Resident Evil: Revelations review [3DS]

Posted January 26, 2012 by Lewis Denby.

Review: RESIDENT EVIL: REVELATIONS sees Capcom eager to take Resi back to its roots. We get lost in the middle of the ocean to find out how well it succeeds…

It’s often said that Resident Evil took a nosedive. The fourth main entry to the series was considered by many to be one of the greatest games ever created, but Resi diehards have often argued that it was the earlier releases which excelled the most.

Either way, Resident Evil 5’s action focus upset people – and the likes of spin-off shooter Operation Raccoon City, due out later this year, have spawned talk of whether the series could ever return to its apparent roots in true horror. I guess everyone forgot about all the dreadful dialogue and hideous control issues that made the first few Resi games about as scary as walking into a wall for eight hours straight while someone repeatedly mumbles something about sandwiches, but whatever.

While the co-op-enabled RAID mode is present and correct, it’s clear that the campaign has been Capcom’s focus in Resident Evil: Revelations, and their party line has been clear: it’s a return to the series’ survival horror roots. Clear, that is, until you actually play this impressive but muddled 3DS installment.

Set primarily on an enormous cruise liner, eerily deserted in the middle of the ocean, its lengthy sections of brooding camp-horror are punctuated by cutaways that feel like they belong in a completely different game. Flipping between characters and moving back and forth on the timeline, Revelations repeatedly thrusts you into a frustratingly linear shoot-em-up that offers none of the intricacy or steady development of the game’s main component.

Take a break

To its credit, Revelations does understand that it’s important to shake things up when the main story takes place in a single location. It isn’t that the breaks aren’t welcome, they just don’t quite work, dropping into the trigger-happy over-reliance on combat that plagued Resi 5 and not even doing it anywhere near as well.

Unfeasible stacks of crap block perfectly reasonable pathways, while nonsensical scripted sequences mask the developers’ uncertainty over how to add drama. When my character has been so badly injured by a fall that he has to shoot approaching enemies while lying on his back, it grates a little to have him running around unscathed the second it’s all over.

Fortunately, these sections are essentially sideshows, and the bulk of the game is an agreeably tense affair that sees Capcom display typical mastery over level design and pacing. Dispatched on a rescue mission to the mysteriously desolate ship the Queen Zenobia, Jill Valentine and new boy Parker Luciani initially find themselves navigating by torchlight around cramped, claustrophobic and metallic environments, but the game steadily begins to open up new areas and encourage exploration.

Locked doors that you tried and forgot about ages ago suddenly become portals into entirely new areas of the Queen Zenobia, the crumbling crew quarters giving way to the grandeur of the ship’s 1930s design. From elegant cabins to art-filled corridors, enormous halls to communications rooms, Resident Evil: Revelations takes you on a satisfying trip around a place in which something has gone very, very wrong.

Things move at just the right speed: slowly enough to build tension and intrigue, quickly enough that few of the main sections outstay their welcome. And the compulsion to explore is strong – as new routes around the ship open up, new possibilities emerge and, with them, new potential strategies for survival.

Going viral

This time, the story revolves around a new virus, one unleashed in the Mediterranean after an enormous floating city was destroyed by bio-organic warfare. Series stalwart Chris Redfield is missing at the beginning of the game and, as Jill Valentine, you’re tasked with tracking him down. Your co-ordinates point to the middle of the sea.

As should be expected with Resident Evil, it’s all agreeable bollocks that’s infused with enough twists and turns to not have to rely on any high-level concepts. If you’re looking for a narrative masterpiece, you’re unlikely to find it here – the frequently dreadful dialogue doesn’t help – but it’s adequate: enough to hold your attention through each of the hour-or-so-long episodes.

Revelations is also a technical showcase for the 3DS, and anyone doubting the graphical capabilities of Nintendo’s handheld only has to take one look at this to be proven wrong beyond all doubt. It’s spectacular. Textures and character models aren’t as highly detailed as those on Sony’s competing device, but the game’s use of light and shadow is stunningly effective, giving the game a rich depth. Praise should also be shoveled onto the soundtrack, which softens and crescendos at exactly the right moments, keeping you on-edge.

Those looking to get the most out of their machine’s 3D functionality will be happy to find they can double or even triple the effects of the depth slider, but I found myself mainly playing with the settings turned down to their lowest, or even off altogether. The careful limitation of resources means Revelations is always a challenge while rarely being unfair but, if your eyes stray from the right angle, the distraction of fragmented 3D can tip the balance towards frustration.

An imperfect circle

The controls are problematic, too, although defaulting to a first-person perspective when aiming is a useful mechanic. As with previous Resident Evil titles, the issue is that Revelations doesn’t seem to understand the difference between believable vulnerability and simply forcing you to navigate your environment like an idiot, stumbling and spinning like a toddler after five pints. It isn’t scary that it takes me a good few seconds to turn 45 degrees to the left; it’s just annoying, and serves only to remind you that Capcom still haven’t found a more effective way to make the player feel under threat.

It’s difficult to know how the 3DS’ setup could allow for anything different, though. The game’s compatible with Circle Pad Pro – and, in fact, can come bundled with it – but I played on a standard machine without any peripherals. Vertical camera movement is assigned to the touch-pad, as if this were a mid-90s PC game with a sight-line slider, and of course agility is still intentionally limited – but the game still seems to push at the limits of what Nintendo’s handheld is capable of, and that’s a slightly concerning realisation.

Resident Evil: Revelations, then, is a frequently impressive survival horror game, but it’s let down by some strange design choices and a stubborn refusal to rethink the series’ approach. It’s as though Capcom weren’t confident to do anything radical, instead relying on a combination of their two existing formulas and not quite being able to merge them together in a wholly satisfying way.

Beautiful, and often clearly meticulously designed, Revelations still can’t escape those muddy moments where it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, and isn’t sure how to execute some of its basic ideas. It’s a worthwhile addition to the series, but its finest moments come tainted by the knowledge that the game isn’t always so outstanding.

Resident Evil: Revelations is less a return to traditional survival horror and more a game with an identity crisis. It’s still excellent in places, though.

Resident Evil: Revelations, from Capcom, is out on 27th January in the UK and next month in North America and Australia, exclusively for 3DS.