Home Gaming Is Resident Evil: Revelations worth playing?

Is Resident Evil: Revelations worth playing?

3 min read
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It’s not been a good time for Resident Evil fans. Though Resident Evil 5 was a fun co-operative game it just didn’t feel like Resident Evil; dispensing with the scares, the limited ammunition and the puzzles. Resident Evil Revelations on the 3DS was a more true-to-form Resident Evil game, bringing back much of the classic gameplay, while still providing the action that new fans of the series craved. It’s now heading to just about every other platform in a new, high-definition port – but is it really worth playing?

If you’re a fan of the original games, burnt by the mess that was Resident Evil 6, I can quite emphatically say “yes.”

For the many of you not familiar with the Revelations, it’s a canonical game – though not quite numbered – that’s set between the events of Resident Evil 4 and 5. Series Stalwart Chris Redfield and his new partner Jessica Sherawat have gone missing, and it’s up to you to find him.

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You’ll play as a number of old, familiar characters – as well as some new ones. In one of the game’s smaller, more focused bite-sized episodes (it was originally a handheld game, remember), you’ll play as Jill Valentine, the master of lockpicking, and her new furry partner Parker Luciani are sent to locate Chris at his last know whereabouts – somewhere on a cruise ship called the SS Queen Zenobia.

Of course, that ships inhabitants are infected with a strain of the mutating T-virus, and you’ll spend a lot of time putting bullets in to heads, finding your way through the ship and collecting all manner of parts to customise your guns. In other episodes, you’ll play as different characters from within the Resident Evil universe, doing much the same thing in different locales. Yes, there’s still co-op (in RAID mode), and an awful lot of shooting – but the biggest difference here is that there’s largely a genuine sense of urgency and atmosphere, with a wonderful sense of pacing.

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If you’ve already played Revelations, this new port is slightly different to the original game; refining the addictive Raid Mode, a new take on the game’s story levels – played solo or online-co-op –  that adds an arcade-styled scoring, new enemy placements  and the opportunity to do it all again with new characters, and new guns. Plus, fan-favourite Hunk is playable in Raid mode.  There are also a few new enemy types – so there’s a distinct possibility of being frightened all over again. There’s even a new difficulty level, Infernal mode, replacing the 3DS version’s Hell mode as the best path to ammo-less frustration. Infernal mode adds a dash of randomization to Revelations – so enemy placement, equipment, and ammo pickups are different, each and every time you play.

Textures within the game have been upscaled and redone to look nice on bigger screens – and it’s largely quite impressive, running at a silky-smooth framerate – but on the odd occasion, some elements that probably weren’t deemed worthy of upscaling show up, making the whole thing look less impressive than it should. It also, curiously, doesn’t offer the option to play in 3D; a bizarre move considering the stereoscopic work was all done for the 3DS game.

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The controls have also been given an update, removing all of the touch-screen nonsense in favour of more traditional imput.

Still, if you’re struggling to get the bitter taste of Resident Evil 6 out of your mouth, Revelations should do just that, offering a purer, golden-age Resident Evil experience, without sacrificing any of the more modern sensibilities the franchise has seen.

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It is, quite simply, the best Resident Evil game in years – and it’s fantastic that more people will get to experience it.  Best of all, it’ll be coming in at a reduced, budget-minded price – so for once, it’ll be hard to accuse Capcom of simply trying to cash in.

It’s coming to PC, PlayStation 3, Wii U & Xbox 360 on May 24.

Last Updated: April 15, 2013

21 Comments

  1. AndriyP

    April 15, 2013 at 15:35

    I read that this has a multi-player mode but not co-op for the main story?

    Reply

    • JasonDK

      April 15, 2013 at 15:39

      I’m optimistically hoping that the only thing missing from the game would be a typewriter, ink ribbons, static camera angles and a clunky control scheme to classify is as a true “resident evil” game.

      Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      April 15, 2013 at 15:39

      Yeah, co-op is reserved for the RAID mode – which essentially Is story mode, just with extras.

      Reply

      • AndriyP

        April 15, 2013 at 15:41

        Soooo is this game worth getting if is going to be played only in co-op?

        Reply

        • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

          April 15, 2013 at 15:54

          Well, it’s going to be pretty cheap – and you can play through the thing in RAID mode with a mate..so I’d say yeah.

          Reply

          • AndriyP

            April 15, 2013 at 15:56

            Awesomeness…by the way…should have listened to you about RE6…have to force myself to finish it 🙁

          • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

            April 15, 2013 at 15:57

            The Leon bits are *ok*….the rest of it is pretty awful,.

        • Charles

          April 16, 2013 at 08:01

          Christ, that’s it!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s because of fuckers like you that the Resident Evil series has become such a pil of shit of late. Multiplayer, co-op, co-op, multiplayer. Jesus Christ, those two fucking words aren’t supposed to be part of Resident Evil. It ruined the series. If dickheads like you didn’t want multiplayer and co-op in everything you play then this series might of stayed on track. Go take your fucking multiplayer and co-op crap to one the thousands of modern warefare FPS available and leave the games that is supposed to stay single player ONLY alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fuck you for ruining this series.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Erwin

            April 16, 2013 at 08:15

            Genugtig Charles, settle down dude

          • AndriyP

            April 16, 2013 at 10:05

            Wow arent you a pitiful soul

            I never played the original RE games and i certainly didnt ask for any co-op, i played 5 with a mate and we loved it on co-op as a single player game it was awful, so i was looking for hte same experience with a mate in RE6 which is not as good as 5.

            SO fuck you and have a miserable life 🙂

  2. Matthew Figueira

    April 15, 2013 at 15:37

    I quite enjoyed this game 🙂 I’d recommend it everybody!

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief Erwin

    April 15, 2013 at 15:42

    I might finally look at getting a Resi game

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      April 15, 2013 at 19:22

      Sad sad sad, you have no idea what you’ve missed over the years.

      Reply

  4. Theo Steenekamp

    April 15, 2013 at 15:53

    RE6 = pile of doodooooodypoo

    Reply

  5. Tbone187

    April 15, 2013 at 16:31

    I’m in…Sounds like an actual Res Evil game…

    Reply

  6. FoxOneZA - The Chosen One

    April 15, 2013 at 16:36

    Wait!!!! A good Res Evil and DmC game in one year from Capcom????

    Reply

  7. matthurstrsa

    April 16, 2013 at 07:06

    Seems like Capcom are turning it around with this and then Remember Me that’s getting loads of good press. My how times have changed.

    Reply

  8. TechniKyle

    April 16, 2013 at 07:46

    I don’t know why, but I read Jessica Shareatwat :/

    Reply

  9. yienwae

    May 8, 2013 at 01:08

    I enjoyed this on the 3DS. The co-op raid mode was good, but there were some issues. Playing through the actual story in co-op mode would make this a great buy. That was not on the original release for the 3DS.

    My biggest problem was that AI for your partner in the single player campaign. Even with them there, I had to do all of the work. I often wondered if my partner was doing any kind of damage to the BOW’s. I hope the partner AI is better in this version. Other than that, this was a good game.

    Reply

  10. massively pissed of RE fan

    August 8, 2013 at 16:12

    I love the early RE games. So far I am hating this game – how the hell am I meant to kill dozens of wolves with no freaking bullets? This game better get better soon… Signed massively pissed of RE fan.

    Reply

    • now a RE revelations fan

      August 9, 2013 at 07:54

      hello it’s “massively pissed of RE fan” again… I finally worked out how to use the knife and also the BOW decoys on the PS3 version. Now I’m back on the ship and loving it! It’s like the original RE mansion but on a ship! so I am taking back my previous comment – sorry – I am unable to delete it…

      Reply

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