The master of unlocking returns in a throwback RE game!
***Author's note: Halfway through writing this post, my phone broke, and I'm pretty sure I lost all the notes I made on this game. If I can't get as specific as I usually do, I'm sorry. In the future, I really need to back up my notes, or just write them with pen and paper (and this makes my sarcastic "tech-savy" line now hilariously ironic)
***SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: DISREGARD FIRST AUTHOR'S NOTE. I FORGOT THAT THE NOTES APP I USE (COLORNOTES, I LOVE IT) HAS ONLINE SYNCH. SO I DIDN'T LOSE ANYTHING!
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| TITLE SCREEN! |
Resident Evil is a series that I hold great fondness for. I distinctly remember playing the first one on PS1 back sometime in '96/'97, and it had a huge impact on me. I remember the ridiculous live action cutscene to start the game off (as an aside, how BIZARRE was that?), and I remember thinking (and still kind of think, actually) that they still should have used more of it. Sure, it was cheesy as hell (what part of RE1 isn't just dripping with the finest artisan cheeses known only to the richest kings in Switzerland?), but it was different, and it had an opportunity for some great gore. But alas, such was not the case. My best memory from the first game is the very first encounter with the first zombie. You find him, hunched over in his huge, boxy, green shirt, chomping on someone (I honestly don't remember who), and then he turns, with bloodstained mouth, and gets up to attack. God, that was amazing, and I still think it's a fabulous introduction to the zombie-infested world of Resident Evil. Of course, most modern iterations of RE look nothing like the first (or the original trilogy. All classics in my opinion, with Nemesis being my favorite.). I haven't abandoned the RE ship like so many. In fact, I can embrace change. My wife and I played through RE5 a few summers ago, and overall we both thought it was a blast. Sure, it didn't remind me of "classic" RE, but it was still a great, damn fun game. It had enough RE elements in it to still be considered a Resident Evil game. I haven't played 6 yet (don't worry, one day you'll be able to read a "B-LOG SLAYING" about it), but I hear there are sections that hearken back to "classic" RE. So what's the point of all of this inane rambling? Besides the fact that I like the way the clack-ing of my keyboard keys sound, what in the hell does all this have to do with Revelations? Easy! This one had me constantly thinking back, specifically, to the original Resident Evil, more than any other RE game since 2 or 3. And that's a damn good thing. Let's explore this interesting game some more in my infamous cons/pros lists:
CONS:
- The controls are not that great. Sure, they are reminiscent of the tank controls of the original games, but this gets old after a few hours
- Maybe just a few too many crazy action-heavy sections
- Water/swimming sections (and the monsters therein) are annoying
- Finally, the dialogue is TREMENDOUSLY bad. It's close to "Jill Sandwich" levels
As you can see, none of the cons are really huge deals. Nothing catastrophically bad, that's for sure. Now, for the pros!
PROS:
- GREAT sound. Between music and sound effects, this game sounds wonderful
- Graphics are quite good for a 3DS game
- As I swooned about above, this a very good "return to form" for Resident Evil. Much more emphasis on "survival horror" instead of action
- I really enjoyed the weapon upgrade system. It was simple, but it made exploring actually FUN
- Boss design is generally great, and they look cool
Let's start with the controls. When I was making my original notes for this game, I actually LIKED the controls. Here's what I wrote on my phone (I take notes on my phone. You could say I'm awfully tech-savy), regarding the controls: "Controls take a bit to get used to, but I mostly like them. Again, they hearken back to crappy RE1-3 tank controls. Refreshing in a nostalgic sense." Sounds hunky-dory, right? WRONG! That was after an hour or so with the game. Here's what I wrote after the first boss battle, a few hours into the game: "...I'm slightly changing my opinion on them [the controls]. I didn't mind them before, but the battle with the Comms Officer really highlights how annoyingly antiquated they are." In the end, the controls are serviceable enough, but in today's day and age, they really should be better. When you bring up your gun, it basically goes to a first person view to fire. This I actually like, because it makes targeting easier. You know exactly where you are shooting. You can also do a quick-turn around, if you press a button (I don't remember which, maybe "b") and hit "down". This is a great way to get yourself turned around if you need to kill something behind you. Note, this can't be done in the first person view. Only normal view. Otherwise, the controls are crappy. You can't run, and turning is a hassle. Turning while you have your gun up, ready to shoot, is also annoying, because it takes FOREVER. God forbid you have an enemy in front of you and behind you. You'll never be able to swing yourself around in the first person view fast enough to start shooting whatever is behind you without taking some damage. As I complained about in that quote above, the first boss battle is where I really started getting fed up with the controls. It has you pitted against a large deformed man (infected with the T-Abyss virus) and infinite (I think) amounts of spawning enemies. In that battle, you always have to be sure nothing is behind you. It highlights how dumb the controls are.
