Resident Evil Revelations

I meant to post something else up. However as I've not got it written out properly yet, do forgive me as I delve into another gaming related article. The title of this post says it really. I've just played Resident Evil Revelations. A demo admittedly, but I've played the game nonetheless. My hands are a little shaky from gripping my 3DS tightly and my adrenaline has yet to reach its baseline value. So far I can say (bearing in mind that the demo gives about 10-15 minutes of the game...) that RE:Revelations is definitely a game worth keeping an eye on.

I'm not much of a horror fan. Unless invited, I tend to avoid horror movies opting instead for animated comedies. Yet in the realm of games I find myself in a masochistic position of wanting to play horror games when I don't find the genre that appealing. Oh all right, I am easy scared out of my mind. Of course, with games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Dementium, it is very hard not to be scared even a little.

That said, some people will have raised their hands in objection stating that the Resident Evil franchise has moved on from the horror genre and become an action focused endeavor with Resident Evil 5 being held as the primary suspect. I will admit that in Resident Evil 5, I never really was scared. Shocked yes, who wouldn't be if a zombie-like thing jumped out in front of you from nowhere? Shocked, but not really scared. Perhaps it was the bright environments (relatively speaking) that it was mostly set in. Perhaps it was the fact that you're playing as a hardened veteran of zombie-warfare whose guns blaze through enemies like a hot knife through... you get my point. Perhaps it was something else, or a combination of several factors, whatever. The fact is so: Resident Evil 5 just wasn't as horror-oriented as its predecessors.

Onto the present. Playing through RE:Revelations, I can safely say that I just wet my pants at least twice. But before that, a quick look though what the demo has in store for the discerning player. Upon loading this 3DS application, the screen will throw at you Capcom's name in all its 3D glory should you have it turned up. With the title screen's appearance, pressing start will cause the classic Resident Evil voice to announce what you should already know as the game's title. A somber orchestral melody accompanies this.

In the menu screen, we see two options: Game Start and Options. So being a sucker for customization whenever possible (yes PC gamers I know, hush now though) I check out the Options tab. 5 tabs appear this time: Controls, Game Settings, Audio, Language and Default. Under controls you can switch through 3 different control schemes. Also there is the option to activate the Circle Pad Pro, but since I'm not a magician or a professional game reviewer, I do not have it and so this option is useless to me. Under game settings you can change your gun's laser sight colour, display subtitles and enchance 3D depth. Just for fun, I cranked up that last option to very strong. In game I adjusted my slider to midway as my eyes felt like they were going to be permanently crossed.

The audio option allows you to adjust volume. Nothing else much. Under the language setting though... You can change the subtitle language from English to French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and even Japanese. You can also change the voice language though and this came as a surprise to me. I've always been used to the cheesy delivery of horrendous lines since the start of Resident Evil and all in English (though you can tell they are trying to improve on that since 4). To get the chance to play RE in japanese while understanding what I'm doing without constant referral to a walkthrough online or a Japanese-English dictionary is quite frankly amazing. This is in no way saying that all English voice acted video games have terrible voiced dialogue (case in point: Xenoblade Chronicles which I'll go into some other time). Just some. As for the last option: Default, it resets every other option to their factory settings.

The game itself is good. In so far as I can tell with 15 minutes worth of gameplay. I shan't go too much into detail here as the demo is free and you really should just go download it and play it. Suffice to say I enjoyed the feeling of uneasiness during exploration and the panicked horror every time I come across one of those shambling monstrosities. I swear that half the terror I felt was a direct result of missing the odd bullet or so due to their indecisive movements. Add the fact you'll spend almost half a handgun clip into one and you'll find yourself trying to save ammo by knifing them (which has a satisfying feel to it).

Now that the rush has more or less settled, I think I can now go with a bit more Xenoblade Chronicles. Trust me when I say that Xenoblade is a RPG gem.

~Onery