Since Resident Evil reinvested itself in the mid 2000s, it has struggled to keep itself from becoming an action title rather than keeping to its survival horror roots. The fact that characters are now action heroes rather than survivors of a zombie apocalypse may have something to do with that. The new style control scheme also doesn’t help a great deal either, but it certainly provided a more user-friendly interface. With Resident Evil Revelations on the Nintendo 3DS, both these things have been reconfigured once more to make a more immersive experience. At Eurogamer Expo 2011, Nintendo had a small booth where this little gem was tucked away, and I got a chance to go hands on.
“The Nintendo 3DS does a good job of replicating the style the series has gone for of late.”
The demo play-through starts with Jill awakening in a strange bed in what looks like an abandoned mansion. She comments that “it seems familiar” on her two-way radio to her partner in the current mission. Walking around the bedroom to find a way out was the first priority. Since the demo used one circle pad as opposed to the conventional two analogue sticks, concessions had to be made. While the camera may be an issue for visibility of enemies thanks to the lack of a second stick, movement hasn’t been compromised as I used the stick to turn and walk at the same time. Combining this with the map shown on the bottom screen that updates as I progressed, together with the quick turn for easily looking behind me at a pinch; this made for a more forgiving control scheme, despite the reduction in tempo in the action.
After obtaining a screwdriver required for exiting the room, one of the games enemies appeared. They’re less zombie and more mutant in nature, meaning deformed arms with mace like spikes to hurt you, that is if they’re not already having a nibble on your neck. Attempting to kill things here moves the focus to a first person perspective, a Resident Evil first. This is where the 3D comes into its own as it genuinely makes it scarier as the monsters seem like they’re reaching out to get you. Killing it was tricky though as it just wouldn’t go down despite firing an entire pistol round into it. Later when I obtained a shotgun, it took two shots to eliminate one of these creatures – seems I just needed better firepower.
“If the commercial release of Resident Evil Revelations is anything like this, it will swiftly become the killer app for the console and a real showcase of how to do 3D.”
When I tried to exit the room I was introduced to the touch screen controls which, from the looks of things, are used primarily for puzzles and item selection. This particular one had me not only unscrew the lid off the box, but re-route the wiring so that all the lines made a single connecting line with no overlaps. It was a fairly simple puzzle, but the transition was almost seamless. What followed at this point was the gold standard of Resident Evil gameplay. Run here, shoot monsters, running away from monsters when ammunition had run out in order to collect more. At one point there was a scissor variant on the zombies that just wouldn’t die thanks to some awful aiming on my part. After a small amount of following in some kind of ship, a cut-scene ensued where the tow-boat for the team had been let loose and an assassin attempts to kill both team members.
Visually, the game has a darker tone, but two slightly different looks that you can switch on the fly using the 3D slider. The Nintendo 3DS does a good job of replicating the style the series has gone for of late and it looks cutting edge too with anti-aliasing in full effect to enhance the graphics. In 3D mode the quality is slightly lower, probably due additional processing power it requires, but the 3D effects leaping out the screen more than make up for this. The overall feel of the game is a little bit claustrophobic thanks to thin corridors and monsters blocking my way, but in a way this is more fitting for the survival horror genre.
What felt like a short but sweet demo was actually far longer, which goes to show how immersive the whole experience was. If the commercial release of Resident Evil Revelations is anything like this, it will swiftly become the killer app for the console and a real showcase of how to do 3D.
Resident Evil Revelations launches Early 2012 exclusively on Nintendo 3DS.
Comments: [3]
Sounds very good for Resi fans (like my brother). He’ll love to hear that it go back to the original format of both controls and atmosphere. It may even make him buy a 3DS.
Do bear in mind this is a first impression rather than a sign of things to come. It could be (though I hope it won’t) that it descends into the action orientated rut the series has been in. So far though, signs are saying it isn’t.
I don’t think it will either. Unless Capcom really are stupid.
I think Capcom are smart enough though to do what EA have done with Need for Speed and produce a spin off series. The core Resi games (1,2,3, etc.) will be the horror orientated one while a series can be spawned off Raccoon City for the more action orientated games.
Would be smart business in my opinion.