| Resident Evil Survivor | |
|---|---|
North American box art |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Director(s) | Hiroyuki Kai |
| Producer(s) | Tatsuya Minami |
| Writer(s) | Noboru Sugimura Naoyuki Sakai |
| Composer(s) | Shiro Kohmoto |
| Series | Resident Evil |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation
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| Genre(s) | Light gun shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
Resident Evil Survivor, known in Japan as Biohazard Gun Survivor (バイオハザード ガンサバイバー Baiohazādo Gan Sabaibā), is a light gun shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. It was released on the PlayStation in Japan on January 27, 2000, and in North America on August 30, 2000.
As the first release of the Gun Survivor series, this game was a major departure from the main Resident Evil series, substituting the third-person perspective of the previous games to the first-person view. The Japanese and PAL versions of the game allowed use of the Namco GunCon, a light gun that gave the game a more arcade feel, making it one of the first off-rail light gun games. The American version did not allow the use of the GunCon, or any other light gun model.[1]
The game was also released for Microsoft Windows in Taiwan, in 2002. Instead of a straight source conversion, it was fully reconstructed on a different engine. This version allowed mouse-aiming and had graphic-filtering, although it is also known for being buggy and lacking a lot of general AI scripts.
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The player takes control of an amnesiac protagonist, struggling desperately against overwhelming odds to stay alive and uncover his identity. Survivor's gameplay is a combination of first-person shooter and arcade-style light gun game. The player views the environment from the perspective of the character (first person view) and moves the character through the environment with the controller. At the same time, if the player wishes to attack an enemy or destroy an object, they press a button which allows them to control a crosshair on the screen. This crosshair can be moved to any location within the main character's line of sight. Using the G-Con 45, players move around by shooting off screen to move and the side buttons to turn, and point at the screen to shoot enemies.
The game borrows its enemies from Resident Evil 2, featuring the zombie models from that game, as well as creatures such as Lickers, the Ivy plants, Moth Giants and Tyrants. In addition, Survivor also reintroduces the original Hunters from the first Resident Evil and features two new enemies in the form of the Umbrella Trashsweeper unit – soldiers armed with machine guns – and the Hypnos T-Type, a new Tyrant model that evolves into different forms. The player's arsenal consists almost entirely of pistols, such as the Glock 17 and the CZ75. As the protagonist progresses through the game, the player receives larger weapons to aid in defending against ever more dangerous opposition while they make their way through Umbrella's ruined city and shadowy research labs. The game features branching paths that allow the player to determine how the story will unfold and whom they will meet along the way.
In September, 1998, a disaster struck the mid-western American town of Raccoon City. An outbreak of the T-virus transformed the city's populace into zombies. As a final desperate measure to halt the spread of infection, the US government approved an air-to-surface missile strike on Raccoon City, annihilating the doomed town and its entire population in the process. Not long after this incident, a helicopter crashes on the outskirts of the Umbrella Corporation's private township, located on Sheena Island. The pilot escapes the burning wreckage only to find himself fighting a battle against the living dead, with no memory of his identity or his reasons for being there.
During his quest, Ark Thompson (the pilot and protagonist) comes across a man named Andy Holland, who knows him as Vincent Goldman (the man said to be responsible for the outbreak of T-virus in the island). Due to his knowledge, Vincent later became a vehement enemy of Ark. Moments after he gets out the city, he comes across Umbrella's facility, where he meets Lott and Lily Klein, two siblings whose parents used to work for Umbrella. They misjudge Ark because they were made to believe that Umbrella stands for the common good of all people. The two kids run away from Ark during their encounter, as he follows the children outside the facility, through the canal system, and eventually to their house. Ark finds Lily in the house and learns from her that Lott had gone to a nearby factory alone to find a way out of the island.
Ark, upon learning this, tells Lily to stay and take refuge until he comes back with Lott. He finds his way to the place and, after encountering many monsters, successfully infiltrates the Umbrella research facility just in time to save Lott from a Hunter. Ark then learns from Lott that he is Ark Thompson, that he was sent to Sheena Island by Leon S. Kennedy, and that Lott knew who Vincent Goldman really was (at this point, in his amnesia, Ark believed that he really was Vincent). But upon this realization, the facility suddenly activates a self-destruct system which will obliterate the island within 10 minutes. Lott tells Ark that there is a railway station within the facility that runs underground. Ark tells Lott to go ahead first the station and regroup there.
However, during his way in the station, Ark encounters Hypnos T-type Tyrant. He manages to hold it off long enough to make a getaway. Ark reaches the railway station and sees Lott and Lily, safe and waiting for him. Using the railway station, they were able to arrive at a landing zone, where a helicopter waits. But on their way to safety, The Hypnos Tyrant shows up again, in a more mutated form. Ark manages to hold off the beast before joining the children in the helicopter and eventually kill it using the helicopter's missiles. Ark, Lily, and Lott flee from Sheena Island together safely, just as the island self-destructs.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 42.11% (9 reviews)[2] |
| Metacritic | 39% (10 reviews)[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| GamePro | PS: [4] |
| IGN | 4 out of 10[5] |
Game Informer lists the game among the worst horror games of all time.[1]
The Gun Survivor series was followed by three sequels, which were released for the PlayStation 2 and utilised the G-Con 2 peripheral. Resident Evil Survivor 2: Code Veronica was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2002, based on the characters and enemies of Resident Evil: Code Veronica. Dino Stalker, a spin-off of the Dino Crisis series, was also released in 2002. A fourth game, Resident Evil: Dead Aim, was released in 2003.
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