In which Capcom get desperate and
recycle the box art from Condemned 2: Bloodshot.
Developed and Published by Capcom.
Released throughout March 2015 (download version), end of March 2015 (disc version)
Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360.
Version reviewed: PlayStation 3 (disc)
It's been pretty difficult to talk about Resident Evil lately. The more time passes, the less fond memories I seem to have, and there seem to be fewer and fewer people around who actually want to hear about it. Whatever happened to all the enthusiastic gushing about dogs through windows and tangled conspiracies?
...okay, a succession of duff games on the trot is what happened. Like most major publishers these days, Capcom couldn't just leave Resident Evil to BE Resident Evil, because succeeding within a niche somehow wasn't enough. It had to be a shoot-em-up with online components! And microtransactions! And a dedicated multiplayer mode! But don't forget it's meant to be scary, too! We'll put that somewhere between 'mud physics' and 'protagonist junk size' on the priorities list.
Even so, it wasn't all bad. Somewhere between the glitchy nonsense of Operation Raccoon City and...the also glitchy nonsense of RE6 came RE Revelations, and it was, mostly, good. The gunplay was still in the mold of the unloved RE5 but the all-too-human enemies had been swapped out for intimidating bullet-sponge sea monsters, the pacing was slowed down and atmosphere turned up...other than a lack of obtuse door-lock puzzles, it felt like the old days were clawing their way back.
And now here comes Revelations 2. Is this the promised land? Do we finally have the game we can point at and say, "yes, THIS is what Resident Evil should be?" Short version, no, we don't. But it's not all doom and gloom just yet.
