As I am writing this the launch of the Nintendo 3DS is literally 5 days away! What makes this event even more awesome is that it falls on two of the best days in my life, my birthday and pay day! Who could want more? How about the launch of the most exciting handheld console!
The event I went to was in Essex, England. The event itself was open to the public and was pretty well designed. As you walked through the entrance after answering some tough interrogation (genuine question: Are you aged over 7?) you are greeted by a maze of white with the words "Nintendo 3DS" sprayed everywhere.
Me playing the Nintendo 3DS! Exciting...and slightly weird
What hits me first is the build up to the Nintendo 3DS stalls. A complete history of Nintendo's handheld past, Game & Watches, Gameboys, Gameboy Colors, every Nintendo handheld console was cased in a protective plastic case (otherwise I would have grabbed the mint condition Game & Watch Donkey Kong!).
Now you're going to have to forgive me, but for sometime I haven't been too bothered about the 3DS. I've not actually played it, and to be brutal the launch titles are crap. Two games that have got me excited for the 3DS are Metal Gear Solid 3DS and the Resident Evil 3D games. After playing some mediocre Dead or Alive and a racing game (the title escapes me) I caught a glimpse of this beauty:
I could not believe my eyes! An actual demo for Resident Evil 3D The Mercenaries! Whilst I only had my iPhone to hand, I apologise for the crap quality. I tried to get some screenshots but the 3D graphics came out terribly.
The game feels like a very strange hybrid between Resident Evil 4 and 5 - I played as Chris Redfield from RE5 in the Village level from RE4. It seems that Capcom have decided to give us the best of both games, and bung them together to make a Frankenstein's monster creation - which could do very well or do very badly.
The actual game play was very good, traditional RE4/5 controls that translate well on the 3DS. The only problem I encountered was remembering the buttons on the 3DS - after all playing this game on the PS2 (RE4) or 360/PS3 (RE5) has set my mind on a slightly different configuration.
The touch screen made weapon changes and selecting items very easy. It's more in line with Resident Evil 5, whereby item selection is in-game - promoting fear and the need for quick selections. This worked very well, but took a while to get used to.
Overall a very good game that looks promising for Resident Evil fans. It brings two of the best extra features from Resident Evil 4 and 5 into one game. Definitely one for the RE fans, but for those who are yet to try it - this game will give you a very easy to access game that can be picked up and played within a single bus journey (my main time I use the 3DS).
The event was very good overall. For me it was the highlight to play Resident Evil 3DS The Mercenaries. But I'm still going to wait to buy my 3DS - I'll wait until the first decent title comes out - whether it be Nintendo or third party.