Resident Evil: Revelations 2

Not bad but not particularly great either. The first episode starts off pretty well but as the game goes on you kind of just realize everything seen here is done better in other similar games, notably even compared to Revelations.

It's always on sale these days anyway so you can scoop it up pretty cheap, but honestly I'd only consider picking it up for the Raid Mode stuff and strong-arming someone to playing through it with you but even then it's an overall package kind of handled better in the first game released all the way back on the 3DS with its tiny-ass screen.

Revelations 2 was a bit of a disappointment compared to the previous game, although it took me a long time to finally beat this. I checked it out at my library over 2 years ago and ended up playing on the hardest difficulty and getting stuck on a tough enemy gauntlet I couldn't beat then I eventually put it on the back burner and couldn't get hold of it since other people kept checking it out whenever I felt some interest in replaying it. I finally got it and lowered the difficulty to complete the game.

Revelations 2 actually starts off decent enough and the first 2 chapters aren't half bad, even if they still aren't anywhere as good as the first Revelations. But the game really has some glaring flaws that are present throughout and stand out even more in the last 2 chapters. The main issue is the game is broken into chapters, each chapter you play as both Barry and Claire and go to the same areas as each character, only they take place in different time periods. At the end of the chapter you get points and can spend them to upgrade your character, similar to how the upgrade system in RE5 worked. I honestly did not like the episode system, Resident Evil is a very atmospheric game and Revelations tried to go back to the survival-horror roots, but breaking the game up into episodes like this makes it feel more like a game and feels a bit too arcady with the points and accomplishments for performing different feats.

The other thing I hated about this was the partner constantly with you. For Claire you had Barry's daughter, Moira, as a partner, and with Barry you have a little girl named Natalia that you find on the island. I just felt having a partner with you cheapened the atmosphere and I never really felt in danger. Not to mention your partner is invincible and can't be killed, sure they can't carry weapons, but you can just take advantage of their invincibility and spam melee attacks at enemies. The first game occasionally gave you a partner too, but it was only on rare occasions.

The gameplay is pretty bland too, the zombies and regular enemies feel generic and the gun upgrade system is still pretty dull and feels too limited, it feels like a huge step down from the main RE games. The story is just bad, the first revelations didn't have a good story either but it made sense and didn't feel too out of place. This just feels like some pointless side story, and its a shame because they could have actually given Barry some development since this is the only game besides the first one that he appears as a major character and Moira could have been a cool character too, but she just comes off way too annoying and is your typical generic edgy teenager who hates her life and swears all the time. Claire is back but Capcom really did a disservice by having her voiced by someone other than Alyson Court, especially since Court voiced her in every single game and movie from the very beginning, I know people will say Capcom has constantly changed voice actors for every other character, I mean have Chris or Jill ever even had the same voice actor for more than 2 games, but Court was part of the reason Claire was a fan favorite character and without Court, Claire just doesn't feel right. And Natalia really is just used to give Barry a partner and she's really just used as a plot device. And the villain in this is even worse than the villain of the first game, Alex Wesker is just so forgettable and lame, and it brings back one of the dumbest ideas from RE5, the Wesker children just cheapen the whole mystery and interest of the original Wesker we all love.

The story of this game just is bland and forgettable, its not even in the so good its bad category like many Resident Evil games, the new characters introduced in this game just don't have that many redeeming qualities and even Barry felt like a bit of a walking parody in this game, and I felt he was only included to shut the fans up who have probably been asking Capcom to bring back Barry for 15+ years.

Now Revelations 2 isn't horrible, like I said, the first 2 chapters where you are in the prison and town aren't too bad, and I found it did have elements of horror, I found points where I would run low on ammo and had to sneak around or use my partner to save me, and it does bring back zombies, even if they are kind of weak and lame in this. Plus it has extra modes, Raid mode is not bad and can add tons of hours if you are into the wave hordes of enemies and reminds me of the mercenary modes of the previous games. It does offer 2 extra chapters, one where you play Moira and one with Natalia but these modes really don't add anything and are kind of lame, with Moira you have to go to different areas and survive enemy hordes with an old man for a partner, and as Natalia you have to sneak through different areas and not get detected. Really the main extra mode is Raid, but quite honestly I thought Raid mode was better in the first game. Revelations 2 is just generic, bland, and doesn't have enough horror or atmosphere, the enemies aren't interesting, the story isn't that good, the characters don't add anything, the extra modes aren't that great, the way the game is broken into chapters is kind of lame and takes way from the game, and the fact that you go back to the same areas during the second half of the chapter with Barry really drag the game out and make it feel rushed and less polished than the first. Sure the first Revelations had problems mainly issues with backtracking, pacing, and some annoying mechanics, but it was a competent game and held its own, and actually had decent atmosphere, this game is only good for the first 2 chapters, and even those 2 chapters aren't that great, they are just competent enough. I really wanted to like this, and being a huge Resident Evil fan I can forgive some of the flaws, but there are too many here, and I feel Revelations may now be a dead franchise, especially since they had to do the stupid episodic release with this one instead of crafting a single story in one game.

Some minor movement additions aside, Revelations 2 trades the self-made ingenuity of the first for a number of influences so obvious the game loses all sense of identity. Claire's levels are decent extensions of the Rev 1 template in an environment very close to the Saw games, but Barry's levels are just a way, way worse The Last Of Us, with no attention to making its mechanics work beyond the fact that they featured in TLOU. Good thing there's more of the latter than the former! Disappointing.