The full roster consists of Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker, Hunk, Claire Redfield, Krauser, Barry Burton, and Rebecca Chambers, with no secret characters. Each character has a number of costumes to unlock, including STARS Chris, Resident Evil Nemesis Jill, and Wesker’s monster form.

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for our full review of Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D, which we will be posting shortly.

Resident Evil: Revelations is set between Resident Evil 4 and 5, with the two main characters being Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, their first team up since the first game. The game itself revolves around the pair storming a luxury cruise liner that, as expected, is crawling with various infected creatures.According to producer Masachika Kawada, this game is going to be a return to the previous instalments in style. “We want a scarier game than before,” he has noted, “one that avoids the style of RE4 and later and instead goes with the old style up to RE3, where you’re solving puzzles and exploring. Recent games in the series have been more about fast excitement, but fear is the main drive of this game from the start — something so scary to the player, he’ll instinctively want to run as fast as he can. Suspense plays a key part here.”

Jill looking all dolled up for her luxury cruise

This can be somewhat sensed in the Nintendo World 2011 demo which, whilst having an over the shoulder style akin to RE4 and 5, felt a lot slower and ponderous. This isn’t a bad thing at all, giving the player time to spot all the subtle eerie sights; a splash of blood here, a flickering light there… you get the picture.

The demo focused on controlling Jill as she ventured into the depths of the aforementioned ship. The use of the 3D in the demo seemed quite seamless and integrated rather well without jarring the player too much. At one point when walking down a corridor a rat shimmies down the screen behind the player, the 3D making this moment one to cause a jump and skip of the heart. Another moment that is evocative of the infamous dog through the window scene of RE1 is implemented perfectly with the graphics.

The monsters look a little too Silent Hill-esque to me, but we'll see where they go with them

Despite the return to style of the previous instalments a lot does still remain that is reminiscent of the more recent games. As mentioned, the over the shoulder style is just like that seen in RE4 and 5, not to mention the fact that the controls feel rather similar. In combat Jill still retained a physical attack to escape being grabbed, the kind heavily used in RE5.

A major addition is the ability to walk whilst aiming your gun, something which works really well in terms of the comparatively small screen of the 3DS when compared to RE 4 or 5 on TVs and monitors. It certainly allowed the player to get a more intimate view of their surroundings whilst walking, and was a good decision in terms of engaging enemies in this particular game. The demo was rather short however, with not many details being given away at all. Whether this is because Capcom admits it’s further along with Mercenaries or not is anyone’s guess. Speaking of Mercenaries…

All the killing fun of the regular game, without the puzzle-solving

On the whole, Mercenaries seems to be somewhat of an updated port of the Mercenaries bonus mode seen in the last three Resident Evil games. You know the one, where you take a character and pit yourself against numerous fiends against a time limit. It seems however that Capcom want to expand this mode out into something that fans will seriously play, rather than just once after unlocking it. “The Mercenaries mode was just bonus material up until now,” points out RE: Revelations director Koushi Nakanishi, “so a lot of gamers never even got around to playing them, I don’t think. You had to finish the main games to unlock them, which made them tough to access in the first place, and a lot of the challenges were pretty sadistically balanced besides.”

Krauser rocking it up with his bow. Good times.

One of the big changes with this game is that the player now has the ability to move around whilst firing, eliminating one of the biggest criticisms from games such as RE 4 and 5. The perspective, as with Revelations, switches to first person whenever aiming or, if preferred, switch entirely to first-person for the entirety of the game.

The most exciting addition in my opinion is that the characters involved can now be fully customised throughout the game, each gaining abilities throughout ala your traditional RPG.  Director Kazuhisa Inoue explained to Famitsu that “You can give them skills and adjust their weaponry”. He adds, “That lets you adjust them for your own play style while leveling up their skills. Each character has varying heal and defense abilities, and some skills let them unlock particular weapon features or defeat certain mid-bosses more easily. Taking advantage of these skills will make the game quicker to play and allow you to raise your characters’ levels more easily.”

