Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Great multiplayer"

Resident Evil: Revelations is a Nintendo 3DS exclusive that was released in February 2012 by Capcom, and while it was promoted for 'returning the series to its survival horror roots' it doesn't. It's not a scary game. Even so, it's still a good game; although it could have been so much more.
The story starts out pretty good with two of the BSAA's top agents Jill Valentine and Parker Luciani searching for two other agents who have gone missing - Chris Redfield and Jessica Sherawat - on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean sea. They find out the truth about the incidents that took place a year ago in the city of Terragrigia. However, even with its grand and original start, towards the end the story isn't quite as good and it falls somewhat short of the high standards of story set by Resident Evil 4.
The graphics are amazing: even though the 3D effect reduces the quality somewhat, these are without a doubt the best graphics on any handheld. The 3D effect is also well done. The animation in the FMV cutscenes is great, but the quality itself isn't very good. There are also several typos in the subtitles.
The gameplay is enjoyable - it remains faithful to the new Resident Evil gameplay formula introduced by Resident Evil 4 and even adds to it the option of strafing while aiming. Even without the Circle Pad Pro, the game controls well and the only gripe is that the gyro sensor controls are imprecise. The game also gives the option of switching between First Person and Third Person aim modes. Of course, the Third Person aim mode works much better and it's a puzzle why it wasn't the default option.
Capcom introduces new enemies as well: the Ooze. These 'it came from beneath the sink' kind of monsters are more amusing than scary, but they are nicely detailed and while their heads don't blow off - one of the worst things about this game is that there are no satisfying headshots - they still are worthy things to kill. Whatever they are.
The music isn't very good, sadly. Some of the music in Raid mode is great, but the rest is too focused on one instrument and the menu music in particular is almost headache inducing.
Raid mode is the best feature of the game and the bulk of your playtime will most probably come out of Raid Mode. It also allows for online multiplayer, which although has a few problems is still the most enjoyable feature in the game.
A thing to complain about is the characters: none of them are very likeable except for the ones that were already introduced and Parker, Raymond and Keith. There is also no character death or no scene at all that proves that the characters can actually feel, and it's sort of disappointing that even though some of them did die at first, they came back alive which shows that the developers still hadn't decided towards the end of the development. The game also lags when new enemies appear, so there are no jump scares either. The only puzzle in the game which invovles rearranging wires is far too easy. But despite these flaws, Resident Evil: Revelations in the best portable Resident Evil game yet and is one of the best games for the 3DS, though that has more to do with the fact that the 3DS doesn't have that many good games. Even then, its story could have used more work and it doesn't live up to its full potential.