times if I wasn’t – but as a game I’m not completely convinced.