Far from perfect but still enjoyable for the most part.
The main sections of the game, from Jill's perspective, are easily the best. The cruise ship location is great, though it does get a bit boring after you've backtracked through it so many times. The claustrophobic layout adds to the atmosphere and makes most enemies quite threatening. The other (non-Jill) sections are overall pretty tedious - the horror element is completely thrown out the window at these parts, replaced with just generic action. I hope you enjoy long hordes of the same enemy type! (It gets boring pretty quickly.)
The departures from core resident evil gameplay are a bit mixed. The dodge feels too precise and the melee counter feels clunky and isn't really explained very well. The scanner gives a risk/reward against living enemies, but otherwise it just means you have to search each room twice to find all the loot. The weapon upgrade mechanic is pretty cool and is probably my favourite part of the game, but the step away from inventory management (and horror in general) moves this game more towards an almost arcadey action game than a survival horror.
The bosses and set pieces are the weakest part of the gameplay. Nothing the game tries in this regard is particularly interesting or fun. On the 3DS these might have been more impressive, but here it just comes across as generic. Every boss is a bullet sponge.
The characters are pretty weak and one note. Chris and Jill have basically no personality, most of the other characters have a single character trait that you could probably guess just by looking at them. One of the new characters in particular is almost unbearably cliche and hard to listen to.
The story is very convoluted. If I was following it the entire way through, maybe it would have been more effective, but the frequent switching of perspectives, flashbacks, constant plot twists and reveals, it's hard to stay on top of everything. It's like they tried to make it as hard to follow as possible. On top of that, cutscenes make up 20% of the game (not an exaggeration)! That being said, I appreciate the effort. It's more enjoyable than a cliché/throwaway plot you might expect from what was originally a spinoff game on a handheld.
Despite all the shortcomings, I still found it enjoyable. There's not a lot of substance, but it's still a Resident Evil game. Glad I played it.
The main sections of the game, from Jill's perspective, are easily the best. The cruise ship location is great, though it does get a bit boring after you've backtracked through it so many times. The claustrophobic layout adds to the atmosphere and makes most enemies quite threatening. The other (non-Jill) sections are overall pretty tedious - the horror element is completely thrown out the window at these parts, replaced with just generic action. I hope you enjoy long hordes of the same enemy type! (It gets boring pretty quickly.)
The departures from core resident evil gameplay are a bit mixed. The dodge feels too precise and the melee counter feels clunky and isn't really explained very well. The scanner gives a risk/reward against living enemies, but otherwise it just means you have to search each room twice to find all the loot. The weapon upgrade mechanic is pretty cool and is probably my favourite part of the game, but the step away from inventory management (and horror in general) moves this game more towards an almost arcadey action game than a survival horror.
The bosses and set pieces are the weakest part of the gameplay. Nothing the game tries in this regard is particularly interesting or fun. On the 3DS these might have been more impressive, but here it just comes across as generic. Every boss is a bullet sponge.
The characters are pretty weak and one note. Chris and Jill have basically no personality, most of the other characters have a single character trait that you could probably guess just by looking at them. One of the new characters in particular is almost unbearably cliche and hard to listen to.
The story is very convoluted. If I was following it the entire way through, maybe it would have been more effective, but the frequent switching of perspectives, flashbacks, constant plot twists and reveals, it's hard to stay on top of everything. It's like they tried to make it as hard to follow as possible. On top of that, cutscenes make up 20% of the game (not an exaggeration)! That being said, I appreciate the effort. It's more enjoyable than a cliché/throwaway plot you might expect from what was originally a spinoff game on a handheld.
Despite all the shortcomings, I still found it enjoyable. There's not a lot of substance, but it's still a Resident Evil game. Glad I played it.