Biohazard: Gun Survivor

First, I'll get the cons over with:

Yes, this game likely could have benefited from either an in-game save feature, light gun support, or CG FMVs, but that's about it.

The creators did go out on a limb with this project, and the end result is actually quite unique. The idea that the main character was stricken with amnesia and unsure as to who he is or why he was there ( Later stolen by Paul Anderson for the RE movie ) wasn't a bad idea, although it didn't really take a rocket scientist to figure out that he wasn't really 'Vincent'.

Another switch from the usual characteristics of the RE series is the weapons. In most Resident Evil games, your weaponry is limited to a Beretta, a Remington shotgun, and some random .357 pistol. Now they offer you three different sidearms ( I don't really consider the Japanese weapon worth using, but oh well. ), one having average rounds per minute and reloading time ( Glock 17 ), slow RPM and fast reloading ( Beretta Cougar ), and lighting-quick RPM and slow reloading time ( Czech-75 ). Gun nuts like myself will love this game.

One of the things with the normal Resident Evil games is that you always encounter it from a third-person perspective. Therefore, you know for sure if there's some evil low-budget zombie coming up from behind you. In this game, you won't know they're behind you until they take a big chunk out of your neck ( The sudden act of it all is more surprising/frightening than it sounds ).

Likely the reason that you cannot sidestep, or run and fire at the same time, is due to the fact that you can't do either of those in other Resident Evil games either. You always had to stop where you were, aim with R1, and then give whoever stands in the way, Holy hell. Plus it reminds me of the old nostalgia games where you had to beat the game all at once, like so many memorable NES games.

All in all, Resident Evil: Survivor is definitely worthy of belonging in a Resident Evil Junkie's collection, and even worthy of the casual player. Like all firsts of a genre, it has its lacking spots, but it's great to see how it's performed. I'd say four stars out of five.

Compared to the other Resident Evil games, this has poor graphics, less scary monsters, less challenging game-play and less... well, just less. Does this mean that the game is bad? No. It just means that is less than what you'd expect from a typical Resident Evil game. And that seems to be more than enough reason to write it completely off for many RE fans, it would seem. Let me make one thing completely clear; in my life, I doubt I've spent more than a few hours of gaming time playing any of the RE games. I don't care much for them. The camera angles often work directly against you, posing more of a threat to your safety than the walking dead around you. The door opening animations break the intensity and lower the pace. The aiming is painfully and unnecessarily hard. Because of my general dislike of the RE games, I enjoyed this game. Quite a lot, actually. The story may not be terribly original(in fact, it's one of the handful or so of those stories that writers fall back on using... but hey, it did become an element of the plot in the first Resident Evil movie, so at least it made a lasting impression on Paul W.S. Anderson, and judging by how he paces his movies, he suffers from extreme ADD and believes that every young person today does as well), but it keeps the game fairly interesting. The game contains tidbits of information about the other in the series, about their time-line and the events which took place. Not awfully interesting to me, but I'm sure most RE-fans will enjoy reading them and piecing the whole story together. There's even an attempt or two at tying this game and its story into the regular RE franchise. The game-play is somewhat unique(well, not anymore... but I believe this game was the first of its kind) in combining the genres of first-person shooter and light-gun shooter. Of course, US players will have to import this game from Europe in order to use it with a light gun(something about PAL vs. NTSC coding... technical stuff, a censor thing, I think(and a fairly logical one at that, since the game does reward *firing a gun*))... but that's a small price to pay, not counting shipping. Control is highly entertaining with the light gun; you point at the screen, you shoot, you point away, you move. This is surprisingly easy to master, and you'll wonder how you ever enjoyed a shoot-em-up game without the light gun. If you don't have/don't want a light gun, the controller control is fine, too. If you hold down R1, you can fire. Release it, and you can move. Moving is as simple and easy as any other first person console game... the controller isn't really made for it, and you'll miss your keyboard and mouse(well, I did... never really got why they make first person games for consoles, anyway)... but it's fine. Sound is pretty good; from what I understand, if you use headphones, you'll be able to hear where the zombies' moaning is coming from... very cool. Graphics are fair, but not impressive compared to the other games. The game has far less emphasis on puzzle solving than shooting than the other RE games. Pretty logical, considering the first person camera and the fact that you can control it with a light gun. Not much room for adventure elements, really. It's not really about survival either, the game is incredibly easy... it's just about shooting, and finding out exactly what has happened(not that it's particularly hard to piece the "mystery" together... I had figured it out long before the main character, and, well, that's *never* a good thing in a story-driven game). The shooting isn't as entertaining as, say, the House of the Dead games, where you can actually blow the zombies apart, but it's quite good nonetheless. The freedom of movement is pretty good. The game is very easy(you can beat it on your first try without much of an effort) and pretty short. I beat it in about an hour and a half, and you can't really spend much more, there's little time spent looking for the way, and even less on figuring out puzzles. There's no in-game save feature, but it's really not necessary. The only thing you can save is how many guns you picked up. That's one of my favorite things about the game; there are plenty of different routes to go through it(and a pretty good amount of guns... all of which you can keep at all times(none of that limited inventory stuff of the regular RE games), which is good). There are three different paths to go. Each has a different piece of the story and some enemies and areas the other ones don't(though one of them is, admittedly, pretty lame). Each one has one specific gun to collect, too(I believe all the other weapons can be picked up no matter which way you choose to go, or how many times you play, as each path takes you through many of the same areas). As such, there are four main guns... one you start out with, the other three you pick up... and they all have unlimited ammo(as the only guns in the game), but each has different specs(speed, reload time, accuracy, damage done and such). Obviously, you have to beat the game at least three times, each time going a different route to get all of them. Not much replay value apart from the three routes, though. The voice acting is just... bad. The writing and dialog is painfully poor. Fair shooting game. I recommend it to fans of shooting games. Fans of Resident Evil should think twice before playing this, as it's barely even a game that belongs in the franchise. Had it been an unrelated game, it would get less negative words for it, but it would probably not have had as wide sales. 6/10

