Resident Evil Survive (PC)

I very like Capcom’s games, such as: Monster Hunter, Final Fight, Warriors of Fate, Aliens versus Predator, and even Capcom Fighting Evolution. But I’ll be honest with you. Regarding Resident Evil franchise, I don’t like it that much. However, I did play Resident Evil 3 and 4. Perhaps playing OpenBor game: Resident Evil Survive (2025) made by Chris Monvel, will change my mind about Resident Evil franchise.   

I think the police car on main menu, is taken from that stage in Marvel versus Street Fighter minus the police takes cover behind it. Nice editing there. As you expected from OpenBor game, Resident Evil Survive is indie beat em up game. Combining zombie apocalypse which is the thing that I hate, with beat em up gameplay that I always fancy. I play this game until I get my hands on Sega’s Zombie Revenge. Sounds fair, yeah?

 

I pick that bastard in Resident Evil 3, Nikolai because to hell with him. I just pick him for first pick and never do that again for the rest of playthrough. As I choose him, he said” Not now! I’m busy”. Are you busy posing, huh? You damn poser!  

 

Right after that, there’s a villain that narrates the protagonists because they think they fighting evil and he called the suckers. Is that brainwashed Jill Valentine on the back?         

 

We start at tutorial level which is unusual in Beat em up game, but not that I complaint. The tutorial takes place in spot where Kenneth’s neck ripped by a zombie in that iconic first encounter in Resident Evil 1. Ingrid Hunnigan here gladly provides us with tutorial. Tapping up or down twice to dodge sideway. Got it! 

 

Not only I have punch button (not default: “J” button), but also I have knife button (not default: “I” button) for heavy melee attack. I can’t make special combo by mixing attack and heavy attack. However, you can finish your usual combo early with heavy attack because it comes out quite fast and intuitive.

 

Look who I found! It’s the everyone’s beloved merchant. He pops in between level to give away provisions. Yes, I said give away. Because as far as I know there’s no currency in the game to buy things and the merchant seems doesn’t mind that I pick up everything for free. So, the items are: green herb for small healing item, mixed green and red herb for big healing item, First-aid spray for 1up, and Kendo shop’s brand ammo box to replenish ammo bar. You can also pick Jill’s doll for another 1up.

 

That tutorial alone is the entire level 1! That was so short. But thank Chris Monvel for that. I don’t want to play as Nikolai for too long. What’s this Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service? Is that organization where Chris works for prior to Resident Evil 7 event? Or he still works for BSAA? I’m not well informed regarding new Resident Evil games, sorry.

 

Level 2 takes place in Resident Evil Zero! It’s kind of iffy to play this RE because it’s only on Gamecube and Wii. Oh wait! There’s Steam version? Maybe I will check it out later in unforeseeable future. All I know about RE 0 is: it takes place in train. That’s about it.

 

I take Billy because he’s the protagonist of the game besides Rebecca Chamber. There’s desperation attack activated by single press of button (not default: “L” button) instead of pressing both attack and jump button which is nice because I can activate it very easily and fast when I get surrounded by zombies. What I don’t like is how Billy does the desperation attack. It’s just plain uppercut. Lame.

You can find cardboard of smiling guy, let’s just call him Cardboard Charles. If you break him, he will drop Jill Sandwich that add 2 extra lives when picked up!  Soldier_thanksfortheheal02.wav

 

Of course there’s zombie dogs. I think both zombie’s and zombie dog’s sprites are taken from Marvel Versus Capcom 2 as part of Jill’s special move. I notice that dead STARS’s member has the same pose as Ryu from Street Fighter 2 when get knocked down. You can find STARS ID card near that dead guy and Kenneth. When you pick it, you get extra life. Again! So far, the game really generous with extra lives.

 

Zombies are not the real problem even though they’re the staple of Resident Evil game. They’re fragile and slow. The real problem comes from Umbrella soldier armed with MP5 submachine gun! He brought gun into fistfight. He’s smart bastard. He relentlessly firing his gun. He does pause firing his gun once in a while but without reloading animation. That’s barely enough time to retaliate. What quite baffles me is the zombies don’t attack the Umbrella soldier! Maybe he wears perfume with zombie’s scent to trick the zombies not attacking him.  

