Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Review

I played Resident Evil Revelations 2 twice over the years, the first time I recall liking it, the 2nd time I liked it less but now on a 3rd playthrough, Rev 2 might actually be one of my favorite games in the series. I played this for a 3rd time at all because Lambhoot made a video praising Rev 2 and called it the "Resident Evil game they keep remaking". He showered the game with praise and also said it was better than the recent Resident Evil 4 remake which is a game I really like. I also liked that he actually enjoys action RE besides RE4 so I decided to play Rev 2 a 3rd time.

First impressions were admittedly awful especially playing Episode 1 and 2 with Claire. I was constantly low on ammo and at times any at all to out enemies at all, the stealth hardly if ever worked properly, the game just overwhelmed me with numerous enemies waves while being underpowered for almost every encounter. The game would introduce stuff like gunk and bleeding that would cover up the screen adding extra steps to getting hit by enemies, and worst of all the dodge command needed to be upgraded in order to be anywhere close to be useful. I was getting frustrated and annoyed. The episode 2 mini boss fight that bookended Claire's section was enough to drive me into a rage with how you needed to deal with a mini boss, while enemies are attacking very little ammo was given.

What carried Episode 1 and 2 were the Barry Burton sections since stealth actually worked as intended, I actually had enough ammo to take on the enemy waves and I loved how it homaged Resident Evil 2 1998 where you would revisit previous levels you visited as Claire but now played out in a different way when you played as Barry and Natalia. On top of that, Barry's enemies were more interesting since with Revenants you need to worry about damaging them in the body and then have their weak spot pop and then you can kill it.

Gasps are an enemy that is going to be divisive among people since they can kill you with a single hit on full health but I found these sections to be tense I would often have to really be careful on where my shots would land while they are slowly getting close, and to counter act the one hit kill, these enemies go down in a few hits so it felt balanced to me.

Then Episode 3 happened, and the game starts consistently getting good. The Claire section in Episode 3 has an interesting enough balance of traps and enemies to keep you on your toes and my personal favorite design, the zombies you kill have a chance of turning into exploding monsters so I always had to watch out, the ammo distrubution started to get more consistent as Claire too. It makes fighting the Executioners and Vuclanbubblers more tolerable. The only big issue with the Claire section is that the Neil Fisher boss is a damage sponge and once you figure to use Moria's flashlight during the fight, he isn't so much challenging as does take forever to go down.

Then as Barry in Episode 3, I discovered you can just have bandages and disinfects be carried by your partner making this part of the aspect of the game more tolerable.

Slowly more aspects of Rev 2 I started to appreciate. Like it had the most refined movement in action RE. You can move while shooting, no tank controls of RE 2005, knife is a dedicated button, the inventory isn't awful like RE5 and 6, you have an actual dodge command that is useful when upgraded. My only big gripe is that killing enemies while they are down requires your partner instead of something the character with a gun can use.

Barry's section, I also like as down time where you fight zombies that are easy but it's more about finding where to go and solving puzzles to get Natalia across like the bridge and sewer sections.

A massive part of me was losing his mind towards the RE1 mansion homage towards the end of the game. While this mansion isn't as complex as the Spencer Mansion, it was a nice way to change up the game and a decent attempt at fan service since you are playing as Barry. The part where you had to navigate a poisonous gas mine was decent enough since you had to be careful on how long you can explore the level before you slowly reach a game over state, it helps counteract the fact that you lots upon lots of ammo in this part. I know I complained about a lack of ammo but later parts of the game showers you with it.

One major gripe I have with the game is that around Episode 4, the game starts to get a lot easier, the only geniunely challenging part is when there is collapsing building as Claire and you have to deal with gasps without Natalia. There were many cheap deaths since I would run into them since the level is playing out like a scripted set piece.

Alex Wesker's final boss is a pushover since I was rolling in ammo and herbs by that point. The sniping section was decent if one note.

Overall, Rev 2 is a really good game and gets consistently good once Episode 1 and 2 as Claire is over. This was a well made action RE game.