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Resident Evil: Revelations
Today at Gamescom, I got to see Chris Redfield in action for the first time in Resident Evil Revelations. The mission I played was set in a snowy mountain range as Chris and his partner Jessica Sherawat investigated a plane crash. In addition to the demo, I asked the game’s producer Masachika Kawata about something that’s bugged me for a while: What’s up with all the helicopter and plane crashes in Resident Evil?
Kawata says that the game is broken up into discrete segments that end in cliffhangers, similar to TV shows. That format is a change of pace for the series, but it lets the action take place in a variety of different settings.
For instance, Chris’ mountain-range adventure is a complete departure from Jill’s mansion interior, which was previously playable. Chris and Jessica have to figure out what happened to a crashed plane, which Chris does with a little help from his item scanner tool. The same device can be used to scour environments for items and helpful pickups, but I used it to find a file on the pilot’s body.
We made our way toward a mine, and we were attacked by wolf-like beasts. Kawata says that they worked hard on pacing this time around, and it paid off. Long sections of the mission basically passed by without anything happening, so when the attack finally came it was particularly tense. That was amplified by the traditional Resident Evil controls. For better or worse, you’re a mounted turret in first-person mode, unable to move. That proved to be problematic against the wolves, which were able to dodge my fire with ease.
Revelations is definitely one of the better looking 3DS games out there, continuing the precedent the studio established with Super Street Fighter IV. The 3D effects don’t seem to be overly intrusive or gimmicky, which is a nice bonus.
The mission’s focus on a plane crash gave me pause though. Resident Evil’s pilots have had terrible luck throughout the series, including crashes in Resident Evils 2, 4, 5, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and Resident Evil: Survivor, to name a few. What gives?
“Maybe the Resident Evil development teams don’t like helicopters,” joked Kawata. “This time, in Revelations we’re going to try our best to make sure that there aren’t any helicopters that crash. But, we can’t promise anything.”
Clearly, I’m not afraid to ask the tough questions.
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Resident Evil: Revelations
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