Resident Evil Revelations 2 dropped this week. The game is an episodic quest of bioweapon killing antics starring that oh so whacky Resident Evil cast. This is the follow up to 2012’s Resident Evil Revelations, which was originally released on the 3DS. Capcom’s desire for a wider audience caused the sequel to drop on all major platforms yesterday, so I went ahead and took the plunge into the first episode of this weekly four part series.
For those not in the know Revelations, in addition to its episodic format, also intends to guide the series back to its survival horror, ammo preserving, puzzle solving roots. Whereas the last Revelations title put you in the shoes of Jill Valentine, this sequel stars Resident Evil alumnae Claire Redfield and series newcomer Moira Burton.
Claire was last properly seen in Resident Evil: Code Veronica, which was released 15 years ago (if you played it while it was brand new like I did, take a minute to feel the age sink in). Revelations 2 draws parallels to Code Veronica almost immediately, as our star walks the corridors of an office building under siege by armed men and military helicopters, in a conflict that sees her end up in a bioweapon infested prison. However that’s where the parallel ends, as this older, wiser, corporate executive Claire reacts very differently to the young biker that John Woo’d her way out of her previous perilous predicaments. Claire puts her arms up in surrender, tries to reason with her attackers, all while making a failed attempt to protect her young charge Moira.
Typically beloved characters of the 90s and early 2000s elicit a groan when we see they’ve been “modernized.” With Other M, we were embarrassed by glorified babysitter Samus Aran. While in Tomb Raider, the being baby-sat Lara Croft eventually managed to garner mostly positive reactions after a sketchy PR campaign that made her seem weak. While Claire may not be the badass action heroine we once knew, I am happy to report Capcom does a good overall job with her portrayal, yes they’ve toned down her superhuman ability, but she feels mature and seasoned, believable and realistic, she has the attitude of “Oh, this shit again”, offering the best combination of a humanized individual and a veteran of an apocalypse.
Claire is now a big important, brief case carryin’, button down shirt wearin’, Starbucks sippin’ type at a group called Terra Save (think the Red Cross of the bio-terror impacted world). Moira is starting her first day with the company, despite her daddy Barry understandably trying to warn his baby girl that diving head first into monster infested warzones might be a bit of a bad idea. Claire doesn’t even get five minutes to show Moira to the coffee maker before their party is crashed by nameless terrorists and they wake up in an abandoned prison presented with a “Great Escape” type scenario. A mysterious figure urges their escape via the use of security cameras, getting delight out of seeing the fear levels reflected off of the mood bracelets the two ladies wake up equipped with.
Now Resident Evil is an odd series in which you make concessions for it. For one, so many people have helmed both the games and its expanded universe, you have no choice but to ready yourself for whatever ride the current director wants to take you on. Second, you kind of have to hold your breath and wait to see if the voice acting is just kinda of bad or completely cringe worthy. Resident Evil is a series where you have to take pause and ask yourself “Does this particular title work for what it tries to do?”
Well as far as the acting goes, it’s just kinda bad, which is the best you can seem to ask for. As for what it sets out to do, my experiences with the title were positive overall. It definitely improves upon what the first Revelations and proves itself a worthy successor.
Really it’s one of the more atmospheric survival horrors I’ve seen in recent times. Just enough blood and gore to illicit a visceral response, not over the top as it was in say, Evil Within, and not as low key as Telltale’s The Walking Dead. It was just enough to make me uneasy, with environments that implied a lot of fucked up shit was going on behind these prison walls. I can happily say I was on edge for most of my journey with Claire and Moira, a feat that’s exceedingly difficult to pull off as we’re further inoculated to the tricks of survival horror. It also had plenty of the jump scares the Resident Evil series is known for, and they were the most effective I’ve seen them in several iterations of the game.
There’s also a ton of bizarre Kafka references in the game. While I can’t say the plot was particularly Kafka-esque, except for maybe the fact the whole affair seems to be set up to psychologically terrify Claire and co, it is a reference to an author I’m not used to seeing in this genre, where Lovecraft, King and Poe are usually the defacto go-tos for this brand of game.
