Review: Resident Evil Revelations

At its very core Resident Evil has always been known as a survival horror franchise. The series became famous for its eerie environments and cheap scares, which can be hard to pull off in a video game. But lately the very features that made the franchise popular have become watered down. Residents Evil 5 was more of a fast-paced action title and one could say Resident Evil Revelations focuses more on survival rather than horror.

The latest game in the series takes place between Resident Evil 4 and 5. Franchise favourites Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are back but now find themselves with new partners. Jill who now works with Parker Luciani has been sent to investigate an abandoned cruise ship to search for Chris who has seemingly dropped off the map. The ship was his last known GPS coordinate.

The cruise ship setting is a franchise first. While the ship is laid out like a typical building from any Resident Evil title, the vessel does bring for the first time water mechanics into the mix. Our heroes must swim and fend off enemies both in and out of the water. Since Chris and Jill can only hold their breath for so long time becomes the main enemy once you slip below the surface. Water brings an interesting mix of gameplay into the title but it’s nice to see most of the action still takes place on semi-dry surfaces.

Resident Evil Revelations has many of the familiar elements of past titles. Handguns, shotguns, rifles and rocket launchers all return as do the green herbs. While you can upgrade weapons with faster reload times and cartridge capacity, you don’t have to deal with the hassle of mixing coloured herbs which is something I don’t miss.

Since this title is a Nintendo 3DS exclusive, Capcom has obviously incorporated touch controls into the game. The lower screen shows your map and inventory and makes it easy to swap out weapons. There are a couple of areas in the game where you get to solve puzzles on the bottom screen or ‘scan’ your fingerprint to gain access into certain rooms. While it’s fun at first there really isn’t much variety and the puzzles and scanning become a bit monotonous after the 4th or 5th time. It would have been great to add more variety to the puzzles. It almost feels like Capcom was forced into adding the touch interactions.

If you’ve played previous Resident Evil titles you know exactly what to expect out of this one: a decent story (maybe a bit difficult to follow but what Resident Evil plot isn’t) and some solid action which makes this an overall great game. My biggest complaint has to be the fact that it’s difficult to call this a survival horror game. Sure the enemies may be grotesque creatures, but there really is no scare factor. I never felt uneasy wondering what was around the corner, which is what I want out of a survival horror game.

Maybe it’s the small screen size that takes away the scare factor. Maybe it’s getting more difficult for developers to pull off the scare tactics which worked in the past. Either way, it’s a good thing Resident Evil Revelations is a solid experience even without the fright factor. But part of me wishes more attention was paid to what made this series stand out in the first place.

The Good

Solid action
Plenty of weapons
Multiple playable characters

The Bad

Minor on-screen slowdown
Annoying supporting characters
It’s just not scary