As mentioned in the event preview, the confirmed characters so far are Chris and Claire Redfield, Hunk and Krauser. Other than the aforementioned details, it seems as if we’ll have to wait to hear more. While neither game will be ready for the 3DS’ launch, Capcom is optomistic that both games will be available soon after launch. That said, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is further along in development than Revelations, so we might not have to wait too long to get our hands on it.

Whatever happens, a portable version of Mercenaries is an exciting prospect for me.

- Sabbi “Enki” Stone

Whether it was a Sunday or just the time I arrived, there didn’t seem to be quite so many people as reported for the Saturday opening. Maybe well into hundreds rather than the thousands mark, although if you counted the dogs that attended with their owners, that might just have pushed the number up a bit. Entering the event hall was a dream, especially considering the barriers which hinted that at opening there was probably a rather hefty queue. It wasn’t all too difficult to find the way there, either, despite the size of the Makuhari Messe complex. Certainly not difficult if you paid attention to the myriad of Nintendo-clad staff with megaphones shouting instructions. Once inside, a leaflet detailing the layout of the event is handed to you (in Japanese, of course) and away you go.

The humble entrance to the gaming extravaganza

I must admit, when first entering the convention it was a little daunting. I had heard rumours online of the queues, but seeing them first-hand, along with waiting times akin to Theme Park rides; I couldn’t help but be a little worried.  The set up was straightforward enough, with stations for each game (two for the more popular fares) that held a row of around 10 of the handhelds and another 10 on the opposite side. I of course, headed straight over to the Resident Evil: Revelations stand and pitched up there. On the whole the waiting time wasn’t too bad for this one, although the preview movie that played on the screens on the stand did grate a little after the 30^th play through. Once in the queue, people lined up in pairs and waited to be fed through to the 3DS’s two a time. It wouldn’t do it justice to speak about the actual game now; I’ll leave that for the preview, eh? I did however appreciate the free tat in the form of a shiny card given out to each player. Free stuff is always good, no?

There was just enough time to squeeze in a play of Super Street Fighter IV (again with a shiny free postcard) before the conference for that very game began. The special treat here was that Yoshinori Ono, producer for Capcom and the Street Fighter series, was the guest speaker. Depending on your fandom of the series and developers in general, this will either mean a lot or nothing at all. Nonetheless, to me it was pretty fantastic. Shame he wasn’t dressed up as Ryu or anything this time, though. He talked through a lot of the features that SSFIV 3D will feature, including the 4 way battles, a tag mode for the game using Nintendo’s StreetPass function and a challenge mode. The tag mode means that whenever you pass someone else in the street with the game, a ‘figure based’ battle will occur without you even having to lift a finger. The challenge mode essentially turns the handheld into an arcade machine, with you having the ability to challenge anyone playing close by. All sounds rather fun to me, although I’ve always wondered about the usefulness of things like the tag feature in the UK at least. Seems like there is never anyone else with a DS around when you walk about in town, at least I’ve never had any luck with Wifi enabled games in the past. Over here, however, I can see how it would turn a regular commute into work in the morning into a fighting tournament.

An enthusiastic Ono explains all for the audience

The four player action in effect

Figurines, which seem to feature heavily in the aforementioned 'figure based' tag mode.

Nintendogs and Cats was next on the schedule, if only to get a little bit of a break from the lengthy queues. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t popular, if anything this queue was one of the most diverse in the whole event. Both young and old seemed to want to have a taste of the handheld pet sim. The queue disappeared relatively quickly with this one, however, leaving a good time to play through the demo (again, more in the actual preview). Finally, after much consideration, I decided to tackle the big one. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time had consistently had queues with estimates of over 70 minute waits. They certainly weren’t wrong there. I joined the queue at 2.30pm and hardly finished the demo until around 4.10pm. That, my friends, is dedication. Although it was worth the wait, if only to get the impression I desired.

The holy grail... Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Unfortunately, because of the above incident, I almost missed the Resident Evil conference. Thankfully, the stage was just by the LoZ stand, so all wasn’t lost. Once again, a couple of developers came out to show off the features of both Resident Evil: Revelations and Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D. I don’t know about you guys, but the thought of portable Mercenaries does seem rather appealing. Without giving too much away, Revelations revolves around Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine again, with Mercenaries having a partial line-up of Chris, Clare Redfield, the mysterious Hunk and Jack Krauser.  Broken record time, but once more I’lll cover this in more detail in the previews.

