Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Episode 2

Written by Matt Mirkovich on 3/11/2015 for XONE  

Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. The first chapter of Resident Evil Revelations 2 was a little bit slow, with a good chunk of it spent on revealing the setting, the characters, and giving just a taste of the mystery that’s got Claire Redfield, Barry Burton, his daughter Moira, and the young Natalia trapped on an island. This first chapter came off as a little bit more than a shooting gallery to help you get your legs with the slightly looser and faster controls, the second chapter is a little bit more cerebral, but is it worth continuing the season for? I’d say definitely.

Chapter 2 starts off with Claire and Moira meeting up with other members of Terra Save, dumping them in to an abandoned village. But the respite is short lived as the Overseer continues to wreak havoc from her unknown location. Along the way they’ll encounter Natalia, who later joins Barry for his portion of the chapter, which has him following in Claire and Moira’s footsteps, encountering some of the Terra Save members they had previously left behind. With a cliffhanger ending, this game has us all set up to learn the who and the what, but not so much of the how, where, and why. I’ve been playing another survival horror game by an ex-Resident Evil alumni, and honestly I like how this game is moving along in comparison to this other triple-A title released last year.

If there is a place where it feels like corners are being cut, it’s got to be with these enemies. There’s two new bosses to fight in this chapter, but only two new types of enemies. One of which is just a series staple, zombified dogs. The other is a little bit more interesting, invisible enemies that only Natalia can see, although she only roughly sees their aura, which means that with Barry it’s kind of a guessing game as to where you need to aim if you’re playing solo. Playing multi-player though makes it a tad bit easier. Honestly playing this game with a friend is the best experience, even if it means someone has to be somewhat carried through the game.

I forgot to touch on this in the review of the first chapter, but the BP system allows you to improve your characters as you progress through the story. At the wrap of each chapter you’re graded on your performance and can dump the BP in to skills that improve each of the characters, like increasing the range that Natalia can sense enemies or reducing the amount of time it takes to use a green herb. This system is slightly similar to the character progression in Raid Mode, but the skills aren’t interchangeable between the two modes. Meanwhile, Raid Mode continues to be a ton of fun. The daily challenges get tougher and tougher as your characters level up, and the short missions make it easy to pop in and complete a few but feel like you’ve made significant progress. Especially if you happen to pick up a rare drop from the treasure chests.

Chapter 2 of Resident Evil Revelations 2 does a good job of pushing the story forward. There aren’t any radical gameplay changes and the additional enemies are fairly disappointing. But it’s still a good bit of fun and has a mystery that is now worth following through. So if you were on the fence after the first chapter, I’m here to tell you to keep going. And if you’re holding out for a full retail disc, then your patience will be well rewarded. But if you’ve got to play now, then go grab the digital download. We’ll see you next week.