Resident Evil 4 has a lot to answer for. It’s undoubtedly one of the best games of all-time in its own right. However, whilst it has been almost solely responsible for the rise of the third-person shooter, bringing with it a raft of some of the best games the last generation had to offer, it has perversely become a millstone around the neck of its publisher, Capcom. Every game they have released in the Resident Evil series since has been judged – unfairly or not – against it, and the weight of pressure has seen the series stumble from the adequate (Resident Evil 5) to the mediocre (Resident Evil 6) to the borderline offensively bad (Raccoon City). To add insult to injury, they’ve seen RE4’s creative driving force, Shinji Mikami, take his talents to Bethesda Softworks and produce the best Resident Evil game in years with The Evil Within. The one shining light for the franchise in recent years has come in the form of a spin-off series that made its debut on the 3DS of all places – Revelations. A bite-size take on the series, Revelations was such a pleasant surprise – from a critical and commercial standpoint – that it eventually made its way to console and spawned a sequel. This sequel, in fact – Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Xbox and Playstation platforms), which takes the bite-size nature of the first game and reduces it down even further into four smaller episodes (six including the extra episodes). The micro cuisine to the first game’s nouvelle cuisine, if you will. Impressively, it all works extremely well. Through some creative use of flashbacks and flashforwards, Revelations 2 tells an intriguing, but cohesive story, which each episode succinctly recaps in the form of a TV-style “previously on” opening segment. The TV-like feel of the production is furthered by the story being viewed from different characters’ perspectives. This helps to mix things up and keep you on your toes. The only downside of the episodic nature of Revelations 2 comes in the form of the game’s two possible endings. Whilst this encourages replayability, it feels a little forced, as the decision that determines which ending you get comes midway through an episode that isn’t the last one, meaning you face at least a couple of hours of replay to see the other ending, should you be unhappy with the one you got (alternatively, view the other ending on YouTube, if that kind of thing doesn’t bother you). In terms of gameplay, Revelations 2 is extremely solid, and feels different to previous Resi titles by introducing playable characters who aren’t your typical powerful soldier types, forcing you to approach things a little differently than you normally would. You can be as proficient at headshotting enemies as you like. It won’t do you any good here. Other aspects of Revelations 2’s gameplay will feel very familiar to seasoned Resi players. In addition to some solid shooting (for those characters that can wield guns), the usual mix of exploration and simple puzzle solving will make those players feel right at home. Aesthetically, Revelations 2 is something of a mixed bag. Enemy design is reasonably varied, if a little uninspired – although, that’s possibly as a result of the scope and budget of the title, to be fair. Similarly, the game has a nice variety of locations and some really nice lighting effects to illuminate those locations. However, as the trade-off to this, textures are a little muddy at times and the animation of the characters is a little stunted and jittery at times. Carrying on the theme of inconsistency, this also applies to the game’s sound design. The soundtrack is nice enough but fairly unmemorable, and sound effects are functional without being outstanding. The voice acting, on the other hand is generally excellent. Of course, how you feel about this is down to how you feel about the series as a whole. If you can’t listen to original Resident Evil’s voice acting without cringing, then you’re going to love this. It’s sharp and matches the tone of the game. Dialogue flows pretty well, and it even throws in the occasional little bit of humour. However, if you’re a fan of the original’s camp demeanour, then this may leave you could for the very reasons I’ve just stated. This review is based on the Xbox One version of the game.
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