Later this June, Nintendo 3DS owners will get the first Resident Evil game with the release of Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D and included inside the game is the demo of the upcoming Revelations that promises to bring the franchise back to its roots. This year at E3, we had an inside look as to what Revelations has to offer and from what we played, it really does bring the game back to where Resident Evil used to be; complete horror.
The demo that was available for us didn’t give us much of the story. However, the game starts out on a ship where Jill wakes up in a Cabin. With only a handgun in her arsenal, she must find her way out and meet up with her new partner Parker. As soon as the player picks the game up and has earphones on, the scary atmosphere that we’ve used to experience when playing Resident Evil 1 or 2 will get inside the player’s skin. The eerie sound and the footsteps that Jill is making will help build up the scary atmosphere. Unexpected pop ups of the new monsters will surely scare the hell out of you.
Judging the graphics of Revelations, I am pretty impressed. The game is built on Capcom’s MT Framework and we’ve already seen what the engine does as Capcom has been using it across its 3DS games. The character and monster designs are well detailed and drawn well. For gamers who played Resident Evil 5, they will pretty much be surprised on how Jill looks in Revelations. Expect to see the new enemies’ claws and amorphous body parts in all 3D. While some games look unbearable at the max 3D settings, Revelations did a good job in making the game in 3D at max settings. The well designed environments will give players more reason to explore the game as Jill battles her way out through the horrific and nefarious monsters.
Capcom considers Resident Evil Revelations not a spin off title but a true Resident Evil game. For those who miss the survival horror theme of the Resident Evil series, it will be back with Revelations as players can expect less ammunition. Resident Evil 5 was mostly a third person shooter as ammunition was scattered everywhere. In Revelations, players will learn how to conserve ammunition, run away, and that’s what the demo showed us this week.
As I mentioned earlier, Jill just wakes up in a cabin and she’s ready to get the hell out of the ship. Using only her handgun, she will go through different places. Free exploration is still in the game where players can check out the items that are worth looking at. An example of this is a toilet with blood on it or a dead person lying around. Just like in every Resident Evil game, there will be puzzles to solve and thanks to the bottom screen, all the solving be done in there. The puzzles that we get to try out is by touching the screws to remove them from the panel and aligning the bolts to the lights to open the electronic door. Once it’s open, Jill enters a familiar looking place with a mansion theme on it.
Talking about the controls, it’s somehow complicated to follow. To shoot down enemies, players will have to hold the R button to aim (a laser sight will appear similar to Resident Evil 4 & 5) and press Y to shoot. the A button is used to make Jill run. For changing weapons, players will have press the D-pad to switch from the different weapons. Accessing the herbs will pretty much be easier as players can use it instantly by pressing the B button. A new item called Item Scanner will be available for Jill to use at some point in the game. The item will allow Jill to scan through the room and uncover items. When there is an item, it will glow on the screen.
Resident Evil Revelations is one of the titles I’m looking forward to most on the Nintendo 3DS. Playing the game doesn’t feel like it’s a handheld game but a console game instead. Hopefully by the time the game comes out, the developer will have polished up the controls and the combat of the game.
