Fairly recently Nintendo and Capcom released a demo of Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS online shop and I was pretty excited about this. I finally got around to trying and finishing the demo yesterday and I decided to make a blog post about my thoughts about the demo because this was my first real exposure to horror games. So please keep that in mind when you read my thoughts below. ^__^

The creepy eyeball thing that is sort of part of the logo for this game.

The demo was around 20 minutes long and takes place in the cruise liner so prominently featured in media and news about the game. The player takes control of Jill as she wakes up alone and unsure where she is. Her partner, Parker, calls her over their radio and tells her to meet him on the bridge of the ship. Why she wakes up alone in a cabin on the ship is never really questioned and I sort of found that weird. Anyway, the game has you explore areas of the ship and ends not long after you meet up with Parker.

Like I mentioned before, I didn’t really know what to expect going in because this was my first real horror game experience. I was familiar with the franchise, since it is so big, but I was never really big on horror movies and the thrill of being scared so I never tired a horror game as a result. I was however curious about Resident Evil because it featured a strong independent female lead who didn’t get downgraded as love interest even though she and the male lead do seem to have something going on (well at least that’s the impression I get from reading a bit about the games and characters). On top of that, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of playable female characters and their variety. So the series definitely piqued my interest in horror games in general, and I’ve been meaning to try one for a while now. This demo was the perfect opportunity.

Jill Valentine. You play as her in the demo and final game.

My first impressions of it were that the controls took some getting used to as I rarely play action games and I wasn’t familiar with the R to aim, A to shot while aiming, and X to use sub-weapon set up. After the first enemy encounter I did start to quickly grasp the controls and they were pretty intuitive. Nonetheless, I did mess up a few times with the controls because of how jumpy the game made me. Yes, it scared me. Perhaps it’s because it is my first experience with this genre and the fact that I hate getting scared (as it makes me very panicky and less thoughtful), but there were a few times the game got me really good. In fact, I kept going slowly through the corridors, looking around to see if any thing was going to start running at me from the other end. I think the first time it happened (in the room you start out with), the room with the trophies, and the last monster before the demo ended were the worst for me. The trophy room was horrible because there were two of them and the space was pretty enclosed. I managed to take out one with a grenade in my panic and eventually shot down the other one. The fact that most bullets don’t immediately kill the things and if you keep staying in one place trying to kill it, it may catch up to you. That was probably what made the trophy room so scary…the thing slowly following you. One time it almost snuck up behind me (because of the way the camera works in this game) and boy oh boy was that the scariest moment in that room.  (;゜Д゜) The final monster thing was really fast and it’s speed sent me into a panick in which I set off two grenades (and I think I accidentally hurt myself with the second…)

So I definitely felt scared and the music helped a lot too. It was very moody and creepy and once the monster things showed up, it became really panicky music that definitely did not help. (^__^;;;) Oh and the graphics were drop dead gorgeous. I kept thinking it must have been a Wii game because they were so pretty. The 3D effect was also perfect. Capcom went with the dept 3D so it felt like I was looking into the screen and that is the kind of 3D I prefer for the 3DS. It was a really good idea to put this demo up because I can see a lot of people being impressed with the production values of this game.

The graphics are absolutely beautiful.

Another thing I liked about the demo was the red laser aiming. As someone who totally sucks at first person shooters, this laser was a big help in aiming. One thing I did not like was the scanner. Every time I wanted to use it I would have to touch it on the touch screen. It was sort of annoying given that the vast majority of the game is played with buttons exclusively. It also makes scanning harder when you’re trying to outrun an enemy and scan along the way. Ammo isn’t super scarce in the demo but it’s scarce enough that I wanted to avoid fights if I could.

Minus that one problem, this all sounds good: beautiful graphics, atmospheric music, a horror game that scares me. But did I like it? I did, but at the same time I don’t know if I’m up for the full game. As much as this game impressed me, I just didn’t like being scared. I felt the fear impeded my performance as I often did silly things because I started to panic. So I’m really mixed about the demo and game. On the one hand, it was an interesting new experience and I did have fun with it even if it scared me. On the other, I’m not really a fan of fear and I don’t like having that emotion dragged out of me if I can help it. Yet I can’t entirely write it off because the game was much more engaging due to the fear. So in the end I’m still not sure whether I’ll end up buying the full game. Perhaps another go with the demo will clear that up? One thing I do know for sure is that it would be a real waste if more demos weren’t added to the store. I can see myself trying out more games through demos and picking up things I may not have given a chance.

–SW