Nearly ten years after its debut on the Playstation, Biohazard, known as Resident Evil in the western world, is still going strong. The latest outing is yet another remake of the original game. This time around it’s portable and from time to time utilizes the touch screen and the microphone of the DS. While Capcom has added some extras, this is still the old game we’ve loved for a decade in all its forms.

When you start a new game you’ll be greeted with the original FMV clips of Jill, Chris, and the gang getting trapped in that creepy old mansion near Raccoon City. After that initial sequence you’ll start your quest to escape with the map on the top screen and the action on the bottom screen. You move your character around with the D-Pad using the prehistoric movement system from the original some like to call the “tank” system. Some love it and some hate it but if you want to play through this remake you’ll have to live with it.

Weapons are still equipped through the inventory screen, you still hold down a button to run, the 180 degree turn is still there, the action button still opens doors and examines objects, and you still have to raise your gun before you shoot it. New to the control area is the ability to raise your knife and swing it whenever you feel like it, all items only take up one slot, all door animations and cutscenes can be skipped, and the touch screen and microphone are used in some puzzles. This isn’t a complete makeover like Resident Evil 4 was, it’s just slightly upgraded.

When you move from room to room you now also have the chance of triggering a mini-game, some rooms more than others, in which you go into first person mode and must use the touch screen to slash incoming enemies. The direction you slash is exactly mimicked on screen. If you slash at the wrong time enemies will have a chance to attack you and can actually kill you sending you to that lovely, “You Died”, screen fans have all come to know so well. After you defeat all the enemies you return to the normal game and go on your way.

The rest of the DS centric changes are fairly minimal and really only account for at most 5% of the game. Most of these changes slightly alter old puzzles or add on an extra sub-puzzle to existing puzzles. Most of the touching based puzzles involve moving in a circle and the correct speed or selecting buttons. Along with the touching you’ll also get to blow a couple of times into the microphone. All in all the room to room slashing mini-game is the largest use of the DS’ unique hardware and the rest are just gimmicky frills.