Resident Evil: Revelations Impressions – Jill Meets A New Monster

Resident Evil: Revelations

Developed by Capcom, release date TBD

Estimated Demo Length: 3 – 5 minutes

Wait time: 10 minutes

Resident Evil: Revelations may not be numbered, but it’s the next real game (as in non-spinoff) in the Resident Evil series. Starring series veterans Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, Revelations brings the series into the open seas of the Mediterranean on a cruise ship that’s been infected with monsters. Chronologically, Revelations takes place in 2005, so it occurs after Resident Evil 4, before Resident Evil 5 and in the same year as the Resident Evil Degeneration CG film.

A very, very brief Revelations demo was on-hand at Nintendo World 2011. Called a the “Pilot Version” in the title screen, the demo gave gamers a chance to see how the 3D effect would work in a Resident Evil 4-style game and to experiment with the controls. The 3D effect has been well implemented, with eerily realistic corridors of the ship coming to life when the 3D dial is set to its highest setting. There seemed to be a slight disconnect between Jill and the environments at the highest 3D setting, but lowering it halfway down would integrate the images even better, although this generally did not seem like a big problem for the game’s detailed, console-quality visuals. Playing it in 2D mode produced cleaner visuals, but the sense of immersion went away. The framerate could use some improvement, particularly when aiming, but with a 20% development completion rate at this point, this is an understandable shortcoming for such a brief demo.

Moving Jill through the environments is done by holding the B Button and moving the Slide Pad (the 3DS’ analog stick) simultaneously. Pressing the R Button makes Jill aim, which brings the viewpoint into first person, and then pressing Y shoots the gun. Although the viewpoint shifts into first person, which is a notable contrast from Resident Evil 4 and 5, moving the gun around actually didn’t feel any different from the previous games. Capcom implemented a first person viewpoint possibly because of the small 3DS screen, so multiple enemies can be displayed on the screen at the same time without having the character obstruct some of the view.

Also new to the main Resident Evil series is being able to move while shooting; holding L while aiming the weapon allows Jill to move back or forward very slowly while still being able to attack. Touching the bottom screen with the stylus allows the camera to be rotated as long as the viewpoint stays behind Jill.

As mentioned above, the demo is extremely short. After moving through some corridors, Jill witnesses a man in a room tied up, but she can’t get to him through the nearest door. Wandering around, a monster (which is neither a zombie, Ganado from RE4 or Majini from RE5) with a humanoid shape and strange claws protruding from its head pops out of a locker and limps toward Jill. This enemy can be shot dead after about half a dozen clean shots or avoided by running past it.

Proceeding down the corridor leads to a scene where a ship’s crewmember or passenger is brutally murdered by two more of these creatures. Jill moves into the room, attracts their attention and then shoots them down or is bitten to death by them. Jill apparently can take about 4 to 5 bites before she dies and the demo ends. If both creatures are killed, the demo ends. It takes about five minutes on the first playthrough, but once the demo has been memorized, a skilled player can finish it in much faster.