Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (3DS Review) by Carl B.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release: June 28, 2011

July 1, 2011, by Carl B. - Resident Evil is a series known for its slow paced action and focus on creating an immersive, chilling atmosphere for the player. With Resident Evil 4 and 5, Capcom included a side game mode known as The Mercenaries, where players were put in various stages from the games with the end goal being to kill as many enemies as possible. This arcade style experience has been brought over to Nintendo 3DS as a full retail release, but does it work better as a side-mode to a full game?

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D doesn't have any sort of story – it's all about killing loads of enemies to rack up the highest score possible. There are five different mission tiers in the game, each with their own set of levels. Mercenaries 3D starts off rather slowly; the first few mission tiers are all tutorial based. Once players get out into the real missions, the ante is upped considerably.

2D image of Nintendo 3DS game.
Mercenaries 3D has the most intense, fast paced action out of any Resident Evil game I've ever played. Players are thrust into stages based off of locations from Resident Evil 4 and 5 and have to take out every enemy they see. Early on there are a set number of enemies to take down, but when things really start to heat up, enemies will spawn infinitely as players have to kill them while a timer ticks down. For these later levels there are several time bonuses hidden throughout the stages, and getting combo kills will add more time to the clock.

It takes a while to get used to the control scheme in The Mercenaries 3D, but what Resident Evil game doesn't have goofy controls? Character movement is done via the circle pad, and luckily characters don't move around like a tank – they'll run automatically. To shoot, players must hold down the R button to go into first person mode and take aim with the circle pad. Y will fire the gun, and if players hold down the L button while in first person mode they can slowly move around. It's an odd control scheme that's very Resident Evil-ish – the important part is that it works.

The 3DS touch screen is used to display weapons and equipment. A simple tap of the gun's icon will have the character switch weapons; tapping it again will reload it. In typical Resident Evil fashion, ammo is scarce, so players have to mix projectile attacks with melee attacks so they don't drain all their ammo right out of the gate. Enemies will drop ammo every now and then, however.

2D image of Nintendo 3DS game.
There are eight different characters for players to take command of, including my personal favorite Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and the always dependable Hunk. Every character has their own weapon and costume set, but players are able to use the weapon set of another character by purchasing them with 3DS play coins. Skills, which are the Mercs 3D equivalent of perks in modern shooters, are unlockable and provide basic upgrades such as increased health regeneration or better machine gun handling. There are also 50 different medals to unlock, and some of them are pretty clever; in one level I shot a chicken and was awarded the "Chicken Hunter Portable" medal, an obvious reference to Capcom's Monster Hunter series.

The five mission tiers in The Mercenaries 3D can be completed pretty quickly, and although high score seekers will have some replay ability, there's not a whole lot to Mercs 3D as far as single player is concerned. Capcom apparently realized this and incorporated an online and local multiplayer mode to The Mercenaries 3D, which really increases the replay value for an otherwise short game.

2D image of Nintendo 3DS game.
Online – or Duo mode in the game – allows players to team up with one another and take on every mission they have unlocked. Similar to Monster Hunter Tri, players can essentially play the entire game online and never play a second of single player. It's certainly a lot more fun to shoot at crazed villagers with a random gamer or a friend online.

To compensate for the extra player, Mercs 3D throws out more difficult enemies in online matches. There were a few where those annoying chainsaw enemies would appear every few minutes to wreak havoc. One of my favorite missions to play online was 4-5 – in this level, my teammate and I had to survive several waves of enemies. If one of us dies, the mission is failed, and to get the highest score possible we had to keep getting time bonuses, thus allowing the game to generate more waves for us to conquer. We eventually ran out of time and scored an A rank for the level. It was so intense that I ran out of ammo by the fourth wave, and it made me wish the game had voice chat for online.

2D image of Nintendo 3DS game.
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is definitely one of the better looking games on Nintendo 3DS, but it isn't without its visual faults. The 3D effect isn't impressive at all, which is very strange considering the Resident Evil: Revelations demo packed with the game has an amazing 3D effect. Character models and environments are extremely detailed up close, but enemies in the far distance look and move like sprites rather than 3D models.

The Verdict

Sound
10/15 - A soundtrack that compliments the fast paced action. Sound effects are muffled.

Graphics
18/20 - One of the best looking 3DS games, but some problems with the visuals and an unimpressive 3D effect hold it back.

Appeal
18/25 - Mercs 3D is lacking in content, similar to Pilotwings Resort, since it's a full game based off of a side game. A very fun online multiplayer component makes up for that slightly.

Gameplay
34/40 - Fast paced action at every turn. The controls take some getting used to, but they do work nicely. Mercs 3D is a ton of fun.

Overall
80/100 - Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D isn't the best game in the Resident Evil series, but it doesn't have to be. At this point it provides something that's lacking on 3DS, outside of the possible exception of Ocarina of Time 3D: a game with fun, fast paced and intense action. For those weary about the few levels, fear not: Mercenaries 3D is hard to put down because it's such a good time.