After Resident Evil became a big success it didn’t take Capcom long at all to start working on a host of sequels and spin-offs. One of the more curious installments in this franchise is a game known as Resident Evil Survivor. This is one that, upon release, was hated on by most reviewers. Heeding the warning I skipped out on it, but the prospect of a Resident Evil light gun and first person shooter hybrid always had me curious. Fast forward to modern day and I’ve finally tracked down this old PlayStation title. Unfortunately the reviewers and most vocal fans of the franchise were right; Resident Evil Survivor throws out most of what makes the series so enjoyable in place of a boring and sloppy hybrid of two genres that don’t blend well.
This installment of the series takes place directly after the destruction of Raccoon City after having been completely contaminated by the T-virus thus turning its citizens into zombies. Here you play as a pilot named Ark Thompson who, upon arriving at an Umbrella facility on the far off Sheena Island, comes down with a sudden case of amnesia. He’s trying to figure out who he is, and why he’s here all the while battling against a new T-virus outbreak on the island itself. The first problem I have with this title is how boring the scenario is. While it’s a different angle for the series, and works to expand the universe by introducing the new setting it just isn’t compelling. Despite being cheesy I’ve always enjoyed the long running story in the classic franchise, and the developers here simply couldn’t re-create the charm. The few plot twists here are easy to see coming. Combine that fact with the lack of interesting characters as well as generic settings and you have a rather forgettable game.
It’s worth noting that this is the first Resident Evil game in the franchise that doesn’t use pre-rendered backgrounds for any of the settings. This title is fully 3D, and for the first time in the series you view the action from a first person viewpoint. Despite the difference in perspective and new graphical engine this game plays in a similar fashion to every other Resident Evil title; you wander through a series of environments in search of keys and items to open the path forward while doing battle with zombies and other monsters with your trusty firearms. Initially I expected this game to play like a typical first person shooter, but that’s not the case. You can equip several different kinds of guns including your typical handgun, shotgun, magnum, rocket launcher etc., but to use them you must hold down the R1 button. This brings up crosshairs which you guide using the directional pad, and pressing the X button fires a single shot. Unfortunately the whole system just feels clunky; this title would have been more enjoyable had Capcom designed it as a traditional first person shooter.
Unfortunately the light gun aspect of this game destroys quite a few of the traditional elements of this series, but not for the sake of improvement. For starters, ammunition is no longer an issue. Your default handgun has unlimited bullets with the only limiting factor the number of shots you can fire before reloading. This eliminates most of the tension because conservation is no longer an issue. The other weapons you acquire throughout the game have limited shots, and you can find additional supplies for them laying around and in some cases ammo is dropped by enemies. This is quite different from in your typical Resident Evil title, and this contrast isn’t exactly a good thing. Aside from this the developers brought over many popular elements from the rest of the series such as the memos left behind, herbs used as healing items, and most of the enemies are ripped straight out of Resident Evil 2.
Most of these issues would be forgivable, but the combat is absolutely tedious and frustrating. The aiming with cross hairs is far from optimal, and I found myself having problems hitting my mark half the time. This becomes an especially big problem when you’re up against enemies such as the zombie dogs or lickers that jump in the air and stand low to the ground. The physics engine also raises some pretty big issues. When lickers and cerebrus’ jump through the air they seem to do so in slow motion. The enemies in this game simply do not respond realistically to being hit regardless of the gun you’re using. The animations are either too subtle or heavily exaggerated, and without the blood splatter it would be difficult tell if your shot has even made contact. Additionally the first person viewpoint paired with larger than usual environments make it far too easy to simply run past most of the enemies you’ll encounter. I rarely felt threatened while playing this game, and that’s really disappointing when compared to the main series that instills a constant feeling of dread within the player. The survival horror aspects are largely absent here.
Resident Evil Survivor is not a pretty game even by the standards at the time of its release. This title suffers from all of the typical problems of a fully 3D game on the PlayStation; pixelated textures, low draw distance, jagged polygons, and more. While many of the enemy models have been ripped straight out of Resident Evil 2 they simply do not look nearly as good as they did in that game. Zombie animations are choppy, and sometimes it’s so bad they appear to be suffering from seizures. The other enemies fare a little better, but a pretty game Survivor most certainly is not. This title also suffers from one of the most forgettable soundtracks across the entire series. It’s all heavily derivative, and the composer obviously didn’t put their heart into this project. To make matters worse the voice overs are among the worst I’ve ever heard in a video game. Resident Evil has long been known for its bad acting, and in the other cases it enhances the B-movie atmosphere, but here it’s painfully bad.
I always enjoy alternate takes on my favorite series, but Resident Evil Survivor is just plain bad. The graphics, gameplay and story are awful, and the only time I was excited at all to be playing was when a classic character from the mainline franchise was referenced. That’s just sad. Unless you’re seeking this one out purely for collection sake I don’t recommend it. It’s an easy pass; the story isn’t even significant to the main scenario and was largely ignored.