A slightly blurred Chris and Jill ala Revelations

A final word about one of the features that looked impressive was Augmented Reality. One of the main features of this was the ability to change a seemingly normal looking card into a monster. I kid you not. You take a AR card, with a Mario-esque question mark block on the back, look at the card through the 3DS and it suddenly transforms. Six of these cards will be bundled with the actual console, so who knows what they are planning to develop with this. Another feature is the ability to make a Mii of yourself by taking a picture through the cameras (That’s right, the 3DS has two of ‘em) that should look as close to you as possible.

One thing I would note about this event is the disappointing lack of booth babes; however I did manage to track a couple down by Ridge Racer. Good times! Plus, there was a Mario and Luigi hanging around, followed by a Ms Luigi, confusingly. Still, the dresses the Nintendo ladies wore were quite sweet too, don’t you think?

The Nintendo 'booth babes' of sorts

Finally, some good ol' booth babe action

The Nintendo 3DS. A big hit with all the age groups

The overall experience was a pleasant, laid back sort. It was actually comforting to see such a mixture of old and young in one venue for the same purpose. Families on a fun day out seemed to mingle in as well as the more avid gamers playing their DS’s and PSP’s in the queues. There didn’t seem to be any pressure to show off how ‘hardcore’ you think you are or get too overly involved. Plus the whole event was a Wifi game haven for the people who had brought their handhelds, no matter what the brand.  I’ll leave a more detailed review of the console itself for a single piece, but as for the event, I feel Nintendo pulled off a neat, competent expo.

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for our continuing coverage from Nintendo World 2011, including hands on previews for the games on the show floor as well as the 3DS itself.

– Sabbi “Enki” Stone

Despite being about one year old, Capcom have recently released two large downloadable add-ons for Resident Evil 5. The first add on, Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares, was a fantastic blend of old school Resident Evil survival horror with the more modern fast paced action and focus on the co-operative gameplay of Resident Evil 5. A mere two weeks later, Capcom have released Desperate Escape, which takes place towards the end of the main story of Resident Evil 5. Those that are outraged by spoilers may wish to skip over the next paragraph.

After Chris and Sheva rescued Jill Valentine, heroine of Resident Evil and Resident Evil Nemesis, from the mind controlling device used by Albert Wesker, Jill sends Chris and Sheva on their way, before promptly passing out. After a short time she is found and revived by Josh Stone, Sheva’s mentor and only survivor of the BSA team that helped Chris and Sheva. After some mildly inappropriate flirting Josh and Jill decide to work together in order to escape Wesker’s facility and reunite with Sheva and Chris.

With the spoilery bits out of the way, on to the gameplay. To say that Desperate Escape feels like a bit of a step backwards is an understatement. It is hard not to compare it to Lost in Nightmares, with the releases being so close to each other. Where Lost in Nightmares had Chris and Jill working together through the dimly lit corridors and dank under passages of the Spencer Mansion to solve one fiendish puzzle after another, Desperate Escape instead prefers to return to the realm of fast paced hoardes of enemies, and big explosion after big explosion.

Combat is the focus of this expansion.

The main set pieces of this add-on comprise of a canyon covered by numerous rocket launchers and a timed rooftop battle against an endless stream of enemies, much like the Mercenaries mode, as you wait for a helicopter rescue. In order to navigate the canyon you need to zigzag through the canyon taking out the turret controllers and using the turrets to destroy impassable objects. The rooftop battle merely requires you to stand your ground and defeat all the enemies that come at you for about 10 minutes or so.

There is a Mercenaries-esque section at the end of this add on that has different enemies depending on the difficulty

Much like Lost in Nightmares, this add-on is independent of the single player campaign. As such you cannot import any of your character’s weapons from your main save. In fact, you cannot save your progress at any point, which is a bit of a let down, particularly as the canyon navigation gets to be tedious after a while. Your characters have very limited resources in terms of health and weaponry but you do discover other weapons as you progress. Also, the sheer number of enemies means that upon defeating them, your foes tend to drop a lot of ammo for your default pistol or machine gun.

