The first ever 3DS game demo went live today for fans in the US and UK, and once you got past the easy proof of age (you better have been honest), you could download a small taste of Resident Evil: Revelations. The demo is playable to anyone, but if you happen to have the 3DS Circle Pad Pro, you can use it on the demo as well. How do we know? We imported one from Japan and tested it out.
Above: Why yes, we would…
RE: Revelations will be the first game released outside of Japan compatible with the add-on, though the Circle Pad Pro won’t US/UK hit stores until the same day Revelations comes out. Still, proving our theory that the Circle Pad is region-free, we put our 3DS into the cradle and finally got to see what the game is like with the extra thumb pad.
Though we’d enjoyed Revelations without it when playing before, now that we have more direct camera with the right pad it feels more in-line with the franchise’s spirit. Just like in previous releases, once we changed the control settings we were quickly pulling off the standard LT+RT shooting combo against the evil residents. Additionally, the button to interact with objects was mapped to the new second right trigger, making for smoother interactions throughout the stage. And once we grabbed the in-game scanner, searching for items in first person were much simpler with the new interface.
We’re not sure how it will feel stretched over an entire game, but we’re enjoying how the Circle Pad Pro works with Revelations so far. We’ll give you more insight when the game launches February 7.