A relatively promising ‘tide-me-over’ until we get our hands on a hardcore RE game, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries promises to quench our thirst for blood and Zombies.
So you’ve played Resident Evil 4 and 5? Good, then the concept behind RE: The Mercenaries won’t be anything new to you. A similar version was available as an extra for both games and was surprisingly popular. Rather than just port over either one of the experiences, Capcom is building upon the idea and giving us a familiar experience with a lot of new goodies and extras to keep us coming back for more brains.
No longer are you tasked with felling the evil Umbrella Corporation. Rather, your goal is simple; spill as much blood as possible within a given time period. The faster you do it and the more brains you splatter, the more points you will earn. It is a very basic concept that is sure to be addictive for the casual gamer and Hardcore gamer alike.
As of now we have only seen six playable characters via the official Capcom stage demo: Albert Wesker, Jill Valentine, Jack Krauser, Hunk, Chris Redfield and his sister Claire. Each character will play differently as they have a unique set of weapons that are sure to affect their brain splatter capabilities.
Resident Evil has always been under a bit of scrutiny because the inability to walk and shoot at the same time. This time around you do get to move while shooting, kind of. It isn’t a full on FPS style of moving around, but you have the option to strafe left right, forward and backward. You are not able to turn around, but being able to move a little bit is a step in the right direction.
The controls are fairly straightforward and intuitive. There has been a noticeable welcome update in the controls of the game. The 3DS’s circle ‘joystick’ seems like it will make maneuvering much easier as well as aid in the newest addition of the series; first person shooting mode. This is a series first and director Kazuhisa Inoue says it was a natural decision to include FPS mode in order to achieve the ultimate goal of the game, which is to provide the gamer with a more fast-paced, action-oriented experience.
The game will play similarly to its console counterparts, but with some new features. There is a rather in depth skill system in place akin to that of Call of Duty’s perk system. 30 total skills are available and you can apply up to three at a time. From what we’ve seen, certain perks like ‘Smart Reload’ will drastically increase the reload time of your weapon while ‘Reversal’ increase the power of your melee attacks when your health is low. The more you use a given skill the more proficient you become with it and it will level up. Each skill can be leveled up three times and each level increases its effectiveness. It seems like the possibilities are endless and each player can customize their fighting style to fit what they want. Using these features
Resident Evil 5 introduced the concept of cooperative gameplay and it is back in full force with The Mercenaries. You don’t need a partner to clear every level, although some will require a great deal of skill, but playing with a friend is always more fun and will more than likely yield a higher score. Multiplayer doesn’t just increase the score and brain-splatter count, it opens a whole series of coop combo attacks. The characters will interact with each other differently and provide some rather brutal and gory deaths.
The graphics really show off the power of Nintendo’s new handheld and the 3D is truly something to behold. The most common complaint with the new system is that of shoddy 3D or 3D that clips out and causes ghosting. We haven’t heard any reports of such things occurring, so it looks like Capcom is going all out with the visuals here and ensuring that we are going to have the most enjoyable experience possible.
We have not been given a firm release date, but Capcom has been quoted as saying sometime this summer.
Written by: Eric Pederson
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