Resident Evil Revelations does a fine job of blending together survival horror and action.
Gameplay: The gameplay uses controls similar to RE: 4 and RE: 5. The game uses an over the shoulder 3rd person view. It keeps the ability to do a quick spin 180 degrees and uses a laser to aim. One thing that is different from past games is when aiming the player can chose for a 1st or 3rd person view. I preferred the 3rd person view because it is what I'm used to. In terms of movement the circle pad is used to move your character and it works well with only one circle pad. The movement isn't as sharp as it would be with 2 analog sticks, but the game never requires precise and sharp movement. The best part is the added ability to move and shoot which was absent from RE:4 and RE:5. It isn't perfect, but when aiming pressing the L button will allow your character to strife. Meaning he/she will face the same direction and you can't readjust your aim while strafing. It's not perfect, but is a step in the right direction. Weapon switching can happen with the control pad. It works something like up is to switch to the genesis, right for sub weapon and so on. Then you can use the touch screen to just tap on a weapon and your character will switch directly to it. I preferred this way because when using the control pad you had to switch weapons one by one. The weapon switching controls worked fine. For the right shoulder button that is how you aim and y is to shoot. I know you would expect right shoulder button to shoot, left to start aiming, and left analog to aim, but the 3DS only has one circle pad. Fear not though, as even though different, the controls for this game were fine. In fact, they were never a problem for me. Tapping up on the circle pad or down and B at the same time will dodge an enemy attack. If you mess up the timing on the back and B combination your character will do a 180 degree turn leading most likely to a hit in the back. Pressing up meant even with a miss timing you still might be able to get a shot off. Also, spamming up could sometimes dodge attacks. Whether being able to dodge or not with spam is good or bad is up to you. Last, the A button will use a herb to heal your health. Having a separate button for the herbs is a great addition and I thought the inventory controls were must better then RE:5. Overall, the controls weren't perfect and might not work in a game that requires more precise movement and aim, but for Resident Evil Revelations they worked fine.
In terms of what the game was like, it was scary even though towards the end it became more action packed. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't go into much detail. The majority of the game you play as Jill and the game puts you in a cruise ship infested with…… of course zombies and not rats! There are plenty of tight spaced to fight zombies in and plenty of places for zombies to pop out of. The game made me jump a couple of times and some areas are downright scary and made me fear going around the next corner. Keep in mind; I am scared during games easily. The game also speeds up the action sometimes, gives you a whole bunch of ammo, and lets you unload. It has a good mix, but expect both. They added a thing called the Genesis which is used to scan enemy corpses and for hidden items. It does a great job of slowing down the pace of the game and rewarding players for carefully searching the ship. The genesis rewards the player with herbs, ammo, grenades, and other goodies. The battles are intense and every shot counts. As a zombie closes in on you its vital to hit every shot and not miss. Each zombie type has week points which require steady aim to hit and hitting these weak points saves ammo. Ammo is not abundant in this game and it's important not to waste it. There are a variety of zombies to face and each feels different whether it's a fish, a hard hitting close range one, or one that shots crap at you. None of them feel over powered, but they all feel unique and strong enough to be threatening. Items such as grenades pack a punch and when you do find one it is a powerful tool. However, they are rare enough that you save them for the best situations. The game makes you play as multiple characters, but they all feel the same and give you different viewpoints on the story. With solid controls and a nice mix of gameplay, Resident Evil Revelations is worth playing with that alone.
Story: Depending on whom you ask some would say they like the Resident Evil story. I thought the story in RE: Revelations was solid and good, but nothing to rave about. Basically Jill Valentine wakes up on a ship infested with zombies. It's up to her to find out about how the ship became affected and the terrorist behind it. The game also shows multiple perspectives of the story. In addition, the story also talks about past events such as the fall of a city. It would be what you expect from a Resident Evil game, evil terrorist, zombies/ monsters, conspiracy, and hidden secrets. One cool elements is before each chapter the game does a previously on Resident Evil which helped to jog my memory.
Graphics and Sound: I'm not too big on graphics or sound, but the music did add to the atmosphere creeping me out at times. The sound effects were good and hearing a zombie moving in the distance somewhere did make my heart pound a little. The graphics are some of the best I have seen on the 3DS, but don't expect PS3 graphics. The voice acting was fine, not great, but didn't bring down the game.
Final Thoughts: My final thoughts on Resident Evil Revelations are I feel like it did what I wanted it to do. Offer some classic Resident Evil Scares with the updated controls. I would have liked it to stay scary all the way through, but the action scenes did mix up the gameplay. The controls were fine and the graphics are superb for a handheld. The scavenging feeling of the genesis was a major upside. The game never got dull and the boss fights were fun. It was as long as I expected and with raid mode adding incentive to come back and play, I am very satisfied with RE: Revelations.
Graphics: 8.5
Gameplay: 9
Main Story: 7.5
Side Stories: 7.5
Characters: 8
Main Character: 8
Replay Value: 8
Freshness: 9
Exploration: 9.5
Voice acting: 6.5
Emotion: 5
Weapons: 7
Powers: None
Freedom: 7.5
Level Design: 9.5
Music: 8.
Overall: 9
I was on the edge of 8.5 or 9. The feel of the game was great and the level design was solid. I enjoy the Resident Evil characters even though they aren't deep or anything. The game never got boring and playing the game was flat out fun. I felt this justified a 9, just barely.