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RESIDENT EVIL: THE MERCENARIES 3D
review | 3DS
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Publisher: Capcom.
Developer: Tose. Released: July 2011 (Europe). Genre: Third-person shoot 'em up. Posted 15th November 2025. By Tom Clare © 2025 |
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For developers, juggling the quirks of new hardware must be like taking a step into the unknown. However, early system titles often yield some of the most creative works, designed as they are to showcase new features in the strongest light. Occasionally, you’ll get titles that do the opposite. Whilst not a disaster, it’s fair to say that with Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Capcom didn’t exactly shower themselves, or the 3DS, in glory.
Capcom drew considerable criticism for the game’s inability to allow data resets on the cartridge version. This would hamstring players wanting to progress from the beginning: unlocking missions, characters, outfits, and setting their own high scores. The Japanese publisher’s justification did little to temper complaints, suggesting that whilst it wasn’t a deliberate ploy to stymie the game’s second-hand market, the data saved to the cartridge was impossible to reset. It is very difficult to believe that, in 2011, resetting programmable switches to their defaults was beyond a developer of Tose’s capabilities, on a system whose onboard and expandable storage numbers in the gigabytes.
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A faithful expansion of the Mercenaries mini-game, REM3D is held back by retrograde controls and a lack of variety
Thus, REM3D got off on a bum note. Nevertheless, a new entry in the venerated horror series appearing on 3DS hardware offered plenty of reasons to be positive. Based around the Mercenaries mini-game with its roots in 1999’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, the player is given limited time (usually 90-120 seconds) to explore a map, racking up points by taking down foes, smashing timing beacons to add precious seconds to the clock, as well as gathering ammunition and herbs for health. Set across five chapters and comprising 20 missions, the game stars a variety of key figures from the series, among them Jill, Claire, Chris, and Barry. Not Leon, though, oddly.
The Mercenaries 3D delivers a good demonstration of the 3DS’s tech. Nintendo’s previous-generation handheld tended to focus on its touchscreen in 2D settings, due to its fairly modest 3D capabilities. Whilst Capcom’s launch title falls short of the HD fidelity you could expect of contemporary home consoles, there’s evidence here to suggest it can handle detailed environments of a reasonable size, without a significant impact on performance. There’s a reasonable amount of on-screen action: not exactly hordes of foes, but just enough to give the sense of being besieged. Characters look good and animate extremely well, with RE4’s zealots and RE5’s Majini retaining their menacing aura and responding dynamically to gunshots. It also sees the return of the Chainsaw Majini, the Garrador with his rake-like claws, and the giant Executioner. These are guaranteed to give fans a fright, all over again. Locations likewise look decent, comprising mainly of settings from RE5, with ‘Public Assembly’ the standout. Its dusty, shanty town facade and rooftop routes make for an evocative map. RE4’s ‘Village’ makes a welcome appearance, as players must make use of hoppable fences to evade pinch points, with enemies easily able to hem you in. A range of day and night settings provides different spooky cadences that benefit from strong lighting and impressive texturing.
The Mercenaries 3D delivers a good demonstration of the 3DS’s tech. Nintendo’s previous-generation handheld tended to focus on its touchscreen in 2D settings, due to its fairly modest 3D capabilities. Whilst Capcom’s launch title falls short of the HD fidelity you could expect of contemporary home consoles, there’s evidence here to suggest it can handle detailed environments of a reasonable size, without a significant impact on performance. There’s a reasonable amount of on-screen action: not exactly hordes of foes, but just enough to give the sense of being besieged. Characters look good and animate extremely well, with RE4’s zealots and RE5’s Majini retaining their menacing aura and responding dynamically to gunshots. It also sees the return of the Chainsaw Majini, the Garrador with his rake-like claws, and the giant Executioner. These are guaranteed to give fans a fright, all over again. Locations likewise look decent, comprising mainly of settings from RE5, with ‘Public Assembly’ the standout. Its dusty, shanty town facade and rooftop routes make for an evocative map. RE4’s ‘Village’ makes a welcome appearance, as players must make use of hoppable fences to evade pinch points, with enemies easily able to hem you in. A range of day and night settings provides different spooky cadences that benefit from strong lighting and impressive texturing.
