Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Hands-on Preview – Scare Claire

[MRgreen55]

Forget the Ooze and forget zombies. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 introduces a new enemy called the 'Afflicted'. Essentially bubbly-faced zombies in all but name, the Afflicted stalk the corridors of the decaying abandoned detention facility that serves as the game's backdrop, leaping out of the shadows, should you dare to stray too near. In Revelations 2, you play as a grown-up Resident Evil and Code Veronica star Claire Redfield – hence the new, more mature face and voice – who's accompanied by Moira 'daughter of Barry' Burton; a moody teenager with a great line in swearing.

In fact, Capcom has really gone to town in getting a few curse words into the dialogue, with a casual 'fuck' here and a nonchalant 'holy shit' there. The best of all though, has to be when Claire first encounters an Afflicted, as it claws at her through a shelving unit blocking a passageway. “What in the COCK did I just see?!” she remarks without a shred of irony or self-awareness. Claire might have the best line in the demo, but its Moira who loves a good swear the most. Those of a sensitive nature need not apply

There's no evidence that Moira is her father's daughter, however. Where Barry was a wise-cracking man's man with a penchant for Jill sandwiches and massive Magnum handguns, Moira refuses to even pick up a gun, let alone use one. Perhaps there were too many pistols and such around when she was growing up with her gun-nut father. Instead, her weapon of choice is a flashlight. Yes, a flashlight. Further into our first hands-on demo, she acquires a crowbar for bludgeoning the marauding fleshy beasts, but Claire remains the one with the firepower.

Moira might not have much in the way of weaponry, but that flashlight soon becomes useful for spotting lost or hidden items. At one point, we need to locate a set of keys to progress that have become detached from the falling corpse they originally belonged to. Pressing triangle, we're able to switch characters to assume control of Moira and scour the area for the errant keys. Eventually, we find them hanging from a pipe just out of reach on a septic tank, prompting Claire to shoot them down.

Using the flashlight, Moira can also focus the beam to pinpoint sparkly items that can then be collected and given to Claire via the game's inventory screen. Things like ammunition and other collectible objects will require use of the torch in dark places, and Moira can also use it to temporarily dazzle and blind enemies. Other than that, she seems to be a bit of a liability who occasionally needs rescuing from the gooey clutches of the Afflicted, when she's not having a bit of a whinge about various things.

Mind you, she has every right to moan. After all, her and Claire are stuck in a rusty old prison situated on a remote island, relentlessly pursued by brutish monsters. Not that said monsters are all that frightening. The Afflicted are a bunch of lumbering fools, sometimes leaping past you completely or failing to register your presence until you get really, really close. Still, they did get the better of us a few times, prompting us to have to turn heel and run in more then one instance. Their attacks can prove unpredictable, but backing away and aiming for the head seems to work every time.

During our hands-on demo, it was a shortage of resources that generated the greatest sense of desperation, but the Afflicted, while admittedly a bit weird, are somewhat uninspired enemies. They're arguably the least frightening Resident Evil enemies we've encountered yet. Also, the absence of exploding heads when licking off a massive payload of buckshot directly into their face is disturbing. Blasting noggins off shoulders or blowing away limbs is one of the things that made Resident Evil great back in the day. It's high time the same level of evisceration returned to the series.

If you've played the first Resident Evil: Revelations, you'll know what to expect in terms of gameplay. In that respect, the sequel remains largely unchanged. You'll still slowly pace along carefully lining up headshots, while scanning the environment for ammo and herbs. Hooray for herbs! There'll be puzzles, plenty of keys to collect and a procession of locked doors to unlock like any Resident Evil game worth its salt. Revelations 2 clearly isn't looking to reinvent the wheel.

That is unless you take into account the game's episodic structure, which will see it released one chapter at a time each week. Four episodes are planned, with each estimated to run at around two hours apiece. So, all in all you're looking at a good eight hours of narrative to enjoy. And with an anonymous 'Overseer' taunting you over the prison's speaker system, Claire and Moira's strange bracelets they've been fitted with that “react to fear” and the overall question of how and why you're on the island in the first place, there looks to be a generous dose of mystery to unravel along the way. Then there's the returning Raid Mode, which was always an enjoyable time sink in the previous game.

Expect plenty of twists, turns and cliffhangers in Resident Evil: Revelations 2. Whether Capcom can make its story beats impactful and compelling, however, will prove the real litmus test. It might also help if the shortage of genuine scares and creeping tension we experienced during our hands-on demo is addressed for the full version, due to release early next year. The thing is, you never really know how it's eventually all going to turn out. Perhaps Capcom can turn it all around before Resident Evil: Revelations 2's launch. Now, how's that for a cliffhanger?

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 will be launching for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC in early 2015 as four standalone episodes priced at $5.99 each and as a Complete Season with extra content for $24.99. A retail disc release will then release shortly after the season finale for $39.99.

sources http://www.playstationtrophies.org/news/news-14391-Resident-Evil--Revelations-2-Hands-on-Preview-----Scare-Claire.html

[Saltyie]

It's great that you want to keep everyone informed, but do you really have to copy and paste everything off pst.org?

[BooneJusticius]

Yeah, I think it might be a good idea to cut back, AF already said "

AlteredFormula → MRgreen55

stop posting unneeded trophy lists. especially when you are ripping off another site.

 Sep 14 2014 04:27 AM"

 

I'm pretty sure he'd say the same thing about entire articles as well even if they're not trophies.

 

I probably would've just added this in your other topic about the same game from a week ago - https://psnprofiles.com/forums/topic/19515-resident-evil-revelations-2-trailer-is-dark-and-bloody/

Edited September 19, 2014 by BooneJusticius

[Sparkly-Twinkly]

Yesh we need more scary games

[LilSeba55]

I feel bad for the main characters. They are stuck in a outbreak every few years. 

[yellowwindow7]

not that i have one and want it to be there too, but it's a bit weird how it isn't coming to the Wii U, since Nintendo always trying to run after anything Resident evil.