Resident Evil: Survivor - Playstation

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: Video Games

A first-person-shooter based on the Resident Evil series of "survival horror" video games, Resident Evil: Survivor is an unfortunate casualty of political correctness. It's painfully obvious that this game was meant to be played with a light gun, which the Japanese version supports, but the U.S. version decidedly does not. Instead, a rudimentary control scheme using the PlayStation controller has been substituted, one which is simply ill-suited for the otherwise unmodified arcade-style gameplay.

Were it not for this major shortcoming, Resident Evil: Survivor's other flaws would be more tolerable, if not excusable. The attempt here to graft various elements of the Resident Evil games onto a shoot-'em-up just doesn't take. The plot--which casts the player as an amnesiac who survives a helicopter crash only to find himself in a foreboding town swarming with zombies and other hideous biotechnological mutations--is more of a side story to the Resident Evil saga, and not a very interesting one at that. The game's puzzles practically solve themselves, and while your character is free (more or less) to go where he pleases, the gameplay is so terribly linear that it might as well take place on a predetermined track. Once you factor in the game's coarse graphics, choppy animation, and spotty sound, what you're left with here is far more horrible than horrifying. --Joe Hon

Pros:

• Provides some side-story elements to the Resident Evil saga

Cons:

• No light gun support; substituted controls ill-suited for arcade-style gameplay
• Coarse graphics, choppy animation, and spotty sound
• Short game length with practically no replay value

A first-person-shooter based on the Resident Evil series of "survival horror" video games, Resident Evil: Survivor is an unfortunate casualty of political correctness. It's painfully obvious that this game was meant to be played with a light gun, which the Japanese version supports, but the U.S. version decidedly does not. Instead, a rudimentary control scheme using the PlayStation controller has been substituted, one which is simply ill-suited for the otherwise unmodified arcade-style gameplay.

Were it not for this major shortcoming, Resident Evil: Survivor's other flaws would be more tolerable, if not excusable. The attempt here to graft various elements of the Resident Evil games onto a shoot-'em-up just doesn't take. The plot--which casts the player as an amnesiac who survives a helicopter crash only to find himself in a foreboding town swarming with zombies and other hideous biotechnological mutations--is more of a side story to the Resident Evil saga, and not a very interesting one at that. The game's puzzles practically solve themselves, and while your character is free (more or less) to go where he pleases, the gameplay is so terribly linear that it might as well take place on a predetermined track. Once you factor in the game's coarse graphics, choppy animation, and spotty sound, what you're left with here is far more horrible than horrifying. --Joe Hon

Pros:

• Provides some side-story elements to the Resident Evil saga

Cons:

• No light gun support; substituted controls ill-suited for arcade-style gameplay
• Coarse graphics, choppy animation, and spotty sound
• Short game length with practically no replay value