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A combat engine closely mimicking Resident Evil 5’s results in a catalogue of meaty weapons, all of which are useful with a bit of practice. Blasting foes is good, uncomplicated fun. Laser targeting allows players to aim for clinical headshots, or go for the legs to trigger a stumble animation, allowing for some extremely cool CQC techniques to help build combos. Characters come with distinct loadouts comprising three weapons that typically mix handguns, knives, shotguns, machine guns, rifles, and grenade launchers. Such a diverse set of offensive options, in terms of range and handling, validates the expansive character roster, as weapons play a significant role in how a stage is tackled. Although they’re ideal for quick, portable sessions, maps feel a bit nondescript in their staging. Whilst 20 stages sounds a lot, the first nine are somewhat on-rails tutorials, designed as a practical means of learning gameplay features, and involve eliminating a modest number of enemies. Once the timer has been introduced halfway through Chapter 3, things come to life. Missions then become free-for-alls to take down as many baddies as possible. Beyond one decidedly iffy boss stage, and a lengthy level structured in waves, stages typically rely on changes of scenery to offer the illusion of variety.
The biggest issue with The Mercenaries 3D is that rather than championing the 3DS’s attributes, it serves to underline its deficiencies, particularly regarding the controls. The system marked a modest evolution of the DS, providing a single analogue slider, bringing it into line with the PSP. The competing PlayStation Vita offered two analogue sticks, and REM3D is a game crying out for such a configuration. Here, the slider lacks precision, and the shoulder buttons feel unreliable. Selecting weapons and herbs via the touchscreen feels clumsy, but you can at least cycle them with the D-Pad. The game isn’t great beyond mid-range either, with enemies gliding and phasing along the backgrounds in a very distracting manner.
The biggest issue with The Mercenaries 3D is that rather than championing the 3DS’s attributes, it serves to underline its deficiencies, particularly regarding the controls. The system marked a modest evolution of the DS, providing a single analogue slider, bringing it into line with the PSP. The competing PlayStation Vita offered two analogue sticks, and REM3D is a game crying out for such a configuration. Here, the slider lacks precision, and the shoulder buttons feel unreliable. Selecting weapons and herbs via the touchscreen feels clumsy, but you can at least cycle them with the D-Pad. The game isn’t great beyond mid-range either, with enemies gliding and phasing along the backgrounds in a very distracting manner.
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The Mercenaries 3D feels a bit too much like a mini-game masquerading as a full retail release. The concept’s a good one: there’s plenty of fun to be had in combat situations and no shortage of excellent settings in the Resident Evil universe. With this in mind, the game never really achieves more than the bare minimum. There are no defining innovations or surprising quirks, and much of what’s in here fans will have seen before. Unlockables include alternative costumes, but a large chunk of the replay value relies on retreading missions numerous times, with different characters. Without meaningful variety to the objectives or the pacing, this soon becomes repetitive.
Tose’s effort shows modern action games could run on 3DS. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D looks good, runs well, and delivers simple, satisfying action. A modest collection of settings, alongside some iconic characters and a weighty combat engine, ensures an experience fans will enjoy. For series’ diehards, however, there’s disappointingly little new to be found here.
Tose’s effort shows modern action games could run on 3DS. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D looks good, runs well, and delivers simple, satisfying action. A modest collection of settings, alongside some iconic characters and a weighty combat engine, ensures an experience fans will enjoy. For series’ diehards, however, there’s disappointingly little new to be found here.
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VERDICT"The Mercenaries 3D runs well on 3DS, but is held back by the system's limited control options and a lack of ambition. Good, uncomplicated fun, but not one the series' more memorable outings." OVERALL: 6/10 |
OTHER RESIDENT EVILS WITH MERCENARIES MODES REVIEWED
Resident Evil 5 (2009, PlayStation 3)
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Resident Evil 6 (2012, PlayStation 3)
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