Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Review

The fear we felt whilst playing Resident Evil 4 is probably nothing compared to that now felt by Capcom as they work furiously trying to prove that Resident Evil is the best survival horror game out there now that it’s being attacked by games like the Dead Space series. But the fear felt in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is completely different to both of the aforementioned terrors. The horror we encountered in Capcom’s new handheld title is one of intensity as our ammo slowly started to dwindle and the timer rapidly began to count down.

When introduced as a mini-game in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Mercenaries quickly took hold and was one of the best aspects of the game. It was tense, action-packed, terrifying and, most of all, a hell of a lot of fun. The version found in Resident Evil 5 wasn’t, in our opinion, as good as the one found in its predecessor but it was still fun and a blast to play with friends.

Now the mini-game has sprinted, like a modern-day zombie, onto the 3DS and it is brilliant. It is incredibly similar to the mode found in Resident Evil 5 with you choosing a character and then battling against both a timer - that could be increased by destroying glowing markers - and an infinite wave of zombies that you must deal with. Whilst the game never stretches beyond that of a mini-game, it’s still a load of fun and will keep you playing for a long time, just not in one go.

The Mercenaries is best played in short bursts, 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there, rather than sitting down for a few hours. After a while, it becomes tedious and not much fun at all. We found ourselves becoming tired of the game after about an hour but then returned to it later and quickly became engrossed in its addictive gameplay once more.

Chances are you want to know how the 3D is in The Mercenaries. To put it shortly; it’s actually pretty good. When the 3DS was first released, we weren’t a massive fan of it; the third-dimension did impress me and the fluidity and aesthetics of it were very pleasing but a few annoying niggles, like the blurry screen when slightly tilted, prevented us from falling in love with it.

Surprisingly, The Mercenaries has actually made us become massive fans of the console. The 3D is, without a doubt, the game’s best aspect. The character designs are brilliant and the fact that they are close to the screen makes them stands out a great deal. The environments are very nice as well; all are either from the Mercenaries aspect of Resident Evil 4 or its successor and they look just as good in this game as they did in the one they came from.

Just the overall detail in The Mercenaries had us smiling because of how good looking it all is. The fact that it is all in 3D makes it look that much better but even in 2D the game looks phenomenal. Unfortunately, there is one disappointing aspect to the presentation of the title and that’s the menus; they’re pretty badly designed and a bit bland. The top screen is mostly green and the bottom is orange and grey and it just isn’t impressive or pleasing at all, but that’s only a small niggle.

The biggest problem in the graphics department is the frame-rate. Up close, the characters and enemies move fluently and the explosions look nice. But far away and the zombies move jaggedly and they stand around minding their own business. We can understand why the game would have these types of problems as the title is pushing the 3DS to its limits but the frame-rate issues in the game annoyed us and in an otherwise stunning looking title.

With games now reaching over £40, gamers want to know whether they are getting the full out of their money; that is The Mercenaries’ biggest problem. It just isn’t worth the asking price. If it was a downloadable from the 3DS Store then we couldn’t complain at all but the fact that it is a complete game on the shelves makes you wonder whether paying the full £40 is a good idea at all. And with the new Resident Evil title Revelations coming out this year it could have been included with that as a special feature like the Mercenaries was with Resident Evil 4. And the fact that you can’t delete your save data means you either buy the game brand new or buy the title pre-owned with the game probably already completed for you.

There are only 8 characters, all of them with some pretty good weapons, and some of the maps become recycled after a while which could hinder the enjoyment of some players. The game is fun and, without a doubt, utterly addictive but it slowly becomes a bit tedious once you’ve finished all the missions. Some may become obsessed with topping their high-scores or unlocking all of the items but we couldn’t see myself going back to this in a few months’ time.

A lot of fuss has also been made about the fact that the game contains a demo of the new title coming to the 3DS very soon: Revelations. Whilst it is incredibly impressive (the graphics are phenomenal and the atmosphere is very tense), it’s all a bit short; it took me under five minutes to complete. Although it is nothing more than a teaser as to what can be expected when the game is shipping later this year, it was just a bit disappointing that more wasn’t shown and provided to play.

Overall, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries is a fantastic title for the 3DS; it’s addictive, tense, fast-paced and exciting. But it is asking a lot for the full retail price and never steps beyond that of an extended mini-game and even then it’s not that fully-featured anyway. Played for a few hours and it becomes tedious very quickly; but played for a few minutes here and there and the game is an absolute blast, either on your own or with a friend online. Although it is a very good game, we can’t help but feel that it’s just a filler for the next big Resident Evil game later this year.