Quick thoughts on the Resident Evil: Revelations demo for the Nintendo 3DS

I just played the demo for Resident Evil: Revelations on the Nintendo 3DS and here are my thoughts:

The graphics look great, and since this is just the demo I expect them to look even better on the full product.

It took me a little bit to get used to the controls, which aren't hard at all to master. There are different control schemes, but I went with the default/Type A option. Using guns on enemies by holding the R button, aiming with the circle pad and shooting with the Y button is comfortable. Using the D-pad to switch guns and other items is a breeze. The Circle Pad Pro add-on is optional for this game, but the game controls just fine without it.

The touchscreen puzzle in the beginning of the demo is pretty easy. I'm curious to see what other puzzles will be in the full version.

A scanner item is used to scan fallen enemies and find hidden items like ammo and herbs. I'll no doubt be scanning every corner of this game to find every secret.

It's not a long demo and ends on a cliffhanger, no doubt to get you wanting more. Normal difficulty isn't too hard, but you unlock Hell difficulty when you beat Normal. As the name implies, Hell mode is crazy. I died at first enemy, neglecting to use my grenade. I liked how there were more enemies and different item placements, so it didn't feel like I was playing the same demo as Normal difficulty.

One interesting thing of note: There is a limited amount of plays this demo has - 30. Yes, you can only go into the demo 30 times before it locks you out. Some will wonder why the heck there's a limit. I can see the argument of people just playing the demo only, but that's stretching it. It's a pretty short demo with very basic gameplay. I have never played a demo for any game more than 5-10 times, so I can't imagine going to 30.

Another thing: On the 3DS home screen, it tells you how many "uses" you got left, and from what I can tell, it only goes down when you start up the game. I entered the game twice, and the second time I played for about an hour. Now I have 28 uses left. So every time you die and start over in the game, and I did a lot in Hell mode, that didn't count toward the 30 uses.

I don't agree with the idea of limiting the use of demo play but if it's going to happen, a smaller cap makes more sense. If you're going to go as high as 30, you might as well not even do it at all.

Resident Evil: Revelations, developed by Capcom, releases Feb. 7 for $49.99.

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