My next gripe isn't a huge deal. Really, after the controls, none of the final three big cons are huge deals. The game is broken up into twelve episodes, each with their own chapters. The very beginning of episode three (and dotted throughout the rest of the game as well) has you fighting off a huge amount of Hunter enemies (remember those green, bipedal bastards? Theeeeeey're baaaaack!). It LOADS you up with ammo, and it's really nothing but firing hundreds of bullets into the things until they are all dead.There are a few more sections like this, and it gets old after awhile. Most of the game puts you into a very "survival horror" frame of mind (more on that later), but these sections are pure Gears Of War-type guns blazing action. One or two of these would have been fine, because it would have been a nice change of pace. But there are at least half-dozen of these (if not maybe more) strewn throughout.
There are some sections in the game where you have to swim underwater. As anyone who's ever played ANY UNDERWATER SECTION IN ANY VIDEO GAME EVER, these are always the worst parts of games. Unless, I suppose, they are strictly underwater games (like the PS1 game Treasures of the Deep, which will appear on this blog one day). At any rate, most of the game takes place on a giant cruise ship, and as such, water is fairly prevalent. There are sections where the ship floods, and you have to swim through the various areas. The swimming controls are not horrible, and this is mainly because there are no complex movements to do while you are swimming. Just swim straight, up, or down. But it's not fun trying to navigate around underwater. Sometimes you even have to dodge enemies, and this is nigh impossible. You acquire some shock grenades which can be used underwater (to stun the enemies), but they are few and far between. Besides the swimming underwater sections, there are sections where you have to tread waist-high water. These parts have the most irritating enemies in the game: these sorta-cockroach-looking guys (sort of), and they swim right under the surface of the water. You can't see them until a split second before they hop out of the water and attack you. This makes them very, very difficult to kill, let alone even attack. This section was especially aggravating. So basically, in conclusion, water sucks in this game, and in every video game ever (basically).
Now, for the con that is almost a pro. In fact, at first, I wanted to include it as a pro. But as the game wore on, I just couldn't, in good conscience, say it was a good thing. That, of course, is the dialogue. You soon realize we aren't dealing with Tarantino-esque dialogue (shut up about your hatred for Tarantino) here. At some point, towards the beginning, I was thinking that it was great that the dialogue was so cheesy and bad. Again, it reminded me of the first Resident Evil. Except, where that game was a brand new franchise, with no traction yet, and probably a fairly small budget (at least compared to the games now), the bad dialogue could be looked past and laughed about in a heartwarming manner. This game is not the very first in a new series (maybe a new sub-series? But that doesn't count), the RE franchise is HUGE, and I'm willing to bet the budget on this one was bigger than on RE1. I wrote down a great example of the awful dialogue: chapter two of episode eight has you control Chris (along with Jessica), while he is on a boat, racing to board the ship and find Jill and Parker (I'll get into characters soon). There are giant tentacles that come out of the water, and both you and Jessica man huge mini-guns, and you have to shoot at these tentacles as you're whipping through the water. Pretty tense, stressful, deadly, situation, wouldn't you say? Well, not to Jessica, who makes this environmentally-aware quote: "God, the tentacles are so annoying!" Seriously? Seriously Jessica? Yeah know what else is annoying? Your shoes becoming untied. Maybe burning your toast? Running low on gas can be annoying. It's stuff like this, sprinkled all throughout the game, that just get so beyond ridiculous you want to scream at your 3DS. It's as if the characters aren't even aware of their surroundings. Two characters specifically, a duo named Quint and Grinder, are the worst offenders. It's a special brand of bad dialogue. Whereas RE1's dialogue was like B-movie bad (I suggest watching this Youtube clip of the infamous "Jill Sandwich" segment. Also, look for the "master of unlocking" quote that I referenced in the header), and you could just laugh at it for days, Revelations' bad dialogue is just that: bad. It's hackneyed, trite, boring, and at times, nonsensical. There's not much fun in it. Also, I had thought that Revelations might be on the same level as the first game, dialogue wise, but NO SIREE! The original Resident Evil might take the cake for worst video game dialogue of all time. The Revelations series has a long way to go.