While you start out with little equipment, you soon pick up a lot of stuff.

Also included in the pack are two more characters for the Mercenaries Reunion mode. For those that did not read the review for Lost in Nightmares and are unaware of what Mercenaries Reunion mode is, Mercenaries Reunion is a score based time attack mode in which you run around small arenas fighting off the endless hordes of Majini. While there was a Mercenaries mode included in the retail version of Resident Evil 5, Mercenaries Reunion features new characters and slightly reworked levels and enemies. New characters included in Lost in Nightmares were Excella Gionne and Barry Burton.

Josh Stone and Rebecca Chambers are the final additions to Mercenaries Reunion

This time Josh Stone is added to the action, armed with a high powered pistol, a shotgun, and a rocket launcher. The final new character is Rebecca Chambers from Resident Evil 0, armed with a shotgun and a machine gun. Despite appearing to be one of the weaker characters in the game, I was actually able to achieve an S Rank with her without any real problems. Also available as a separate download – and an additional cost – are a new version of Chris and Sheva, both with new weapons in Mercenaries Reunion, and both playable in the main game.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 The same graphical style from Resident Evil 5 remains intact. While the art style in the main mission is a little drab; mostly stone environments, coloured with dark blues and greys, the explosions look as spectacular as ever.

Sound: 4/5 The same actors that voiced the main characters return and perform in a way that is consistent with the rest of the Resident Evil 5.

Gameplay: 2/5 While the gameplay itself is not bad, it seems like a bit of a step backwards when compared to the recent release of Lost in Nightmares. Favouring the action side of Resident Evil, it isn’t exactly deep. Having said that, there are no real flaws with the gameplay, aside from the tedium generated by zigzagging between rocket launching turrets.

Longevity: 2/5 The story mission lasts about 45 minutes or so, but does not really offer much in terms of an incentive to keep playing. The new characters in Mercenaries Reunion offer a little extra replay value, but only if you particularly care about playing through each level with the new characters or achieving as high a score as possible.

Overall: 3 headless Majini out of 5 While there is nothing particularly wrong with this add-on, being released just two weeks after the excellent Lost in Nightmares makes this title seem a bit weak in comparison. If you found Lost in Nightmares to be too slow paced, then perhaps Desperate Escape will be more to your liking.

Desperate Escape is available to download on Xbox live for 400 Microsoft Points (£3.40 ish) and £3.99 on the Playstation Network.

[starreview tpl=16]

With the arrival of this generation of consoles and the advent of paid for downloadable content, the life span of your average game has increased dramatically. While most games receive their additional content within a few months of release, Resident Evil 5 owners have been given a new piece of downloadable content nearly a year after the game’s original release.

While Resident Evil 5 had its detractors, I personally enjoyed sharing the intense experience the game had to offer with my friends via the cooperative campaign mode. As a long time fan of the Resident Evil series I was pleased to be playing as Chris Redfield, hero of the original Resident Evil, and found new character Sheva Alomar to be a well rounded addition to the Resident Evil series.

Of course playing through it with the computer controlled second character was not anywhere near as rewarding on account of the AI character being as dense as War and Peace soaked in concrete. While some lamented the evolution of the series from survival horror to intense action game I had come to accept it and loved the game for it’s own merits.

So you can imagine my surprise upon downloading this add on to find that this had more in common with the original Resident Evil games than Resident Evil 5. Gone are the hordes of enemies in large open spaces, and in its place a lonely mansion that oozes tension with it’s darkly lit passageways and tight corridors.

Lost in Nightmares is pure old school Resident Evil

Taking place before the events of Resident Evil 5, you control Chris Redfield and his partner Jill Valentine on the hunt for the founder of the Umbrella Corporation. Tracking him to a remote mansion that will look very familiar to anyone that has played either Resident Evil 1 or Code Veronica, you spend the majority of your time solving puzzles involving crests and cranks in the vein of the classic Resident Evil games. There are a number of nods to the original Resident Evil, including an amusing homage to the pant-wetting dog scene.

