Game:

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 1:18:15

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468

I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.

It's much more approachable than the first Revelations, far more intuitive, and being built for PC and consoles from the start does wonders for the visuals.

That said, the episodic format changes so much about the game, from the way I play it to the way the story is told. The earlier games are more like jigsaw puzzles. You're given a box filled with pieces, and your job is to figure out how they fit. The newer games are more like maze puzzles. You're given a pen, and are told drag it along a winding path until you find your way out. To me, the first is much more involved, and in turn more rewarding to play through.

That doesn't mean an episodic structure is without its own merits; it allows developers to apply a much stronger emphasis on a coherent plot--something that (let's face it) Resident Evil has severely lacked since day one--and focus heavily on intelligent level design. My problem with Rev 2 so far is that the levels lack the sort of detail that you would expect from an isolated linear chunk of a game that's comprised entirely of isolated linear chunks. It feels as if, like its predecessor, it was developed for handhelds, resulting in lifeless environments that are mostly forgettable.

I began this paragraph with the intention of talking about the checkpoint system and how it takes away from the fear factor that traditionally comes from a survival horror game, but I quickly realized that it would be inappropriate. This isn't a traditional survival horror game, nor is it meant to be, I don't think. It's meant to be a more or less challenging action game with horror elements strewn throughout--and perhaps most importantly, it's meant to tell a story. Whether or not that story is worth telling remains to be seen, but dammit, this game is going to tell it. I desperately want to fault it for not going back to its roots, but RE as a series hasn't been what it used to be for a very long time. It makes no attempt to try to convince me otherwise either, so faulting it for being different alone would be unfair.

I'm going to give this a sporting chance.

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