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| That first sentence makes me laugh. Not spoken dialogue, but crappy nonetheless |
The cons are not too bad, and none should detract from the fun this game brings. What kind of fun? Well, perhaps you should read on!
The sound in this game rocks! I played the entire game with headphones in, just so I could immerse myself in the great environments. It's not scary (but really, what Resident Evil game is, besides the obligatory jump scares?), but all the sound effects really add a level of creepiness. You can hear the monsters slithering, even if you can't see them. Rain and lightning add a nice touch. The gun noises are all good as well. And even though I just bitched about the dialogue, I will say at least the voice acting is okay. Not bad, not amazing. The music also is just fantastic. I couldn't possibly tell you how the music of Resident Evil 5 was (the last RE I played), but it obviously wasn't memorable enough. In a game like this, the sound goes a long way. I would like to give special mention to the (SLIGHT SPOILER AHEAD!) music in the secret laboratory section towards the end. Both the visuals and the music give me a great nostalgic feeling for the secret lab under the mansion in the first game. Jesus, maybe I should stop referencing the first game?
You know what? No! A big part of the reason I wanted to play this game, and why I enjoyed it so much, was because it gave me a feeling for the first game. The first game is a very important one to me (as I expunged about in the introductory paragraph), and anything that reminds me of it is a great thing. Besides some of those action heavy sequences I talked about above, this game is a real return to survival horror for the beleaguered franchise. After Code Veronica, they kind of lost their way. Sure, everyone always tells me how amazing 4 is (haven't played it yet. Both that and Code Veronica: X will feature on these pages one day), but that was the start of the action-oriented focus. The fact that they wanted to bring the series back, at least somewhat, to what made it so compelling in the first place, is very exciting. I wouldn't even mind if they continued the numbered RE's in the more action-oriented fashion of the last few (again, I don't hate them. I don't mind growth), and kept Revelations as its own sub-series that focused more on survival horror. That'll please everyone, right? Eh, probably not. The fact is, Resident Evil: Revelations, brings back the cramped corridors, ammo conservation (although it's still plentiful, there were times when I ran dangerously low), and dark areas of the first few games. Hell, even the main cruise ship that you play 75% of the game on resembles the Arklay mansion. So, anyone, if you are looking for a more "old school" Resident Evil game, stop fucking around and buy this! I got it used (for 3DS) for $20!
