I’m not gonna sugar coat this, Resident Evil is a series that needs to stop. I have no idea what the hell the plot is about anymore and the gaming mechanics seem to be getting worse. So when a new RE  game was released, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, I didn’t care. These things are expected like clockwork like the latest entry in a horror franchise and just like with those, we don’t expect them to be any good. It’s just something we do out of habit.

The story follows Resident Evil 2 veteran Claire Redfield who is now working for an anti-terrorist group called TerraSave. Within moments, she is kidnapped along with everyone else from in the group by an unknown terrorist organization. They are so unknown, it is never referred to again. Claire escapes from a prison cell on a remote island where she is being held along with Moira Burton, daughter of Barry Burton. She will be playing the role of the angsty, bratty young adult girl with daddy issues that seems to be popular these days. But someone is keeping a close eye on them and their fear ala a bracelet, named The Overseer, who is quickly revealed as Wesker… Alex Wesker. Apparently, Albert had a sister and her plans are just as convoluted and paper thin as his… just because. She wants to become more than life? I dunno, it’s really not well developed. Six months after that goes by, Barry Burton arrives on the island in search of his daughter, but finds little Natalia, who has the ability to see dead people. No really, she can sense where the infected are. It’s a rather useful skill that can help you creep up on enemies and kill them, when the game allows it. What I mean by that is sometimes they will still see you even if their back is turned. Will Barry reunite with Moira and will Claire… be there as well?

If you’ve played any Resident Evil game, you know exactly how this plays out. And that is my major gripe with this game; it feels like a Resident Evil game for all the wrong reasons. First, it’s continuing a story and characters that has been running on far too long and has long passed a point of making any sense when you try to piece it all together. You’re also paired up with a partner, again. And let me to you, the AI… it will be your worst enemy in the game by far. I can’t tell you how many times I died or had to restart because the AI did something unbelievably stupid, like run after a group of enemies with a knife or walk off a cliff. Yes, walk off a cliff like a goddamn Looney Tunes cartoon. This problem has occurred in the last few RE games and I can’t wrap my head around this. The developers and testers don’t see a problem with this? You’re not making your game more challenging by being lazy and skipping on an AI that acts in the way no human being would ever act. Your partners do offer something different, like they don’t use guns. Instead, Moira has a flashlight that can be used to temporarily blind enemies (she can also attack with a crowbar) and Natalia can see enemies from a great distance and throw bricks at them. It’s actually more fun to use these characters rather than Barry or Claire.

As for the enemies, ever since RE 4, they all seem to run at you, arms flailing in a spastic motion while cackling. Basically, you enemies are that annoying little kid, jacked up on sugar, running around and swinging his arms, laughing until he hits something. As for the bosses, their battles feel long and drawn out while you waste every bit of ammo on the glowing orange weak spot and they can often kill you with one hit, so you will be repeating the battles over and over… and over. Even the level designs are just ugly to look at and offer the same locations you’ve seen in the past several RE games. The levels feel even more of a drag when you walk into a large, quiet empty room with an exploding barrel or two and you get that dreaded feeling that a boss battle is coming. Not because you are afraid, but because you know it’s going to take forever and you’re gonna have to play it a few times. In fact, these are the same issues with the over-rated The Evil Within, a game from Resident Evil creator, Shinji Mikami.

So, the enemies, levels… all on repeat for far too long now, but surely there has to be something new to the game? Well, there is a weapon upgrade system that allows you to find abilities for the weapons and attach them to your gun of choice via a workbench, which feels lifted out of The Last of Us. I believe just about every RE game has a different upgrade system, but it feels like they can’t decide what to do with it. Not to say I didn’t have some fun or that it was all bad. My problems aside, I did push through the game, even if I didn’t know or care what was going on and I didn’t feel too bored, just tired of the same ol’. I spent the majority of my time with RAID mode, which seems to have replaced Mercenary Mode. In RAID mode, you select from a few characters in the game (with more unlockable) and you run through numerous gauntlets of enemies, while trying to make it to the end to get rewards. You can spend these rewards on weapons, upgrades… heck, you can even combine upgrades for better ones. You even level up and are given Skill Points to spend on different abilities to help you throughout the missions! There is now a multiplayer RAID mode that allows you to pair up with another player and gotta say, I had a blast with it. But for everything that seemed to be taking a step in the right direction, even those had their drawbacks. For example, your ammo is limited and pick ups are usually in small portions, so like the original RE games, you will need to rely on ammo conservation, being able to evade your enemies and outsmart them. However, the evade doesn’t work as good as it should and your enemies will always stay hot on your heels, so what’s the point?

The game should only take you around 12 hours to complete and there are hidden items and even more challenging modes to tempt you to come back for multiple playthroughs, but it’s only likely you will play through maybe one more time. Here is my biggest nitpick with the game; so you play through the game and unlocking bonuses to purchase, but you’ll have to play through the game many times to afford all of this stuff? Really? They couldn’t think of a better way other than forcing you to repeat the same things over and over?

I don’t know, maybe I’m nitpicking or maybe I’m sick and tired of being dished out the same thing that is always haphazardly slapped together. I know it’s blasphemy to speak ill of a Resident Evil game or anything involving zombies, but this game was just lazy. Stupid dialogue to accompany a stupid story that is incredibly predictable, the same boring, repetitive enemies you’ve encountered since RE 4, the most piss poor excuse for AI and one of the most one dimensional villains in a recent video game. I can no longer hope for redemption for this series. It’s long gone. At least there was some enjoyability out of this. I mean, it was better than Resident Evil 5 and 6, but that’s not saying much.

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