The fourth and final episode of Revelations 2 doesn’t waste any time jumping straight into the action. Claire and Moira previously have begun their ascent to meet the Overseer herself after an intense and climactic battle. Barry and Natalia are now separated, but Natalia exhibited a bizarre and strange ability before it all happened. What does it all mean? Are all the questions answered after so long? I’m not entirely sure, but the surprises don’t quite end here. Onwards to Episode 4 – Metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis is definitely a bit of a lopsided offering from Capcom. Claire’s scenario, which sees her confronting the main villain and escaping the facility. There’s a few weird revelations here and there and an absolutely killer cliffhanger, but as I said previously it feels classically Resident Evil. Claire’s story, in particular, feels pretty anticlimactic although it does leave things with an air of mystery too them.
And it’s definitely the greater, more finale-like part of the episode. About 85% of your playtime in Episode 4 will be Barry’s campaign and that’s because it’s got a whole lot of fun and fascinating locales to trawl through with Natalia. I’ve used this word a lot now, but there’s really no other word to describe it. The first area Barry explores is a weird and dilapidated construction site that has been seemingly abandoned. Its home to a rather tedious co-operative designed puzzle that requires you to move an elevator between broken struts of a bridge. Following this, Barry descends into a mine which has been turned into a mass grave before finding the thing every Resident Evil fan loves to find – an underground facility.
The game, once again, throws you into a wide open area and allows you to explore it at your own will. There’s a few enemies peppered throughout the corridors but you’re largely isolated and largely on your own. There’s some genuinely tense moments too – constant backtracking past stasis tanks filled with enemies is bound to get most players in a bit of a stressed state – not knowing when (or if) they’ll burst out of their confines makes for some pretty tense gameplay.
As you’d expect, there’s an incredibly flashy boss battle although it’s this aspect that I found ultimately quite disappointing in Revelations 2. Yes, some of the designs in Resident Evil have been ridiculous and over the top, but they’ve had a distinct and unique kind of “look” to them. The final battle in Revelations 2 looks like something Team Silent dreamt up for Silent Hill but scrapped for being too goofy. It’s a small issue I have but one where your mileage may vary – as I’ve not enjoyed the final boss design for both Revelations and Resident Evil 6 previously either. Once again, we could show it here but we won’t.
There’s heaps of unlockables to get into once you’re done too. I’ll definitely be going over most of them in my full review of the game, which should be going live around the same time as this piece, but most players can expect to unlock new weapons, new modes, new costumes and even new characters to play as in the more action-orientated Raid Mode. If you’re into this kind of thing, there’s a boat load of concept art to unlock too, some of which is unlocked using the game’s skill system points and others just by completing certain tasks in game. So after the initial Revelations 2 experience ends, there’s still a lot more to do.