Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Episode 3

Welcome back to our continuing review of the latest chapter in the Resident Evil: Revelations 2 mega-review. This week we’re taking a look at Judgment, the third chapter in the spin-off series that feels like a return to Resident Evils past. So what’s happened so far? Claire and Moira have split from the other members of Terra Save that they ran into in chapter 2, and find themselves attempting to track down Neil, the boss of Terra Save. Barry and Natalia follow in their footsteps, albeit six months behind them. This gap in the timeline actually sets up for some interesting puzzles over the course of chapter three and is implemented in a rather clever and meaningful way.

This third chapter is quite heavy on the puzzles and combat. Claire and Moira must navigate through a myriad of industrial buildings and sewers before reaching the tower where Alex Wesker is hiding. Yes, there’s another Wesker in the mix now, and like her crazy brother, she’s hell-bent on figuring out some way to use the weapons of bio-terrorism to reach her goals. Barry and Natalia meanwhile will be continuing their search for Moira, but along the way will encounter a very different Alex Wesker. Of course there’s some mystery there, and the cliffhanger ending of this chapter sets everything up for the final act.

There are plenty of puzzles in Judgment, with one major puzzle in every section that you’ll explore. Some of them seem genuinely clever and while the answer is plainly spelled out for some of them, there are others that are going to be genuinely confusing. I can think of one puzzle in the butchery that left me wondering for a few minutes outside the room where it takes place, since failure means certain death. Barry’s chapter is a little lighter on puzzles and focuses more on alternating actions between him and Natalia. This is one chapter that you’d do well to play with a buddy from start to finish, and make sure you explore, since there’s a lot of hidden stuff in this episode.

If there’s anything I disliked about Judgment it was some of the instant death mechanics. In some cases they were more surprising than anything, and having only a short amount of time to save yourself from them meant that you’d be replaying the chapter because you’d have to leave something behind to succeed. In one other case there is an enemy you’ll fight in the later portion of the chapter that has a lot of instant-death mechanics with nothing you can do to prevent it once set in motion, and it’s a rather fast moving enemy, so get your dodge techniques down, or carry a lot of high powered ammo. There is also a disturbing lack of new enemies, just two in Barry’s chapter, one of which I already had spoiled for me by playing Raid Mode, so its tactics were particularly useless in the fight where it appears.

So the ending sets us up for what looks to be a great climax. There’s definitely a lot that the game isn’t telling about Alex, and Judgment does a good job of starting to wrap up some loose ends. If you’ve already made the plunge for the last two episodes, there really isn’t much reason to stop. There’s a full head of steam going in the story, the gameplay is fun, and the puzzles are pretty good. We’ll be back next week to put the wraps on this thing, and while you’re waiting for the next chapter, go check out Raid Mode.