I’ve been really excited for *Resident Evil: Revelations*. In all the trailers it looks fantastic and that’s why it was the second game Rollo and I checked out at Nintendo World 2011. But unfortunately, it was pretty much the biggest disappoint of the show (so far). That’s not to say it’s the worst game of the show. Nor that it doesn’t have its merits, but going in with such high expectations only served to feel let down as I put down the 3DS and moved on.

The main issue is controls. Perhaps I need a little more practice, or I was simply doing something wrong, but as far as I’m aware controlling the viewpoint is done with the touch screen display, while aiming is done with the right trigger. I guess it’s an interesting approach, but Rollo and I both found that the camera would continually swing in awkward directions, and when an enemy appeared on screen we’d end up shooting their crotch more than anything else as our thumbs lacked the precision to line up a proper shot (or, as I found later, Rollo simply didn’t use the touch screen, which was possible, but still clumsy).

And while the graphics aren’t bad by any means, there’s definitely a roughness to them when you see them up close. It’s probably not even worth mentioning as the environments (which I’ll talk about more in a moment) are quite gorgeous. Jill Valentine, the character you play as through the demo appeared almost as if she was roughly cut out of a piece of paper. I know that’s a weird comparison, but with the 3D all the way up she just seemed disconnected from the entire scene.

There was definitely a tenseness to the gameplay however. At one point you hear a rattling noise, assume its an enemy only for a rat to jump out and scutter away. That may not sound impressive, but it felt like a nice touch. Another example would be a window shattering, wind gushing in and a swarm of bats flying towards you. It may not make you jump in fright, but those small amounts of excitement were appreciated.

At the end of the day I don’t want to say *Resident Evil: Revelations* is bad, but it just left me feeling “meh.” Or, perhaps a better way to put it is that I wouldn’t buy the game in its current stay, or even play it if I was given it for free. Maybe the controls simply have a learning curve, but with most of the other titles working so naturally I don’t feel particularly oblidged to let such a griping slip. That said, the last we’ve heard is that the game is 20% complete, which gives it a ton of time to morph into something far more playable.