Not only have Capcom and Nintendo surprised us with a demo for Resident Evil Revelations ahead of its release, they’ve astounded us with its unprecedented quality.
Resident Evil Revelations looks fantastic, not just for a 3DS title, but for a game full stop. It moves almost as fluidly as Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube and nearly matches it in graphical prowess (the 3D effects more than make up for the fact that the 3DS isn’t quite as powerful as the purple lunchbox).
It controls smoothly, whilst retaining the scare factor by only allowing either movement or shooting, never both simultaneously. Fans of the newer games will be outraged, but it‘s classic Resident Evil, back when it was both hard and pant-ruiningly scary.
From the short demo it was immediately apparent that this is no action game. Resident Evil Revelations is true survival horror. Blasting away without thought of consequences, I ran out of ammo almost immediately. The result: certain, agonizing death.
I always had high hopes for Revelations and the demo has only strengthened its standing. Presuming that the whole game looks this good, we can safely say that a developer outside of Nintendo is starting to understand how to get the best out of the handheld.
While the controls were easy to pick up, the improvements with the Circle Pad Pro could be immense. I’m not sure how it works, and it’s certainly fine without it, but a second analogue stick could be the game-changer the 3DS has been waiting for.
Resident Evil Revelations should be the big game the 3DS needs. It’s not first party, it looks fantastic and the new control scheme could be revolutionary.
Check out the demo now. It’s available as a free download from the eShop.
By Ben Salter