Resident Evil Revelations is an interesting take on the whole Resident Evil franchise. While it was designed initially to be a portable game on the 3DS it featured more conventions of an episodic TV drama with “Previously on” and “Next times” to help let gamers play along at their own pace. Once Revelations one was finally released on to the current consoles of the time it was well received by fans as one of the better modern Resident Evil titles since Resident Evil 4. So it wasn’t a surprise that a sequel was in the works and it would be for all generations of consoles. However the surprises weren’t going to end there.
The first and biggest change had been made was the game was going to be released over four weeks like a TV event series (Think 24: Live Another Day last year). While at first this would have been a drastic change of pace for Capcom and the Resident Evil series. The second aspect of the game which got people talking was the mystery Island which Resident Evil regular Character Claire Redfield and Moira Burton is being held captive on. Also in the same breathe once Claire and Moira were announced it was quickly confirmed that Barry Burton would be returning to a main title since Resident Evil Gaidan on the Game Boy Colour.
Revelations 2 starts off with Claire and Moira at a Terasave event that is crashed at gun point by a mysterious army. Shortly after Claire and Moira awaken in a prison cell with a bracelet on their arms which change once they are scared. The over seer has developed a virus which reacts and infects via fear and anxiety once the bracelet gets to a flashing red, it’s too late. So for Claire and Moira, there main aim is to get off the Island and call in the rescue.
Barry’s story is set six months after his daughter is kidnapped and all he wants to do is find his daughter and bring her home, however he meets up with a mysterious little girl who has survived for six months on the Island. Each episode should take around two to three hours to complete (while exploring) so for the first play through I would say you’ve got roughly between ten to twelve hours of story mode.
In the grand scale of the Resident Evil timeline I would hazard a guess that the Claire and Moira aspect of the game takes place shortly after Resident Evil 5, One of the first images shown in the opening cinematic is an empty shot of the Kijuju town from the start of RE 5. Where Barry’s part of the game is dealing with the fallout of the Uroboros and how the virus got to the Island. However the final Cinematic is based just as Resident Evil 6 is starting and leaves the game open to another sequel.
Pretty much like Revelations one the game would pit one of the main characters (Claire or Barry) with a partner. Each of these characters would have their own aspect for basic puzzle solving and opening creates and boxes for hidden weapon parts and they would both work in the same vain of the Genesis gun where they would discover items hidden out of sight from the main character which would mostly be Ammo in the game.
Yet both of these characters handle and play in completely different manners. Natalia the little girl who is partnered up with Barry is essentially a spotter, she is able to look through walls and point out where the different enemies are standing. In which this gives Barry a chance for a stealth based takedown which is pretty much a one hit kill, also Natalia is able to pick up a normal house brick and use it to distract any enemy. If you are familiar with the PS3/4 title “The Last of Us” this is a good example to use to describe Barry’s part in the game. While with Claire Moira is used for lighting the area with a torch and open boarded up doors. The added bonus with Moira is that she has the same light attack like Alan Wake and the torch with excessive use the torch will run out. So it’s better to use the torch with care for a while when scanning for hidden items.
I have to admit the enemy designs for the game are brilliant to look at. Depending on whom your using when you encounter them enemies will have two different looks. When using Claire and Moira then you’ll meet more inflected humans in the long run. There are some which have metal plating over the heads, which reminds me of Pyramid head from the Silent Hill series. However I think the best new creature to be featured in this game are the invisible monsters. They seem to be more featured in Barry’s chapters however once your close to them, the screen gives off this strange flickering effect like if your eyes are being effected by them in some way shape or form. Also there two major boss fights in this game. One of them feels like it’s straight out of Resident Evil 5 and the final boss, while it’s in two stages I actually joked about and said that the design of it reminds me a lot of Mother Brain from Super Metroid.
The really fun part about these partners is the additional emotions they bring to the main character. With Natalia her story is linked back to the first Revelations game and is always the one to remind Barry of Moira’s fate. However while playing with Claire, Moira explains a lot more of her back-story with her issues with her father, which while predictable adds more narrative weight to the game. If I had to make one criticism with Moira’s character at times she acts like a “Debra Morgan” from Dexter, however I noticed that with a few characters in the game. They seem to swear and curse to add almost comic relief, which at times falls short.
But the main highlight is getting to play with Barry Burton again. While the likes of Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Jill and even Claire get to appear in sequels the only time Barry has featured outside of Resident Evil is either as a cameo in one of the Resident Evil 3 endings or in the aforementioned forgotten title for the game boy colour. However while playing as Barry it feels like fan service to the fans and a love letter to the Burton fans out there. Some of his classic “B-movie” lines from the 1996 PS1 game re-worked and hearing Barry shouting “I’m the master of unlocking know!” put perhaps the biggest smile on my face while playing the game.