 

I do have gun of my own but limited to ammo whereas that umbrella soldier seemingly able to spray the lead without care. There are 2 guns: 1) Light gun which usually handgun, can be activated with light gun button (not default: “Q” button). 2) Heavy gun (not default: “O” button) that varies between character. For example: Chris Redfield using shotgun and Billy using colt magnum. Naturally the heavy gun depletes the ammo bar much bigger than the handgun. But personally, I feel like the handgun is not useful because it deals small damage. Because of that I put the handgun button at “Q” which is in awkward and forgettable position but close enough where WASD buttons are if I feel like to use the handgun. You better rely on melee combo than using handgun. The only case that I can think of regarding the use of handgun: you use it to interrupt enemy’s from afar.

 

The merchant did tell me that he will appear on the stage. Punching him will make him drop first-aid spray, then he says “Thank you!” and leave the scene with nattily bicycle. I know the merchant is not ordinary guy. But in this game, he’s extra funny.

The I encounter the first boss: a BOW Tyrant. I shouldn’t question why there’s Tyrant on the train because I barely know Resident Evil Zero. But I question why the Tyrant team up with umbrella soldier. It’s barely fair. Obviously having frontal fisticuff with Tyrant is stupid idea. He resists getting flinched when punched. Thankfully, jumping attack is powerful enough to knock him down.

 

Next section is on the train’s roof. Looking at the velocity wind around, Billy shouldn’t be able to stay still on the train’s roof. Worse is: crows are also here to fight me while they’re flying around casually. Physics law hugely denied here.   

 

The boss of this stage is this giant bat. I didn’t know there’s giant bat in Resident Evil game. He could be Sonar from Dispatch as far as I concern. The giant bat is less tough than Tyrant, naturally. There’s miraculous way to fight any enemies in this game and that is: sliding attack, activated by pressing jump button while hold down direction. Not only you can dodge enemies with the slide but also it makes them knocked down. You can even hit enemies on the ground with the sliding move! The slide also has short delay afterward, meaning you can just repeatedly slide attack enemies to your heart content. Here’s something to illustrate how “broken” the slide attack.  

I know. This is not the same game. I can’t make animated gif on OpenBor game. So, here’s gif from Taito’s Crime City which depicts how efficient the sliding attack on RE Survive. It’s not 100% similar, I know. But it’s quite accurate in gameplay context. Just imagine the protagonist is Billy and the enemies are zombies, crows, umbrella soldier, or giant bat. Not that difficult, no? Man! I wish Dick Tracy has this powerful rolling attack to mow down those mafias. Anyway, you can check someone else’s review about Crime City here, if you feel want to.   

 

Anyway, back to RE Survive. I encounter Hunter which is very dangerous BOW throughout the series. However, he’s weak to sliding attack.

 

The boss stage this time is Queen Leech, the queen of all leech zombies. The brown guys, you see? Do leech zombies know the concept of monarchy that they need someone to be their queen or something? To be honest, after that Tyrant the bosses go down in difficulty. But I reckon one of her attacks is Venom’s heavy punch in Marvel vs Capcom. You know, the one where Venom entire upper body turn into giant jaw biting forward. Although the bosses have downward felt in difficulty curve, they probably well placed chronologically.

 

Next stage is Resident Evil! Wow! What a mansion! Where the heck is the first typewriter near the main stairs though?

 

So, we start at the blood stain. I hope it’s not Chris’ blood. Anyway, against common sense I pick Carlos, the umbrella mercenary from Resident Evil 3. His heavy gun is Colt M4A1 assault rifle which is probably the best gun in this game. It doesn’t knock away enemy like Billy’s magnum but it fires a burst of bullets that can hit multiple enemies.

 

I have to point out 3 things. First, there’s crimson head zombie on the upper side but as far as I know they’re just like regular zombie but tougher. Second, the table looks lousy. Look how thin the table legs are. Third which is the most important thing to say: the heavy melee attack cost a part of life! I can understand the desperation attack costs some health to activate but why heavy melee attack too? To make things worse, Carlos’ heavy melee attack is buttstock strike. Why the trivial buttstock strike takes Carlos’ health a bit? Maybe I can understand knife strike cost a part of user’s health because there’s the user’s finger get cut accidentally because they swing the knife too energetically. But buttstock strike? How? I’m so baffled!    

Oh no! It’s Lisa Trevor, that one creepy monster in Resident Evil remake. However, I can summon Mikhail Victor! Why do I need the heavy melee attack when I can have the captain of Delta Platoon of Umbrella mercenary? So, some characters have special command with quarter-circle-forward motion. Carlos can summon Captain Mikhail with quarter-circle-forward + heavy melee attack button. Mikhail’s assist is so useful. He can fire his assault rifle without worry about ammo. If some enemy is close enough to him, he can deliver swift strike with either buttstock or kick.

