The latest issue of Gamesmaster came out today with an unusually early review for Resident Evil Revelations. Check the next post for a transcription of the article.

(Thanks to Quatermass from Capcom Unity!)

How the scanning mechanic works

Jill, Chris and company all carry a unit called the Genesis that lets them scan objects and lifeforms much like a certain Miss Samus Aran. Investigating interesting hotspots will uncover hidden items, while scrutinising baddies increases your intel for health bonuses. This latter use is a little contrived but it kept us scanning regardless.

Back to the roots

One of the first things you encounter in the game is a ringing of a bell; a clear nod back to Resi 4's village scene. A few minutes later Jill finds a handgun with a severed hand attached: a direct riff on the opening video of the very first Resident Evil. Soon, she's busy draining bathtubs to see what lies beneath the murky water, and using crests to free shotguns from mounts. It's as if she never left the Arklay mountains at all.

But the biggest mark of respect of all is the return to its horror roots. In recent years Resident Evil has become entrenched in an action-shooteer genre far removed from scares. And though there are plenty of frenetic set-pieces, there's even more creeping around corridors with a flashlight while trying not to be jumped by the slurping monsters to keep us diehard followers happy.

In that respect, the rocking Queen Zenobia ship is the perfect location. The contrast of lavish passengers' quarters and the cold steel of the crew decks harks back to the Spencer Estate's mansion/underground lab dichotomy. Environments are dingy and dripping with atomsphere. With the promise of surprise attacks around every bend, this game will have you dropping bum anchors with alarming regularity.

Gun Club

Weapon upgrades are littered throughout the campaign and RAID modes, letting you plug extra bonuses into your guns whenever you find an equipment case. They aren't locked into their original slots either, so can mix and match upgrades as frequently as you please.

Screen Dump

Apart from menus, the touchscreen only has few in-game uses: overriding door panels is the main one (although more exotic applications such as fingerprint-scanning appear later on). These sections crop up once every hour or so, and involve unscrewing the metal faceplate and moving about nodes to create connections. It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the game but we enjoyed them nonetheless;in fact we'd liked to have seen much more of this.

Evade and conquer

Mastery of the 'evade' manoeuvre is imperative if you want to survive - especially when facing off against the epic bosses. Unfortunately, having to press Up and B at the right time to evade, rather than just a single button stab, is overly fiddly and should been alot simpler.

Back-up plan

You never have to worry about your partner's health as they never die, but at the same time they don't worry about you - even when they should.

Now you see it...

Complaint time: watery sections are fine up until these blighters start snacking on your face with next to no warning. Even when you've scanned them in with the Genesis tool, they're invisible when underwater and tend to only surface when in chomping range. Give us a chance, Capcom!

Valentine's Day

For the vast majority of Revelations you'll play as Jill. This is, first and foremost, her story, with Chris and other characters settling for lesser roles to supplement her tale.

Chapters have been designed to be picked up or put down at a moment's notice, meaning elaborate crest/cog/MO disk style puzzles have been largely displaced in favour of more contained ideas. instead.

Fans of exploration shouldn't fret just yet: at base level, the Queen Zenobia is still one large, expanding environment. Revisiting old locations with discovered keys WILL unlock new areas.

The Shouter Limits

...Of course not every scene stars Ms Valentine, and on the few occasions you jump into any of the supporting characters' boots, things tend to get a bit more hectic. These moments with Chris, Parker or the comedy duo of 'Jackass' and 'Grinder' tend to be leave-your-brain-at-the-door chapters, and primarily involve scything downmasses of enemies in combat arenas. It's here that the three weapon system really shines, with dwindling ammo reserves forcing you to juggle guns to deal with onrushing targets.

RAIDing party

When the camapain's polished off, attentions turn to the mission tab. Missions are in-game Achievements supplemented by tangilbe rewards: killing 150 enemies, for instance, unlocks the PC356 handgun for the campaign. Missions also make up Revelations' Streetpass functionality, with tasks spreading from 3DS to 3DS like a mutated strain of the T-Virus.

Random Caption

At one point Jill refers to the monsters as zombies. They're really not, though.

Two new renders of Jessica and Chris, btw.

Chris looks great. It is his best design along side with his LiN outfit.

Chris looks amazing. Jessica's outfit is about the stupidest I've seen. The only thing it looks practical for is a quickie during the mission.

Someone wake me up when the Jessica cosplayers arrive please?

Admittedly though I do love the rest of her suit. They could've done something with that leg though, like kept wrapping a leather strap around it in an upward spiral. It'd still be sexy, but not so... Stupid. Besides, think of the accidents that might happen when she crouches... Something might pop out if ya know what I mean. Damn awkward imo. But hey, more power to her if she can pull it off.

That outfit? Cosplayers? "Pull it off"?

I approve.

Stu, you're a married man!

I like Jessica now.
Cosplayers UNITE!