Resident Evil: Revelations 2 for PC/PS3/PS4/360/Xbone
Jun 7, 2015 10:14:43 GMT -5
Post by Garamoth on Jun 7, 2015 10:14:43 GMT -5
Oh hi there, I just woke up from my slumber to post a review for Revelations 2 I wrote on a whim. There ya go, have fun.
***
Resident Evil Revelations 2 is both a retread and a budget title, but despite that it’s still pretty good. Even if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel and has quite a few flaws, I still like it.
You see, I have a soft spot for Resident Evil. Ever since RE4, the series is almost the sole purveyor of its own sub-genre : gun-fu survival horror. Shooting monsters in the face and then running up to them to give them a roundhouse kick NEVER gets old. But it’s also a tactical choice. It looks cool and saves up ammo, but it’s a health risk. Should you save up on ammo by using up your herbs instead? But then the usual bullet sponge boss eats up most of your ammo, so it’s back to kung fu moves. Then there’s the great hierarchy of ammo: handgun rounds for everyday tasks, shotgun for crowds, magnum rounds for really special occasions, etc. It’s all a beautiful ecosystem. Playing Revelations 2 on the hardest available mode at the start delivers just that mix of opportunity and scarcity. In that sense, it’s definitely a success.
Say what you will about RE6, it upped the gun-fu quotient: dashes, slides, evades, counterattacks and the sometimes surprisingly useful ability to throw yourself at the ground and pull out your gun. Revelations 2 stays closer to the first Revelations, though: a lot of the fancy footwork is gone and monsters can only be stunned by shots to the head... and it doesn’t work all the time. Nevertheless, enemies are still both more agile and more vulnerable than the first Revelations’ fat sacks of slime: running, swinging uncontrollably and throwing themselves at you.
The main gimmick here is that Claire and her sidekick Moira explore areas once, while Barry and Natalia explore parts of the same area months later. Both face different types of enemies and actions in one half can affect the other (sometimes opening a new route), which is pretty interesting. Sidekick characters are back and can’t use guns, but mercifully they’re almost invincible. Co-op is split-screen only, and I haven’t tried it. Invisible items are back from the first Revelations, because who doesn’t like scouring every single area for tiny glints to get their items? On the other hand, take note: there’s barely a whiff of QTEs in this game. Rejoice, Capcom learned its lesson!
Revelations 2 has another thing going for it: it has one of the best stories in the series. Ok that’s not saying much for a series that oscillates between crappy camp and drooling imbecility, but credit has to be given where it is due, you know? The bad guy’s plan is the usual harebrained scheme where the solution to an issue is, of course, unleashing a bunch of monsters. On the other hand, there is a payoff to that near the end, where the bad guy undergoes some character development and a change of heart (of sorts). Seriously, when does that ever happen? Revelations 2 also has the theme of parenthood going for it. Barry’s in it to save his daughter Moira, but things develop a bit beyond that. Some people also complained that Moira lets loose a constant stream of swears, some quite creative... (what’s a moist barrel of fucks?). I don’t mind it, really, it gives some nuance to Barry’s brat. On the other hand, Burton tries not to swear in front of the very young Natalia, but lets one slip by when he learns his daughter’s fate. It might not be much, but for a series that considers “Your right hand comes off?” the height of wit, that’s not too bad. For her part, Claire just shuts up, kicks butt AND fills her required returning main character quota (which she hasn’t filled in 15 years, time flies!).
Raid mode is back from the first Revelations as the main side game. While The Mercenaries’ (the other side game) emphasis on score and combos can get annoying, it’s athletic, hectic fun that requires lots of skill. Raid mode is, simply put, a grind. Play the same levels again and again and again to get mods and a higher-level version of the gun you already have. Gotta get those numbers up! It’s also very easy: the first hours of the mode offer so little resistance it’s almost pathetic. I’m sure it gets harder later on, but by then... meh. Then again, if you don’t mind the grind, you might as well grind by kicking enemies in the face rather than pressing x in a RPG menu, I guess. It’s also worth pointing out that the “menu” in Raid mode is interacted with by moving your character around in an anteroom, which is a very nice touch.
Might as well mention the usual stuff before finishing up: graphics are decent but nothing special, especially when compared with Resident Evils 5 and 6. The music and sound work are very solid, however. The game also has all the extras, new game pluses, unlockable modes and special weapons you’ll need to occupy yourself for a while. I guess that when a big company does a game “on a budget”, the result can still be impressive.
