A First Look: Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

Hey Team Infestation Fans, the name's Stack and I'm back after a long hiatus from writing things as it made my brain hurt....Well besides that, I am happy to be able to give you my opinions regarding a game I have been looking forward to for some time now.

Being an avid Resident Evil fan since the first one came out back in 1996, jolting out of my seat everytime I saw a zombie and running for my mother (Yeah, I was pretty young). Anyway, this year is a huge one for the RE franchise with games and movies coming out like crazy. So, as any devoted fan would, I jacked my friend's 3DS and gave the new Resident Evil Revelations Demo a go.

Now I know Resident Evil games haven't been fantasic for handheld platforms in the past so many people were hoping for something a little more polished in the future. For example: Resident Evil: Deadly Silence,with its awful camera angles and sub-par script left a lot to be desired, especially for a series with such a good track record as the Resident Evil series. So even I was a bit skeptical about Revelations. But, somewhat to my surprise, as soon as I turned on the demo the opening conversations drew me in and the nostalgia swept over me. The first thing that people will notice about Resident Evil: Revelations are its amazing graphics. This handheld sports visuals comparable, and possibly even better than, Resident Evil 5. The game opens with a classic Resident Evil character, Jill Valentine, who wakes up unable to remember how she got there, with that familiar eerie tone that made me think of a certain mansion. I couldn't believe how I felt walking through the first room feeling like danger could leap out from anywhere, anytime. After finding my way into further rooms, discovering how the smaller puzzles and new gadgets worked I ran into the first, shall I say "monster." A loud noise from the previous room had me creeping towards the hall, nervously. I didn't know what to expect. Now, I am no veteran of handheld gaming as I don't do much on them, so I was pretty sketchy with the controls. But as this creature started lumbered towards me I learned pretty darn quick with what precious ammo I had. I aimed and fired, taking me into first person for the shooting. This was an amazing improvement to the game as opposed to always shooting from an over the shoulder style or with a weird camera angle that has always bugged me, as well as many other gamers. The 3DS' capabilities enhanced this intense scene and made it seem that this monster was even closer or, dare I say, coming right at me. Needless to say, the old nervous feelings causing me to soil myself came creeping back, as the lumbering monstrosity made its way toward me. More and more of these terrors came out of the woodwork then I foolishly ran out of ammo (due to my lack of skillz). Knifing was still an awful idea since being anywhere close to a zombie means its an open buffet at Jill's neck. After getting munched on until all the blood seemed to be drained from Jill's body, for some reason felt kinda responsible, she dropped to the floor as dead as dead can be.

As I stared at the Game Over screen I found myself wanting more. "I WANT! ME NEED!" kept flashing in my mind. If this was only a taste of what the game has in store, my mind is blown. I'm so excited for what is to come in this game, bridging the gap between the events of Resident Evil 4 and 5. I completely recommend this game to anyone who loves the original series as it plays on those nostalgic heartstrings that RE fans all seem to have.

Look for the official US release on February 7th!

Thanks for reading!

-Stack

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Resident Evil 6

Oh man am I happy about this game, the trailer looks awesome, the main characters all look great, the gameplay seems to have been significantly improved from previous titles while still remaining close to the style we all know and love. I've never been a huge fan of the Resident Evil series and I've only really completed RE4 and RE5 but I fell in love with both of them and have big expectations for RE6.

One of the things I've noticed from the trailer is that there appears to be a more fluid melee combat system, something that was a bit clunky at times in previous installments of the series. The trailer alone reveals multiple in-game combat sequences that are much more elaborate and polished than any we've seen in previous RE games.

There also appears to be a few separate "main" characters and, at least in the trailer, they are all scattered around the world and have significantly different styles of play as well as incredibly different environments. Leon interacts with an unknown female character who claims responsibility for the outbreak while engaging the residents of Tall Oaks, a town described as "another Raccoon City". Leon and his new lady aren't dealing with anything like Las Plagas or anything from RE4/5, they seem to be more reminiscent of traditional zombies...except they can jump and pick you up and stuff...so yeah. Moving on, Baldy and his tiny lady friend are reminiscent of a much smaller version of Chris and Sheva as they trek through a snowy city combating what looks to be a Nemesis-esque baddie with a robo-arm (with attachments). So then there's Chris and his new partner dude fighting terrorists with their squad in what I assume is Shanghai in a more action packed setting that reminds me a lot of RE5's setting, fast paced and violent with lots of big guns and explosions.

The new faces. There are a bunch of new protagonists that make appearances in this trailer and they have piqued the curiosity of many many fans. First off we have Baldy who loves money and likes to punch zombies. Seems like a pretty cool guy, but who the hell is he? After doing some digging I've found people speculating that he is some guy named Hunk, a mercenary from the RE3 epilogue files. There is also speculation that baldy is Alex Wesker, the guy who unlocked the key to immortality and betrayed Spencer and fled, which would explain why his blood is so important. Again, that is all speculation and Capcom has not released any details in regards to this new mystery protagonist's identity. Baldy's little lady friend is apparently Sherry Birkin, the daughter of William Birkin from RE2. The zombified president at the beginning of the trailer sparked rumors that this blonde haired girl is actually Ashley from RE4, the President's daughter. Next up we've got Chris' new partner...who is a fellow soldier that I really couldn't find much information on so I'll just let Capcom identify him whenever they want. Lastly we have Leon's new partner, Helena Harper, who is apparently responsible for something in regards to the outbreak, so lets just start hating her now.

I have to say that I like the idea of this sort of separate campaign stuff that is implied in the trailer with all three pairs being in very different environments. Leon and Helena's section seems to have a much more traditional feel to it, inside houses, small hallways, in a bit of a rustic town. Chris and random agent's segment has a more action packed feel to it with even some potentially human opponents (the terrorists perhaps) as well as what appears to be a cover system that zombies don't care about and will pull you out of anyway. A lot of the merc's footage is of a huge zombie chasing them down relentlessly through a snowy city which looks to be very cinematic and epic. Should be interesting as more details are released in the future.

Thanks for reading! RE6 is scheduled for a November 2012 release so look forward to it!

-Fest

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