Resident Evil: Revelations 2

“Resident Evil: Revelations 2” is Capcom’s leap into the realm of episodic gaming, a style of release most well known for being used by Telltale Games. Telltale produces point-and-click style adventure games, which are very different from the action-style gameplay of “Revelations 2.” There is more to this game than its release schedule though. Being put out at a budget price, a big worry for many people is the actual quality of game.

“Revelations 2” does not take itself seriously with its characters and story, and honestly I think that is probably the best thing Capcom could have done. The opening cinematic is a ridiculous advertisement for the in-game anti-bioterrorism group Terra Save, where protagonist Claire Redfield has begun working a little over a decade after the events of “Resident Evil 2” and “Code Veronica.” After a raid by an unknown party on Terra Save’s HQ, Claire and newcomer Moira Burton find themselves stuck in a creepy prison complex with aesthetics that feel straight out of a "Saw" film. The other protagonist is Barry Burton, Moira’s father and a fan favorite from the first Resident Evil title. A lot of dialogue that relates to Barry makes callbacks to his awful one-liners from the 1996 classic, which will either leave you smiling or cringing at how awkward it is to hear lines like “the master of unlocking” again.

This game borrows a lot of things, not only from previous “Resident Evil” titles but also qualities prominent in a certain other “survival horror” game. Moira feels like a grown up Ellie, complete with unnecessary amounts of swearing and an unruly attitude hiding a meek-hearted girl. Barry’s partner actually is a little girl, complete with Joel’s ability “track” enemies with heightened senses. Both Moira and Natalia, the little girl Barry is with, feel unneeded in terms of gameplay. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the splitscreen mode, where whoever gets stuck on Moira or Natalia duty is undoubtedly going to be having less of an enjoyable time than the gun-wielding Claire or Barry. Neither of the partner characters are intended to be fighters, so sticking a co-op mode in an action game where one character isn’t going to be doing much action only shows how little of an impact they have. While Natalia’s little stealth mechanic is neat in revealing where zombies are, Barry has more than enough fire power to do things on his own. Moira literally exists only to open doors with a crowbar, something Claire could easily do without her. In single player mode you can swap between characters, so the lacking impact Moira and Natalia have is not as apparent, but it’s still there. I honestly never swapped to them until I hit a puzzle where they were needed and then promptly swapped back to Claire or Barry.

However, not everything is bad. Playing as Claire and Barry is really fun because of how well the game’s more action-oriented mechanics work. “Revelations 2” is very fast paced, combat feels fluid and is like a more streamlined version of Resident Evil 6. Guns can be swapped in real-time with the directional-pad and can be aimed and fired with the shoulder buttons. The knife is a singular quick action tied to the right trigger, and operates as smoothly as the gunplay does. One of the most important aspects of combat is the dodge button. When you hit it your character does a small hop in whatever direction you’re holding the analog stick in. Dodging can get you out of some bad situations when low on ammo as well as help you deal with crowd control. Many of the upgradeable skills in “Revelations 2” deal with dodging so learning to properly use it is only beneficial.

Both of the first episodes of “Revelations 2” take about thirty to forty minutes, maybe half of that if you choose to just run through everything. There’s not much to explore, the game is very linear. Despite that fact there are several sets of hidden collectables scattered about the two episodes. They’re not too hard to find, and outside of the small boost in post-level currency they give, there’s very little incentive to look for them. Most replay value for the game is offered in unlockable scenarios called Countdown and Invisible Enemy. Countdown mode gives the player a time limit in which they have to finish the level, with time bonuses scattered about every so often to help prevent the clock form hitting zero. It’s fun and rewards fast and skillful play, as you also get bonuses for taking out monsters efficiently. You’re going to be grinding end game points anyways to unlock skills so you might as well play a fun mode that rewards speed while doing it. Invisible Enemy is exactly what it sounds like, a mode where all the enemies are no longer visible.

The biggest draw for the game, and probably why it’s episodic, is Raid Mode. Raid Mode returns from the first “Revelations” with almost four times as many levels which unlock as more story episodes come out. Raid Mode is 100% combat, which means it is 100% of what makes “Revelations 2” fun. Missions in this mode last roughly five to ten minutes and serve to level up the player’s character so they can eventually try the harder difficulty ones. Finishing missions awards gold and EXP, the former used to buy new guns and “decrypt” gear obtain in missions while the latter serves to level your character up which unlocks skills for them as well more weapon slots. There are also two daily missions for Raid Mode that change from day-to-day that can help level up and farm gold more quickly. Daily missions are also one of the only ways to obtain items called life crystals, which let you revive if you die during a mission without having to restart. The only other way to obtain life crystals is to buy them through real money micro-transactions. It’s a low move on Capcom’s part, but in the time it took me to get through half the raid mode missions I never found myself needing to use one. Life crystals are not needed for the story mode, as that saves periodically through a checkpoint system. Raid mode does a good job of filling out the space between episodes, even if you binge play missions it’s still fun and rewarding to go back and replay them with a different character.

“Resident Evil: Revelations 2” is a pretty good game for its budget price range. Episodes can be purchased individually for about 7 dollars, or you can opt to drop 25 and buy the season pass which includes all 4 main episodes and two bonus ones that will be unlocked as they are released over the next few weeks. Despite being a mishmash of recent action game tropes, the pacing in “Revelations 2” feels great because the small quagmire of stealth mechanics, crafting systems, and partner based puzzles never outweighs the rush of taking down enemies. I still kind of wish those elements weren’t there though.