Resident Evil: Mercenaries Review

I went into my local game store on Wednesday with one goal in mind: to get Resident Evil: Mercenaries(yes, I realize that it came out on Tuesday, but I had work all day). I really enjoy the RE series, and I’m glad Capcom is working hard to release games onto the Nintendo 3DS. I bought Super Street Fighter on launch when I picked up my 3DS, and am pleased with both arcade style games.

Resident Evil 4 and 5 included a side game known as The Mercenaries. It’s been brought to the 3DS as a full retail release, and I will honestly say I was skeptic on purchasing it. This game is more about racking up points than storyline. If you’re the type that likes to get the highest score, this is a game for you.

You play through the game killing waves and waves of enemies that regenerate randomly. There are five levels that contain tiers of locations from past Resident Evil games. The first three levels are mostly tutorial with no real challenge, but once you get past that point the real challenge begins. It isn’t hard to run out of ammo, and those enemies start to pile up as you race around trying to find some enemies drop as they die.

At first I was only able to select between Chris, Jill, and Hunk. Each character has different weapons, and later on you can unlock some rather interesting costumes. You can also set and develop skills. This improves character abilities with their weapons of choice.

I personally prefer Jill’s machine gun compared to Chris’ handgun, but it’s just a personal preference. Hunk is fun too in the beginning, since I like to blow up enemies with his grenade launcher.

The first thing I did when I opened the box was put the game in and start it up. The demo for Revelations can be played right away, so I quickly skipped any tutorials on how to play and dived right in. Screw the instructional packet. I only really look at those for possible pretty artwork, and that’s after I’ve played for a couple of hours. The demo wasn’t very long, and I was more on edge waiting for enemies to suddenly lash out at me than anything else. If you have the game though, I would get used to controlling the game first.

For once, I sort of regretted not glimpsing at the controls. The controls for this game are really weird at first, and it still takes me a few moments to get into a groove. You move around using the circle pad, which will automatically cause your player to run. You can turn around really fast by pressing the B button and pushing down, which is really handy when waves are attacking you.

To shoot, you have to hold the R button and aim with the circle pad. It brings the screen to first person, and you can hold the L button to move around while emptying your gun. Yeah. It’s a little stiff at first, especially when you start getting into the more difficult levels. Pressing Y fires your weapon, and it’s also an action button.

The lower screen of the 3DS is really useful. It contains a map of the level that you are in, as well as your equipment. Pressing A will automatically use an herb if you have one, but if you want to use the other items there you have to press on them. You can select weapons here and reload as well, but I prefer to use the D-Pad for this.

With the controls and basic idea of the game out of the way, I can honestly say this is another game that isn’t amazing in 3D. The enemies and environment look great when they are near you, but the further an enemy is, the more pixilated they look. I was trying to kill a few enemies from a high vantage point in one level, but failed miserably because I wasn’t even sure if I hitting it or not(falling bodies told me they were dead though).

The music is engaging, if you are interested in that as well. There aren’t any scary parts where you’re waiting for enemies to suddenly jump at you with a chainsaw. That means all the music is active and compelling, and not eerie and creepy.

If you do buy this game, I highly suggest playing online or with a friend. You can play the entire game in duo, and it’s a blast. I really do wish the person I was playing with could hear me…maybe I can force my friend into buying it and playing with me. At least then I can yell at him from across the room about running out of ammo. Or that I’m dying and have no herbs.

Am I supposed to give this game a score? I don’t really know. There are so many things to grade it on, and I’m really trying not to cheat by looking at other reviews….

Final Review

Not a strong game, but it isn’t the worst I’ve seen.

It is fun, but it is not a MUST HAVE kind of game. It isn’t the most thrilling game of the Resident Evil series, but it isn’t aiming to be. It’s fast paced, and short with plenty of options to replay over and over. I had thought about commenting on the saving system, but I believe we’ve covered that plenty already. I hardly ever return games anyways. I’m a packrat when it comes to games, as long as they don’t totally suck. And this game doesn’t suck. I’m glad I bought it.