Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 3 Review

I was pretty damn impressed with the start of Resident Evil Revelations 2.

Episode 1 gave us the background and initial journey into a mutant filled world, whilst Episode 2 continued the good work, dropping the puzzles for a slightly more run and gun affair. So, does Episode 3 ‘Judgement’ carry things on further or is this a case of mid-term mediocrity?

Thankfully there is not a chance of that happening as the third chapter in the Resident Evil Revelations 2 story is quite possibly the best yet.

As always, I’ll presume you’ve already checked out the first couple of chapters prior to Episode 3. I will however attempt to keep away from spoiling any story plot.

After losing sight of young Natalia, both veteran mutant killer Claire and her less confident colleague Moira head out to a deserted factory in an attempt to find her. But as always things don’t go entirely to plan for the girls and it doesn’t take long before they drop into a full blooded fight with some of the biggest baddest mutants you are likely to see. ‘Judgement’ is full of fast paced shooting set pieces and includes some battles that are probably best just to get your head down and flee from. With the usual fairly linear route through things, Claire and Moira are never going to get lost in their search for the Overseer but at the same time, there is just enough space to bring enough exploration of gems and XP to the mutant filled land.

And when the girls do finally manage to battle their way through to the tower, things just go up a notch or two with the most evil of battles yet, using up all that precious ammo you’ve previously conserved.

Meanwhile, everyones favourite Resi star Barry Burton sees his side of the story start off on a knife edge, a knife edge they must escape from…pronto!

Delving deep into the sewers in their search for Claire and his daughter Moira, Barry and Natalia yet again work well together, with the crazy blood lusting Barry complimenting the quiet shy young girl in the very best of ways. And the alternate side of Episode 3 continues with huge amounts of killing…something Barry is more than cut out to deal with!

But Episode 3 is about more than just death and destruction as it builds on the cooperative nature that we’ve seen in the first two episodes brilliantly. With puzzles galore taking you into laser filled rooms, the need to dodge numerous moving spikes and seeing you battle through fire, you’ll find that things work better, yet again, when teamed up with a real world local friend. With much of the brain taxing needing two skilled gamers, it can otherwise be a bit of a struggle to quickly switch between characters in order to survive, especially when taking in the action on the harder difficulty levels. You’ll need to be both quick witted and quick fingered in order to progress through Episode 3 as a loner.

Yet again though, Episode 3 of Resident Evil Revelations 2 ends abruptly. I’m still not sure why Capcom have gone down the initial weekly episodic route but feel it would have been much better placed to run through the full game in one large chunk. Whilst the breakdown in episodes allows for the stories of Claire/Moira and Barry/Natalia to run differing routes, the halt in progress is a frustrating one and I’d have loved to just carry on through the campaign without the need to hold back again.

The newest additions to the Raid mode are on this occasion superb though and it is still the best way to wind down after a long day, glass of wine in hand shooting mutants until your hearts content!

Overall then and Episode 3 ‘Judgement’ is the best chapter yet of Resident Evil Revelations 2. It may be slightly longer than previous showings, but I put the majority of that down to the problem and puzzle solving needs that it brings. Once you get those down to a tee, future playthroughs on the harder more insane difficulty level should see you flying through things.

Episode 4 can’t come soon enough.