You know you're going to have an interesting video game experience when the biggest feature displayed prominently on the box of the game is a demo for another game. I had high hopes for Resident Evil: the Mercenaries 3D, but at the end of the day, I was left with an experience that felt half-finished and not even close to worth my $40.

When I started the game, I was actually a bit optimistic. The game features an extremely long "mission" mode that takes you through the control scheme and teaches you about the basic strategy you'll need to employ to take down the various baddies in the game. The game is set after the events of Resident Evil 5, so you'll see plenty of Las Plagas zombies, complete with creepy head centipedes.

However, one thing that immediately disappointed me was the lack of variation between the different zombies. Sure, I love generic African zombie lady A as much as the next girl, but when three or four of her identical siblings show up beside her, I can't help but suspect a lack of effort on the design team's part.

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The way that the game's mission mode is structured is like an over-long tutorial, and is separated into five different sections. Each section features two to four "basics" sections and then a final "test" level that you have to pass with a high rank in order to proceed. You can get past this mission mode by going at it alone, or taking your game online and teaming up with a friend.

The mission mode is the closest the game ever gets to a story mode, and the fact that it is basically an hour-long tutorial is just disappointing. Once you finish the mission mode, you can jump online and shoot zombies to your heart's content. There are some memorable set pieces from past games as well as some familiar playable and upgradeable characters, and the format is nearly identical to versus mode from Resident Evil 5.

The only real difference between versus mode in Resident Evil 5 and Mercenaries 3D is the latter has an unlock system similar to that of Call of Duty. The unlockable loadouts and content certainly keep you in the game, which is nice since there is no story mode to speak of. If you want an online experience that mimics something you might find in a bigger console-based title, and you want to keep it with you on the go, you'll find it in Mercenaries 3D. Of course, you'll always need to be within range of wi-fi, so if you are planning to purchase this game and play it on the bus or on an airplane, you'll probably be disappointed. Battling the A.I. gets old very quickly.