*BUT WAIT* By the end of my playthrough on PS4, I suffered a bug that made me lose some items which will never, ever come back, even on a new playthrough. There’s also an issue with connectivity that prevents access to Raid mode special events to many players. Those are some pretty damn big bugs. The developers are supposedly working on a patch right now, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. ***EDIT: In case anyone still cares about this, they did solve all the above bugs. So there.***
***
Resident Evil Revelations 2 is both a retread and a budget title, but despite that it’s still pretty good. Even if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel and has quite a few flaws, I still like it.
You see, I have a soft spot for Resident Evil. Ever since RE4, the series is almost the sole purveyor of its own sub-genre : gun-fu survival horror. Shooting monsters in the face and then running up to them to give them a roundhouse kick NEVER gets old. But it’s also a tactical choice. It looks cool and saves up ammo, but it’s a health risk. Should you save up on ammo by using up your herbs instead? But then the usual bullet sponge boss eats up most of your ammo, so it’s back to kung fu moves. Then there’s the great hierarchy of ammo: handgun rounds for everyday tasks, shotgun for crowds, magnum rounds for really special occasions, etc. It’s all a beautiful ecosystem. Playing Revelations 2 on the hardest available mode at the start delivers just that mix of opportunity and scarcity. In that sense, it’s definitely a success.
Say what you will about RE6, it upped the gun-fu quotient: dashes, slides, evades, counterattacks and the sometimes surprisingly useful ability to throw yourself at the ground and pull out your gun. Revelations 2 stays closer to the first Revelations, though: a lot of the fancy footwork is gone and monsters can only be stunned by shots to the head... and it doesn’t work all the time. Nevertheless, enemies are still both more agile and more vulnerable than the first Revelations’ fat sacks of slime: running, swinging uncontrollably and throwing themselves at you.
The main gimmick here is that Claire and her sidekick Moira explore areas once, while Barry and Natalia explore parts of the same area months later. Both face different types of enemies and actions in one half can affect the other (sometimes opening a new route), which is pretty interesting. Sidekick characters are back and can’t use guns, but mercifully they’re almost invincible. Co-op is split-screen only, and I haven’t tried it. Invisible items are back from the first Revelations, because who doesn’t like scouring every single area for tiny glints to get their items? On the other hand, take note: there’s barely a whiff of QTEs in this game. Rejoice, Capcom learned its lesson!
Revelations 2 has another thing going for it: it has one of the best stories in the series. Ok that’s not saying much for a series that oscillates between crappy camp and drooling imbecility, but credit has to be given where it is due, you know? The bad guy’s plan is the usual harebrained scheme where the solution to an issue is, of course, unleashing a bunch of monsters. On the other hand, there is a payoff to that near the end, where the bad guy undergoes some character development and a change of heart (of sorts). Seriously, when does that ever happen? Revelations 2 also has the theme of parenthood going for it. Barry’s in it to save his daughter Moira, but things develop a bit beyond that. Some people also complained that Moira lets loose a constant stream of swears, some quite creative... (what’s a moist barrel of fucks?). I don’t mind it, really, it gives some nuance to Barry’s brat. On the other hand, Burton tries not to swear in front of the very young Natalia, but lets one slip by when he learns his daughter’s fate. It might not be much, but for a series that considers “Your right hand comes off?” the height of wit, that’s not too bad. For her part, Claire just shuts up, kicks butt AND fills her required returning main character quota (which she hasn’t filled in 15 years, time flies!).
Raid mode is back from the first Revelations as the main side game. While The Mercenaries’ (the other side game) emphasis on score and combos can get annoying, it’s athletic, hectic fun that requires lots of skill. Raid mode is, simply put, a grind. Play the same levels again and again and again to get mods and a higher-level version of the gun you already have. Gotta get those numbers up! It’s also very easy: the first hours of the mode offer so little resistance it’s almost pathetic. I’m sure it gets harder later on, but by then... meh. Then again, if you don’t mind the grind, you might as well grind by kicking enemies in the face rather than pressing x in a RPG menu, I guess. It’s also worth pointing out that the “menu” in Raid mode is interacted with by moving your character around in an anteroom, which is a very nice touch.
Might as well mention the usual stuff before finishing up: graphics are decent but nothing special, especially when compared with Resident Evils 5 and 6. The music and sound work are very solid, however. The game also has all the extras, new game pluses, unlockable modes and special weapons you’ll need to occupy yourself for a while. I guess that when a big company does a game “on a budget”, the result can still be impressive.
*BUT WAIT* By the end of my playthrough on PS4, I suffered a bug that made me lose some items which will never, ever come back, even on a new playthrough. There’s also an issue with connectivity that prevents access to Raid mode special events to many players. Those are some pretty damn big bugs. The developers are supposedly working on a patch right now, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. ***EDIT: In case anyone still cares about this, they did solve all the above bugs. So there.***