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| Very first scene of the game. Basic layout |
I went a little out of the order I presented the bullet points in there, but I'll talk quickly about the graphics now. They are pretty darn good for a 3DS game. They could easily pass for PS2, which I guess is good for a handheld. Again, the atmosphere is great, and the locales (cruise ship, icy mountain, overun-with-monsters office building) look good. The monster design is good, with the main "zombie" enemies (they aren't zombies. Will Resident Evil ever have zombies again, I wonder?) are fairly gross, and reminiscent of The Thing a tiny bit. Admittedly, the Hunters are boring, looking as they did all the way back in 1996, but at least the mutated dogs look cool. I'm going to roll up the boss design pro in here as well. I've decided to give them their own separate post (like I did with the bosses of Arkham Origins), but I will say here, the five bosses in the game look as monster-ish as I would hope from an RE game. No regular enemies re-skinned and made bosses. The giant armored boss, and the giant parasite-ridden whale boss, especially, were my favorites. They are all mutated, gross, inhuman crimes against nature. Even the last boss bares resemblance to the ol' steadfast Tyrant bosses from series' past.
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| Just kinda doing his thing. Minding his own business |
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| Lapping up yummy blood |
You get an item at the beginning of the game called the Genesis scanner. It's an odd little thing at first, but once you learn how to use it, it really makes exploration exciting. When you switch to it, it replaces a weapon. You can use it in first person, and it'll show a scanning-type screen. Any enemy (alive or dead) can be analyzed for data about them. Each enemy marks a certain percentage towards your goal of acquiring 100% scan. Unfortunately, you don't get to really scan each individual enemy. I mean, you DO, but they all get lumped into the same percentage pool. So basically, once you scan enough enemies to get 100%, you start over at 0. Your reward? An herb. At first, I thought this was lame, as herbs are fairly plentiful. But, you can only hold five, and there were several times where five just wasn't enough. So being able to scan enemies and get herbs is very helpful. The best part about the Genesis scanner is that you can scan your environments. Besides hidden hand prints you can find (there are many hidden throughout the game), you can also discover hidden ammo, herbs, and custom parts for your guns. I really enjoy how the upgrade system works: essentially, each gun has a certain amount of spots for upgrades. You can find dozens of upgrades throughout the game (like, added accuracy, damage output, being able to hold more bullets in the magazine, things like that), and each one can be attached to the various weapons. By the end of the game, the shotgun I used (which I defeated the final boss with) had a +60% extra damage upgrade, which made it stupidly powerful. You mainly find all these upgrade parts by scanning environments with the Genesis scanner. I usually find complete exploration in games exhausting and tiresome, but in this game, it really was a great highlight.
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| Scanning... |
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| Very eerie dining hall. I wish I had taken more location pics |
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| The clowns Grinder and Quint |
As I mentioned, you play through a variety of fairly interesting locales, with the cruise ship being the most prominently showcased. You can jump from one to another between chapters and episodes. It breaks up any monotony of being in one place for too long, so it's a welcomed addition. After every chapter and every episode you can save your game (no saving in the middle of chapters, which kind of sucks).
Okay, really quickly, and this has nothing really to do with anything in the last two paragraphs, but this game basically has no puzzles. However, the ones it does have all integrate the touch screen, which is kind of neat. There, that was really quick.
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| Don't mind that ass in the background |
I think I've blabbed on quite enough now (we're over three thousand words now. Yikes), so I'll finish with this: I really enjoyed this game. Even though it seems I spent more time talking about the cons instead of the pros, know that none of them prevent a fun game from being played (unless you just absolutely cannot get past the controls), and I think this is one that all survival horror fans should play. I also think jaded RE fans should give this a spin. Finally, since this post turned out to be so damn long, I'm going to do a separate post for the bosses in the game (there are only five, but seriously, this post is bloated and meandering enough), like I did for Arkham Origins. I've decided there are to be three tiers of how I handle bosses: tier three is for games with few or no boss battles, and I'll roll those into the B-LOG SLAYING post (like I did with Silent Hill Downpour and that stupid Billy and Mandy GBA game); tier two will be like this and Batman, where there is too much info on bosses and they need their own dedicated post; finally tier one will be mainly for Dark Souls II for now, in which every single boss gets his/her own post. If any other games come out (*cough* Bloodborne *cough*) that have really great boss battles, I'll do separate posts for them all.
All right, seriously, I'm done.
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| Fuzzy credits |
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