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Review: Resident Evil: Revelations 2 “Episode Two: Contemplation”

With its second episodic instalment, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 has won me over.

It’s impossible for Capcom to have acted on any feedback from episode one, just a week earlier, but it’s almost like its has. The overly-cheesy, self-referential one-liners have stopped. Moira is still annoying as ever, but for a brief moment, actually had a nice little scene that leads me to believe she does more than swear and be grumpy.

Most important, the second episode of Revelations 2 actually lived up to its name and had some revelations.

No, I won’t spoil them.

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Having more than six hours under my sleeve to play and review episode two, I actually delved into two special modes this time around: Countdown and Invisible. The modes are present on each of Revelations 2’s four episodes.

Countdown brings the all too familiar timer back to the franchise, awarding you extra precious time for each enemy you kill or bejewelled timer you smash to bits. As fun as it is, it’s also confronting; while episode one’s two parts took me about an hour each to complete the first time around, I was able to clock up twelve and thirteen minutes on them when doing my speed run. Does that mean content is sparse, or that I’m just amazing?

Invisible mode, a staple of the Resident Evil series harking back to the 2002 GameCube re-original-make, rears its ugly head in Revelations 2. While it provides extra replayability – insert PR buzzword here – it doesn’t work nearly as well as in the aforementioned classic. The problem with invisible enemies in an action-oriented game like Revelations 2 is that they’re annoying as hell. When tasked with a majority of slow-moving enemies, as in the original Resident Evil, it’s challenging, fun and atmospheric. In Revelations 2, you’re either supposed to dodge 99% of the time or get used to the idea of getting out of a grapple far too often. It sucks.

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Speaking of sucky invisible things, Revelations 2’s second episode adds an invisible enemy type to the game’s main campaign. BOO.

That all said, having spent more time with both Moira and Natalia, I now understand how to use the characters. Both are quite useful in their own ways; using Moira’s flashlight to blind enemies allows Claire the opportunity to get in close and use a physical takedown, preserving precious bullets. More importantly, Natalia is a gun (hehe) against invisible enemies, highlighting them for a brief period of time so that Barry can take a shot. I feel like the enemy was added simply to justify Natalia’s existence in the game.

At the end of the day, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 has found its stride with its second episode. As you’d expect, this instalment ends in a cliffhanger – and a good one, at that – while never really resolving the conundrum posed at the end of the first episode. I’m absolutely craving its third instalment, which means I’m fully recommending that fans of the franchise and fans of third-party shooters pick this one up.

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See you back here, same time next week? We’ll delve into Raid mode and any new functionality the new episode provides.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2‘s “Episode Two: Contemplation” was reviewed using a promotional code on Xbox One, as provided by the publisher. A final verdict and overall score will be issued to the game upon its fourth and final episodic release.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.