Similar to my recent first foray into the massive Final Fantasy franchise, Resident Evil Revelations 2 is one of the now three Resident Evil games I have played. Recently I got to experience the HD Remaster of the Gamecube version and really enjoyed it. Six years ago, I think even to the week actually, I co-oped through Resident Evil 5 in one sitting with a buddy of mine and had a good time. Co-op action returns in Revelations 2 via local split-screen play (online co-op play is only supported for the separate Raid Mode), although unfortunately I have had very little opportunity to play Revelations 2 in co-op just due to scheduling and all that other BS. Suffice it to say that what little local co-op I did play, I enjoyed more than playing single player and working with the AI, which goes for about every game out there — co-op makes nearly every experience better, see any Army of Two game, any brawler, or Diablo III. That’s not to say that Revelations 2 is not fun single player, but I think it very reasonable to say you’re going to have a more fun and memorable experience playing with a friend. Furthermore, the AI will often give you reason to gnash teeth when you need them most, which is clearly frustrating.
That said, what’s Revelations 2 all about anyway? I believe it’s actually the first episodic RE game ever released, for starters, and for what it’s worth. It spans four major episodes and features four main characters, split into pairs. You have the return of Claire Redfield, who was obviously a key character in the original Raccoon City stories (although the original voice actor for Claire is not present, from what I have read). She can still kick and shoot a gun, but now she works for an outfit known as Terra Save, a well funded and organized group who attempt to thwart all matter of bio-terrorism and the like wherever it may occur. Joining the group is Moira Burton, new to the RE universe and daughter of Barry Burton, who, like Claire, has an established history in RE lore. A nice professional gathering of Terra Save employees, including Moira, goes to hell quickly when a team of special ops dudes raids the place and suddenly you wake up as Claire in a very dirty and very abandoned looking prison. Hence the name of Episode One, the Penal Colony, where the adventure begins.
Moments after awakening, you get Moira out of her cell. Where the heck are you? How did you get here? What is going on? All of these questions are in front of you to be unraveled, one puzzle and combat encounter at a time. I think it’s fair to say that Revelations 2 is more combat-focused than ‘slower’ RE games, but there are still some basic puzzles to solve and spooky documents and miscellaneous things like that to discover. I would prefer less combat and more eerie atmosphere personally, as combat in survival horror games often falls apart — I much preferred the stealth gameplay of The Evil Within’s The Assignment DLC for example as opposed to the combat-heavy gameplay of the base game. There are also hidden collectible goods scattered about, some of which you have to shoot or in the case of the Kafka Drawings, you have to illuminate them with Moira’s flashlight, which brings me to the discussion of the partner or assistive co-op system.
So I thought this was actually pretty cool, and while I haven’t played RE5 in six years and never played RE6, I think this partner system as it’s used in Revelations 2 is a first in the RE franchise. Claire uses weapons — a knife, kicks, handgun, shotgun, assault rifle, whatever she can get her hands on (you can carry up to four weapons at once, and also upgrade them at work benches, assuming you have found Parts around). She’s the one you need when it’s about to hit the fan. Moira, as is more or less explained in-game, doesn’t like weapons. Not even a knife. But she’ll wield a crowbar, which is good for attacking some weaker enemies or finishing them off, as well as prying open doors and things. Her flashlight, though, is really beneficial as if focused on enemy eyes (or what were eyes), it can temporarily blind them, giving Claire an advantage. Furthermore, and this is why I preferred using Moira in any non-combat situation, you can use the flashlight to scan around the gameworld to find hidden things. Most of these things are extra BP, Bonus Points (for upgrading Skills), which are in the form of various precious gems, but you’ll also find Items like ammo and tourniquets, etc. If you’re close to finding any item you’ll see a glimmer of light and then the speaker on your DS4 dings when you have shined light on an Item enough that it is now collectible.
Similarly, in playing the episodes as Barry and Natalia, the latter can detect goods for Barry to collect. He’s the brawn in that partnership, while the strange Natalia is the support. She carries no equipment, but she can sense nearby enemies and point out, literally, their weak spots, so Barry can take aggressive action. Of note, the paths and decisions you make with Claire and Moira directly affect how the Barry and Natalia playthrough of each episode ‘goes,’ which is pretty cool and builds in some replay value. I should add that switching between these two characters can be done quickly by pressing Triangle (in single player mode only of course).
Other controls will seem familiar, with L2 readying a weapon, R2 to shoot, hold R1 to use a health item, d-pad to switch weapons, a direction and X to sprint, and, of vital importance, a direction and circle to do a little evade move. Evasion is key to avoid getting smacked by a heavy attack or grabbed by a weak enemy, be they the Afflicted, Rotten, or Revenant. These foes are aggressive and can be surprisingly fast. The way they move, whether hit from a distance or not, can make repeated shots difficult to connect, too. Taking damage is a real nuisance too because when you are bleeding or blinded, visibility is awful, which I found to be a real nuisance and something I wish the developers would have just saved for a higher difficulty setting than Normal. Partners can heal each other in most cases, although there are ample situations, traps, and other scenarios in which one of the partners can get killed instantly, resulting in a gameover. Partners can also swap inventory items easily from the pause menu.
Raid mode is another option that supports single, local co-op, and is the only mode that supports online co-op, too. This is much more than an afterthought, it features multiple characters, eventually fifteen can be used, but from the very start you can use either Claire or Barry. Each character maintains a separate Level and loadout, which includes your weapons, items, Active and Passive Skills, and visual Gestures that can be used to communicate to the other player (celebratory or asking for help, etc). It looks like Daily Missions will become unlocked in a future update and support for residentevil.net is included, as it is with the entire game. I dabbled in this mode a bit, in co-op it will be a lot of fun, but in single player it’s pretty tepid.
With that, let’s head on to the summary…