 

We arrive at that part of Spencer Mansion where Plant 42 dwells and eventually we have to defeat it. You have to hit the plant in this exact spot when the cover is open. With Captain Mikhail’s help, we got the root of the problem. :)  

 

Now, we’re on the underground lab skipping the rolling boulder and BOW spider in original game. Though I have to fight several zombified Forest Speyer and he explodes when defeated for some reason.

 

Naturally, we fight Tyrant. The Resident Evil 1 version. But he’s no match for Carlos and Captain Mikhail teamwork. Not even chimeras can even the odd in significant way. I can’t blame you if you don’t remember chimera. They’re the fast monster that you don’t want to fight in generator room.

 

Wait! What? What in tarnation is this?

 

Oh, I see. The crow hunt is parody to duck hunt but with zombie crow and you aim with cursor, not NES zapper. The bonus stage is fine. It will be better if there’s the stupid dog from Duck Hunt that I can shoot down.  

 

Now, we’re at Resident Evil 2 where RE series begin to shine and gain high popularity.  

For this occasion, I pick Hunk. I have story with him in Monster Hunter Generation Ultimate. You see. I can rename Palicoes/Felyne companions in that Monhun game. Hunk is one of them and he helps me in the quest to hunt Rathian and Astalos. He’s very helpful. My other Felyne companion in that quest is: Hestia from Danmachi aka “Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon”. Anyway, Hunk use switch blade like Assassin Creed which is unusual.

 

This level introduces us with zombies that their skin gets melted down when defeated and later turn into the iconic BOW Licker. I don’t think that’s how BOW Licker works but again I’m not that good at RE lore.

 

Hunk has (I think) Mac-10 as the heavy gun. It has less damage per bullets than assault rifle but has more bullets per fire. Then there’s zombified Brad Vickers. Unfortunately, he doesn’t drop the secret key. Just dropped the STARS id card like other STARS member. It’s extra life item, I know.

 

The boss of this level is the iconic Mr. X. You see how incompetent Umbrella is, as Mr. X without hesitate to kill Hunk who’s umbrella operative. I mean sure I shot him in this moment but he punched him first, in my defense.  

 

Ok. Now this is really dumb of Umbrella corporation. Umbrella soldiers which I assume Hunk’s subordinates on that crucial operation, shot down Hunk himself to dead! Soldier_jeers06.wav

 

Next boss stage is this mutant. What’s this G Mutant? I think that’s the mutant created by William Birkin after putting mutant larva into Chief Iron or that journalist.   

 

Oh, come on! This is the third time Mr. X picks a fight with me. I know he’s supposed to be persistent enemy that predate Nemesis. But targeting umbrella operative over and over again is beyond incompetence. It’s just bloody stupid.

 

On the other hand, William Birkin certainly have grudge against me as Hunk. He and his team are responsible for shooting down William and eventually makes the zombie outbreak happens. But it’s little odd that the BOW plant teams up with William. It’s VINE, I guess?

 

Oh, God. He’s immediately transformed when defeated. He doesn’t get flinched when does that intimidating run if get hit by my bullets. But I can knock him down with running attack.

 

3rd phase already? This is what I don’t understand about bosses that has multiple phases with each phase becomes more difficult and dangerous. Why they don’t just go full throttle from the beginning? Shouldn’t getting defeated make them weaker? But it works in opposite way, instead. I hate that trope in Bleach manga. In William’s defense, the serum takes effect over time. So, it’s bit justifiable but I still don’t get it.

 

This is super ludicrous. But at least I have to walk few steps first before fighting this final form of William Birkin. Shouldn’t he turn into this gigantic heap of monster in evacuation train though? Anyway, no enemy tough enough to endure the repeated sliding attack. Good job, Hunk! You’re the best.

Now, we’re move on to Resident Evil Outbreak that I haven’t played at all. RE Outbreak predates Left 4 Dead or Dead Island for co-op zombie outbreak game genre and that’s all I know.

 

Soon or later, I have to pick the STAR of the franchise: Jill Valentine. Good thing, she still has the rocket launcher in Marvel vs Capcom 2, activated by quarter-circle-forward plus desperation attack. Even though it uses desperation attack button, it doesn’t use my health. But it depletes entire ammo bar though. Unfortunately, the knockback when using the rocket launcher, makes me fly into fire pit behind.

 

Oh, what’s this? Jill can change into her urban fashion in Resident Evil 3! I accidentally did that with quarter-circle-forward plus light melee attack. Her moveset becomes slightly different and her heavy gun change from grenade launcher into the secret shotgun in RE 3. Personally, I like grenade launcher.

