Revelations is one of the best RE games to date. Worth every penny.
The Bad: Useless map system, constant backtracking is boring, a little to claustrophobic
Revelations is the first Resident Evil game on 3DS and is probably the best portable RE game ever made. Not to mention, probably one of better more recent Resident Evil games. The controls are solid, the story is at least a little interesting, and the monsters are awesome. Of course the game has great 3D effects and a lengthy campaign. Hop aboard the Queen Zenobia as Jill Valentine and find out for yourself.
You start out as Jill Valentine aboard the Queen Zenobia which is a derelict ship that possibly holds answers for the T-Abyss virus that the terrorist group Veltro unleashed into the ocean (or will unleash). The game has an over the shoulder perspective like RE4 and 5, but when you use your weapons the camera goes into first person to utilize the 3D effects. It works well and you can move around while aiming by holding L. There are many different weapons in the game and you can find custom parts to upgrade these. It really makes a difference when facing tough enemies, but not every custom part is easy to find. Some are hidden away needing certain keys, but this is grouped into a major issue with the game (I will explain later). The shooting feels great and is really solid. The weapons vary from various machine guns, shotguns, and pistols. Each type of weapon shares the same ammo pool, but each weapon is different in range, fire rate, and damage.
The exploration is a lot like early RE games because it is claustrophobic and you are stuck on a ship the whole time. This felt a lot like the mansion in RE1, but I prefer the more open adventure feeling of the later games. This leads to constant backtracking, but Capcom tries to skirt this by blocking off passages or making new ones available via keys. I find these ships confusing to navigate and was always lost until later in the game where the last few chapters are linear and more cinematic and you only have one way to go. It would help of the map system didn't suck so much. It is in 3D but you can't turn it the way you want and there are no lines that divide sectors. Half the time I couldn't tell if I was on a bottom floor or top floor and just had to run around guessing. The mini-map is more detailed, but why not the full map too?
This is probably the worst thing about the game, but some times the enemies can be tough and too many spawn. This is a close quarters game so having 10 enemies spawn in one hallway is a disaster and leads to frustrating deaths. Not to mention the extremely tough final boss that is a lot like Nemesis. The game does have a pretty good dodge feature where you push the analog nub towards the enemy at the right moment. This can ease tough boss fights, but finding their weakness is key. The enemy designs are awesome and some are almost Silent Hill like. They are creepy and gross and stray away from the human zombies that we are used to in this series. It is a nice change and should be introduced more often.
The game also has some pretty awesome gameplay change ups where you use a turret to fight off a giant monster, carrying wounded team members, swimming, and various other things that change up the pace. Revelations is a fun roller coaster ride that is full of surprises and will keep you entertained throughout the entire 10 hour campaign. Once you beat that you can do co-op missions where you fight off hordes of monsters, but some sort of single player mission mode would have been nice. Revelations also looks fantastic with visuals that fully utilize the 3DS hardware.
Overall, Revelations is fun with great visuals, 3D effects, and awesome gun play. The monsters look good, and the story is decent, but nothing memorable. The gameplay is changed up often and there is a nice long 10 hour campaign. If you love Resident Evil then this is a must have for any 3DS owner.