The final Episode of Resident Evil Revelations 2 ends the only way it should -- with giant gooey monsters, family drama and rocket launchers.

Does Capcom's new drip-feed method of providing survival horror hold up after a few weeks or simply turns into a mutated mess?

The fourth episode, "Metamorphosis," finally has team Redfield and Burton face off against the Overseer once and for all. The pacing in this last episode is a little odd since Claire and Moira's portion of the campaign runs only about 45 minutes.

The finale of their adventure felt a bit rushed and contained yet another “escape from a structure in five minutes before it blows up” sequence which we already did in Episode Three. At least the Claire/Moira portion ends rather climatically to make up for the lack of things you actually do.

Thankfully, Barry and Moira’s finale is a meaty campaign with a huge boss fight and it even has a secret underground mansion lab place to explore, because why not?

There are some light puzzles involving a crane and key hunting with a lot of things to shoot at. Since it’s the final chapter, most of the Barry’s time is spent looking for key cards and creeping up on larger BOWs. Overall, the amount of content here makes up for Claire's all too brief campaign.

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The final boss against the Overseer was a bit underwhelming since it followed the standard "shoot at the orange weak spot" formula. The bigger disappointment, however, came with how the story wrapped up (more about that in the end of the review).

Depending on a certain action you took in Episode 3, players will either receive the "good" or "bad" ending. The downside to this is that you have no clue that said action mattered outside of being a random quick time event.

The story manages to hold itself together well, which I attribute to the bite-sized campaigns. The fact that you play two pairs of characters keeps you from getting too sick of their personality quirks, such as Moira's profanity laden banter.

Seeing Barry, the bearded one-man army, mow down fools makes me want to see more of him in the future. Claire is always great and I wouldn't be surprised if this game marks her passing the torch to Moira as one of the staple action ladies.

I’d say that Capcom’s experiment of splitting Revelations into four parts was smart idea. Each episode highlighted different gameplay aspects of the Resident Evil franchise that people really loved.

Whether it be the action of Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 or the more tense puzzle and items hunts of RE 1 and 2, honestly playing these episodes a week apart was one of the bests way to enjoy the game.

The variety in itself kept the game fresh and staved off boredom while playing the campaign. The two to three hour spurts every week managed to avoid Resident Evil’s trademark scatterbrain storytelling with the set of self-contained adventures. It’s a strong case for "less is more" when you think about it.

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Raid Mode has been a consistently good time and kept engaging, with new locations and characters dropping in each episode. The only real drawback is that some of the cooler weapons and costumes require players to spend actual money instead of earning them through gameplay.

I wonder if this was a necessity due to the fact that game is way cheaper than your standard retail release. Still though, it's always gross to ask people to pony up cash after they just made the investment in the title itself.

I was very surprised how much I enjoyed Resident Evil Revelations 2. While not impressive in the production department with its sub-par level design, it still manages to create the trademark moody and tense atmosphere the series was once known for.

The title does an admirable job of mixing classic Resident Evil gameplay tropes with the modern sensibilities of its later titles. Fans will enjoy Revelations 2 since it has a little bit of everything for them -- down to the cheesy dialogue.

The low-cost to entry also allows skeptical players who have fallen off to dip their toes back into the bloody zombie infested pond.

In essence, other than the microtransactions and a few other bumps along the way, Capcom has done a stand-up job applying the episodic formula to Resident Evil.

New and old fans alike can dive into the world again, knowing the water is mostly nice.

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If there's one thing I love doing is talking to Resident Evil's over-the-top and often campy story. As a special bonus, let’s get into some *Spoiler* territory and talk about some of the things loved and hated about Barry and Claire's journey through four episodes.

Again, if you want to avoid *SPOILERS* just skip the next portion and move on to the score below.

  • The six month time difference for Barry and Claire was a clever way of making the player fight through the same areas with different characters.
  • Capcom refuses to let go of the Wesker safety blanket when it comes to trying come up with compelling villains. At least there was no mention of Umbrella or even Neo-Umbrella. *shudders*
  • The Moira and Barry relationship was the only thing I really cared about. I mentioned in the review of Episode 3 that the rift between them has nothing do with monsters and more with poor gun ownership. It’s super sad and really humanizes Barry. =(
  • The good or bad ending was awfully implemented since you had to let Moira pick up the gun and kill the boss that pins down Claire in Episode 3. I guess this is supposed to help her get passed her fear of guns or whatever. This gives you the good ending which leads to an awesome boss fight against She-Wesker. Of course, you wouldn't know if you let Claire pick up the gun like I did because she's CLOSER to the gun. This is the only time Revelations 2 has a quick time event in a cut scene so it's easy to miss and screw up. It would have nice for a little heads saying that this was kind of a big deal. No bueno Capcom, no bueno.
Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 4
7.5 / 10
Platform(s)
PS Vita, PS3, Switch, PS4, Xbox 360, PC, Xbox One
Developer(s)
Capcom
Publisher(s)
Capcom
Genre(s)
Survival Horror