
Resident Evil: Revelations faced a tough test when we reviewed it on the PlayStation 3 a couple of years ago. At the time of its release in May 2013, this author had already played a meaty chunk of The Last of Us, and Jill Valentine's oceanic romp failed to really live up. In hindsight, it was perhaps a little unfair to expect Naughty Dog levels of excellence from what was, at the end of the day, a Nintendo 3DS port, but its timing did it no favours at all.
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 arrives in a much more favourable window, then, with its parent property having earned a jolt of goodwill earlier in the year due to the excellent Resident Evil HD Remaster, and with a budget price point attached. While the original adopted an episodic format – presumably due to its handheld origins – each instalment came bundled on the disc. This time, however, it's splitting things up properly.

There'll be a total of four episodes, with the first available this week as part of your region's PlayStation Store update. We'll be providing a full review for the first outing in the fullness of time, but with the game available now in North America, we figured that you'd probably appreciate some first impressions from the release. And the good news is that the title's actually surprisingly enjoyable.
You'll play as four characters throughout the entire campaign, but we'll be focusing on Claire Redfield and Moira Burton for this particular report. Fan favourite Barry Burton and newcomer Natalia Korda do feature in the debut episode, too, but we'll have more on them in our full review. For now, know that the title adopts the same co-op structure originally established in Resident Evil 5. And yes, you can play with a pal.

It's pretty great alone, though, as you can switch between characters on the fly. Claire Redfield, as you'd expect, is the experienced warrior, and comes armed with a combat knife, shotgun, and pistol. All of these armaments can be upgraded using combat packs that you'll find throughout the world, and you can shape them to your will by employing construction benches dotted around the map; there's already the basis of a great upgrade system here.
Moira, meanwhile, refuses to use firearms, so her main abilities centre on her flashlight. What's neat about this is that when you're controlling Claire, she'll still pivot her torch depending on where you point the camera, which is such a subtle thing, but it's brilliantly implemented. Of course, if you want to control her yourself, you can push the triangle button, and use the flashlight to stun enemies or reveal objects hidden in the world.
Many of these items will earn you BP, which can then be spent on various upgrades in a skill tree. Some of these are outrageously expensive, so it's clear that the release has been designed with replays in mind. And that's furthered by the fact that each episode comes with multiple mini-challenges for you to complete, which award you with even more BP. The early signs hint at an excellent reward loop.

The combat is much as you'd expect: aim for the head, and try to avoid getting grabbed. One thing that's neat, though, is that you can use the two characters in tandem: stun your foes with Moira's flashlight, and then finish them off with a few bullets as Claire. It's still not perfect, but it's probably the best team dynamic that Capcom's crafted in a Resident Evil yet, and it comes into its own when you assign the characters two different tasks at once.
Unfortunately, the release is far from a looker. The character models are unusual – what's with the cast's constantly changing facial features? – and the environments are bland. It does run at 60 frames-per-second on the PS4, and looks silky smooth in motion as a result – but it's obvious that this has been produced on a threadbare budget, and worse still, ported from the technologically inferior PS3.

Still, there are positive signs here. Labyrinth-like levels mask the underlying linearity, and while it's far from scary, we actually quite like the camp horror vibe that the developer's got going on. There are even self-referential jabs, which underline the tone that the studio's going for. It won't be to everyone's tastes, but the gags got a grin out of us. Of course, the voice acting is laughably bad to boot.
With a budget price attached, we actually reckon that this could end up being a surprise success. It's strange to see Capcom experimenting so freely with what has fast become its flagship franchise, but while this clearly isn't ever going to fill the role of a fully fledged next-gen sequel, its opening hours have enough silly survival horror appeal to make it worth a look. We'll bring you a full review of the first episode later in the week.
Have you had a chance to sink your teeth into Resident Evil: Revelations 2 yet, or are you turning your nose up at this like a nasty smell? Deal with the undead in the comments section below.
Comments 16
eh im still planning on getting it.. althogh from what iv seen its nothing like Revilations 1.
@Volmun What were the defining characteristics of Revelations 1, though? That game was quite vanilla from what I remember. I actually think that this one has got a little more going on with the dual character dynamic.
I liked it quite a bit, and love the improved Raid Mode,.
It runs great minus some pretty open areas, but at least Raid Mode feela super amooth and with a locked 60fps
So far so good, very good albeot short first episode, but it costs about 25 dollars and not counting raid im seeing about an 8 hour long campaing
Hopefully Raid mode will be more fun then RE:R's was. I thought it was a step in the right direction, but far too cut-and-paste from the campaign.
@get2sammyb idk really Charm? I supose but from what iv seen (and iv not been folowing it too closely ) Rev2 looks like a lot more generic Modern RE game again il be getting it still just as of yet hasnt pulled me into it as mutch as 1 did.. tbh thinking about it with 1 I think it was the fact it was so impreciv for a hand held game Shame thay removed close to all the Puzzles in the "HD" remake
@get2sammyb
Does the game have the horror vibe of the OG games or is it more on the action horror side of things.
Also how long was the first episoide?
@shingi_70 about 2 hours but i missed many,many things so ill say about double for completion
so how bad are the microtransactions?
I can get past the graphics and this probably wouldn't have been top of the line anyway but it's still a game that makes me say 'f*** the PS3 and 360.' It's pretty clear it was held back. Like I said, I wouldn't have expected miracles if it was PS4/Xbox One/PC but it would've looked better.
@shingi_70 It's got a few jump scares, but it's not really 'horror' at all in my opinion - definitely on the action end of things.
It does have some survival, on higher dificulties Claire scenarios you will run out of bullets.
@GraveLordXD i guess it should, so yes, about 8 hours in a normal non-100% run i think it will be
But then theres Raid Mode which ive been playing non stop
I'm currently slogging through RE6 in co-op so I'll be giving Rev2 a pass until much later after its physical release. I just know the story is going to mean absolutely nothing to me and RE mechanics tend to get boring for me quickly. Don't want to overload myself
@GraveLordXD @Gamer83 Budget tittle made bythe side team that made Revelations 1, which was also another budget tittle
And its running at 1080p/60fps, theres so much you can ask from the PS4 to being with
Can't wait to play this but i have to finish the Remaster first.
Raid mode is better than the campaign, I reckon for a budget title this game beats most AAA titles i've played recentley.
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