The horror of being lost, hunted and trapped on a derelict ship in the middle of a cold and dark ocean has come to your living room! Resident Evil: Revelations was released on the 3DS and freaked me out with how beautiful it looked and sounded. Now released in HD on Steam, XBOX 360 and PS3, the sights and sounds just got better, minus the 3D which no one will complain about. New features for the console versions include a new enemy type, online co-op for raid mode and integration with ResidentEvil.net.

Taking place as a story filler between Resident Evil 4 and 5, Revelations is a bit of a throwback to the original feel of the series by allowing players to utilize the classic team of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. New partners are also introduced—some loveable and others that hopefully will get infected. Jill and her BSAA partner Parker Luciana, a gruff and loveable mama bear, are sent to find Chris and his terrible partner Jessica, who have gone missing. Jill and Parker end up on a boat, and thus the backstory for all the skintight wetsuit-wearing female characters is established. The luxury liner named the Queen Zenobia is where Jill and Parker encounter the latest form of zombies (fish zombies) and attempt to unravel the mysteries of the outbreak while looking for Chris.

Revelations also includes other classic RE elements such as an emphasis on horror, a mansion-setting feel, puzzle solving, and lots and lots of backtracking. The ship is cramped and dark with ghoulies lurking around every other corner. In time, players will happen upon a mansion-like area on the ship that feels like the Arklay mansion, complete with weapon boxes and inaccesible doors until you find a key card and the Iron Anchor Key. Yes, nautical themed keys! Exploration and puzzle solving are peppered throughout, and other locations besides the ship are playable in different chapters spicing things up a bit.

The action is there just like the recent entries in the series, with an over-the-shoulder view and a first-person view when firing a weapon. Players will find a variety of firearms, ranging from pistols, shotguns, machine guns and rifles. Sub weapons offer a variety of grenades, knives and other bladed melee weapons. Aside from the variety of gun types, parts can be acquired and installed into weapons to modify their power, reload speed and other attributes, while at times giving them new abilities like charge shots and not needing to reload empty clips. Enemies will take different amounts of damage depending on where you shoot them, and repeatedly shooting the legs or arms of a monster may disable that appendage. Combat is very action oriented, and dodging is a timed event that players can perform when enemies get too close.

The two modes available are the single-player campaign and the multiplayer raid mode. Campaign mode is broken up in Chapters with an average of three sub chapters. When progressing to a new chapter, players are shown a recap of the events like an episodic television series to refresh one's memory of where they left off. Previously on Resident Evil: Revelations... Seriously, it's awesome every time it happens.

The second mode is Raid mode where you play as an unlocked character from the campaign, each with different perks and specialties, through mini-areas littered with enemies. The goal is to collect items and points and then make it to the end points so you can get better guns and parts.  As you progress, you level up, get stronger and purchase weapons, parts and items to upgrade your character. Raid mode can be played solo or with an internet friend.

Resident Evil: Revelations is a fun action/horror adventure that fans of the series will enjoy. Other things this game has that folks may also enjoy is a paper-thin plot, bad dialogue, backtracking, repurposing of levels more than twice, and strange fashion choices for people who combat deadly infectious bio-weaponry for a living. Other than that, I really enjoyed this title, as I had played the 3DS version when it came out last year and the console version was just as entertaining if not more so because of the larger screen and console control.

Hint: Shoot the legs! Many common enemies take extra damage from getting shot in the legs and arms instead of the body, but shooting the legs can disable them.

by Reginal Rhoades