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.