---{ Pros }---

• If you're a diehard Resident Evil fan, this is a must.

• If you like Oldschool Light Gun Shooter games, this is for you.

• Extra areas to explore to keep you around for a 2nd or 3rd playthrough.

• Creepy zombie moaning

---{ Cons }---

• Story is pretty short, you can finish in 1 day.

• The writing could have been better.

---{ Difficulty }---

• Easy to learn.

Played this one in the spooky dark over the course of two nights. It's blatantly terrible in a few areas: the voice acting genuinely resembles 12 year old me in my old Lego stop-motion videos, the character models come close to the quality of PS1 Hagrid (tho not as handsome), the bleak, twisty plot feels like it's written by a teenager.

But the gameplay loop is there, mostly resembling RE1 with its glacial doors and obnoxious hunters. My heart pounded more in the first run of this (yes I got game over thanks to three uggo hunters in one cell) than in any of the previous three games. Ammo initially felt appropriately scarce, only assuaged by it carrying into my second playthrough.

The different routes are sick, went to the arcade one night then the library another, great summation of my life. The atmosphere is weirdly solid; neon lights, grimy metal, areas fading into the black abyss, the game lets the imagination cook. Intent or console limitations? We know the actual answer but if I'm allowed to keep saying fog makes Morrowind cooler then I'll let the devs have a chance here.

The soundtrack pops off. It's got that late 90s weirdness to it (people say that about me too, in private). I was surprised by how dynamic it was sometimes. Zombies appeared in the theatre and breakcore mode kicked in outta nowhere. Almost was more spooked by that than the three dudes tryin to eat me.

The game has a charm to it that I just can't fully badmouth no matter how hard I try.

The only time I got genuinely upset was when two alligators appeared either side of me - it wasn't because of the difficulty, it was more that the alligator sandwich joke my dad never stops saying finally got payoff.

The three first Resident Evil-games are known for their high quality graphics, gameplay, atmosphere and story. Resident Evil Survivor takes the series in a new direction. Resident Evil Survivor is a game, which marries two different genres: the first-person-shoot`em-up(like Doom or Quake) and the light-gun-shoot`em-up(like Time Crisis and Point Blank). You play in a first-person-view and you are able to go wherever you like.

Survivor consentrates mostly on shooting and little on puzzles. The story is ok, but not as gripping as in RE 1,2 or 3. But that was never the point. Survivor has scary moments and it has a well-composed soundtrack up its sleeve. A very good game, but I don`t like the fact that you have to complete the game in ONE sitting, because you are not able to save your position. This small niggle can prove to be slightly annoying. Survivor is worth the money, and I will recommend fans of the RE-series and the survival-horror genre to get this game. (Americans should get this game on import from Europe). 8/10