Resident Evil has been one of my favorite video game series for many years, lately though I have become very critical of the direction that Resident Evil has taken by taking a more action root, and ditching what was so great about the original games. I played Revelations last January on the 3DS, I was very impressed with what I got. Revelations was a much more “traditional” Resident Evil game compared to the last few, it had limited ammo, backtracking, and actual scary/tense moments. You can understand how happy I was when Revelations was confirmed to be ported to consoles earlier this year but first of all let’s see if this console version can hold up to the great 3DS version.
Because this is a review of a ported game, I am going to change the layout of the review for one time only so readers can choose what they want to read as some of this will be old to 3DS players.
Story
The story of Resident Evil Revelations takes place in 2005, which is in between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. Long time Resident Evil character Jill Valintine and new comer Parker Luciani (Who are both apart of the BSSA) are sent to find another long time Resident Evil character Chris Redfield and another new comer Jessica Sherawat. Their search leads them to the SS Queen Zenobia, this is where the main game mostly takes place. The game also has “flashback” sequences that take place before the main game, that are set in different areas. The story is paced out in episodic format, and even after each episode ends you get a “Previously on Resident Evil Revelations…” I liked how Revelations was paced out in the 3DS version, and again I still feel that the way it was done worked.
The main story isn’t too long, and shouldn’t take you more than 10-12 hours to complete. The 10-12 hour campaign is spread out over 12 episodes. Like all my reviews this is a non spoiler review so I can’t talk about any major plot details but I can say that I overall enjoyed the story, and thought it was a solid addition to the Resident Evil series.
Gameplay
As I said earlier in the review the game brings back many gameplay features from the original Resident Evil titles. One of the first additions I noticed was that the area where Revelations takes place mostly is actually one big area that has to be backtracked to advance through the game, along with that I could feel classic Resident Evil with the doors being locked, and you have to find certain named keys (For example the shield key in Resident Evil Remake) Backtracking in Resident Evil games was actually a really missed feature for me, and I was really happy that the “clear this area” and go through the door to the next area from recent games like RE6 was thankfully absent from this Resident Evil game.
I also found ammo to be much more limited in this game compared to recent RE titles, it also helps that enemies no longer drop ammo, and that ammo must be found around the area. There was even quite a few times in the game were I had to choose the option of running away from the battle because of the lack of ammo I had at the time. Sadly there are no real puzzles in the game to solve, there are some obstacles in your way that makes you need to use like the tiniest portion of your brain to complete. Difficult puzzles would have been a great addition to an already solid game. I found it to be a shame that they carried some things over to Resident Evil Revelations that wasn’t received well in other titles, the lame puzzles was one of them.
Something I didn’t notice while playing the original game on the 3DS was that the flashback sequences throughout the game are what the series doesn’t need at all. The sequences feature a terrible side story to the main game that was extremely uninteresting, and to make things worse these sections bring back the over the top action that has plagued this once great series. I don’t mind action but in a Resident Evil game we shouldn’t be able to shoot and kill about 100 enemies in one of these single sequences. I found myself rushing through these sequences to get back to the great parts of the game, which take place on the Queen Zenobia.
On this playthrough of Revelations I really started to hate the Genesis Scanner, if you are unaware what this is then it is a device that you use in the game to scan around the area, the device can pick up certain things like ammo for example. The Genesis Scanner can also be used to scan enemies, after each scan your overall percentage increases, and once you get to 100% scanned you get an extra green herb, which makes the game much more easier, and makes me think why this is in the game as it really doesn’t work at all in Revelations.
Online
Revelations HD brings back the popular “Raid Mode” from the 3DS version. Raid Mode is the complete opposite of what the main campaign was going for this is full of action and enemies to kill. The objective of the game is to keep killing enemies to earn more points, and the more points you earn, the more you level up at the end of the playthrough. I found it to be a nice side addition to the game, and I prefer side modes like this to be full of action and nonstop enemies, I admit it’s fun but just keep it away from the main story. I found the mode to still be extremely fun to play, and I spent quite a few hours playing it. To sum it up Revelations draws you in for its main story and Raid Mode makes you come back for more Revelations.
Differences Between 3DS And Consoles
There were a few differences I noticed, and the first one all 3DS players should notice almost straight away is that the camera doesn’t turn to first person when aiming a gun, now in the console versions of Revelations. In this version it goes back to the much more familiar over the shoulder/3rd person camera when aiming and shooting. Then you have the new HD visuals added to the game, the graphics look much better than the 3DS version but fail to impress overall compared to what we have seen in the past from Resident Evil. There were a few parts during the game where the environments look a little unimpressive and could have been done a lot better. Then there is the games online mode, which is named “Raid Mode” this had some additions like new characters, skill sets and weapons. Along with a new enemy type too these were all the additions I noticed compared to the 3DS version.
The Final Verdict
Revelations after a second playthrough, still managed to be entertaining and fun. Although the second playthrough made me see more of the bad that came out of Revelations like the horrible side story sequences that ruin the pace of the game. It was great to play a Resident Evil game that actually brought back fear and intense moments that have been sorely missed for many years as well as this there were many other classic Resident Evil gameplay features that were added in to the game. The visuals were better but nothing amazing at all, there were a few sections that looked ugly. Overall though Revelations was the best Resident Evil game I have played since RE4, and that was released in 2004 so that should show you how long we have had disappointing titles (Not bad) for. If you are an old school fan of Resident Evil the get this game now.
The Good
Revelations brings back the tense setting, backtracking and limited ammo that was missing in recent titles from Resident Evil. Gameplay is fun, Raid Mode should entertain you for quite a few hours and there was some nice additions to the HD version of this game.
Inbetween
Decent story but the flashback sequences are boring and what the series doesn’t need.
The Bad
-Some horrible voice acting lines in this game, visuals look better than the 3DS but still aren’t that great,the bad things from recent RE titles pop up sneakily throughout the game.
Overall score
8.5/10
