Hands-On: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
We went hands on Resident Evil: The Mercenaries, how is it coming along?
One of the games we had a chance to play around with was Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D which was not actually playable at the Nintendo World event that we were also lucky enough to attend earlier in the year. Seeing the game on show and playable got me so excited I knew I just had to play it. With a few extended play sessions, I have not only glowing praise for the title but also a few concerns about where Capcom could take the game to make it, well, a little bit more substantial than a whole bunch of assets thrown together.
The first thing I obviously noticed was that the graphics in the game are pretty good. While they dont run at a totally fluid 60fps, they still run at a very acceptable framerate particularly when you take into account how much stuff is going on at the screen at any given time. Enemy weapons and explosion particles all have depth this time around thanks to the 3D capabilities of the console, and sometimes they even feel like they are coming right at you until the illusion is shattered once they pass the screen. Character models are pretty nicely done, with most of the characters from RE5 and RE4 looking their best and at least on par with the games they were previously featured in. Claire, who has been created for this game specifically, looks great too. Despite this game being a more of a side-story / spin-off of the series, the game is still graphically quite impressive.
The demo we played allowed us to select out of four characters with two possible maps; Pueblo, the village from RE4 and Public Assembly, the dilapidated junkyard from RE5. We also had our run with four characters, including Chris, Krauser, HUNK and fan favourite Claire Redfield. Being a huge Resident Evil fan and thinking it might offer a new experience, I chose Claire and the Pueblo village. After an alarmingly lengthy load sequence (probably around 20 seconds) we were in action. Claire was surrounded by enemies with lots to do. The inventory is mapped to the touchscreen allowing for quick swapping of weapons in tight situations. Funnily enough, despite not having a dual analog setup, the game worked quite well although the classic Resident Evil control scheme is very D-Pad friendly.
The general idea was to kill as many enemies as possible within a certain time limit, with multipliers awarded for fast and consecutive kills. We had no problem playing the game at the same level as we would on consoles; it was quite easy to do well being a series veteran. Animations for Claire are very well done, with all her attacks being a joy to pull off when not shooting. An interesting design choice with aiming however, is that players now take a first person view when aiming, in a bid to attempt to create a sense of "immersion" with the 3D and the depth it provides. While this is notably different to previous games in the series (which have offered an over-the-shoulder view), its implementation is not unusually met and I had no troubles adjusting at all. It really did add a lot of depth. It was also nice to see Capcom had created new abilities and weapons for Claire, instead of reusing old assets from other games – which was one of my major concerns.
I guess what Im trying to say about Mercenaries 3D is that its an incredibly fast paced game that is sure to please the action fans that mightve been put off by a slower game like the upcoming Resident Evil Revelations. I can do nothing but recommend this to anyone who likes the good old arcade style games, as this harkens back to that glorious day quite a bit and provides a great fast paced and frenetic mature action game for the 3DS. You wont be bored either, and so far theres nothing on the 3DS quite like it.
Capcom promises to provide online functionality (including possible downloadable characters/levels if it does well) for the game which will no doubt be an amazing feature to include, although we hope they plan to flesh the game out a bit more as a standalone retail release. I was informed by the rep that the final game will have levelling systems and unlockable weapons / abilities and whether or not this makes it interesting enough is to be seen. Still, with at least ten already created characters and more than eight levels, theres a lot of content Capcom could pull from the other games to put into this. Hopefully well get some original stuff too.
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is pretty close to completion, but weve had no confirmation as to whether it will be a launch title yet. Were pretty hopeful and sure that itll be within launch window though. Definitely worth a look, though well have to wait and see how substantial it is, or at least whether it will bear a lowered price tag to compensate. There is, after all, so much we can tell from a five to eight minute demo.
+ Fast paced battles
+ 3D gore, explosions and weapons
– Load times may be a bit long for some
– May get old fast in the final package
