"3DS, you're small time." -Leon S. Kennedy, upon hearing about his absence in this game
The game on the 3DS is largely that same mini game. It's expanded, tweaked, and polished only so very briefly, but by and large the experience is dropped into a full retail cart and expected to fill the entire container, high expectations and all, generally unsuccessfully. The 3DS' game price point of $40 is simply unbearable for a game that should have been $15, and as such The Mercenaries 3D is a little too pricey to muster up a recommendation.
This isn't aided by the fact that the game is lacking the usual polish and flair that the series is known for, with seams showing recklessly and with abandon. Minor frame rate drops, occasionally terrible animation and lackluster menu design are just a few of the small examples that litter the game's already meager content. It'd be one thing if Capcom actually tried to pretend this game was worth the designated cost, but as it is the game is clearly unfinished and could have benefited from not only more content but more engine stability and effort.
This is a troubling issue because the game itself is very fun and gorgeous. It's the best looking 3DS game thus far, highlighting the system's strengths and none of its weaknesses. Textures are detailed, the main characters have plenty of movement animations and are intricate, and there's a lot of action going on at any time. In fact, aside from the general lack of engine polish that leads to the minor frame rate issues, the game practically looks like its 360/PS3 brethren, abet with less post processing and bloom (which it's better without). The 3D effect adds some nice depth to the battles, and when it's off the game offers some quality anti-aliasing to smooth out the image. But again, we're forced to make amends in our praise for those nasty little niggling issues. It's a shame that the 3DS doesn't support patching.
Mercenaries itself still stands up the test of time, with excellent improvements to the formula and the addition of the 3DS' portability. The touch screen controls coupled with the 3DS' nice button layout make the game a breeze to get accustomed to, and within minutes I had translated my Gamecube skills to the new system. Improvements to the scoring include time bonuses scattered throughout the level to encourage movement, with smaller time bonuses for special combo attacks, and quicker weapons all around. Resident Evil had before used Mercenaries to supplement the campaign, but now that it's standalone the game can finally focus on what makes Mercenaries great: fast, brutal slaughterhouses with great enemies and even better weapons.
The game attempts to make this experience feel more meaty by doling out its 30 stages and 8 characters in the process of a campaign, which is flippant, barely designed and hardly worth the mention. It's a set of missions, most of which lack anything to set them apart from actual Mercenaries rounds. Newbies will enjoy the tutorial missions for extra practice, while veterans will be able to take their time enjoying the 3D effect and getting used to the handheld. Aside from that, the campaign is trivial to blow through and fails to put even a curtain pull flourish on the Mercenaries itself. It seems largely like a waste of time, especially for high level players who want to use the powerful characters right away. The issue that the alarmed gaming press reported on - in that this game won't allow resets - is not only not an issue, but also largely an improvement.
And so the Mercenaries content must stand up on its own two feet and to be fair, it is a very, very fun iteration of The Mercenaries. But it's also not particularly innovative, creative, or even lasting in comparison with the 3DS' current lineup, as meager as it is. Unless you find the endless high score grind engaging, the average gamer will get five hours out of the game and be done, and within that five hours have replayed much of the content several times over. The game acts, walks and talks like a $15 budget release, which sadly it was in Japan. Why Capcom felt it was necessary to release for the full $40, I'm not sure. Personally, I bought it for $20 and felt like I had paid a little too much, but lord knows my wrath had I plunked down the $40. In no alternate dimension is this game worth that much, much less ours.
If you can find it for cheap and find the RE action formula engaging in any capacity, get it. It's still a great game, it's only been tied and gagged ruthlessly to a few sinking flaws that are hard to ignore and even harder to defend.
(Side note: the game also comes with a demo of Resident Evil Revolutions which is shaping up to be rather enjoyable. It's an unsettling wander through an abandoned ship, with several instances of a particularly nasty enemy. A few small frame rate issues exist here too. Otherwise, it's fairly cool but lasts at most three minutes. Not much of a selling point as the front of the box would lead you to believe.)