Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 4 — Metamorphosis Review

Meh-tamorphosis.

At the conclusion of Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Episode 3: Judgment, it seemed like the latest entry from Capcom was finally picking up enough momentum that players would be launched headlong into an action-packed finale. Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Episode 4: Metamorphosis comes across, however, like a student project that had a lot of great potential, but only one day left to turn the project in.

To start the review of Metamorphosis, I'd normally start with plot encapsulation, but there just isn't much in the final episode. Claire and Moira meet up with the Overseer, whom we know to be related to someone from the original entries in Resident Evil. Then the chase is on to escape the self-destructing tower, which pleasantly surprised me gameplay-wise.

Claire & Moira's acts have always been the weaker of the two, but in Episode 4, the race-for-your-life sequence to potentially avoid the unavoidable consequence that has been mentioned earlier genuinely made me care, for the first time, about what happened to both Claire and Moira. Unfortunately, the game sucks you into believing you could change their fate, and the act ends on a sullen note.

Barry's act then picks up, and hoo boy, players may wish they were back with Claire and Moira. Though the teamwork between Barry and Natalia that shined throughout the first three episodes still permeates the act, by this point it almost seems like a chore, flipping back and forth between the two, moving a bit, flipping back. Between that, the poison gas the two are forced to contend with, and the hordes of zombies that will flip up just when you think you have everything under control, it's a tedious, tiresome end to what has stood as the better of the two plots throughout the game.

By the time the pair does meet the final boss, the fight encompasses the “disjointed” feel that has been a blessing and a curse to the entire series. On one hand, the fight is memorable in the vitriolic speech it has for little Natalia—the highlight of the act and one of the stand-out moments of the game—and the need to use that speech to locate the boss that takes to skittering away like a cockroach in order to swipe and/or lure you to ducts spewing poison gas. But on the other hand, once the boss is located, it simply becomes a mindless bulletstorm, where if your aim is on the mark, any weapon you have handy will do the trick.

And then, the ending, of which there's a good one and a bad one. Without giving away spoilers, whether you get the good ending depends on an event that happened in Episode 3 which runs counter to everything players have learned about a certain character along the way, so if you get the “bad” (the more common) ending, you're left with more questions than answers. Not that you won't be left with questions for the "good" ending either; Resident Evil Revelations 2 sets itself up wide open for another sequel, whether the interest is there or not.

Overall, Episode 4 is a solid effort that just couldn't seem to find the traction it needed until it was too late. Split between a homage to the early Resident Evil games and the action of the later entries, it leaves players with a solid “oh…” rather than any sort of satisfaction upon completion—a lackluster ending to what could have been a stand-out entry in the field.

Code provided by publisher. Review based on Xbox One version. Also available on PlayStation 4, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.