January 27th, 2023, marks the 23rd anniversary of Capcom's Resident Evil Survivor, which launched on the PlayStation console. The game was released for the PlayStation console on the same date in 2000 in which the Japanese and European versions allowed usage of Namco's Guncon peripheral (which was created to play Namco's Time Crisis) but that feature was removed from the North American version as a consequence of the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999 that happened on April 20th, 1999, in Columbine, Colorado.
The game's story takes place a few months after the events of Resident Evil 2 and puts the players in the role of Ark Thompson, an amnesiac, who survives a helicopter crash on Sheena Island. Ark crosses paths with a man named Andy and learns that he is a man named “Vincent,” which Ark learns is a big lie as the story progresses.
As Ark struggles to regain his memories, he must make it across town and head to Sheena Island's Umbrella facility.
Ark finds allies in the Klein children, Lott and Lily, some of the few survivors. The children initially believe that the Umbrella Corporation is on the side of good and therefore Ark is the “villain,” but that changes when they meet Vincent Goldman (the real Vincent). Once he regains his memories, Ark remembers that he was asked by Leon S. Kennedy (the male hero of Resident Evil 2) to investigate the outbreak on Sheena Island.
It is revealed that Vincent caused the outbreak.
Resident Evil Survivor plays like a first-person shooter version of Resident Evil 2 as the two share the game graphics. The enemy models (zombies, lickers, and so on) are (mostly) taken from Resident Evil 2, but the game brings back the Hunters from the first Resident Evil, and when I say the enemy models of Resident Evil 2, that includes the notorious Mr. X.
But Resident Evil Survivor has its own original enemy, the Trashsweeper, an SMG-armed humanoid black-ops soldier that dissolves after death. I assumed that they'd leave their weapons and ammo after dying but that wasn't the case.
The gameplay should serve as a precursor to Resident Evil 7, the first mainstream franchise title played in first-person view. When you come across enemies, you can move the cross-hairs to hit specific enemies or specific areas of their bodies.
You begin with a pistol that contains unlimited ammo and gradually collect better weapons with limited ammo.
Resident Evil Survivor is followed by two sequels, Resident Evil Survivor 2: Code Veronica (adapted from Resident Evil: Code Veronica) and Resident Evil Survivor: Dead Aim (contains an original storyline).
You can read the longer version here on Medium: https://medium.com/@canhoangtran/happy-23rd-to-resident-evil-survivor-4ac1f1c77e37