Resident Evil: Revelations

Resident Evil: Revelations (バイオハザード：黙示録, Biohazard: Revelations in Japan) is a title for the Nintendo 3DS. It was announced at E3 2010 and released in the US on February 7, 2012. Starring original series leads Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, the game displays hallways reminiscent of the mansions of the original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 5. While most of the game takes place aboard the luxurious cruiser Queen Zenobia, players also briefly visit other settings.

Plot
Set in 2005, between the events of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, Revelations depicts the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (B.S.A.A.), a counter-terrorism group which Chris and Jill have co-founded, shortly after its establishment The game begins as the latter and her partner, Parker Luciani, board the Queen Zenobia.

Set mainly in Europe, Revelations sees the player characters through ravaged cities, ports, and snowy mountains. Jill and Parker are sent out by B.S.A.A. head Clive R. O'Brian to search for Chris and his new partner, Jessica Sherawat, who have reportedly gone missing during a mission. Meanwhile, Chris and Jessica are operating in a snowy mountain region, searching for evidence of the return of Il Veltro, a bio-terrorist organization responsible for the attack and subsequent outbreak in Terragrigia, an artificial aquapolis that was utterly destroyed on orders from Morgan Lansdale, director of the Federal Bioterrorism Commission.

Jill and Parker find their way into the Mediterranean Sea, acting on Chris' last known coordinates. They find themselves taking a tugboat to a seemingly abandoned cruise ship known as the Queen Zenobia. On board, they find horrific mutants known as Ooze, victims of the t-Abyss virus, and are unable to locate Chris or Jessica. Instead, they find a dummy in of Chris and are knocked unconscious by an Il Veltro agent, stripped of their weapons, and separated.

Chris and Jessica, meanwhile, find a base of operations for Il Veltro; an airstrip in the mountains. Being informed by O'Brian that Jill and Parker are missing in the Mediterranean, they are then sent out to investigate their whereabouts. Meanwhile, the pair of Keith Lumley and Quint Cetcham are dispatched to the airstrip to find out more about Il Veltro's actions. Back on the Queen Zenobia Jill wakes up in one of the cabins and is contacted by Parker who says he woke up on the other side of the ship and to regroup on the bridge after meeting up they are attacked by a F.B.C. agent named Raymond Vester who knows Parker from when he was an F.B.C. agent. Meanwhile at the airstrip Quint and Keith find video footage of an invisible creature killing a Veltro operative. Which is later revealed to be a new form of Hunter which has been infected with the t-Abyss which allows it to turn invisible for sneak attacks. Meanwhile Chris and Jessica land on a ship thinking its the Queen Zenobia but discover that they are on the Queen Zenobia's twin the Queen Semiramis. On the Zenobia Jill and Parker are desperately trying to escape the flooding engine room which after they escape they head to the Comm tower to try and contact O'Brian to report whats really going on. But are met with bad news that the Regia Solis the satellite used to fry Terragrigia using the sun's power has been reactivated and is being aimed at the Queen Zenobia.

Development
Initially revealed at the E3 2010 trade show in Los Angeles, Resident Evil: Revelations is being directed by Resident Evil 5 co-designer Koushi Nakanishi and produced by Masachika Kawata and Takayuki Hama. Tsukasa Takenaka, who provided the story background and in-game files for Resident Evil 5, is joining the team as assistant producer. According to Kawata, the title will see a return to the classic exploration and puzzle-solving of earlier series installments, with more emphasis put on horror.

It has been recently revealed that Dai Sato, who worked on Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo will be responsible for the plot in Revelations. He was also responsible for the creation of the two new characters, Keith and Quint.

Gameplay
Gameplay (camera, movement, aiming etc) in Resident Evil: Revelations is largely similar to that of Resident Evil 4 and 5, but the camera can be switched to first person view in the use of firearms. Revelations restores elements of the series' "survival horror" nature as opposed to the "survival action" of Resident Evil 5. The pace of the game is slower, and has a higher emphasis on the management of ammunition and solving puzzles in comparison to simply shooting enemies.

The main enemies that are encountered in the game are Ooze, mutated zombies created by the t-Abyss virus. Baring a resemblance to the Regenerador from Resident Evil 4, these sickly monsters are adapted primarily for aquatic environments. As such, their flesh and bone is soft and malleable, allowing them to fit into ventilation shafts along the Queen Zenobia to get around in ways the player can't. In addition, the Hunter makes its return, with a new variant mutated with t-Abyss that allows them to become invisible.

