Hey now everybody, hope you're doing well, and welcome to my review of Resident Evil Revelations 1 for the Nintendo Switch! I absolutely love survival horror games, and the best series has to be Resident Evil. We've seen this franchise go through many changes over the years from the old school fixed camera angles, to the fast paced action of 4, 5, and 6, as well as the brand new first person style of Resident Evil 7. This is a game series that isn't afraid to change things up now and then, for better or sometimes for worse. When I heard that Revelations was getting ported to the Switch I knew I had to get it, and this became the first survival horror title that I've played on the new console. So how does this hold up on the new hardware, how is the game in general? Well let's get into it as I take you through my thoughts on Resident Evil Revelations 1 for the Nintendo Switch.
Resident Evil Revelations is a third person survival horror game, that was actually released back in 2012 for the Nintendo DS. Since then it's had a port on every major console, with the most recent being on the Nintendo Switch. The Switch version comes with both Revelations games and only costs $40, and also includes some motion control functionality. This is said to take place somewhere between the events of the 4th and 5th games in the series and includes the two main characters from the original Resident Evil, Jill and Chris. The story is a little convoluted and can be hard to follow at times, but to put it simply you're trying to stop a bioterrorist group from infecting the Earth's oceans with a deadly virus.
The game plays out in episodes like a TV show and every time you start it up it gives you a rundown of what's happened so far. In every episode you will take control of a different character for a while, but you mainly play as Jill. I enjoy the episodic layout of the game and I think it helps keep things from feeling stale, especially getting to play as other characters in other locations. Although you mainly play as Jill, she is partnered up with a man named Parker who follows you everywhere and helps you take down enemies. You can't switch characters at all, or use them to carry things so I don't really see the point. I think these games are better when you're alone, it makes everything more tense and scary, but it's honestly not a big deal.
When you're not playing as Jill and Parker you're playing as Chris who is partnered up with a girl named Jessica. There are some episodes where you play as two other BSAA agents who's names I can't recall, but basically it's all telling the same story from different perspectives and they all come together at the end. The story jumps around a lot and can be confusing at times, that's why it's nice that they include a recap of what's been happening at the beginning of each episode, otherwise it'd be hard to keep up with everything that's going on.
This Resident Evil game is kind of a combination of the many different styles that the series has gone through over the years. It plays in a third person over the shoulder perspective like the later titles had, but also features a lot of locked doors and backtracking more akin to the first few that came out. At times this works really well, but it can also become slightly annoying when you're not sure where to go and you have multiple floors to search for the right place. The 3-d map system isn't much help either for getting your barrings, but usually if you pay attention it's not a big problem.
The story focuses on a bioterrorist group that's planning to infect the ocean with a virus, Jill tracks them to a cruise ship that is their base of operations. Most of the game you're exploring this huge ship with it's many floors and rooms. Everything is kind of water themed all throughout the game, even the enemies are all water based creatures and this is something new that we haven't seen in a Resident Evil title before. I think the whole theme of being on the water works very well and makes for a creepy isolated setting that makes this feel unique in a lot of ways. One of my biggest fears is being stranded in the ocean so it definitely helped to create a sense of dread for me personally anyway.
You acquire all the usual weapons that you'd expect in a Resident Evil game, a pistol, a shotgun, a machine gun, and a sniper rifle, although you can only hold three at a time. There are boxes located throughout the map that allow you to switch what weapons you want to take with you, and store ones you're not using at the moment. You can also find weapon upgrades that can be attached to each gun that give you a variety of stat bonuses. Some make the gun more powerful, some give the gun more ammo capacity, some allow the gun to shoot faster. All these can be equipped to any weapon, and can also be taken off and switched to another so it's not a permanent thing and you can mess around with different combinations.
One thing unique about Revelations is that you have a device called the Genesis, that allows you to scan the area for hidden items that you wouldn't be able to see otherwise. This can also be used to scan the various enemies in the game, resulting in you receiving a health item. This little gadget really added something to the overall experience for me, and I found myself scanning everything around me looking for hidden stuff. Using the Genesis gives you another layer to the game and turns it into a mini treasure hunt. It's also very useful for making sure you don't run out of ammo or healing items.
In addition to the main campaign Revelations features a more action oriented mode, called Raid Mode. In Raid Mode one or two players must fight their way through different levels in the game that have been slightly altered in some way. When you complete a Raid you will receive battle points that can be used in the in-game store to buy various weapons and upgrades that will allow you to take on more challenging Raid levels. This can be very fun if you like that sort of thing, but most of all it gives you more content to keep you entertained even after the main campaign is finished.
I played Revelations back when it first came out and I enjoyed it very much. Now playing through it again on the Switch I had pretty much the same feelings about it. It looks better than ever before on the Switch, I was actually surprised by how good it looked compared to previous versions I've played. The motion controls add a little bit to the gameplay, but overall it's not the best Resident Evil game. There are definitely some awesome moments to be had, and some interesting new mechanics with the Genesis device, but I'd say this is for hardcore Resident Evil fans, or maybe someone looking to play a survival horror game on the Switch, since this is the only horror title on there for now. You can buy this as a stand alone title on the Nintendo E-shop for $20, and I'd say that it's worth the price, just don't expect this to be as good as 4, or as action packed as 5. I give Resident Evil Revelations 1 a grade of:
75
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed it!