Resident Evil Revelations is a curious little game that I, as someone with little experience in the realms of survival horror, I possess only some interest towards So I went and downloaded its demos, played it for about 30 minutes and here are my first impressions.
Resident Evil Revelation Demo Impressions!
Release Date: 7/2/2012
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
As someone who never played a Resident Evil game, I have nothing to compare Resident Evil Revelations to. But without further ado, my impressions. I assumed the control of series mainstay Jill Valentine, where I was told to wake up, explore the area that had visuals nearly as impressive as Resident Evil 5. After drain a bathtub to find a screwdriver, not unlike the puzzles I’ve seen in playthroughs of the early Resident Evil games. After that I encountered some kind of monster who had spiked clubs for arms, took handgun bullets like a champ, and wiggled as if it was made of jam. This is very confusing to me, because I assumed that ammo preservation was a key aspect of the game, and that’s not easily done when I have a very small reticle and dancing zombies.
I then traveled through several small corridors, occasionally finding more of these creatures, along with a helpful shotgun, which seems to have a very small blasting area, but takes these guys out in about 2-3 hits as apposed to 8 handgun bullets. I then stumbled across a scanner of sorts that found hidden items, which I believe ruins a bit of the horror element, you never want someone to freely explore in an area that you want them to fear.
You want the player to cautiously go through the area with the fear of encountering something scary. Although, the monsters do remain scary since they try to eat your neck and you move like you have something in your bum. Tension is helped by the lack of being able to move and shoot, it’s a more realistic view, I suppose, but that does not make it that good. If you base the main gameplay around the lack of an ability to move like a normal human being with no explanation, then you’re doing something quite wrong.
I proceeded into a room with a new kind of monster, and another one right next to it. I just received grenades, which seem a bit out of place in horror, but whatever, Resident Evil 1 ended with you fighting a super zombie with a rocket launcher. It required some quick reflexes, but I do not know how to make such rash decisions with a control scheme like this, there is no dodge or run button to speak of, which seems stupid, because then you need to experience the monsters up close, and you’ll fear them less due to your familiarity with them.
After those two bozos felled, I fought another one and was sent into some clear hallways, only to have some brief hints about what will happen in the main game thrown at me. But I do not plan on purchasing this product, while I did have some fun with it on my second playthrough, I don’t think that this experiment of treading new waters justifies a $40 price tag, I might give it a whirl after a price cut or sale, but all I can muster up right now is an underwhelming meh with a faint shred of curiosity.