Previews// Resident Evil Revelations

I get the feeling from playing Revelations that Capcom doesn’t expect you to sit down for hours on end playing to your heart's content. Why? Well, at the end of each act, you receive your BP points (I’ll come back to those) and your rating (S, A, B, C etc).

As the next act starts, you see a ‘previously, on Resident Evil Revelations...’ which literally sums up the acts you’ve just played through. It’s slightly annoying if you’ve literally just finished an act and you’re ready to start the next one.

Now, surprisingly Revelations doesn’t have a split-screen co-op option. Hell, there’s no co-op for the campaign at all. We have however been provided with Raid Mode. To start with, we choose a character – each character has different attributes. Jill is more suited to pistols as she has a higher fire rate and reload speed than, for example, Parker, who’s better with Shotguns and has extra melee damage.

Now, some enemies have a symbol next to their level + health bar. Sometimes a fist, or a shield. Obviously the guys with the shields are more resistant to taking damage, whereas the enemies with fist icons are stronger than normal. Killing these enemies will earn you rewards such as boxes containing customisable parts for your weapons, or even a new weapon altogether.

Each stage of Raid mode is an extract from a campaign mission in which you’re tasked with killing the enemies quickly and accurately. As you complete a stage, you earn more BP points, as I mentioned earlier. You’re then able to spend these (and any points from the campaign) on new weapons, upgrades, herbs etc.

I mentioned that enemies had levels, and so does your character. As you finish each stage, you’re rewarded with XP which will increase your level. Certain weapons require a certain level to use, and obviously higher level enemies are harder if you’re much lower than them. Raid mode can be played online with a partner, but again, there’s no split-screen co-op to speak of.

Overall, I think that Revelations is an OK game. It brings nothing new to the formula, although Capcom has mixed in a few old spices to beef up the flavour. The horror aspect of Revelations is good – not quite what we used to get with the original few titles, but good nonetheless.

My only real down points here are the frustrating lack of ammo, lack of split-screen co-op, and the whole ‘previously on Resident Evil Revelations...’ thing.

Pros
+ Survival Horror is a welcomed (returned) feature
+ Puzzles are balanced – not too easy or hard
+ Raid Mode is a lot of fun

Cons
- Annoying ‘previously on Resident Evil Revelations
- No split-screen co-op
- Frustrating lack of ammo