Game Review--Resident Evil: Revelations (Switch)

". . . Veltro.  In honor of thy name, we accept our wrongdoing, and transmute our flesh in remembrance of our sins."
--Jack Norman, Resident Evil: Revelations


Resident Evil: Revelations was introduced on the 3DS, another Nintendo handheld, before being ported to many other systems and eventually making its way to the seeming replacement of the 3DS.  As a 3DS game, it emphasized the graphical strengths of its initial system.  As a Switch game, its graphics are far behind the norm for its new Nintendo handheld, but the serpentine level design of the Queen Zenobia, a ship much of the game takes place on, and the unlockables are just as at home on the Switch as they were on the 3DS.  Its greatest strengths include the layout of the Queen Zenobia, its more serious tone (as opposed to that of Resident Evil 4) and Raid Mode, the successor to Mercenaries mode from earlier games in the series.

Production Values

The 3DS origins of Revelations hold the graphics back, but the animations are still smooth.  It is the lack of detail that is the most distinct issue with the visual presentation.  When it comes to the sound design, the noises from weapons and enemy creatures are clear.  As with many Resident Evil games, the weakness on the audio side of things is the blandness or silliness of the dialogue.  Thankfully, the blatant cheesiness that is so pervasive in Resident Evil 4 and that is toned down in Resident Evil 5 has been toned down yet again.

Gameplay

The slow character movement of every primary Resident Evil game between the third and seventh installments returns.  A dodge mechanic permits you to sidestep some attacks despite your sluggish movements.  Unfortunately, in standard Resident Evil fashion, some enemies have attacks that can kill players in a single hit, so a failure to dodge can lead to death in some scenarios.  The enemy spectrum is diverse, as Jill and the other playable characters have to fight everything from altered fish to pseudo-zombies to an enormous organism that can latch itself onto the ship.

Completion of the campaign unlocks Raid Mode, a series of progressively challenging levels featuring enemies with health bars and (occasionally) special attributes.  Raid Mode is among the best aspects of the game with its 16 maps, three difficulties, and hosts of weapons and upgrades that can be purchased with in-game BP.  The options menu in Raid Mode has a new pixelated minigame that lets players shoot descending enemies before they reach the bottom of the screen, and you can actually earn a significant number of spendable points for Raid Mode--if you chain together kills, that is.

Story

Some spoilers are below!

Jill Valentine and her partner Parker Luciani investigate a ship called the Queen Zenobia, realizing that it is involved in the seeming return of a biological terrorism group known as Veltro, as her close friend Chris Redfield visits a separate region with a partner of his own.  As Jill explores more of the ship, it becomes apparent that the Queen Zenobia is tied to a massive terrorist attack on an aquatic city called Terragregia that occurred a year before.


Intellectual Content

The story addresses no themes or concepts beyond a mild exploration of bioterrorism, but there are some optional collectibles and weapon kits that observant players can discover.  The level design is somewhat reminiscent of the environments in Metroid or Castlevania, meaning some areas do not have to be entered at all in order to progress in the campaign even though they hold secrets.


Conclusion

The Switch version of Revelations is a solid handheld port of the game, merging the original content with something new (even if it is just a small minigame in an options menu).  Switch owners who never played Revelations on any other system are in the best position to benefit from the port, as the new addition is minor at best, so anyone who played through the entirety of the game on the 3DS or on another console will have already seen the vast majority of what is offered here.  Still, Revelations is one of the less cheesy entries in the Resident Evil series, and the atmosphere consistently emphasizes mystery and mild horror over action, unlike Resident Evil 5.  The core game itself is far from the worst the series has to offer.


Content:
 1.  Violence:  The mild violence of typical Resident Evil gunshots, punches, and kicks is on display.  Small patches of blood appear when enemies are shot, but explicit gore is absent.
 2.  Profanity:  "Damn" and "shit" are used.