The game introduces several mechanics entirely new to the series, the most notable of which is the Genesis bio-scanner, which behaves somewhat similarly to the scan visor of the Metroid Prime series. With it, hidden objects and enemies can be located. Also acting as genetic scanner, it can create vaccines by scanning a certain amount of enemies. Doing this will yield an herb to heal oneself.

There are no health bars or health ratings in the game. Instead, blood splatters on the screen depending how much health you have. For example, if you have full health, then the screen would be plain and clean. But when you're really low critical on health, the screen would be full of blood and the colors of the environment will look dull and almost black and white.

For the first time in Resident Evil history, the player characters are capable of swimming, which allows them to navigate capsized sections of the Queen Zenobia. However, certain variants of t-Abyss monsters are especially adapted to underwater environments and can kill the helpless swimming player with ease, however, a new type of grenade allows one to stun swimming enemies whilst underwater.

The knife is now mapped to a specific button, making it easier than ever to utilize it. In addition, grenades are now mapped to the same button as the knife, requiring more specialized tactics to use them in tandem, but freeing up the use of weapons while using grenades, as well.

Returning from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is the dodging mechanic. With it, players can avoid incoming attacks from enemies by either moving the 3DS' slidepad forward at the right time, or backward with the B button pressed at the right time.

Weapons can still be upgraded, however, there is no longer a currency system akin to the fourth and fifth games. Instead, players find upgrade kits throughout the environments or for meeting certain criteria in-game, and attach those upgrades to the weapon they desire. Upgrades are not permanent and can be added and removed to and from weapons at any time from a Weapon Box, which is similar to the Item Box from older games.

Item management and the map are controlled and displayed on the bottom screen. Management is far more intuitive through touch controls, and puzzles often make use of the touch screen as well.

Replacing Professional mode from Resident Evil 4 and 5 is Hell Mode. This fiendish new difficulty dramatically reduces ammo availability and increases and alters enemy placement. For instance, in a room where there were no enemies before, in Hell Mode it might be filled with them. In addition, the enemies have more health and deal more damage.

Raid Mode
Raid Mode is a new game type that is similar to the Mercenaries modes of past games. This mode too puts the player against swaths of enemies, but this time one is trying to reach the goal at the end instead of beating or outlasting the clock, as well as dispatch as many foes as possible, so it resembles the earliest incarnation of the mode seen in Resident Evil 3.

Raid Mode features a heavier armory than the single-player component and players are rarely without ammo. In addition, it also contains several persistent elements, such as being able to upgrade ammunition stocks and weapons. Each character one can play as is also given a level to determine their experience and toughness of enemies. Many characters from single player appear, from Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine to Morgan Lansdale and Clive R. O'Brian, most of which have second or even third outfits to unlock.

Trivia

 * Resident Evil: Revelations is the first Nintendo 3DS game to use a 4GB cartridge, due to the game's massive size.
 * In the first Episode Jill Valentine is seen picking up a severed hand holding a gun, similar to the opening of Resident Evil where Joseph finds Edward's severed hand.
 * Revelations is the first game in the main series since the original to feature both Chris and Jill as playable characters in the main storyline.
 * There is a preview of the events of Lost in Nightmares in the ending of Resident Evil: Revelations which was described as "horrific fate".
 * Resident Evil Revelation's storyline seems to have changed since the original trailer. Jill and Chris are not against each other, and the agent believed by fans to have been HUNK is revealed as just a Veltro Soldier.
 * In the Revelations E3 Demo, Jill has unlimited ammo for her handgun, In the 3DS e-shop Demo however she does not.
 * There are numerous references to Dante's Divine Comedy in the game. Every Episode's beginning features a quote from the poem, Veltro quote several passages in their speeches and some of the bosses are named after characters from it (eg: Malacoda is named after a demon).
 * Many copies of the game have been sold with the word "Revelations" improperly labeled "Revelaitons" on the spine of the 3DS case.
 * Revelations is the first game to feature audio selection in different languages.
 * In the game's manual, under Clive R. O'Brian's character profile, "BSAA" is misspelled "BSSA"

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