to date will finally arrive on your fancy little handheld. It’s an all-new game in

a legendary series, it’s a 3DS exclusive and best of all, you can play it right now.

That’s right, Undertoads. The highly anticipated Resident Evil: Revelations has a free demo

available in the eShop on the Nintendo 3DS, and that’s what we’re playing here. We’ll

have our full review of Resident Evil: Revelations in about a week, but until then, we wanted

to share our thoughts on the game’s abbreviated form.

It’s the demo of Resident Evil: Revelations. And holy crap, what a first impression.

The demo picks up with Jill Valentine waking up in a strange yet familiar place. She takes

a quick transmission explaining her situation, and then, the game really begins. She finds

the door exiting the room is locked, so she explores the bathroom to find a tool to open

it. Meanwhile, she hears a thud back in the room. This is awesome.

The first thing you notice is that the demo is really intended to showcase the core philosophy

that Capcom insists has fueled the design of Revelations. It plays like a modern Resident

Evil, in terms of its controls and mechanics. But the atmosphere, however...that’s totally

old-school Resident Evil. And the demo does a great job showcasing that approach.

It’s a really unique kind of design synergy, in that it brings together the franchise’s

present and past in a way that elevates both. And to start with the past, this demo is really

creepy. The action-heavy, hardly even vaguely scary feel of Resident Evil 5 is nowhere to

be found in the Revelations demo. Terrifying beings approach you in a strange, jittery

stride, your ammunitions are at least relatively low and the music amplifies the tension.

And if you’re a Resident Evil purist, you’re going to love it.

A big part of that creepiness comes from the graphics. Bar none, this demo has the most

impressive graphics to date on the 3DS. Your surroundings are incredibly rich in detail,

and they’re brought to life by visual effects that are just amazing for a portable system.

This foggy room, in particular, is stunning...and it makes you even more cautious and paranoid.

You never know what’s crawling right at your feet.

So the game is creepy, the graphics are incredible, but how the does demo actually play? Well

that’s where modern Resident Evil comes in. If you’ve played Resident Evil 4 or

5, you’ll be right at home in Revelations. The demo plays with that same third-person,

over-the-shoulder view you’re familiar with, and it also includes the option to shoot from

a first-person perspective once you draw your weapon. It felt like playing Resident Evil

4, had the game been set in the mansion from the original. Not a bad thing at all.

Another interesting note from the demo is that Revelations will have a scanner, much

like the scan visor from Metroid Prime. Using this uncovers hidden items in each room, and

since ammunition was definitely less abundant in the demo than in modern games in the series,

the ability to find extra items seems like a really nice touch for newer fans.

You can only play the demo 30 times before it self-destructs, but fortunately, the actual

game is just a week away. And if the demo is any indication, it could really be something

special. So stay tuned for our review of Resident Evil: Revelations coming soon, and be sure

to give the demo a test run.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go change my underwear.