Series : Resident Evil
Developer : TOSE
Genre : Lightgun shooter
Themes : Zombies
Horror
Achievements : retroachievements.orgnot completed.
A first-person Resident Evil game for the PlayStation, designed for light gun controllers. When controlled using the light gun (for example the Namco GunCon), you rotate your view horizontally using two controller buttons, and move forward by holding the trigger off-screen, and move backward by shooting twice off-screen and then holding the button. Very strange, but you could probably get used to it. Menus are accessed by pressing both buttons. An alternative control method uses a standard PlayStation controller or a DualShock for movement, and holding R1 allows aiming using the D-pad or joystick. The US release is particularly interesting, because the game came out only a year after the Columbine High School massacre, where two high school boys murdered 13 people and injured 21 with submachine guns, rifles, and shotguns. The two kids being fans of FPS games such as Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem caused a moral panic over violent video games at the time. As a reaction to this, the US release did not have light gun support, only the alternative D-pad or DualShock controls. The PAL release retained the light gun controls.
Image source: play-roms.com
Facts
- After a game over, the game saves which guns you have, and you can now start a 'New Game Plus' of sorts with this set of guns.
Analysis
- The Gun controls for this game is an atrocity, but I do recognize one neat idea: When you shoot, you're pointing the gun at the screen. To walk around, you have to point the gun off screen and control using the trigger and buttons. If I point the gun up, it feels like I'm an FBI agent, walking around with my gun pointed upwards, and then aiming at the screen when the zombies show up. Fun idea, although actually playing the game feels like a cruel punishment.
- The limited continues, and the fact that you only save which guns you have, makes me think that this game was designed to be run-based: You play once, you run out of lives, you restart with more guns, and try again.
Log entries
- I've messed around with the japanese version in the mednafen emulator, but I'm frustrated by the controls (which shouldn't really be a surprise, given the reception this game got). It's pretty obvious to try the light gun controls using the mouse when you sit in front of a computer, but shooting off-screen is a problem. Mednafen has an input for shooting off-screen, but it doesn't work in this game. Shooting off-screen in windowed mode is horrible, because you will probably end up clicking outside the window. Full-screen mode works fine, though.
- Inspired by finishing the RE1 remake and by a certain video by a certain angry video game person, I took another look at this. I tried the japanese version again, but was annoyed with how tricky it is to shoot off-screen in windowed mode, and that I can't capture fullscreen mode in OBS. Also, I think the japanese text might prove a problem later in the game. I downloaded the US release, and tried playing with a controller. Moving around works fine with the DualShock (only one joystick moves, like in RE4), but holding R1 to aim a little crosshair on the screen feels awful.
- I found a hack of the US version, called 'Resident Evil Survivor (USA) Light Gun Support' by Raziel I.C.H.I. Znot. Armed with a Wiimote, the 'Infrared Ray Inductor' sensor bar replacement, and the MiSTer, I started playing this 'classic' light gun game. I got pretty far, and completing it seems within reach.
- I tried to finish this and reached the final boss. I would need incredible amounts of ammunition to defeat it, and since you can't reload earlier saves, and you only have 3 continues, I'm giving up.
- I tried using save states and using different strategies, but there is no way I'm beating the final boss with what I have. I even tried enabling cheats, but I couldn't get one that gave me infinite health.
2018-04-08
2018-11-04
2022-03-22
1 - Surviving Resident Evil2022-10-01