It’s not exactly the most graphically tight Resident Evil. Even by last gen standards they’re kind of bland. However similar to other low budget episodic titles, the graphics do work for what we’re presented, they’re not so ugly or so low poly count that you can’t lose yourself in the game’s world. The cutscenes however are well done, while Claire and Moira are also nice and expressive, which helps make up some of the ground lost to less than stellar voice acting.
The controls, as in Revelations, are fairly simple. The mechanics do feel a bit tighter, it’s still not a very in-depth combat experience though I have to give some props to the improved dodge mechanic. Action keeps going even while you’re in the item menu, so there’s not a lot of time to pause and think. Several button prompts will pop as you play, to train you in each action each character can perform. Claire is momma bear with her knife and pistol, knowing it takes a bit of lead and steel to survive. Moira as our civilian character and resident hippie is only armed with her trusty flashlight to shine light on objects and puzzles, and tools such as the crowbar to claw your way through locked doors. There’s also another dynamic duo introduced later in the game, one character armed with a ton of military training and his young ward with the ability to spider-sense zombies. The two pairs were designed to compliment each other, and while the natural reaction is to keep the more armed of the two on the front lines, The other’s ability to sniff out prizes or stun enemies meant constantly bouncing between them.
The enemies are surprisingly intense. Yes for the most part, they are the malformed humanoid entities we’ve been forced to get used to in the recent spate of survival horror. But their deformities are beyond bizarre, like someone fired giant staples and chicken wire into their bodies. Their actions and movements can also overwhelm, fast. They move with a terrifying human speed, can leap, climb ladders, or even pull you off a ledge and snatch you through a window. The game never lets you get too comfortable, a new weapon that seems to give you the upper hand usually means even stronger beasties are right around the corner.
You need to figure out when to fight and when to run. Sneaking to the best of your ability, or sprinting to the best of your ability, means the difference between life and death. It’s one of those titles where healing items and bullets are plentiful in the beginning, lulling you into a false sense of safety, but mismanage it and you’ll be woefully unprepared for the chapter’s crescendos. It truly teaches you to pace yourself, but also keeps your adrenaline flowing.
A couple of other things to keep in mind. The game has a few tongue-in-cheek moments, such as Claire stating “I almost became a Claire sandwich” and an achievement for killing enemies with your blade called “Knifin’ Around.” You get a skill tree in the main campaign to boost the effectiveness of attacks, healing, AI control etc. There are a couple of nice throwbacks to the earlier series, including the actions of one set of protagonists having an impact on the environments the second set of heroes explores (anyone who played Resident Evil 2 may be familiar with this.) There’s the improved Raid Mode, the Revelations’ version of Mercenaries, taking its cues from Action RPGs that allow you to kill tons of enemies and level up characters. There are also microtransactions in regards to the Raid Mode, including an icky “pay to play” model if your character should die, however I never found them too intrusive, and thankfully you don’t have to pay a cent extra to enjoy the main campaign.
What this game is not is the arcade style shooter the previous Resident Evil’s, such as 5, 6 and Operation Raccoon City have been. Raid Mode may be run and gun, but the main campaign certainly can’t be charged through guns-a-blazin’. The puzzles aren’t quite as intensive as the old era of Resident Evil games, getting a half dozen chess pieces or strange medallions to advance, but it does require a little bit of thought, making mental notes of door placement and enemy placement as you loop back around through areas to try and advance.
There’s something classic about this game, like a well made deep dish pizza, a great little throwback to the early days of Resident Evil. The episodic format and pricing are a bit eyebrow raising to some, and while I’m not here to defend Capcom’s release scheme I will say for me the price felt right, and I certainly felt I got a full, satisfying experience from episode 1. PC gamers should beware as players are reporting low framerate issues (ran like a dream on the PS4) and the co-op has been extracted. Overall this is shaping up to be one of my more preferred Resident Evil jaunts, I can’t say it’s going to etch out a special place in my heart, but it’s an overall solid horror experience that’s so far been worthy of my time.
