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Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D

Score: 66%
ESRB: Mature
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Media: Cartridge/1
Players: 1 - 2
Genre: Action/ Third Person Shooter/ Online

Graphics & Sound:

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is a good-looking game, especially considering the fact that it's portable. It nails the visual style of Resident Evil 4 and 5. However, it isn't nearly as technically polished as either of those games. There's a general sense of roughness to the animation work, like a flipbook that's missing a page here and there. This is especially true when enemies lie in the distance. Anything occupying the space fifty feet in front of you looks like part of a really fast slideshow. It's unfortunate, but thankfully, it has no effect on your character's fluidity. Other than that, The Mercenaries 3D looks quite a bit like its console brethren, and that's a good thing. The depth achieved by the 3D effect isn't terribly impressive when compared to that of other 3DS games, but it's nice to have the option.

Capcom's flagship action/horror franchise is known for campy voice acting, but The Mercenaries 3D isn't a standard outing for the series. There's no story involved, so almost no input is required from the likes of Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and the rest of the gang. The quality of the sound is generally low, especially when heard through the 3DS speakers. Headphones improve the experience, but the guns still sound like cheap toys and the groans of enemies remain oddly tinny. Music is what we've recently come to expect from the series, what with the shift from horror to action, but it's nothing memorable.


Gameplay:

The foundation of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is the minigame popularized by the fourth and fifth Resident Evil games. Your selected character is let loose into a map full of hostiles. The object of the game is to kill as many enemies as possible within the alloted time limit. Time bonuses can be scored by finding power-ups and executing melee-based finishing moves. This gameplay style doesn't tie into any overarching narrative or anything like that; it's primarily a "go for the high score" experience. And so it is with The Mercenaries 3D.

With few incentives other than high scores drawing you into the experience, The Mercenaries 3D is forced to lean on its structuring, and it's here that it really suffers. Put simply, there's not a lot to do. There are five levels of missions to choose from, each of which features its own map and time restrictions. Several of the early missions feature a set number of enemies; once you kill them all, the mission is over. Later missions do away with the limited number of enemies and encourage you to take greater and greater risks.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is at its best online. This isn't true of very many portable games, but it is of this one. You can find a friend (Friend Code or otherwise) and jump into any of the missions. There's no voice chat, so it's guaranteed to be a manic, chaotic experience. Still, most everything is better with friends.


Difficulty:

Be forewarned: if you buy Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D pre-owned with the hopes of unlocking everything yourself, you will be in for an unwelcome surprise. This game features one save slot -- and no option to delete it. There has been a lot of backlash regarding this decision, and for good reason. Still, if it was me, I would probably try to get The Mercenaries 3D for as cheap as possible; as of this writing, it's not a reasonably-priced game. Plus, high scores are made to be surpassed, right?

The Mercenaries 3D features eight playable characters: Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers, Claire Redfield, HUNK, Barry Burton, Jack Krauser, and Albert Wesker. Many of these are unlockable, and each of them comes with their own unlockable customizers (outfits and the like). Unfortunately, the manner in which these are doled out feels a bit on the random side. For example, I played as Jill for an hour straight, but never unlocked anything specific to her. The extra characters serve as padding for the game's replay value, but it doesn't work very well to that effect.


Game Mechanics:

The default control setup for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D gave me problems, primarily because I am used to the console controls. They are customizable to an extent, but whatever you fancy, the chances are high you'll want to get rid of the first-person aiming. Resident Evil 4 and 5 forced you to stop dead in your tracks whenever you wanted to do some shooting, and while The Mercenaries 3D changes that slightly, it's still way more clunky when dealing with such a dramatic change in perspective. The touchscreen holds your inventory, though a few hotkeys are already in place (for example, (A) automatically uses an herb). As they are, the controls work well; it's easy and fun to squeeze off a shot to the legs, close the distance, and finish the creep off with a roundhouse kick to the face.

The Mercenaries 3D features a playable demo of the upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations. However, don't buy this game to check it out; it clocks in at roughly two minutes. Regardless, we have some impressions to share, and we'll be delivering them shortly.

As a diversion, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D works. As a full-priced game, it fails. Unfortunately, this release doesn't feature nearly enough content to justify its $39.99 price tag. Don't confuse that with "it's not any fun to play," because it most certainly is. The fact of the matter is, a few hours of content is a pretty lousy deal for forty bucks. The score you see at the top of the screen would be twenty more if the game had cost twenty dollars less. But as it is, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is a bad value.


-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications
AKA Jon Carlos

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