It was back in 1996, when Capcom gave birth to one of its most famous series: Resident Evil. This game helped popularize the Survival Horror genre. Up to the present day the series has been enriched with other titles and spin-offs on different platforms and generations, also abandoning those mechanics that had led it to success, for this reason there are few gamers who do not know this brand and it is great. echo that resounds with each new chapter. From these premises, here is Resident Evil Relevations, a brand new chapter released a few days ago exclusively for Nintendo 3DS.
In the timeline of the saga, Resident Evil: Revelations stands between the fourth and fifth chapter; set in Europe in 2005, Jill Valentine, an agent of the BSAA is tasked with finding and rescuing his former partner Chris Redfield, allegedly disappeared during a mission aboard a cruise ship, the Queen Zenobia. A new group of bio-terrorists called Veltro will enter the scene, a group that, inspired by Dante Alighieri's Inferno, wants to "purify" the earth of sinners by spreading the dangerous mutant virus T-Abyss. The story will take us to different times and places, useful to understand what Veltro is and what lies behind their disturbing gas masks.
Despite talking about portable consoles, to move the threads of Resident Evil Revelation is the MT Framework Mobile, the same graphics engine used for Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, Monster Hunter Tri G and Resident Evil: the mercenaries 3D. The end result is the best we can see today on Nintendo 3DS; the polygonal models of the protagonists are well defined and precise and the final result is certainly commendable. Some locations are very reminiscent of the environments of the first REs, gloomy, bare and full of sinister details that are in stark contrast to others that are larger, brighter and more luxurious, so the passage from one area to another is very noticeable, and this peculiarity is useful for the game mechanics that often involves the revisiting of areas already explored.
What in the demo had not fully convinced us, that is the lighting sector, in the final version has been improved and has acquired the right value so that in the darkest areas the uncertain but essential lighting of the torch and the wobbly light of the neon increase the climate of tension, which dissolves in front of large and bright environments.
The 3D effect helps to make us appreciate the settings more; the choice of the developers to be able to increase the 3D effect via software is a clear sign of how much Capcom has focused on the depth effect; however, even without this feature, the game still expresses all its potential.
As expected, the character's interaction with the surrounding environment is limited to the classic levers, chests to break and lockers to open. To underline the
Obviously it is not a title without defects, which in any case do not absolutely compromise the excellent final result.
As expected, the soundtrack plays an important role; the alternation of cadenced music and claustrophobic silences successfully convey the atmosphere in which our character moves. Fundamental and noteworthy are the special effects, such as rales and breaths, which anticipate the presence of the infected even before they can be seen, or as the muffled sounds that are perceived in the underwater passages. Clearly everything acquires greater intensity filtered through "simple" but effective stereo headphones. Resident Evil: Revelations will go down in history as the first game in the series to be dubbed into Spanish, and despite some glaring sync issues, it must be admitted that the end result is surprisingly beautiful and professional.
One of the most heated criticisms against the fourth and fifth chapter is certainly the vocation to a too action genre and the loss of the typical mechanics of survival horror. Resident Evil: Revelations tries in some way to bring back the disappointed users without forgetting how much good has been done in the recent 4 and 5. The game setting therefore remains the most recent and modern with a camera behind the protagonist, but the clashes with numerous waves of opponents, the drop of ammunition and herbs from the corpses, the score of the downed enemies, and the quantity of shots needed to take down a single enemy go up. This system therefore forces us to a different approach, made of saving shots and exploring all possible areas in search of ammunition, weapons and herbs necessary for survival. In addition to all this, it will finally be possible to move and shoot at the same time, an option now considered trivial and instinctive, but precluded in any other previous RE.
For almost the entire duration of the game the player is flanked by a partner, whose presence, almost always superfluous, does not provide for a real interaction, therefore it is not possible to share the inventory or even help him in times of need, obviously also the his support in the clashes will be limited to a few shots, to be honest, but never essential.
In line with the most recent chapters we find weapons for every taste and the ability to modify weapons with particular objects that increase values such as speed of fire and reload, power and quantity of ammunition. It will be at the player's discretion to apply these upgrades, and although the ability to use the same type twice on the same weapon is precluded, we can apply the change from one weapon to another at will.
The lower screen of the 3DS proves to be useful as an ever-vigilant look at the inventory of objects in our possession. On particular occasions the touchscreen turns into an interactive panel to perform simple actions such as unscrewing an electrical panel or completing puzzles along the way.
Another substantial novelty of this new chapter is the introduction of the Genesis scanner, an accessory supplied to the BSAA units capable of detecting and analyzing traces of viruses in the environment; this tool, equipped and used as if it were a gun, becomes a fundamental element in the gameplay that in addition to detecting the position of objects that are also invisible to the naked eye, scans footprints and enemies that unlock secondary objects and objectives.
Finally, a look at the controls: great attention has been given to this aspect, and the solutions offered are suitable for every type of need. The game controls can be set from the classic lateral movement or rotation in combination with a key press and analog stick, to the use of the ABXY keys in "style" d-pad. The aiming of the weapon that we can vary from first to third person, can also be integrated with the aiming functionality assisted by the motion sensor of the console. For all those who find these options inadequate, we would like to point out that the game accompanies the European release of the Circle Pad Pro peripheral, which we talked about in an article dedicated to him and which finds in Resident Evil an excellent springboard.
The game is divided into twelve chapters, with a total duration of about eight to ten hours, many of which will be spent solving sporadic puzzles, opening rooms and looking for keys, often forcing us to retrace our steps in areas already explored previously. The difficulty levels, initially two (easy and medium), are well calibrated to offer each type of player the right level of challenge without the frustration of passages that are too difficult to pass. In the story mode, during the game, the levels of the "raid" mode will be activated, single and multiplayer missions that satisfy even the most demanding "palates". All this, combined with the atypical "replayability" of the title, can only be considered an added value and considerably increase the longevity of the title.
A great game, in almost all respects, and certainly one of the best titles available for Nintendo 3DS today. Resident Evil: Revelations is the successful attempt to re-enter the survival horror genre, from which the saga has moved away in recent years. From the point of view of the narrative it is no longer able to amaze as it once was, but the technical sector and the renewed (and rediscovered) game mechanics are still appreciable.
