The game so nice, they're making it twice!
This game was announced along with the Nintendo 3DS way back in 2010—definitely a heavy-hitter among early announced 3DS games. Initially, of course, there wasn’t a whole lot to see, aside from a cinematic involving Chris, Jill, and an unknown third party. We got some idea of how the game would play when Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D came out the next year. Aside from providing a template for how the gameplay would work, The Mercenaries came with a short “Pilot Version” demo for Revelations, featuring Jill wandering through what appeared to be a mansion, but turned out to be a cruise ship. It played beautifully and looked unbelievable.
In early February 2012, we finally got ahold of the full game, and—apart from the hilarious typo in the game’s slipcover (“Revelaitions”)—it was essentially flawless from where I was sitting. The game’s plot concerns the early days of Chris & Jill’s BSAA organization and a ridiculous island city that was destroyed by a James Bond-esque solar laser… along with a cruise ship filled with infected passengers.
The latest horrible virus is T-Abyss, which turns people into bloated, thorny monsters and affects various kinds of sea life in different ways. The final boss in particular may be the most epic Resident Evil boss in the series’ history. While the gameplay remains similar to RE4 and 5, the characters can now move while aiming and deliver several kinds of useful secondary attacks. While you spend the majority of your time controlling Jill Valentine, you’ll also step into Chris Redfield’s shoes and those of a few other BSAA agents during the course of the game.
Once you complete the main game (multiple times for multiple unlocks, by the way), you’ll likely sink a majority of your time into the game’s addictive online multiplayer, Raid Mode. In this, you choose a character, choose a loadout, and fight your way through any level from the single-player experience, going for time (mostly) and earning better gear for doing so. Completing achievements nets you ever better loot until you’re wandering around with a 50. caliber handgun with a two-foot barrel that kills boss monsters with a single bullet. I was so addicted to Raid Mode that I sank more than 80 hours into it, and most of that wasn’t even online!
The game’s graphics continue to impress more than a year later, especially with the 3D on full blast (the 3D effect can actually be further enhanced in the options menu). Any criticisms would have to be directed toward some of the load times between areas, which manifest as slowly opening doors, but with a game as technologically gifted as this one, it’s a difficult complaint to justify. As impressive as the 3DS game is, one might consider holding out for the upcoming Wii U version, which adds a fair amount of new content and HD graphics. Still, though, the 3DS game is well worth picking up if you can find it for a good price.