 

What the heck is this licker boss? They have well-defined buttock up there. Much like other bosses, this licker also resistant from getting flinched when hit. However, they can only face left direction so I stab them a lot from behind. That’s like what I do when hunting Gammoth in Monster Hunter Generation Ultimate. So, I barely get their trunk as loot but I barely care.

 

Apparently, there’s special move activated by pressing forward direction and desperation attack. The input command makes Jill does some cartwheeling which is quite nice.

 

The boss stage is another Tyrant. Is this the one where the player can take control of him?

Jill’s super move becomes different when she’s in her fashion at Resident Evil 3. Now she fires this weird hi-tech cannon. Maybe it’s from the final section of RE 3. Sadly, I can only use it once.

 

OH MY GOD! WHAT THE FREAK IS THAT?????

Sorry for being so jumpy upon seeing this massive abomination. But seriously what in Sam Hill is this boss? Because I never played Resident Evil Outbreak before. Don’t worry about Jill. She’s in the middle of jumping attack using her knife. The blood spray belong to the monster and not Jill.

 

Then there’s another boss stage where Jill breaks all of advertisement boards for Resident Evil movie. I don’t know the reason. Maybe Jill hates Milla Jovovich.

 

Now, we’re move on to Resident Evil 3! I think we might encounter the famous BOW Nemesis. Just my hunch. ┐I_I┌

Jill had her turn. So, I pick the badblood dad: Barry Burton. This is new. There’s crowd that run away. Maybe they’re taken from opening effect of Q’s from Street Fighter 3, though I’m not sure. The boy near me looks like Yun when he was a wee kid. Look at that poor damsel in light green towel. I mean sure, you have to run for your live immediately when there’s zombie outbreak. No time to dress properly and all. At least she wears sandals to protect her feet from nasty things on the ground.  

 

Even though, Barry doesn’t have special move. He got badblood jumping kick and I’m not disappointed picking him. Look at that bloodstain. I hope, it’s not Chris’ blood. Did I already make joke about Chris’ blood? My bad. Anyway, what’s this Drain Deimo that I fight? Oh, I see. They’re the chimera-like creature in sewer but weaker.

 

Barry’s heavy gun is his trustful Colt Python! Heavy_niceshot02.wav

 

This is also new. There’s this fully armored police single-handedly helps me fighting zombies. That’s nice though I notice that he uses Steyr AUG Bullpup rifle that’s very uncommon in RE game.

See? It’s Nemesis right there. Though I don’t remember him wields Gatling gun.

 

He also has flamethrower. Why Nemesis is the only one who have all the fun weapons? It’s not fair. By the way, the armored police was killed before encounter with Nemesis but you can’t expect competent AI from random NPC in RE game. I may or may not make snide to Ashley Graham from Resident Evil 4 there.

 

We arrive at the hospital. No, we don’t need vaccine for Jill Valentine. We just happen here for the sake of fighting more zombies and mutants. I don’t remember hunter is blue though.

 

Who the heck plant landmines inside of hospital? It’s serious violation to Geneva Convention. At least, enemies can get hit by the mines.

Look who’s back! It’s Nemesis but without his trench coat and big weapons. So, he’s easier to beat. I like to point out that Barry’s running attack is uppercut with his Colt Python and I can juggle enemies with this move! But only for 2 times hit though.      

 

Of course, there’s Grave Digger as stage boss. He run over me from left and right. He also burst from ground suddenly. He’s pretty much as annoying as Nibelsnarf/Happuboroka in Monster Hunter. On the bright side, the ground-digging bastard also hit zombie reinforcements.

 

This stage is unsettling because there are lots of dead Tyrant, Mr. X and Mikhael Victor. The return of Nemesis is hardly surprising or scary. On the other hand, I’m baffled with the presence of headcrab zombie from Half Life, on the right side. Ok, fine. It’s Las Plagas or whatever the parasite is.

 

Finally, we fight the mutated Nemesis. Am I supposed to hit the railgun cannon like in RE 3, right? Hitting the Nemesis directly seems not working well. There’s no zombie reinforcement that provide the boss with disposable cannon fodder or provide me with extra provision when they defeated. But there’s limited number of ammo and herb near the cannon. As you can see from this screenshot, there’s impact effect when I jump kick the cannon in that specific spot. When I do that Nemesis’ health bar drained. So, I keep kicking the cannon and hit Nemesis with Colt Python whenever I have the ammo for it.   

 

The cannon isn’t activated or anything but I killed Nemesis anyway. Then, we’re treated to retold of the end of RE 3 with Jill’s narration.