The environments in the game are both interesting to look at however at the same time feel bland and lifeless at the same time. The only time they look more interesting is in the latter parts of Barry’s story, One of these places are the mines in which you find out more about the Over-seer and Natalia’s interaction. The second one which stands out is the hidden mansion near the end of the game. While the Island is suppose to be a ghost town style place looking at some of the destroyed and depleted hallways, the spinning traps with massive blades and barbed wire and even a slaughter house it made me feel like I need a tetanus injection once the game was complete.
The sound design is excellent, the sound effects helps sells the aspects of the game, from the rusty doors of the prison being open to the sound effects of the monsters and the various metal doors creaking and groaning. For me even little things like Moira covering her ears while shooting indoors or next to her are an excellent touch. Once the game is complete, there are two things you can do. For example you can dive into the Raid mode which is returning from the first Revelations game. In this mode it offers levels and stages from the main game in a mercenary’s style game play. The quicker you can complete the level the better. This was a mode, which I never really touched on the first Revelations, however while waiting for the next episode to be released, this helped pass the time, and I believe that this is going to be made into an online mode at the end of the month.
The second aspect of the re-playability is doing a “New Game Plus” mode. This is restarting the game with all the weapons and unlocked custom parts at the start of the game and you can take it onto different difficulty levels. Additionally there are two extra story chapters which delve into what happened to both Moira and Natalia over those six months. These are featured on the full disk retail and people who brought the Season pass for the game. At the time of writing this review I had only tried the Moira one and while it offers more insight into her side of the story, these are pieces of context which I perhaps could have done without if I am being honest. Also the game offers some good un-lockable features ranging from figures of the cast and monsters, to concept art and a “Classic horror” mode which gives the game a Black and White filter.
At the moment if you are a PC gamer I would wait to hear when the game has been patched. At the moment the game seems to be running awful on PC and the system it’s surprising running well on is Xbox one (with a better frame rate). However I will say that I didn’t notice any issues when I was reviewing the game and it seemed to run well on the PS4.
Pros | Cons |
A fun game that builds up on the success of its first spin off game. | Some of the writing for the characters feels too forced. |
The Environments are haunting, disgusting and feels abandoned | Some of the environments at times do feel under whelming and too alike |
The story flows well and baring timing feels solid | The added content feels unnecessary at times. |
Raid mode and carrying on with the weapons from your first play through gives the title some excellent re-playability | |
Great un-lockable items in the menus | |
While there are only two real boss fights, they are both unforgettable. |
I would give Resident Evil Revelations 2 a 7 out of 10.
Final Thoughts.
For myself Resident Evil Revelations 2 is a good game by my standards. It takes a while to get going, I found the story to really start to gather pace near the end of Episode 2 in the Barry part of the game then after that it becomes an interesting and intense in places, it also gives off a great take on classic resident evil monsters and introduces the players to a fantastic new monster. While the story at parts will seem predictable, does a great job in keeping you engaged till whatever ending you unlock, however I am sure once you’ve gone through the extra story content it’ll give you a fuller picture of how some characters have in the good ending at least one big character change. Also with the good ending, it has clearly set up a follow on game with at least one of the people featured in this game.
The inclusion of Natalia and Moira is great and fun to see the Resident Evil series expanding. I think if people are offended by strong cursing they will instantly dislike Moira. In the review I joked that she seems to be like the series answer to Debra Morgan from Dexter, and I hope in any future title that she appears she is at least toned down. Yet I do feel that most of the extra members of the story was written poorly and didn’t add any weight to their death scenes.
While I am not too sure if the episodic style of storytelling actually worked for this game, I think it could have been as effective being released as a full game at launch and then spend the time to design and create some effective story based DLC. However there were some aspects of the story that made me question what was going to happen next to both support characters during their periods of play in the game.
The environments are both the blessing and curse to this game. I feel that the game got the idea of the disbanded prison perfect and even the broken down factories perfect, you felt that these places where heavily used. But the problem is that some of the locations feel bland and soulless to look at. The moments where the game’s locations really shine is at the final stages of the game with the mine and underground mansion. Both of these look like plenty of detail have been put into place and it shows.
Finally this game has plenty to offer for re-playability. First off there is a new game plus mode that allows to you to carry on with all the weapons obtained in single player mode. So if you want to try and beat the game on the hardest setting with a full arsenal then you can. Also the game offers additional un-lockable weapons and different outfits/skins. Finally the game has a camera filter which offers the gamer to play the game in black and white to mirror some of the classic horror movies including “Night of the Living Dead”