Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Episode 3: Judgment

There's a lot of momentum in Resident Evil: Revelations 2; fingers crossed it can keep it up to cross the finish line.

The third episode of Resident Evil: Revelations 2 takes the partner system and the story to great places.

If you were on the fence for Resident Evil: Revelations 2, you may as well wait a week and pick up the disc version. Stay tuned next week to find out how the final episode is and what my thoughts are on the complete package.

A pastiche of ideas from Resident Evil's past, Episode Three: Judgment represents the best of Capcom's surprisingly enjoyable episodic series so far. Its ambition is modest, but the execution is good, with ridiculous plot beats, larger than life boss fights, and solid puzzles. Only the dismal environments let this instalment down, which are more lifeless than the corpses that you'll be pumping full of lead.

As penultimate episodes go, Episode 3: Judgment does a rock solid job of keeping players engaged in its story as it leads into the game's final chapter. We're now eagerly anticipating the finale, but we're also a little bit apprehensive about where things will go next. Like all good serialized story-telling, that means the creators are at least doing a great job keeping us invested.

Resident Evil Revelations 2: Judgment is, at least thus far, the best episode Capcom has offered. While Barry's campaign starts off a little mundane, breaking Natalia off to do tedious button mashing tasks, the rest of the episode makes up for it.

In truth Episode 3 - Judgment is the weakest of the episodes seen thus far. A true game of two halves, the first part is one of the finest yet, let down by a weak second half that begins to drag all too quickly, despite its brief length. A modest stab at puzzle solving attempts to mix things up, but the uninspired environments and drab exploration can all-too-quickly sap the fun out of things. Still, things are teed up nicely on the story front for the final episode, when the events on this island should hopefully come to a head.

If you've reached this point in the game, you're pretty much invested at this point, and there's no good reason not to see this through to the end. The story and puzzle elements of Judgment make for a good setup for the climax to Resident Evil: Revelations 2.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 is a solid episodic survival horror that will appease fans, but few others.

While it's a shame the excellent horror vibe from Barry's section last week has taken a backseat, the action here is tense stuff as the numbers of enemies and bosses has increased greatly, with player two having a larger role this time too. We're hooked in for the final episode next week.