 

Then we got picture of Jill in cozy apartment on another city. Maybe Fox City or something. Umbrella will get what coming for them. Don’t you worry, Jill!

That’s the end of story mode but we’re not done yet. Finishing the game once allow me to get access to survival mode. I don’t know why exactly but this level select reminds me of The Combatribes with the versus mode.

 

For this occasion, I pick the traitorous bastard Wesker. The dead zombies around this part are not from my deed. They’re just decoration. The real dead enemies will blink out of existence in short time. Wesker’s heavy gun is he throws missile! It doesn’t cost ammo but cost some health. It makes sense though, because the missile explosion also hurts Wesker.

 

The survival mode is as what you expect. You defeat wave after wave of enemy. Once in a while there are 3 item boxes from saving room, to give you some provisions. These item boxes remind me of chest in bonus level of Legend SNES version.

 

Once again, Umbrella’s incompetent blows my mind. Wesker has been killed by Umbrella soldier. I only have 1 life reserve so Wesker have no continue. What a fitting end for this miserable git. Anyway, let’s end it here.

 

I like this modified “Winners don’t use drugs” from William S. Sessions’ message in any arcade machines on North America. This message will be more relatable if the drugs they’re talking about made by Umbrella Corporation.

 

Chris Monvel ‘s Resident Evil Survive (2025) is fairly amazing OpenBor game. In fact, RE Survive is more enjoyable than MK – The Chosen One that I played months before. Let’s start with the bad thing first: 1) The handgun button feels redundant. All of the characters are capable fighter. They can barehandedly fight zombies and other lesser enemies with quite ease. Though the heavy gun is useful in the fight when enemies are too many or fighting boss. Maybe map both of gun function into one button and make the heavy gun activated with special move input. Or maybe disband the handgun function at all. I might be too cruel for that suggestion. 2) Heavy melee button requires health cost to activate. I can understand desperation attack uses health cost because it’s group control move to make safe space around the playable character. But you can do that with heavy melee attack because it’s just normal melee attack but only slightly powerful. I prefer there’s weapon durability bar like Legend or Soul Fighter. Either it refills over time or when player hit enemies. Successful hit with handgun also refills the weapon bar. That be nice. Some character has the same heavy and desperation attack but I’m sure the developer knows this and will fix it soon. Lastly and the most important is the absence of oil drum! I would love to throw oil drum at zombies. Just kidding, by the way. :P  

Then we move on to good thing. I like the lesser enemies are not so tough and durable. Except the umbrella soldier. On the other hand, summoned characters or that police NPC are “broken” because they have unlimited ammo and they fire their gun relatively aggressive. Maybe add reloading animation to balance it out. Another thing that “broken” is the sliding attack. Even though the brokenness is very useful for the player but I think it needs balance like adding cooldown. I don’t want to be fun killer but somebody have to point that out. The length of the game is just about right and not overstaying its welcome. Maybe it can be expanded to RE 4 or RE 5 if developer feels want to or by people’s demand. Just don’t go far to RE 7. I’m not a fan of Ethan Winters. The roster is pretty good. It will get expanded later because some characters on attraction mode, don’t appear in actual game such as Sherry Birkin from RE 6 or Sheeva Allomar from RE 5. Personally, I want cast of Night Slasher put into this game to see they’re implemented with the RE Survive unique control scheme. But that just my crazy idea. I prefer 2 versions of Jill are in separated slot in the roster because the special change is not reversible. The moveset is not big but serviceable. I didn’t have opportunity to show you that there’s the usual sticky grab mechanism like in any Capcom beat em up games. Sadly, that the throw is only in backward direction and most of the throw is just back toss and Tomoe Nage. Not much variation. Running attack is powerful and useful. There’s funny bug where I keep holding forward direction and tapping attack button after jumping running attack, I can follow it up with running attack. This trick can kill lesser enemies very easily. The game is very generous with extra life. In fact, the game is saturated with it! Extra life comes from first-aid spray, Jill’s Sandwich, and STARS ID card and they’re very abundant! Although the life count reset to 3 if you load the game from auto save. I wish the items has more variety in function besides extra life. Be it temporary invincibility, or full health + full ammo. Or maybe limited number of screen-clearing bomb or CPU assist! It can be activated with single button press. The button for it can replace the handgun button that I have mentioned felt redundant. The music is bit energic but not memorable. The sound effect is fairly good.   

Resident Evil Survive (2025) is fun OpenBor game either for graphic safari or indie beat em up game. Perhaps it lacks of improvement but as it’s fine as it is. You should give it a try because there’s not many beat em up games that allow you to survive zombie horde by beating zombies up!