Will Resident Evil: Revelations be Capcom's Saviour?

As previously established in my Resident Evil 4 Review, Capcom's long-running Resident Evil franchise is awesome. And although the company has done a lot of idiotic things lately such as the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, the potential saviour of Capcom's standard as a great publisher and developer might just be the next 3DS installment in the Resident Evil series, namely Revelations. First announced back at E3 2010 when the 3DS itself was unleashed for the first time to E3 attendees' amazement, Revelations is set to be a future classic for Nintendo's latest handheld system. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing Revelations for quite a while as it will see release at an unknown date sometime in 2012 which is quite a long wait. Although this could potentially mean a ton of work is being put into this title, however long we have to wait for it to finally see release. Luckily for all the gamers looking forward to this new title in the long-running Resident Evil series, Capcom seem to be unveiling more info about the next major game in their most popular survival horror franchise by the minute.

Chris and his BSAA partner Jessica fend off evil zombified dogs in what appears to be a more action packed segment. It ain't all about scares in Revelations, it seems.

For those who haven't kept up with this game for whatever reason, Revelations the next title in the 'main' Resident Evil series, meaning it isn't a spin-off like the recently released Mercenaries 3D and that it takes place in the actual series timeline. This title takes place in-between Resident Evil 4 and the slightly poorer but still good Resident Evil 5, detailing how the Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (or BSAA for short) that played an important role in the fifth game was formed. The narratives of two well-known Resident Evil favourites, Jill Valentine (Resident Evil 1 and 3) and Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 1, 5 and Code: Veronica), intertwine throughout Revelations' tale, with the recent Gamescom trailer showing off the first chunk of Chris' storyline. Chris is accompanied by a brand-new partner named Jessica in Revelations, with both anti bio-terrorism operatives exploring a European mountain range that isn't quite what it seems. In other words, it's infested with deadly zombified dogs far too similar to the ones we all feared in the first Resident Evil game. At the start of the new trailer, Chris and his new partner discover the base of operations for the apparent villains of this game known as Veltro Corp, who have developed yet another deadly virus that transforms specimens into deadly zombie-like beasts, such as the aforementioned dogs as well as fish. Veltro are prepared to fill one third of the Earth's waters with this virus, resulting in an outbreak of deadly sea beasts that have the potential to bring down most of the planets population. Veltro's reasons for this crazy plot are unknown at this moment in time, but judging by standard Resident Evil logic things most certainly won't be what they seem.

Look out Jill, there's a monster infected by a rip-off of the Plaga virus behind you! Obviously...

Since the game was first revealed well over a year ago now, we've seen quite a few trailers released by Capcom at pretty much every major gaming event you can think of. Most recently a trailer was unveiled showcasing some thrilling CGI of new character Rachel, an inappropriately attired woman exploring the haunted cruise ship that the games main female protagonist Jill Valentine will investigate at a later time in Revelations' chronology. The newest trailer for the game is completely based around this newly introduced character, and after a minute or so of CGI you can instantly tell that Rachel is going to be that standard cliched character that will obviously die, just as many others did in previous Resi titles (not naming any names, that would just spoil things!). It's a good thing too, as Rachel is genuinely quite annoying judging from the single trailer we've seen her in. It's yet to be confirmed whether we can play as this character or not, but if we can I reckon her segment of gameplay will either be an extra chapter in the main story, a la the Ashley bit in Resident Evil 4, or one of those bonus modes you unlock after finishing the main game. In any case let's just hope we won't have to play as her for too long (or at all, for that matter) as she certainly isn't a very likeable character. One might describe her as a 'dumb blonde' even. Capcom, you stereotypical scoundrels!

Jill's partner Parker Luciani looks appears to be modeled after Matt Berry. Hopefully he'll bring some laughs into the mix to ease the tension in Revelations.

While the story and visual aspects of Resident Evil: Revelations clearly shine just from watching the trailers that Capcom has released, I personally am not really sold on the gameplay so far. I haven't played it at an event or anything, but Revelations does look a tad boring when it comes to actually moving your character around and blasting some... well, whatever on Earth they are this time. What made Resident Evil 4 so brilliant was the way it manages to vary the gameplay despite using the same engine throughout the whole game, whether Leon Scott Kennedy was fighting baddies on a fast-moving minecart or exploring extremely detailed areas and solving some fairly easy puzzles in the process, it all seemed rather varied. Revelations on the other hand from what we've seen of Jill's segments, looks a tad corridor-shootery. If that's even a word. Yes, the European mountain range this Chris Redfield is to explore along with Jessica looks a lot more expansive than the tight corridors Chris' former partner explores on the abandoned cruise ship. This could be an attempt to vary Revelations' gameplay in a way, because the bits we've seen where you take control of Chris seem to focus less on horror and more on action, with the big guy breaking his leg and having to fight off zombified dogs at one point while unable to move. Jill's mansion and cruise ship sections look to have a much bigger focus on surprising you and having you fight off disguisting... things in a claustrophobic and horrifying manner. Still, I'm not entirely sold on Revelations just yet...

So, will Capcom's next portable instalment in their long-running Resident Evil franchise win back their title as one of the best game publishers and developers around, or will they simply release a poor, cliched game and continue to be thought of as one of the most idiotic? Revelations may make up for the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, but we'll have to wait until 2012 to find out if it will. Speaking of 2012, the next post you'll see on my blog happens to be a feature based around the Nintendo 3DS Conference 2011 which took place the other day showcasing a large number of awesome games (Revelations included) to be released next year. You can expect it up in a few days time, but until then continue to speculate whether Revelations will actually end up good or not! Oh, and before I forget, I began to write this post soon after the Rachel trailer was shown, so it may seem a little outdated. Regardless, I hope you had a fun read!