Resident Evil: Revelations 2

[Lucina]

So after much deliberation, mostly due to mixed feelings about RE: Revelations, I finally caved in and pre-purchased Resident Evil: Revelations 2's season pass. I figured that the co-op experiences I've had with my friend, going through RE5 and RE6 for multiple runs, are still some of my fondest moments in gaming, and as such, warrants a purchase from Capcom out of my own gratitude for still keeping it around.

Episode 1 is supposed to drop in 12 hours. My friend's pretty busy right now, so I'll likely be by myself in a corner, twiddling my thumbs until she's freed everything up the next day.

Is anyone looking forward to Revelations 2? Cautiously optimistic? Maybe even indifferent about it?

 

[Zero]

I was really tempted to get this day one since I'm a big fan of RE in general and I thoroughly enjoyed Revelations 1. A few things are holding me back, though. The biggest factor is the fact that there will be a physical edition later, which is said to hold the most content. I really prefer physical over digital if it's available. Second issue is the atmosphere. From what I've seen, it's not as appealing to me as the settings in the first Revelations. I'm not a big fan of that saw-like people watching you on camera or gritty design. Third thing is the co-op. While RE5 and RE6 weren't among my favorite RE titles at all as far as single player campaign setting, music, story, etc., I was able to really enjoy them because of the local and online co-op. Well, 6 to a much lesser extent due to the gameplay not being as solid, but definitely 5. However, and perhaps I'm wrong about this, but isn't it true that in Revelations 2 co-op only Claire can shoot because Moira doesn't carry a gun? That's fine for me playing solo as Claire and Moira as my AI partner, since it seems a bit more survival horror-ish, but in local split-screen co-op that doesn't sound fun. And I know for certain that the person I usually co-op RE games with won't go for not being able to shoot zombies, which would stick me with playing as Moira. Oh, and from what I've watched, the dialog in the game is like... Yaiba levels of terrible.

Anyway, those are my reasons for waiting I suppose. I'll eventually get around to getting the game and probably playing it solo.

 

[ChronoRiskbreaker]

I hope this game will make us hope for the future of the franchise. I'm a solid RE fan since 1996. And I want to see it picks up momentum until it becomes a solid contender for GOTY. There is still light in the room full of blackness.

 

[Lucina]

I haven't started playing, as my friend's still busy lol. The general consensus seems to be that it's a decent game, though. I'm doing my best to avoid spoilers.

 

[Lucina]

So I've finally managed to play Revelations 2's first episode.

The first episode lasts approximately 2 hours for both Claire and Barry's campaigns, which I think is suitable for a single episode. Claire's campaign seems to be set in a certain time period with Barry's occurring 6 months later, so environments are recycled to an extent. The environments do their job for atmosphere, but I haven't been frightened of zombies or RE in years, and this game does nothing to change that.

I would suggest that you play the entirety of this game in split-screen coop. Having a partner who generally knows what to do will probably make your life easier, since I've heard complaints about the tedium of having to switch from Claire/Barry to Moira/Natalia for relatively simple things. If you typically play games on normal difficulty, I'm compelled to say that you'd probably enjoy the hardest one more. The game feels too easy as is, and this is coming from a player who has finished both RE5 and 6 on the hardest difficulties.

The first episode offers some classic RE exploration and puzzles, but the maps are relatively small and simple in hindsight. I do not know whether this will change in the future, but I feel offering zones to explore for each episode might be a step down from locales like RE1's mansion or Revelations' ship.

Bottom line: I liked it. It's a neat game designed around coop and has the potential to be up there with RE5 in that respect. You could say that coop feels a little bit like playing the Tank/DPS and Support in MMOs (or Leon with an actually not stupid Ashley), which is already outright different from RE5 but good in its own way. Episode 1 is a cheap entry barrier and also quite representative of what the game has to offer. If you're still on the fence about the season pass, then Episode 1 should let you gauge whether it's worth it or not.

My university semester is starting next week so I might not be able to play Episode 2 right away. If people are willing to listen, I'll be posting my thoughts about it some time later.