The interior of the Mansion will look familiar to long time Resident Evil fans

This isn’t to say that you will not be facing any enemies. About half way through the new content hulking acid-spewing axe wielders crop up, and are a real challenge to kill, especially considering the limited resources at your disposal. Those that complained about having too much ammo in Resident Evil 5 will be happy to hear that things have changed. The combat is far more tense, with really only a pistol and a limited amount of ammo at your disposal.

Your main enemies will be these deformed acid spewing axe men

Adding to the tension further still, the last section of the add on has you losing all of your equipment and having to face off against acidic, tumour-ridden monsters. Here you must use a series of well placed traps in order to gain crest fragments that will allow you to open a locked door. Classic Resident Evil, with a cooperative twist.

Does this look familiar to anyone?

That is not to say that everything about this add on is perfect. The final boss fight is a little cheap, as it requires you to shoot at your enemy until he leaves himself exposed to a punch. However, in order to get to the position to punch him you must engage in a quick time button pressing activity that has an infeasibly short window of opportunity. Sure, you are only ever required to press either A or X, but it soon becomes irritating when you miss out on performing the move because you pressed the button a split second too late.

Also included in the expansion is the Resident Evil Mercenaries Reunion mode. The two base characters that are available with this DLC are Excella Gionne, head of Tricell, and Resident Evil’s own Barry Burton. Rather than just adding Excella and Barry to the existing Mercenaries mode; a score based battle against the clock, Mercenries Reunion has it’s own menu and will require you to earn a B grade on each level in order to access all eight levels.

Excella and Barry make their Mercenaries debut in this expansion

Unfortunately there arn’t any new levels on offer, but each level has been slightly changed. For the most part the large boss enemies on each level are more rare, with more enemies appearing on screen at any one time than before. Also the time bonuses appear to be in different places, which can breathe a bit of life into the game for those of us that have worked out a set pattern for every level.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 Anyone that has even looked at Resident Evil 5 knows that it is a good looking game. The character models are detailed, and the environments are suitably dark and foreboding. As an added bonus, without spoiling anything, I compel fans of the original Resident Evil to interact with the mansion’s front door several times in order to unlock a fun bonus.

Sound: 5/5 Menacing cracks of thunder punctuate the chilling music, which creates a wonderful sense of tension. Voice acting can be a little stiff, but for the most part is good.

Gameplay: 5/5 A near perfect blend of old school Resident Evil gameplay, with a focus on puzzle solving and limited resources, crossed with the cooperative focus of Resident Evil 5. The Mercenaries Reunion mode will be familiar to any one that has spent any time playing the original Mercenaries mode, with just enough changes to keep it from feeling stale.

Longevity: 4/5 Clocking in at about an hour long, with multiple difficulty levels and online leaderboards, the story mode is a fun experience that will be worth playing through a few times. The Mercenaries Reunion mode could potentially keep you coming back for hours and hours if you are particularly inclined to try and work your way up the leaderboards.

Overall: 5 shambling undead out of 5. This add on is a fantastic blend of old school Resident Evil mixed with the more modern action adventure co-op gameplay. There’s less of a focus on action and more on puzzle solving, as well as an expansion of the addictive Mercenaries mode, it is hard not to recommend this add on, especially to those that found the series recent shift towards action adventure displeasing.

[starreview tpl=16]

Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares is available to download now for 400 Microsoft Points on 360 (about £3.50) and £3.99 on the Playstation Store.

Last week EA announced that they were cutting 1500 jobs in an effort to become more financially viable and it seems that Pandemic is just one of the casualties. Pandemic’s star has been shining less brightly in recent years, with the rumour that Pandemic were forced to cancel a game based on The Dark Knight at great cost to EA last year, and their game Mercenaries 2 underperforming critically and at retail.

We here at Newbreview wish everyone affected by this story the best of luck in the future. Their final game, The Sabotuer, will be in stores on the 4th of December.