Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
Review
Same old zombies, smaller screen
by Liam Edwards
reviewed on 3DS
How To Justify?
More than just a mini-game right? Wrong. In fact I would go as far as to say that Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D seems much more like a mobile phone application than a fully fledged game. I feel sorry for anyone who has already gone out and purchased this title, because asking anyone to pay close to £40 for a game with as little content or weight as this, is pretty unfair.
But...
That really does not matter. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D already sits next to Ocarina of Time 3D as the best title on the 3DS. But, that really does say something about the current titles available on Nintendo's quite ingenious little hand-held. But if you're a fan of the past two Resident Evil titles and enjoyed the original extra mode that gave birth to Mercenaries 3D, then you will have no trouble enjoying this small snippet in the Resident Evil universe.
So What Is It?
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is a spin-off from the Resident Evil franchise, with the game being centered around the mini-game modes, The Mercenaries, found in both Resident Evil 4 and 5. The basis and core mechanic of the Mercenaries modes was for players to run around and kill as many enemies as possible to rack up a score. But with a strict time limit, players were forced to scour the levels to find time bonuses for an extended period of zombie killing time.
The mode was a big hit, and became more of a chess-like strategy game, with good players planning out routes and finding out where all the time bonuses were. Although highly fun, it was never anything more than a mini-game, but it has now been re-created into what Capcom claims to be a fully packaged title for the 3DS.
Injected
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is low on content and that is putting it lightly. With just one mode and only around 30 missions, Mercenaries 3D is short, with it only taking around 3 hours to finish all the missions with one character and unlock the rest of the cast. Although there is plenty to unlock in terms of costumes and skills, and replaying missions to get better scores can become slightly OCD, with Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D there isn't much in terms of variety. Each mission falls under the same formula, kill as many enemies as you can while finding the time bonuses within each level.
7.0
fun score
Pros
It is Resident Evil on a hand-held. The same highly-addictive gameplay featured in the original mercenaries modes. Graphically superb at times.
Cons
Very low on content, long list of continuing problems. And no variety in missions or modes. Has a hefty price tag for what is available.
