Resident Evil: Survivor is a spin-off of Capcom’s survival horror series. Instead of giving players control of characters from a third-person perspective as in previous games, Resident Evil: Survivor takes place from a first-person viewpoint. Originally conceived as a light-gun game (Capcom opted to take this feature out of the U.S. release, citing heightened tension over gun violence), it essentially plays like one. Players may rotate their view and move up and down hallways, but when the zombies come slouching, it will be time to let loose a hail of bullets to bring them down.
Although the plot of Resident Evil: Survivor is a side-story, it still refers to the events of other Resident Evil games. Raccoon City, the now-famous American suburb gripped by an industrial plague that turned its citizens into zombies, is gone, blown completely off of the map in order to keep the dreaded virus from spreading. Unfortunately, Umbrella, the wicked corporation that created the deadly outbreak, hasn’t stopped spreading its own dark research. The company has victimized another small town, and apparently in a desperate attempt to flee the carnage, a helicopter has crashed. In this chopper is a man who cannot remember who he is or what he was doing prior to the crash. He is armed with only a handgun, and ahead of him he has a task that none would envy — to escape this nightmare town crawling with zombies and other foul creatures, and discover who he is.
Items, weapons, and enemies have all been borrowed from the main series, as has the jumpy, tense atmosphere, the strange dialogue, and the series’ trademark eerie music. The only noticeable thing missing from Survivor are the puzzles found in the other Resident Evil titles. This game is about action, through and through.
