Resident Evil Revelations

By Stephen Pastic

Set between Resident Evil 4 & 5, Revelations seeks to provide a handheld Resident Evil experience reminiscent of its console based siblings. 

Given the series' popularity, there is little doubt that many will be wondering how well Revelations measures up to its intended goal.  Let's just say the future of the 3DS (and handheld gaming as a whole) looks much more interesting, for better or worse.

Originally starting life as a survival horror franchise (extremely limited ammo, clunky controls, fixed camera angles). Since RE 4 the series has gone more in the direction of a hardcore third person shooter in terms of gameplay, if not thematically. 

Revelations attempts to reconcile modern RE gameplay conventions with the atmosphere of earlier entries, and whilst not everything succeeds, Revelations definitely hits far more often than it misses.

Story wise, the plot primarily follows Jill Valentine aboard the Queen Zenobia, a seemingly abandoned cruise ship tied in some way to a solar powered city tragically destroyed one year prior.  Chris Redfield also returns with some chapters of his own along with some new supporting characters to fill out parts of the story.

While the moment to moment story is more than enough to push the player forward, the overarching plot manages to paradoxically be ridiculously simplistic yet simultaneously convoluted - along with the game's obsession with Dante Aligheri's "The Divine Comedy" (which it crams down the players throat at every opportunity, despite a tenuous connection at best), RE wants players to think it is far more intelligent than it actually is.

Revelations plays very similarly to RE 4 and 5, and I was surprised to find that it actually works rather well on the 3DS.  Once again, the camera is positioned behind the player, allowing players to accurately place their shots when entering aiming mode. 

An additional option here is that Revelations gives players the option of a first person or third person aiming view - both work well, although I definitely preferred to stick with third person. 

A new introduction to the series is the dodge mechanic - if the player times their movement correctly, they can avoid damage from incoming attacks no matter which direction they come from.  While it will take some effort to get a feel for the required timing, it will prove to be an invaluable skill once you get the hang of it. 

Weapons aquired can be upgraded via custom parts found throughout the ship, and a new scanning mechanic can assist the player in finding items as well as hidden collectables. 

It must be said that the game looks beautiful once you find the sweet spot with the 3D feature - while Revelations was never going to be as impressive as its HD siblings, it doesn't feel as though many concessions were given visually to squeeze the game onto the 3DS.  Nintendo's Circle Pad Pro for 3DS is also supported by the game, and while it functions well enough, I was surprised that I actually found it easier to play through the game without it.

After players are done with the campaign, there is also Raid Mode for players to sink their teeth into.  Essentially, small chunks of the campaign where the goal is to (a) survive, and (b) gain the highest possible ranking, Raid Mode is far more addictive than I expected. 

Players will start out ill equipped and very weak, but after playing for a while and finding or unlocking more powerful weapons and parts, you can revisit those earlier levels and blitz through them at the highest rank with ease.  However, getting an 'S' rank on all levels will be no cakewalk, as the missions rapidly ramp up in difficulty. To give an indication of how substantial this portion of the game is, i have clocked up in excess of 20 hours in Raid Mode, and am not finished with it.  It is also possible to play this mode with a partner via wi-fi.

Although RE Revelations does a lot right, there are still issues worthy to note aside from those mentioned within the story.  The variety of enemies on show throughout is somewhat limited, and the most common enemies encountered strike me as pretty uninspired design wise.  Furthermore with this particular enemy type, the game is not too good at communicating to the player when they have been killed, owing to a lot of wasted ammo over the course of the game.  It should also be noted that there is a decent amount of backtracking and going through several sections more than once over the course of the campaign.  

At the end of the day, Resident Evil Revelations is a very worthwhile addition to Capcom's long running franchise.  Successfully translating the gameplay experience from consoles to the 3DS, Revelations avoids giving the impression that the game's potential was compromised by the hardware. 

Only somewhat let down by issues which do not outweigh the entertainment on offer, Revelations is one of the highest quality titles currently available for the system.

Game: Resident Evil Revelations
System: Nintendo 3DS
Developer/Co-Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)