Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is a trimmed down Resident Evil-experience fuelled by adrenaline. Forget B-movie storylines and moody puzzles: Capcom have taken the action-orientated Mercenaries mini-game of previous titles, beefed it up then slapped it into its very own stand-alone 3DS cart.

First impressions are good. It's impressive what Capcom have been able to squeeze out of the handheld graphically. Familiar enviroments from the previous two games in the series unfold on the small screen, retained much of the high visual quality of before.

As for the actual 3D, the effects are minimal and add little to the pre-existing experience. Its evident in the little (obvious) touches, such as the distances having a little more, well, depth, and aiming your weapon sees it float out of the screen. Of all the games currently on the hardware, Mercenaries is the one to which the 3D offers the least impact on.

The controls carry over well from the consoles, with the round analog pad proving its worth immediately when moving your character and aiming. Precision isn't a problem, and if the pad seems to move the targeting reticule a tad slower than other titles on other consoles, it isn't enough to prove aggravating by any means.

Gameplay is built around a race against a constant countdown. You start with a few minutes of time, and can accumulate more by killing zombies in particular ways and filling up a combo meter, or by crushing hidden (well, when we say hidden, they're fairly easy to spot) krystal statues among the zombie crowds. Once time's over, you're graded on your performance.

A speedrun through Resi sounds simple enough, but Capcom has spiced up the returning cast by playing to their own strengths. The Redfields for example, are at equal ends of the speed/power balance: Claire's swift but weak, Chris packs a mean punch of a melee but is slower on foot.

Its not exactly Call of Duty's perk system but does give you reason to weigh up the different characters in multiple play throughs. You will also be able to fight side by side with a friend, as the game supports online co-op.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D as a product feels slightly odd, detached as it is from its usual position as a cool little extra bundled into one of the main titles. As a stand alone title is needs to bring something new to the formula, but nothing I saw in my time with the game suggested it deviated enough from the tried and tested Mercenaries setup.

But it's obvious the game has a little while to go before its finished, and we're hoping Capcom has simply given us a taster of what it's like playing a Mercenaries title on handheld. What I played feels like a stripped down version of the series, bereft of any tantalising extras.

Mercenaries proves that its more than possible to create a modern Resident Evil game for the 3DS. However, we're hankering for the traditional elements of the series; slightly daft plot, puzzles as well as a hefty heap of action horror that'll fill what we feel lacking here. Roll on Resident Evil: Revelations.